ITHACA, N.Y. (WHCU) – When Danielle Schwarz, then a data analyst with the Tompkins County Department of Emergency Response (TCDoER), set out to attend a seminar in late 2023, she wasn’t fully aware of how transformative it would be.

Schwarz, herself a decades-long veteran of emergency services, heard about a training program through Ithaca and Tompkins County’s Community Justice Center (CJC). The program, a Post Critical Incident Seminar (PCIS), was given through the New York Law Enforcement Assistance Program or NYLEAP, a non-profit group started by career patrol officer Jim Banish to help first responders deal with work-related stress, trauma, and PTSD.

The class helped Schwarz realize how valuable speaking to people with similar experiences can be, and how peer support and mental health resources are both needed and lacking.

Schwarz brought the idea of centralizing a peer support network to Tompkins County Department of Emergency Response Director Mike Stitely, who told Schwarz that the CJC had an officer wellness working group.

 

Schwarz was then named Peer Services Coordinator. Her family suffered a loss in January that intensified her haste in developing the program, which thus far, is completely voluntary and funded by donations and grants. She reached out to NYLEAP to bring several trainings to the area, and it led her down a path that yielded a regional partner in her endeavor.

Jessica MacDonald, of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Finger Lakes, was looking to bring in the same trainings for the same population. Schwarz says they work well together, and the momentum picked up.

“I can’t thank Jessica McDonald enough,” said Schwarz. “She has helped tremendously. She has been doing a lot of work, seeking out a lot of different funding to help us get this up and going. She deserves a lot of credit for this.”

Schwarz is charging ahead with a nod to operations from a NAMI affiliate in North Texas.

“We are still working out some of the finer points,” said Schwarz. “We are in the process of building a website, we’re working on establishing a 24/7 phone number. We hope to also get an app out there so people have the capability to text.”

TCDoER’s Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Team, which is an intervention protocol developed for dealing with traumatic events, was a separate project that began developing late last year. It has been folded into the peer services efforts. It will help the network have a broad and thorough approach.

The early response at trainings, which have included dozens of people from different counties in different lines of service, have Schwarz hopeful the network will thrive and grow across the region and state.

“More and more, the pandemic showed how lacking our mental health resources were,” said Schwarz.

 

In addition to peer support and family support services, eventually Schwarz would like to work in a therapy dog program and incorporate a treatment facility option for first responders at Valor Station in Georgia. Valor Station, also started by NYLEAP’s Jim Banish, is a non-profit intensive outpatient treatment center.

Schwarz says they’re looking to have all aspects of the network ready to launch this summer.

Schwarz comes from a family with a rich history in all military service branches. She’s currently studying to get her graduate degree in clinical mental health counseling and wants to focus on veterans and first responders when she’s done.

 

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. If you or someone you know is struggling, resources are available.