RSMo 590.192.
For several years RSMo 590.192 has existed and read “There is hereby established the “Critical Incident Stress Management Program” within the department of public safety. The program shall provide services for peace officers to assist in coping with stress and potential psychological trauma resulting from a response to a critical incident or emotionally difficult event. Such services may include consultation, risk assessment, education, intervention, and other crisis intervention services provided by the department to peace officers affected by a critical incident. For purposes of this section, a “critical incident” shall mean any event outside the usual realm of human experience that is markedly distressing or evokes reactions of intense fear, helplessness, or horror and involves the perceived threat to a person’s physical integrity or the physical integrity of someone else.”
So at this point, you are saying, “What does that have to do with me since I am not a peace officer?” Effective August 28, 2024, a new version of this statute went into effect and now includes “first responders” as defined in RSMo 190.1010. The definition of first responders provided is “a 911 dispatcher, paramedic, emergency medical technician, or a volunteer or full-time paid firefighter.” As you can see, if you are included in this definition then RSMo 590.192 now applies to you.
Now your follow-up question is likely, “ok, it applies to me, but what does that mean?” The statute now states “All peace officers and first responders shall be required to meet with a program service provider once every three to five years for a mental health check-in. The program service provider shall send a notification to the peace officer’s commanding officer or first responder’s director or supervisor that he or she completed such check-in”. There are other provisions and you should refer to RSMo 590.192 and review the language for yourself.
As is sometimes the case statutory language can be confusing and can create additional questions, hopefully, this information will help provide some clarity. The Department of Public Safety utilizes the 988 Funding referred to in the statute to contract with Warriors Rest Foundation providing ongoing free Critical Incident Stress Management training across the state. This training could be used to satisfy the check-in requirement. To find where upcoming training will be, visit warriorsrestfoundation.org/missouri-training/or request the training for your region if nothing is scheduled.
The Missouri Firefighters Critical Illness Pool is also holding training meetings in various areas of the state each year. These trainings are headlined by several well-known speakers from across the nation and are free to attend and could also satisfy the check-in requirement. Check out their website mffcip.org for more information and watch for future trainings as they are announced.
If your area does not have a team developed including professional and/or trained co-responders to provide services get with your area law enforcement to see if they have services that could be expanded, or work on building your own team. At this point there is not a definition of the mental health check-in, allowing each agency head to make a determination since services and local situations vary across regions and departments. It would appear utilizing trained local resources could satisfy the check-in requirement also. No matter how the check-in gets completed it is important our personnel have an outlet to help deal with critical incident stress. Compliance tracking will be necessary and can be done through your local agency, so let’s start making sure our personnel have an avenue to complete this requirement.
Our personnel are our most valuable resource to keep our agencies operating and providing services to our citizens. Take the time to invest in their wellbeing.
FFAM
