First Responder Wellness Week is dedicated to providing resources, support and community to help public safety personnel better understand the mental and physical health risks that come with the job.
Join Lexipol, FireRescue1 and our partners from March 23-27, 2026, to focus on your health and promote the wellness of your personnel. Each day we’ll focus on a different topic, providing shift briefing videos, webinars, articles, podcasts and more, all within the overarching theme of being “Total Wellness. True Readiness.”
Join us for a week of daily sessions focused on strengthening wellness across your agency — everything from healthy habits and smart recovery to building a program that puts firefighter health front and center.
Practical strategies for injury, aging, and long-term performance.
Start here to create a restoration routine.
Why wellness is a need to have, not a nice to have.
How to weave wellness into your agency’s mission and culture.
Real first responder wellness questions, real answers.
Track the daily habits that support operational readiness, performance and long-term health.
Better Every Shift: Health Focus
Firefighter Paul Duran shares his stellate ganglion block experience, and Dr. Jim Lynch explains the science behind the procedure
Andrew Klein details the commercial fire where light smoke turned violent eruption, plus what saved him and how he’s managing his mental health
Dr. Kenny Fent, NFR team lead, details this massive project to better understand occupational cancer among firefighters
Health & Wellness Resources
Scrolling can’t save you — but a conversation might
Leaders set the tone for agency culture across the board — including when it comes to wellness
Achieve peak performance through foam-rolling, active warm-ups, deadlifts, functional dumbbell exercises, and high-intensity interval training
From family outreach to increased counseling access and more understanding from supervisors, firefighters are looking to leadership to step up in this area
Make recovery your secret weapon for peak performance
Try one (or all) of these ideas and make movement a priority — together!
Starting a wellness program includes diagnosing the issue or improvement, developing the plan and implementing it
How one department added a shift to improve its members’ work-life balance
To track your nutrition, you need to see what, when and how much you actually eat
Your actions speak volumes, and by embodying good gym etiquette, you inspire others to follow suit
When it comes to food donations, having healthy options available can make a big difference in first responders’ choices
Quick snacks to keep your energy levels up
Departments that fail to engage the family in firefighter wellness are missing a powerful tool
As a first responder, the unpredictable nature of your work shouldn’t extend to your home life; build strong family relationships with these recommendations
If your home is not a place where you feel comfortable, consider reevaluating where you are putting all your time and energy
Fire service leaders can take action to increase awareness, access and applicability of these potentially lifesaving programs
Many EAPs go beyond counseling resources to help members with nutrition, exercise, family dynamics and financial assistance
Cold showers offer a powerful and accessible tool for officers to combat stress, boost resilience and cultivate mental clarity
7 strategies for extending wellness resources to the unsung heroes at home
Understaffed, overworked first responders need robust wellness programs to combat stress
By combining both motivation and discipline, you’ll be able to sustain your fitness habits in the long run
Lexipol places public safety wellness at the forefront with a week dedicated to education, community and support
Better sleep is the best first responder countermeasure to shift work and fatigue
The more we can recognize and understand how our thoughts work, the better equipped we will be to break the habit
According to a recent report, 80% of millennial workers say they consider work-life balance when deciding whether to take a job
The wildly popular sport is a great workout for firefighters and EMS professionals
The Irving Police Department and Irving Fire Department combined forces to offer EMDR therapy, an employee health clinic, wellness incentives and much more
Has the deeply rooted tradition of stifling emotional vulnerability led to the disproportionate number of suicides among men?
Many agencies shy away from fitness testing for first responders, but annual tests can gauge the health and occupational readiness of your personnel
From cardiac care to supplements and yoga, Better Every Shift answers your questions from the live podcast event
Jeff Dill details the early days of the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance and its ongoing mission to provide support for first responders
First Responder Wellness Week was designed to provide resources, support and community to help public safety personnel better understand the mental and physical health risks that come with the job
With evidence-based strategies, you can reduce your stress and avoid burnout
Mindfulness techniques and takeaways from an eye movement desensitization and reprocessing training course
The Dallas Cowboys quarterback reminds first responders that “taking care of yourself mentally and physically is critical to serving, protecting and uplifting our communities”
Take our survey to measure how your department stacks up when it comes to supporting employees
A quick scroll through these influencers’ pages will inspire you to get off the station couch and hit the gym – or at least consider it!
It’s critical to carve out time for yourself; otherwise, your life will become all about work
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