Milwaukee Fire Department joins effort to connect trauma victims to mental health pros

Since its inception in 2015, 580 families have been served through the Milwaukee City-County Trauma Response Initiative. Thursday, the initiative expanded to include the Milwaukee Fire Department. 

The initiative pairs Milwaukee police officers, county mental health professionals and, now, Milwaukee firefighters to provide services for families and children that have experienced trauma. 

The expansion includes training 20 MFD leaders in responding to potentially traumatic injuries for children. Recorded live, the training will be used to educate 600 remaining EMT's and firefighters within the fire department.

"The goal here is to have our EMT's and firefighters work with our county mental health system so these kids can get the wraparound services they need," Mayor Tom Barrett said. "The fire department was a natural place to expand this because our EMT's and firefighters are on the scene right away."

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First responders are trained to report and refer families to the County Mobil Crisis Team if they see children who have witnessed traumatic events such as domestic violence, shootings, car crashes and other experiences. From there, families are connected with a county clinician for an assessment and support services. 

"It's an important intervention for families and children who have experienced trauma," said Reggie Moore, director of the city's Office of Violence Prevention. "The link is obviously to try and reduce incidents of trauma in our community, but while we do that we also have to make sure we are being responsive when trauma happens."

Psychologist Steven Dykstra, who directs the Mobile Crisis Team through Milwaukee County's Behavioral Health Division, said trauma can occur in both physical and psychological ways. Psychological trauma, according to Dykstra, can occur in a person who was physically injured or in others who were affected. 

Of the 580 families that have received services through the initiative, 70% of the incidents exposed children to domestic violence and 20% exposed children to battery. 

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The initiative is part of a nationwide trend as more criminal justice and child welfare officials consider the lasting effects of trauma when forming new policies and programs. 

The Adverse Childhood Experience Study, a collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente, analyzed the relationship between childhood trauma and health and behavior problems in adulthood.

The study found the more adverse childhood experiences a person had — such as abuse, neglect, and drug and alcohol abuse in the home — the more serious problems emerged in adulthood. 

The Milwaukee program was started in the  Police Department's District 7, on the city's northwest side, in 2015, and has since expanded to District 5, on the north side. The newest expansion pulls in the Fire Department's responses citywide.