Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
All first responders – EMS, firefighters and law enforcement – are trained on how to take care of individuals who are suffering from a traumatic experience, but sometimes, they don’t take the time to take care of themselves.
As a law enforcement officer, Shannon Morris, Chief Ranger with the Snowshoe Resort Community District, knows what it’s like to put aside your own grief and trauma in order to stay focused on the job.
“I lost my daughter in 2020,” he said. “I luckily had a person that I could talk to after that because I had to go right back to work. I didn’t have a lot of time to go through the grieving process until I was back out on the street.
“The person I had to go to then, took their own life, so it was one trauma and then another trauma,” he added.
Morris knew that his was just one of hundreds of stories statewide where first responders suffered a loss or witnessed a traumatic event and didn’t have anyone to turn to or time to process the trauma.
That is why he organized a Peer Support Training session at Snowshoe. The three-day training was originally going to be for Pocahontas County first responders only, but it wasn’t long before other agencies in the state got involved, as well.
“Community Connections, Inc. is who helped us fund the training, so the grant money came from them,” Morris aid. “The First Responder Foundation had the instructors come out to teach the classes to certify our team. We had some interest from other people within the state, so we’ve got some law enforcement officers and every emergency manager for the whole state of West Virginia.”
Those individuals will participate in training this week and will take what they’ve learned back to their districts to ensure that all first responders in the state are trained and certified.
The training is hosted by the SRCD Ranger Department and Shaver’s Fork Fire and Rescue.
“Once we complete this training, we’re hoping that we will be able to offer the services within the county for first responders, and given the feedback we’ve had from Randolph County, Webster County and Greenbrier County, we’re will be working with those counties, as well.”
This is the second first responder training offered at Snowshoe, with the first being CIT – Crisis Intervention Training.
CIT focuses on helping deescalate high tension situations without the use of force.
Morris said the hope is that one day both CIT and Peer Support will be offered at the academy, so all law enforcement officers receive all their training at one time before they are assigned to a job.
“That’s kind of what we’re hoping,” he said. “Once that officer gets out of there and graduates, then they have those skills and those tools on their belt before they even start at their departments.”
