Firefighter mental health support: where to get help in the UK

If you need help right now

Start here if today is a bad day. If someone’s life is at risk, for example they have seriously injured themselves or taken an overdose, or you do not feel you can keep yourself or someone else safe, the NHS says to call 999 or go to A&E. Mental health emergencies deserve the same urgent response as physical ones.

The Fire Fighters Charity Crisis Line is 0300 373 0896. The charity says it is open 24 hours a day, every day, for people who are serving or have retired from the UK fire service, and that it is staffed by specially trained clinicians who understand the fire community, offering confidential, free support for suicidal thoughts and mental health crises. Its general Support Line is 0800 389 8820. You can also call Samaritans on 116 123, free from landlines and mobiles, day or night, or call NHS 111 and choose the mental health option.

You do not have to be sure that you are ‘bad enough’ to call. Services exist to help people before things reach a crisis. If you are reading this for a colleague, encourage them to make contact, and stay with them if you are worried about their immediate safety. The rest of this guide is about the wider picture of support, so you can find what suits you when you are ready.

The Fire Fighters Charity: what it offers and who can use it

The Fire Fighters Charity describes itself as serving every member of the fire services community, for every role, serving and former, and their loved ones. Its mental health support includes one-to-one psychological care where available, group-based therapy, residential breaks, a mental health self-assessment tool (through RightSteps), the Crisis Line, peer and community-led support, telephone befriending, bereavement support and online resources. Physical health services include physiotherapy, exercise therapy, residential rehabilitation and nursing care.

To access help you can complete the online enquiry form, call the Support Line on 0800 389 8820, or use the self-assessment tool. The charity’s own pages do not describe a formal referral process; direct contact appears to be the primary route, so you can approach it yourself without going through your employer. Contact details and opening arrangements can change, so check the current details on the charity’s website.

Many services promote the charity to their staff as part of their wellbeing offer. Surrey Fire and Rescue, for example, describes the charity as the leading support service for the fire service family in the UK in its list of staff benefits. For the wider set of benefits employers offer, see fire service benefits and perks.

What your employer should provide: occupational health and the Grey Book

The Grey Book (Section 4, Part B) says the NJC recognises the link between a fit and healthy workforce and an effective fire and rescue service, and that authorities should provide a professional occupational health service that respects confidentiality and has regard to religious and cultural issues. The aims include advising, supporting and counselling employees on work-related and other issues, including stress, that may impact health and welfare; supporting staff with health problems, including rehabilitation back into the workplace; and identifying, monitoring and advising on health risks.

Section 4, Part A lists management of stress among the issues local health, safety and welfare policies should cover, and says employees have a duty to take care of themselves and others and to co-operate with the employer’s health and welfare policies. In practice that means your service should have an occupational health provider you can be referred to, a stress management policy and someone to talk to at work.

Occupational health is not the same as your GP, and it has a dual role: it can advise you and your manager about fitness for duty and adjustments. Ask at the start what will be shared and with whom. If a medical condition could affect your duties, the Grey Book allows the employer to require a medical examination, and medical, sickness and pay rules are explained in our guide to firefighter sick pay.

After a traumatic incident: TRiM, peer support and control staff

Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) is used by many fire and rescue services. Staffordshire Fire and Rescue describes it as an assessment process designed to make sure anyone at risk of long-term mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder, can obtain professional support. It runs in stages: trained practitioners are prepared and incident commanders receive guidance; TRiM managers evaluate who was present at an incident and their exposure level and offer individual or group assessments; individuals may be referred to occupational health or the employee assistance programme; and staff are followed up about a month later to check that recovery is progressing normally.

Staffordshire says the programme serves operational and support staff and recognises that people not physically present, including control room staff and colleagues who should have been on duty, can be affected. Its TRiM coordinator emphasises that most people naturally deal with this kind of stress over time, and that professional help matters when natural recovery does not happen. Participation is offered, not imposed, and arrangements vary by service.

Fire control operators take distressing calls without seeing the scene, so post-incident support matters for them too. If you work in control, ask your service how it includes control staff in TRiM and debrief processes; see a day in the life of a firefighter for how control shifts work and fire control pay for the role.

