The Vermont Department of Health will ask lawmakers for additional funding next year for a mental health support program for first responders.
For the past two years the state has been running a program called Skills and Experience for Calling Up Resiliency, or SECURE, which was largely paid for with federal grants.
Stephanie Busch, the injury prevention program manager for the Department of Health, said the federal grants will expire in about a year. The department wants lawmakers to put money into next year’s budget to support — and expand — mental health programs for first responders across the state.
“The research is well established that first responders experience significant occupational stress and trauma related to the work that we do,” Busch said.