Roundtable Talk - Mental Health and Its Impact on the Fire Service

In 2010, Jeff Dill founded Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance (FBHA). 

Jeff travels the United States & Canada holding workshops to educate firefighters, dispatchers & EMS about behavioral health awareness, moral injury and suicide prevention.  In 2010, FBHA began tracking and validating data on all FF, EMS and dispatcher suicides across the United States. In addition, FBHA offers ten workshops for first responders, counselors/chaplains, family members and preparing for retirement.

Jeff Dill holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling, is a retired Fire Captain at Palatine Rural Fire Protection District in Inverness, Illinois.  

Jeff speaks internationally about his work for his brothers and sisters.  The past ten years he has travelled over 1,000,000 air miles. His message offers hope and inspires all to enjoy life by understanding their own behavioral health.

On July 1^st, 2021 Jeff was appointed the new Behavioral Health Administrator for Las Vegas Fire & Rescue.

David W. Ballard, PsyD, MBA, is an organizational consultant with more than 15 years of experience as a non-profit executive. His emphasis is on promoting employee well-being and organizational performance through the integration of psychology and business. He has provided research, consultation, and training services to government agencies, industry groups, corporations, medical schools, and universities. Dr. Ballard is the co-editor of the book, The Psychologically Healthy Workplace: Building a Win-Win Environment for Organizations and Employees (APA, 2016).

Wendy is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Texas LODD Task Force, which is part of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation's LAST program. She is a certified grief educator and a master chaplain with the Federation of Fire Chaplains. She has assisted with the development of a peer support curriculum for Texas A&M University-TEEX and also serves as an adjunct instructor for them. Wendy served as a committee chair for the State of Texas Disaster Behavioral Health’s working group for first responders’ mental health care following mass fatality incidents and is a member of the Texas First Responder Mental Health Consortium. She is the presiding officer of the Governor’s Advisory Panel for the Star of Texas Awards for injured and fallen first responders. She serves as a chaplain, PIO, and first responder for the Forest Bend Fire Department.

Ali Rothrock is a speaker, author, educator and advocate who has delivered over 500 presentations nationwide. Ali has been in the volunteer fire service since 2005, enjoying more than a decade as a firefighter and Emergency Medical Technician. Ali is the CEO & Lead Instructor for On the Job and Off, an online platform dedicated to building more resilient first responders.