Find out how Fire Fighters Charity has supported service users across the UK and how you can share your story with the fire community. Click categories or regions below to filter the list of stories.
Victoria Kidner has shared her experience of losing her husband, Dan, to suicide in July 2022 and why she’s supporting our new crisis line and online suicide prevention and postvention resources. Dee Matthews works in Control at Heathrow Airport and shared how we helped her cope with incredibly difficult work pressures, alongside mental health challenges away from her job. Robyn Richardson not only experiences harrowing situations at work but has also been through incredibly difficult times in her personal life. Here she shares why she believes our new 24/7 Crisis Line is such a vital service. Colin Speight tragically died by suicide in December 2021, at the age of 47. Now, two of his closest friends and colleagues join his mum and step-dad in remembering him – and share their separate coping mechanisms after his death. Twiggy Lake says it was only once he retired as an on-call officer that the mental impact of some particularly traumatic shouts caught up with him – and he reached out for our help.
Victoria: “If the crisis line helps one person, that’s one family that doesn’t experience the trauma we have”
Dee: “I was always one of these people that said, ‘counselling’s not for me’, but it was so helpful”
Robyn: “We are exposed to a lot of trauma in Control – the charity is a great support for us”
Gordon & John: “Our friend took his own life – now we’re determined to continue his legacy”
Twiggy: “There must be so many on-call firefighters, like me, who never had help and are suffering now”
