First Responder Mental Health: Neuroscience Tips To Build Resilience and Prevent Burnout
As a speaker, researcher, and resilience trainer specializing in stress and burnout prevention, I’ve had the privilege of working with first responder teams across North America. I’ve trained police departments like the Clark County School District Police Department in Las Vegas, and spoken at events like Mind Matters: A Resource Fair for First Responders in Chicago.
My goal in every session is simple: equip first responders with the tools they need to protect their mental health, manage stress, and prevent burnout without asking them to "just be tougher."
My PhD work on resilience has shown very consistently that resilience is a resource - something you can build, deplete, and replenish.
Nina Nesdoly at Mind Matters: A Resource Fair for First Responders in Chicago
People in the other professions that I train love to ask me what industry is experiencing the highest rates of burnout or worst mental health and my answer is always that same: first responders and medical professionals.
In this post, I’m going to share some of the most important insights from neuroscience and practical resilience strategies specifically tailored for first responders. Whether you’re a frontline responder or someone looking to support your team, these tools are designed to help you thrive in one of the most demanding careers there is.
And please, while you’re reading this strategies, keep in mind that none of them are intended as a cure-all and some may not work right away. That doesn’t mean it’s not helping.
Mental health strategies for first responders are kind of like taking vitamins - you probably won’t notice that you’re taking Vitamin C and Zinc, for example, but come winter you might not pick up as many colds as someone who hasn’t been.
Speakers at Mind Matters: A Resource Fair for First Responders in Chicago
The Mental Health Crisis Among First Responders
First responders - police officers, firefighters, paramedics, emergency dispatchers - face extraordinary stress. You run toward situations others run from. You witness trauma, navigate unpredictability, and are often the first line of defence in life-and-death scenarios.
This relentless stress takes a toll. First responders experience higher rates of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and burnout compared to the general population. Worst of all, first responders are also dying by suicide at alarming rates. The mental health crisis in this field is real, and the old advice to "be resilient" or "stay strong" isn’t enough.
First responders are still struggling with a lot of cultural norms that can make it difficult to talk about or get support for mental health, too, creating yet another challenge in an already taxing line of work.
The good news? Resilience is not a fixed trait. It’s a resource you can build, deplete, and replenish. And I’ll show you how!
Resilience: A Renewable Resource, Not a Superpower
The biggest misconceptions about resilience is that resilience is static. But resilience is actually a renewable resource. It’s like fuel in a tank. You can run low. You can run out. And you can refill it.
I know this firsthand. In 2020, after the loss of my father, living through pandemic isolation, and pushing through academic deadlines, I hit empty. I couldn’t just "power through" anymore. What I needed was to rest, reconnect, and rebuild my resilience reserves. I got curious about resilience after this experience and wrote several of PhD course papers on the subject. Through this work, I came across many studies conducted with first responders and identified several trends.
In my keynote The New Neuroscience of Resilience, I explore how three key ingredients that help you build and replenish resilience:
Moderate Adversity
Social Connection
Rest and Recovery
Let’s break these down with some specific strategies that first responders can use to strengthen resilience.
Police Car
1. Moderate Adversity: Why You Need to Train for Stress
When I trained the Clark County School District Police Department in Las Vegas, one officer said something that stuck with me:
"In high-stress situations, like an active shooter, you never really know what you’re going to do until you’re there."
We talked about how neuroscience challenges this belief. Under stress, the brain defaults to the patterns it knows best. That means: you can train for stress.
Through scenario rehearsal - mental, physical, and emotional - you build the neural pathways that help you access executive thinking even under pressure. You’re not just reacting from the primitive brain; you’re training your body and mind to stay online when things go wrong. And sure, each situation will look different than the last in some ways, but the most important thing rehearsal teaches you is to access your executive brain under stress.
Stress Rehearsal Tips:
Choose common high-stress scenarios and rehearse desired responses.
Practice grounding techniques (like 4x4 breathing) as part of the rehearsal.
Physically walk through scenarios to build muscle memory.
When you train your body and mind to stay calm, you create a “stress template” that makes executive function accessible even in chaos. This is exactly how elite athletes, surgeons, and military units prepare - and first responders deserve no less.
Nurse with patient
2. Social Connection: Your Hidden Shield Against Stress
At Mind Matters in Chicago where I spoke on resilience for first responders, I was one of 3 speakers. There was a theme that spanned our talks: you don’t have to carry the weight of this job alone.
