Rest Stops
First responders are usually assigned to geographic districts where they patrol and work in order to be responsive to calls in an area. For most first responders, especially police officers, they frequently have to drive a distance to an office, fire station, or precinct to take a break or do paperwork. This can be both time-consuming and strategically inefficient, especially during major incidents.
A rest stop is a safe place for first responders to go when they are on duty.
How Rest Stops Work
A Rest Stop is an avenue for meaningful connection. It is offered without anything expected in return. It is the trusted connection between first responders and the community that conveys heartfelt support for these men and women. We have first responders using Rest Stops during overnight shifts and many days during their work week. Many express thanks for the Rest Stops and ask for help in establishing more in other areas of town.
Why Are Rest Stops Needed?
Valuing
Privacy
Mental
Health
For their own safety and that of the public, first responders remain on high alert, or hypervigilant, throughout a shift. They must be ready to confront emergent situations and threats to themselves or others. Rest Stops allow responders to step into a stable, secure environment that gives them a chance to regulate their own emotions and process difficult calls.
Responding to everyone’s worst day involves human suffering that most of us will never experience. A rest stop, unlike a community space such as a coffee shop, is an environment for first responders to discuss a call without exposing the public to the horrific nature of the event. The rest stop also allows for privacy involving sensitive information that needs to be kept confidential.
Police officers in particular can be vulnerable sitting in a car late at night writing a report under the dome light. Giving first responders secure access to a rest stop ensures that they limit their exposure to those who might otherwise wish them harm.
Safe
Space
Why Host a Rest Stop
People call 911 and state their need. First responders come as soon as they can, to every call, no matter the conditions and without regard to their own needs…and they do this repeatedly, every shift, every day, and in many cases, every hour.Much research has looked at the unique challenges facing first responders. They confront stress and trauma so regularly that they become vulnerable to Post Traumatic Stress Injury. As a result of the daily workplace realities, their personal and professional lives can be severely impacted by the added stressors.
So, what difference does it make if we provide a safe, caring place for them to catch their breath and be re-equipped emotionally? We have seen this make a significant difference in the churches hosting Rest Stops and in the first responders themselves.
A local pastor whose church hosts a rest stop has seen this change first-hand. Initially, when this pastor would go on ride-alongs with police officers, they would introduce him and the church he served. The officers would be polite and greet him and a few would stop and talk to him as they exited for their shift. After this church opened a Rest Stop, he was announced as a pastor from a church who had just opened a Rest Stop. The room erupted in applause and officers stood at the door to shake his hand and thank him. It was as if his church had discovered how to speak the local first responders’ language, and now many opportunities have been opened as this new trust has been established.
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