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Why we need HUGS Community
Thousands of first responders in Ireland work and volunteer on the frontline in fire, ambulance, police, prison, rescue, defence, and related services, attending emergencies every day. They often encounter stress in the course of their work, leading to high levels of mental ill-health. Access to workplace supports to deal with such issues, is often inadequate (overly formalised, perceived stigma and confidentiality concerns, lack of cultural awareness, etc.). Therefore, they carry their work-related stress off duty, negatively affecting relationships with family and friends as a result. The workplace also suffers through lowered morale, performance and retention issues, with further negative downstream effects on society more broadly.
Our Values
Our values are Hearing, Understanding, Guiding, and Supporting (HUGS).
We look forward to Hearing your training and support needs, Understanding your problems with existing services, Guiding you towards more effective solutions, and Supporting you in your learning journey.
HUGS History
HUGS@Home started as a research project in January 2022, funded by Movember and the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride, with the aim of training families and friends of first responders how to;
1) Recognise stress in their loved one;
2) Begin a helpful conversation using basic psychological first aid techniques;
3) Prioritise self-care while providing social support to others.
Along with a wonderful co-design team in 2022, we developed an innovative one-day in-person HUGS training course to teach practical psychological first aid skills to frontline personnel, their families, friends and organisations. Since 2023, we've rolled this training out across multiple counties in Ireland and one location in the UK. As a result, we've seen increased confidence in starting helpful conversations, enhanced social support, improved help-seeking, maintenance of resilience and increases in post-traumatic growth.
HUGS@Home - Promotional video
"My advice to other first responders who are dealing with stuff is talk, talk to somebody. Find somebody who can help you, I would suggest maybe talk to your partner and your family"
Fran McArdle Firefighter and Advanced Paramedic
Hugs Community is born
Following the success of the research project, we decided to continue providing our service on a not-for-profit basis and incorporated HUGS as a profit with purpose CLG, trading as HUGS Community. As an emerging spin-out company from RCSI, we now offer training to the wider first responder community, including full time and volunteer responders, peer support teams, families and friends, mental health professionals and others supporting frontline work.
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