Prevention Plus Program Coordinator Ron Ritter speaks to Burlington City first responders during a recent resiliency training class. The county offers the program to all police, firefighters, EMS personnel and other first responders to help protect them from stress and trauma.
Burlington County has created an initiative to better protect first responders from stress that frequently accompanies their jobs.
Commissioners voted last month to continue the county’s partnership with the nonprofit Prevention Plus of Burlington County to assist with a first-responder resiliency training program designed for police, firefighters and EMS personnel. The county is among the first in New Jersey to specifically train those responders.
According to the National Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an estimated 30% of first responders develop conditions such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, compared with 20% of the general population.
The program will have instructors from Prevention Plus and the state Department of Human Services visit firehouses, first-aid buildings, police departments and other locations to offer free training focused on mental health, stress awareness and coping techniques.
The classes are led by Brian Libetti, project director for the Department of Human Services, and Ron Ritter of Prevention Plus. Both are retired Evesham police officers with a combined 60 years of experience as responders. The county is using a portion of its Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Support Services Act grant to fund the initiative.
Burlington County first developed resiliency training for law-enforcement officers nine years ago. Due to its success, the state attorney general now requires it for all officers.
The county started its partnership with Prevention Plus in 2023. Some of the local departments and agencies that have undergone the training are the Mount Laurel, Willingboro, Evesham and Westampton fire departments, along with police from Burlington City, Edgewater Park, Riverton, Riverside and Westampton.
Any police agency, fire department or EMS squad interested in training can contact the county’s Department of Human Services at (609) 265-5144.