Connection isn’t just nice - it’s necessary. Neuroscience tells us that social support releases oxytocin, a neurochemical that helps buffer stress and reduce cortisol levels. Even brief, meaningful interactions can create this "social buffering."
First responders often worry about burdening others or being overwhelmed by colleagues' stories. But what I shared in Chicago is this: you can connect without overwhelming each other. The trick is to use a technique called Low-Impact Debriefing, a trauma-informed technique for sharing and processing difficult events at work.
How to Use Low-Impact Debriefing for Resilience
Normalize quick pauses during or after tough calls.
Get permission from others before sharing.
Keep the details limited to avoid passing along the stress.
Share how you feel instead of sharing exactly what happened.
Low-Impact Debriefing looks like…
“Hey, I just had a really tough call, can I share for a moment? Great, thanks. I had to respond to a domestic violence case today. It was sad, overwhelming, and reminded me of something I went through myself.”
Now take a big, deep breathe… and move on. You can share longer, more detailed stories in support groups or when accessing other resources but when you’re in between calls this super-short debrief decreases amygdala activity, increases your oxytocin, and is unlikely to pass your stress on to someone else.
Firefighter walks behind truck
3. Micro-Recovery: The Most Overlooked Mental Health Tool
The final key to resilience is the most neglected in first responder culture: rest. Too often, first responders believe they can’t take breaks. The job is too demanding, there’s always something to do, and stepping away feels impossible. And in a way it’s true, you don’t have the same opportunities for breaks as other professions, but that doesn’t mean there are no opportunities.
Neuroscience shows us that micro-recovery - short, intentional moments of rest- can dramatically reduce stress and improve performance. Even 60 seconds can make a difference.
This isn’t about waiting for a vacation or your next scheduled leave. It’s about building "recovery on the go." For a deeper dive into how to make even short breaks effective, check out my TEDx Talk on How to Relieve Stress When You’re Overwhelmed.
Micro-Recovery Examples:
4x4 breathing (inhale for 4, exhale for 4)
Standing up and stretching
Shaking out your arms and legs
Physiological sigh (a big, deep, exaggerated breath)
Micro-recovery resets your nervous system, reduces emotional exhaustion, and helps you sustain energy over the course of a shift. It’s a proven strategy used by high-performance professionals worldwide - and it works for first responders too.
We often think of rest as something you earn after the work is done. But neuroscience shows us that rest is part of the work. Without recovery, the body accumulates "allostatic load" - wear and tear from chronic stress that can lead to burnout, health problems, and emotional exhaustion.
The Neuroscience Behind All of This: Why It Works
Understanding the brain changes everything. When people learn that their stress response isn’t a personal failing but a predictable physiological pattern, it shifts the conversation:
Fight or flight is driven by the amygdala, which can hijack executive thinking unless we’ve rehearsed for hard situations.
Social connections reduces cortisol and fosters resilience through neurochemical shifts.
Micro-recovery helps keep the prefrontal cortex online and gives your nervous system mini opportunities to recharge resilience.
Why First Responders Need Tailored Resilience Training
First responders aren’t office workers. The job comes with unique demands that require specialized strategies. That’s why I design sessions - keynotes, workshops, and other sessions - with first responder realities in mind.
The feedback I’ve received from teams like Clark County School District Police and first responders at Mind Matters is that the combination of neuroscience, humour, interactive exercises, and actionable tools makes the material stick. It’s not theory - it’s practical.
What You Can Do Next: Practical Takeaways
Start small. You don’t have to overhaul your life. Even 1-2 micro-recovery moments per shift can help.
Practice stress rehearsal. Walk through common scenarios before you need them.
Build connection. Normalize pauses and brief check-ins.
Schedule rest. Make daily rest a non-negotiable, not a luxury.
If you’re in a leadership position, consider bringing resilience and stress management training to your team. It’s not just about individual wellbeing - it’s about team performance, retention, and long-term capacity.
Final Thoughts: You Are Resilient - Let’s Keep It That Way
First responders are some of the most resilient people I’ve ever met. But resilience isn’t about pushing through indefinitely. It’s about knowing when to rest, when to lean on others, and how to train your brain and body to thrive under pressure.
Your mental health matters. Your well-being matters. And with the right tools, you can build resilience that lasts - not just for the next call, but for the long run.
If you’re looking for a keynote speaker or workshop facilitator for first responder mental health and burnout prevention, I’d love to hear from you. You can learn more about my work here.