{"id":2118,"date":"2026-06-16T13:04:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T13:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=2118"},"modified":"2026-06-16T13:04:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T13:04:37","slug":"arizona-bill-aims-to-expand-mental-health-support-for-first-responders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=2118","title":{"rendered":"Arizona bill aims to expand mental health support for first responders"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 The average person may face a handful of traumatic events in their lifetime, but for first responders, trauma is a daily part of the job.<\/p>\n

Read more Florida man found driving with 34 open cans of alcohol, troopers say<\/a><\/p>\n

A bill now on Gov. Katie Hobbs\u2019 desk aims to make it easier for public safety professionals to access mental health support to process that trauma.<\/p>\n

SB 1400, sponsored by Senate Public Safety Committee Chairman Kevin Payne, passed the Legislature this month with bipartisan support. The bill still needs Hobbs\u2019 signature to become law.<\/p>\n

First responders answer call after call after call, running toward danger and disaster to save and protect others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey might go from a fatal car accident to a child drowning to then having to give somebody CPR in one shift,\u201d said Dave Goetia, a Glendale police officer.<\/p>\n

Phoenix firefighter and paramedic Gary Nolte said the traumatic scenes stay with first responders long after the call ends.<\/p>\n

\u201cKids injured or sick and or dying. The parent screams stick with us. The anguish, the pain that we see on scene,\u201d Nolte said.<\/p>\n

The toll of trauma<\/h2>\n

The constant compounding trauma can take a toll on a first responder\u2019s mental health. But that\u2019s not easy to admit, even for veterans like Nolte.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose six letters are what\u2019s killing firemen, S-T-I-G-M-A, the stigma,\u201d Nolte said. \u201cGuys don\u2019t want to go get help, and then they start coping in unhealthy ways. And we are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott Stahl, an employee assistance officer with the Glendale Police Department, said many officers don\u2019t realize the impact their work has on their personal lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t realize that they are going home and they\u2019re taking all of this trauma home with them and the effect that it does have on their family,\u201d Stahl said.<\/p>\n

Goetia knows that toll firsthand. Glendale Police Officer Anthony Holly was shot and killed during a traffic stop in 2007. Holly had been Goetia\u2019s backup that day.<\/p>\n

\u201cPTSD, survivor\u2019s guilt, you know, the why, you know, how did I survive this and Tony didn\u2019t?,\u201d Goetia said.<\/p>\n

Read more Baby delivered after pregnant mother of 6 dies at central Phoenix motel<\/a><\/p>\n

Goetia said he wishes he had faced his inner turmoil head on instead of burying himself in work and suppressing his feelings.<\/p>\n

What the bill does<\/h2>\n

The legislation would allow law enforcement agencies and other public safety organizations to establish wellness and crisis response programs. Those programs could include counseling, peer support, crisis intervention services and other resources for employees who experience traumatic events in the line of duty.<\/p>\n

The bill also protects the confidentiality of communications made during counseling and support sessions.<\/p>\n

The legislation includes exceptions to confidentiality for situations involving clear and present danger, criminal investigations, threats of harm and certain policy violations that constitute crimes. <\/p>\n

Glendale\u2019s existing program<\/h2>\n

Glendale Police already have this kind of program, and Stahl helped write the bill. He is part of the department\u2019s employee assistance unit, which responds to every incident involving a child, bad car wrecks and brutal murders \u2014 anything that may cause an officer to struggle after seeing.<\/p>\n

The goal is to have someone there solely to support the people taking care of everyone else.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a therapist or anything like that. So everything is peer-to-peer. And it calms them and they\u2019re more willing to open up,\u201d Stahl said. \u201cPart of that stigma of not talking is fear that they\u2019re going to lose their job, that they\u2019re going to be found not fit for duty, and that\u2019s just not the case,\u201d Stahl said.<\/p>\n

Getting help sooner<\/h2>\n

From personal experience, Nolte knows holding it in only makes it worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s PTS, which is post-traumatic stress. If I would have gotten help sooner, I would have stopped it from becoming post-traumatic stress disorder,\u201d Nolte said.<\/p>\n

Times are changing. Asking for help is no longer viewed as a shameful sign of weakness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, it\u2019s a sign of strength,\u201d Goetia said.<\/p>\n

Recent traumatic incident<\/h2>\n

On Memorial Day this year, police say a Glendale mother shot and killed her two young children before turning the gun on herself. Some of the officers who worked that scene have been on leave since the incident to focus on their mental health, according to a Glendale Police spokesperson.<\/p>\n

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? <\/i>Please click here to report it<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send <\/i>it to us here<\/i> with a brief description.<\/i><\/p>\n

Read more Isolated thundershowers still in the game<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A bill now on Gov. Katie Hobbs\u2019 desk aims to make it easier for public safety professionals to access mental health support to process that trauma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nArizona bill aims to expand mental health support for first responders - Tucson Moving Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=2118\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arizona bill aims to expand mental health support for first responders - Tucson Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A bill now on Gov. 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