The University of Central Florida is hosting a training seminar Friday morning for first responders who responded to incidents like the Pulse nightclub shooting.
The seminar will look at maintaining a healthy work-life balance, post-traumatic stress disorder and recognizing suicidal thoughts in others.
“We had a tragedy in Indian County in Florida last year, we had a 27-year firefighter with exceptional service who took his own life," said Dr. Larry Barton is a professor of crisis management and public safety at UCF. "This is what really motivated me at UCF to say we need to talk about issues of suicide.”
Several first responders to the Pulse nightclub shooting have gone public with their PTSD diagnoses.
The program is free, and runs from 9 a.m. until noon in Classroom 2. Check here to register.
Barton said police officer suicides in the U.S. in 2016 were higher than the number of police killed by felons.
“And that speaks volumes to the kind of pressure points going on," Barton said. "So we have to be thinking about what are some of the clinical and behavioral warning signs of a person who is contemplating suicide.”
