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FDNY STATEMENT
The following
statement from the FDNY is in response to today’s article
in the New York Post. The statement addresses two issues raised
in the article: mandatory counseling
and the duties and responsibilities of family "liaisons."
REGARDING
MANDATORY COUNSELING:
Following 9/11, the Department’s
Counseling Services Unit (CSU) increased from about a dozen
to more than 300 full
and part-time counselors and psychologists. (This was possible
largely through private grants and Project Liberty funds.)
We have offered counseling to every member of the Department—we
did not mandate it. "Mandatory education" about
counseling services was given to everyone and, to date, some
6,600 members of the FDNY have availed themselves of individual
counseling.
Special counseling groups were set up to help the many different
persons who lost loved ones (specific groups focused on children,
spouses, parents, siblings, etc.). Two different programs
were specifically set up for surviving spouses ("Couples
Connection" and "The Other Side of the Firehouse").
Hundreds of firefighters and their spouses took advantage
of these programs.
REGARDING LIAISONS:
Firehouses that lost members were permitted
to have one member taken off the work chart for the purpose
of assisting
families of those killed on 9/11. In some cases this involved
one person, but in most instances a number of firefighters
from each company “rotated” in this assignment.
Ultimately, about 150 performed this function at some point.
Recognizing the particularly difficult and emotionally sensitive
work done by "Liaisons" (i.e., persons who worked
closely with the families who lost a loved one), the Department
provided special counseling programs for them and their families.
This included support group meetings, workshops and weekend
"getaways".
A timeline for these efforts and a brief description of scheduled
events follows:
- 2 Family Liaison group meetings (90 minute
sessions) (1/7/2002 and 1/10/2002)
- Family Liaison Questionnaire
was issued (to elicit questions, concerns, requests for
additional support)
- Family Liaison Workshops (5 hour sessions)
(2/28/2002 and 3/1/2002)
- Follow-up Letter encouraging
Family Liaisons to attend workshops (3/11/2002)
- 4 Educational/Informational
Meetings for Family Liaisons and family members (3 hour
sessions) (3/18, 3/20,
3/25, 3/27/2002)
- Workshop Weekend for Family Liaisons and
their families in upstate New York (3 days) (May 2002)
- UFA
(Uniformed Firefighters Assn.) Posting for Family Liaisons
to seek support (5/6/2002)
- Information Sharing Meeting
for Family Liaisons (6/25/2002)
- Workshop Weekend for Family
Liaisons and their families in upstate New York (3 days)
(July 2002)
- Follow-up Letter to Family Liaisons after
Ground Zero closing (September 2002)
- Information Sharing
Meeting for Family Liaisons (1/24/2003)
- Follow-up Letter
to Family Liaisons encouraging participation in CSU
(3/11/2003)
- Follow-up Letter to Family Liaisons reminding
them of available services (11/20/2003)
Totals:
2 three-day family weekend getaway trips
6 education/information sharing meetings
2 Family Liaison group meetings
2 Family Liaison group workshops
5 follow-up letters/communications to Family Liaisons
1 Family Liaison questionnaire to gauge effect on Family Liaisons
Contact: Francis X. Gribbon / Michael Loughran
(FDNY) (718) 999-2056
http://www.nyc.gov/fdny
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