Date
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
Time
11:30 AM - 12:15 PM
Track
LEAD Series - Company Officer
Name
Moral Resilience Workshop: Unpacking Moral Distress, Discussing Mitigation strategies, and Building Resilience
Description

Firefighters experience moral distress when they know what the right thing to do is but are unable to do it. The goal of our session is to equip attendees with an understanding of moral distress in the fire service and discuss practical strategies for mitigating firefighter moral distress and building moral resilience. We will briefly present the results from our recent research examining moral distress among Colorado firefighters then discuss case studies of moral distress and how to address it. The case studies will involve interactive discussion about the causes of moral distress (e.g. misuse of the 911 system, organizational policies) and the ways in which firefighters can manage and reduce moral distress (e.g. by speaking up or taking action, debriefs, peer support).

Rachel Topazian Gianna Morales