Thriving in the Fire Service

Dan’s personal life, education, and careers have offered him countless, invaluable lessons that provide the essence of his belief system and viewpoints.  He shares how his personal experience of growing up in an alcoholic family, educating himself, and his professional 30-year career in the Chicago Fire Department presented day to day encounters, both challenging and rewarding, that have shaped him into a strong and more resilient individual and peer supporter.  Additionally, Dan has spent nearly four decades working in the field of substance use and mental health counseling and addresses how each attendee can take his/her own personal experiences, along with the protective factors offered within the fire service to strengthen themselves and those around them. He closes by touching on how he believes all identified leaders within the fire service can successfully intervene in the presence of behavioral health issues within our career.

This class was created for serving firefighters and offered at FDIC. The content is applicable for all responder disciplines interested in building their resiliency.

Objectives:

1. Recognize the power of how all our personal experiences can equip us for success.
2. Identify qualities, especially those in supervisory positions, can demonstrate to facilitate a supportive, healthy, successful work environment.
3. Comprehend the importance and impact of a culturally competent approach to begin recovery.
4. Learn the “Stages of Change” and how significant it is for us to understand these as we support our own or someone else’s journey of recovery.

About the instructor: Dan DeGryse, CFO, BA, BS, CADC - Dan worked 30 years in the Chicago Fire Department.  He began his career in 1989 and was promoted up the ranks to Battalion Chief, earning the Chief Fire Officers designation before retiring in 2019. He has been a certified alcohol and drug counselor since 1991, which he utilized while serving as the Coordinator of the Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for 14 years. In his position, aside from providing assessments, brief counseling, and referrals, he developed a peer support team, called “Gatekeepers”.  Dan spent 22 years as a member of the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) Behavioral Health Committee and is a master instructor for the IAFF Peer Support Training that he helped create.  Dan is also an instructor with the Illinois Fire Service Institute (IFSI) where he helped create the Resiliency project.  Dan is currently the National Referral Relations Specialist for Recovery Ways where they treat first responders in the “VALOR” program.