On the 4th of May Careline Clinic hosted a celebration for International Firefighters Day at their rehabiliation facility. After observing the firefighters day ceremony at the fire department and speaking at the event, CEO Mrs Yvette Lucas then led a group of firefighters who would be attending the event to Careline Clinic’s rehabilitation facility; Folang substance abuse rehabilitation facility.
Careline Clinic were joined by their partners Metropolitan who then presented to the fighters about how to be financially sound in this day and age. Mpho Segolela who conducted the presentation had the following to say, ” With this presentation we wanted to promote good financial management amongst the firefighters today. Here at Metropolitan our financial model is the 50, 30 and 20 rule. How this model works is that 50% of your money goes towards needs such as housing, rental and transport. 30% goes towards your wants such as entertainment and sports cars and the final 20% goes towards saving money for retirement. We believe that this principle will lead to financial stability for the long-term future of the not just fire-men here but the public in general. This will also allow them to choose how they would like to save their money and not just having different financial policies for the sake of it which we feel is unnecessary.” After completion of the presentation, Metropolitan gave the firefighters a token of appreciation for their bravery and dedication.
After this the firefighters then had a gym session with a representative from Ryan’s Gym. From there the firefighter’s split into two groups and went for a session with Social Workers and Occupational Therapists from Charne Bennett Social Work Services and Melissa Parkin Incorporated. Speaking on what inspired their sessions representatives from both practices said that they wanted to use a multi-disciplinary approach and presented the groups together. The theme centred around burnout which frequently occurs amongst those who work in high-stress work environments such as firefighters. With the social worker’s activity, the firefighters were blindfolded and completed an activity called “step forward if” where they would answer questions and step forward if they answered yes. Questions ranged from whether the firefighters felt any frustrations at their workplace to if they had experienced any traumas at their workplace. This was to demonstrate to them that most likely all of them have experienced trauma or stress to some degree. After this was done the firefighters went for their occupational therapy debriefing session where the emotions elicited during the warm up activity was discussed further. Anger was identified as a prominent emotions and the underlying emotions and complexities of anger was further explored. They were given a presentation on burnout and how they can use certain coping methods to prevent burnout and dealt with daily stressors not only at work but also daily life.
Careline Clinic would like to thank all the firefighters who attended the event and all the stakeholders who facilitated sessions on the day. Without all of you a day as successful as this doesn’t happen.
