In this episode, Laura Hall addresses the often-overlooked impact of secondary trauma on emergency responders and healthcare professionals, emphasising the need for meaningful mental health support and long-term resilience. Drawing on personal experience, the discussion challenges the effectiveness of traditional debriefing models, highlighting how well-intentioned but poorly designed institutional processes can fail staff working in chronically high-stress environments.

The conversation explores the consequences of this gap in support, including burnout, moral injury, and workforce attrition. To counter these trends, Laura introduces practical, accessible frameworks such as the Stress Continuum and the 3-3-3 Protocol. These tools provide clinicians with a shared language and structure to recognise early warning signs of psychological strain and to intervene before distress escalates.

A key theme is the concept of making green choices, small, proactive decisions that support recovery, regulation, and psychological safety following traumatic incidents. Rather than relying solely on post-incident interventions, the emphasis is on ongoing self-monitoring, peer support, and normalising conversations about mental wellbeing.

Ultimately, this episode calls for a cultural shift within organisations: from reactive, checkbox approaches to mental health, towards environments that prioritise emotional safety, mutual care, and staff retention through structured, evidence-informed support systems. You can read the blog here: https://highadventurehealthcare.substack.com/p/building-resiliency-in-responders

This Podcast is sponsored by World Extreme Medicine.

World Extreme Medicine provides internationally recognised education for clinicians and operators working in pre-hospital, remote, expedition, humanitarian, and high-risk environments. Their programmes focus on practical, experience-led learning, equipping professionals with the skills to make sound clinical and operational decisions when resources are limited, evacuation is delayed, and conditions are extreme.

With courses covering expedition and wilderness medicine, hostile environments, dive medicine, human performance, leadership, and austere care, World Extreme Medicine brings together a global faculty with real-world experience from some of the most challenging settings on earth. To explore courses, free educational resources, and upcoming webinars, visit: ⁠www.worldextrememedicine.com