Why is the name "Fire Service Psychology Association?"

A good question that we frequently get asked at the Fire Service Psychology Association- Admin by firefighters and psychologists alike. So, here's a short history behind the name.

When Dr. Kristen Wheldon, Psy.D, to a job as the departmental psychologist for a large metro department in Southern California, she "looked around" to see who else was working in the fire service space. And what she found was that it was difficult to find "my people," because with the exception of some other large metro fire departments (e.g., Houston, New York, Dallas) psychologists on a fire department organizational chart were far and few between.

So, in 2017, the good Doctor established the Fire Service Psychology Association and its really a sort of "play on words" because there is no field of fire service psychology that's recognized by the American Psychological Association . Under APA there is Division 18 (Psychologists in Public Service) and a section under Division 18 is Police and Public Safety (Along with sections for Community and State Hospital, Criminal Justice, Serious Mental Illness-Severe Emotional Disturbance and Veterans Affairs). However, within the Police and Public Safety Section there's no mention of firefighters (Essentially the fire service is an "other").

Thus, the Goal of FSPA is to Create the specialty of  fire service psychology, and have that specialty recognized by APA and included in Division 18. Along with that goal is FSPA's Mission--Develop the scientific study and application of professional psychology to meet the needs of the fire service.

But FSPA can't do that alone, and that's where the fire service needs to "step up" and participate in this process to gain APA's approval. The work we do at FSPA is not to build an organization--though that has to happen--but rather to "build a bridge between professional psychology and the fire service." (See graphic at top of this page). Two key elements of that "span" are:

Developing mental health professionals--psychologists and masters-level clinicians (e.g., Licensed Clinical Social Workers, Licensed Professional Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists) who know and understand:

What firefighters do

Why the do it

How they do it

The conditions under which they do it

And the unique job stressors of the job

The other element is helping to develop firefighters and fire officer--especially chief officers--who know and understand the five domains of psychology and how psychologists proficient in those domains can help improve not only the intervention services a fire service member may need--one of the five domains, but also the other four: assessments, industrial/organizational, operations, and consultation.

I encourage all fire service members--career, volunteer, combination--to join FSPA in this work to build that bridge. This is from the Membership page on the FSPA website:

Prepare for the job like your life depends on it. Firefighters who learn about the psychological nature of their work and culture are preparing for the job.

Firefighting has historically focused on physical and technical skills but as the profession has evolved, the need for stress tolerance, conflict resolution, and resilience has come to awareness. Commit to your individual and organizational health, safety, and resilience by joining our community.