For Emergency Services, Safety Stand Down 2025 takes place June 15-21, and all fire and emergency services departments are encouraged to suspend non-operational activities that week to focus on this year’s theme – “Break the Stigma: Behavioral Health RESET.”

Safety Stand Down 2025 will focus on the critical topic of responder behavioral health. This year’s campaign encourages departments to take a proactive approach to mental wellness and stress management using the RESET framework:

• Recognize
• Educate
• Strategies
• Empower
• Training

As we all know, behavioral health affects every aspect of a fire department, from safety and retention to productivity and engagement.

The emotional, mental, and behavioral well-being of emergency responders is critical to their overall health and safety. However, firefighters, EMS providers, rescue workers, and other responders often don’t feel comfortable or safe expressing the stresses and challenges they experience, which can result in serious risks to themselves and others.

The week of Safety Stand Down, covers topics related to behavioral health challenges and ways to support team members to help prevent negative outcomes such as burnout, injuries, anxiety, leaving the department, or suicide. Fire departments are encouraged to suspend all non-emergency activity during Safety Stand Down week, allowing all shifts, duty crews and personnel to focus on safety and health training and education. An entire week is provided to ensure each duty crew can spend at least one day focusing on these critical issues.

Fire departments are encouraged to use the week to focus on department activities that reinforce how behavioral health affects every aspect of an emergency service department, from safety and retention to productivity and engagement.

Together, we can keep each other safe at work and return home safely every day.