Join us for a community mental health awareness event!
April 17, 2024, 5:30pm
Stratham Fire Station
To wrap up our PTSD Awareness campaign Lights 4 Lives is partnering with the NH Suicide Prevention Council committee for First Responders to host a community event on April 17, 2025 at 5:30pm. Join us a for a free pizza dinner and hear experts speak about mental health awareness in our community and resources available. Ms. Wagner will speak about normalizing the conversation around mental health and Ms. Jewell will share insights on sharing yoga with all individuals including survivors of trauma. The event is free and open to the public, but for planning purposes, please register through the QR code above or click on "JOIN US" to register.
Resources for those struggling with mental health.
Raising Awareness of PTSD in First Responders
This year, we had the honor and privilege of partnering with the Stratham Volunteer Fire Department to raise awareness of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in First Responders. PTSD is a mental health condition that may occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, series of events or circumstances. An individual may experience this as emotionally or physically harmful or life-threatening and may affect mental, physical, social, and/or spiritual well-being. (Psychiatry.org)
We have partnered with a Stratham retired Assistant Fire Chief and his service dog Cocoa with the goal of raising funds for Cocoa's training. The cost of purchasing a trained service dog can be as high as $50,000, depending on the needs, and insurance does not typically cover of any it. Training takes approximately two years and the typical “working life” for a service dog is between 6 and 8 years.
Update on Cocoa
Cocoa joined her forever family when she was 3 months old. She is now 15 months and has nearly completed her first year of training. She has learned basic obedience and commands and some specific task training such as medication alerts and providing a sense of safety. She knows that she is "on the clock and working" when she wears her vest and she can distinguish between when she can socialize with other animals and when she must ignore them and give her full attention to her owner.
"Cocoa wakes me up from bad dreams and nightmares and is working on alerts such as phones ringing, alarms and sirens. She will nose or paw at me or press hard into me. She will jump on me if needed. By doing this she is making me switch my attention to her and away from what's going on around me." (Cocoa's owner)
DONATE
Donations are still being accepted and will go towards continued training for Cocoa.
Thanks to everyone who supported L4L this year! We hope you enjoyed Frights 4 Lives, the Halloween Pet Costume contest, the Santa Parade and the Bonfire!