Employee assistance, chaplaincy, peer supporters and unions

Beyond occupational health, many services offer an employee assistance programme (EAP) with confidential counselling by phone or online, chaplaincy, and networks of mental health first aiders. Surrey Fire and Rescue’s published benefits page lists an EAP, chaplaincy and peer network support with mental health first aiders, in-house occupational health and physiotherapy, and mentions Mind’s emergency services resources. Other services offer similar or different packages, so check your own intranet or ask HR.

Trade unions also help. The Fire Brigades Union describes health and safety support, legal advice and representation among its member services, and representatives can accompany you to formal meetings such as sickness reviews. If your mental health is affecting your attendance or performance, a union rep can help you understand the process and make sure adjustments are considered. See our guide to FBU membership.

Mind ran a Blue Light Programme for emergency services staff between 2015 and 2019 and relaunched it in 2020, and reports say the programme finished in July 2023 while Mind continues to offer information and workplace services. Mental health information for emergency responders and toolkits for fire services remain available through Mind and the Mental Health at Work website. Check current availability, because programmes change.

Sick pay, adjustments and time off for mental health

Mental ill health is illness. The Grey Book sick pay scheme applies to it in the same way as to a physical illness: full pay for six months in any twelve-month period, then up to half pay for six months, with a longer entitlement where an illness or injury arose out of authorised duty. Where a psychological injury such as PTSD arises from duty, whether it counts as arising out of authorised duty is a question decided on the evidence, and if you and the employer’s medical adviser disagree, an independent medical opinion should be sought. Our guide to injured-on-duty entitlements covers the wider picture.

You must still follow the notification and fit note process to keep contractual sick pay: tell the nominated person immediately, submit a fit note by the eighth calendar day, and submit a final fitness statement where absence exceeds fourteen days. A fit note can recommend adjustments as well as time off, and you can ask for a phased return. Ask HR what adjustments are available in your role and whether redeployment to non-operational duties is an option while you recover.

If a long-term condition means you cannot return to operational duties, ask about redeployment and, if appropriate, ill-health retirement. That is a formal process assessed by an independent medical practitioner, covered in our guide to firefighter ill-health retirement. The free ill-health and injury calculator can help you understand the financial side before you decide.

How to look after yourself: practical steps that fit shift work

Shift work and irregular hours affect sleep and recovery. The Health and Safety Executive defines fatigue as a decline in mental or physical performance from prolonged exertion, sleep loss or disruption of the internal clock, and says it slows reactions and impairs memory. Managing sleep around nights, and being honest with yourself and colleagues about how you are coping, is part of looking after your mental health. Our guide to working time and rest covers the rules.

Money worries are a common stressor, and they are easier to face with a plan. Check your pay is right with the payslip checker, and see firefighter budgeting and savings. Fitness supports wellbeing too; the LFB’s annual fitness testing paper cites research that active adults have a lower risk of premature death and chronic disease, and stresses support rather than punishment. See staying fit as a serving firefighter.

Small habits matter more than grand gestures: talk to someone you trust, use the routes above before a problem grows, keep a regular check-in with colleagues after hard calls, and take your leave. Our guide to firefighter annual leave explains the entitlement you have to switch off.

1. Decide who you trust at work or at home and tell them how you are feeling.
2. If it is urgent, call 999, the Fire Fighters Charity Crisis Line (0300 373 0896), Samaritans (116 123) or NHS 111.
3. Ask occupational health or HR what support your service offers: EAP counselling, TRiM, peer supporters and chaplaincy.
4. Contact the Fire Fighters Charity Support Line (0800 389 8820) or use its self-assessment tool.
5. See your GP if symptoms persist, and ask for a fit note if you need time off or adjustments.
6. Involve your union representative if attendance, performance or a formal process is involved.

Supporting a colleague or family member

You do not need to be an expert to help. Notice changes in behaviour, such as withdrawal, irritability, drinking more, missing shifts or losing interest, and ask directly how someone is. Listen without rushing to fix, and encourage them to use the routes above. If you are worried they may be in danger, do not leave them alone, and call 999 if their life is at risk.

Families are eligible too. The Fire Fighters Charity says its support is for the whole fire services community and loved ones. If you are a partner, parent or friend of a firefighter, you can use the charity’s enquiry form or Support Line, and Samaritans is open to everyone.

If you are a manager, use the Grey Book framework: you should support attendance and rehabilitation, follow the stress policy and refer to occupational health. Treat what you are told confidentially and follow the sickness process fairly, including the notification and fit note rules. Good managers make the referral early rather than waiting for a crisis.