On-Call

We’re here for you and your loved ones, for life.

Welcome

We are so excited to be able to share this special on-call magazine with you, which aims to highlight the many ways we can be there for you and your family to protect your wellbeing in the years ahead.

We understand that balancing your on-call commitments with your home life can be tough, the different jobs and roles, busy family life and managing the impact of the pager. We are also very proud of what you do in communities all over the country as a critical part of the fire family. That’s why we’ve created this dedicated space to support you, because your health and wellbeing matters.

The magazine is packed full of the many ways that, together, we can make a difference to your own and your family’s health and wellbeing; services that you can access online, in person and in your local community.

Thank you for all that you do and remember we care about your wellbeing. We are always on call for you too.

Joss Gaynor Director of Health Improvement and Influencing

Contents

P2 Welcome

P4 We’re on-call for you

P5 My Fire Fighters Charity: An introduction to our online community and On-Call Crew

P6 Online courses: A look at some of our online courses

P7 Our Family Hub: How to find support for your loved ones

P8 Webinars and workshops: Relevant and up to date guidance

P9 Here for you, for life: A lifetime of support for you and your family

P10 Meet Iwan: How we helped on-call firefighter Iwan and his family

P12 Did you know? A snapshot look at ways we can help you

P14 How we’re funded: Ways you can support us, so we can support you

P16 Who do you know? Would your employer partner with us?

P17 Take a break with us: Book a holiday with us and change a life

P18 Fire Family Fundraiser: Plan a challenge and help your on-call colleagues

P19 Get in touch: All the numbers and details you need

Copyright

Registered Office: Level 6, Belvedere, Basing View, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 4HG.

We’re on-call for you

Life as an on-call firefighter can be a juggling act. Two jobs, family, relationships, the ever-present pager. We get it. So, we’re here to help with your health and wellbeing, whatever that might mean for you.

Whether you’re in your first week as an on-call firefighter, or you’ve been in the job for years, you and your dependants are eligible to access our huge range of support, services, information and online

courses, all of which are open to you today.

We are here to help you live well, as well as when things get tough. So, whether it’s advice on getting a good night’s sleep, ideas for keeping the kids amused during the holidays, help with budget planning or tips for healthy meals, we’ve got you covered.

Here, over the next few pages, is a taster of what you can expect.

My Fire Fighters Charity: Advice at your fingertips

We know that time is short. There’s barely enough of it in the day to juggle work, fire service duty and family. So, to make life easier, our online community, My Fire Fighters Charity, is all you need to take advantage of everything we can support you with.

Through it – on your desktop or via the app - you can access your OnCall Hub, where you’ll find articles, videos and interactive courses on everything from preventing burnout

to help with stress, relationships and family welfare. What’s more, you can also join our On-Call Crew Group, where you can meet other on-call personnel from across the UK. A two-way platform where you can reach us and we, hopefully, can make a difference to you. We’re updating My Fire Fighters Charity all the time, so log in and tell us what you’d like to see.

Register: firefighterscharity.org.uk/myffc

Online courses: Take control of your learning

Accessible through My Fire Fighters Charity and our website, we have a host of online courses that can help with many of the challenges that on-call firefighters across the UK have told us impact their lives.

Our self-directed online wellbeing programme - the Hope Programme - is perfect for building up a toolkit of knowledge, skills and strategies to help you cope with life’s challenges. Our easy access online

courses, meanwhile, are designed to fit around your busy life. Ranging from five minutes to six weeks, the courses cover everything from sleep, stress and general anxiety to building resilience, strengthening relationships and preventing burnout.

So, wherever you are, and whatever time you have, you’ll find an online course that can help you to take positive steps forward with the challenges you’re facing.

Family Hub: Activities and advice for families

We know how proud families are of being part of the fire family but also the pressure it can add to family life. To help families we have created a dedicated section on our website and My Fire Fighters Charity, to help.

On our Family Hub you’ll find a collection of great resources and activities for on-call families. From colouring sheets to ideas for holidays and ways to be active together, we’re always adding to our collection of tools and tips to help you enjoy time together.

Also on our Family Hub, find out about:

• The full range of services available to you, your partner and family

• Our free children’s book The Wolf Was Not Sleeping

• Child and Family Weeks

• Rest and Recharge breaks for the whole family

• Psychological support for 16-17 year olds

• Welfare support and help at home

Webinars and workshops: Relevant and up to date guidance from experts

Our teams regularly run free online webinars and workshops, on a broad range of health and wellbeing subjects aimed at oncall personnel and their families.

From stress, anxiety and sleep issues, to building resilience and understanding the menopause, we’re happy to run webinars and workshops on any of the health and wellbeing issues affecting you and your family.

You can join any of our webinars live, or you can watch them back on ShoutTV!, our YouTube channel.

Our more interactive workshops, meanwhile, allow you to delve deeper into subjects with members of our wellness coaching team.

A great opportunity to find out more and to interact with our experts, keep an eye on our social media and website for details of upcoming webinars and workshops.

Here for you…for life

Once you’ve served as an on-call firefighter for five years, you are a beneficiary of The Fire Fighters Charity for life, and so are your partner and dependant loved ones. *

So, whatever health and wellbeing concerns you have, or improvements you’d like to make, we’ll be here for you and your dependants throughout your life.

Even if you leave the Service after five years, you and your

dependants are still eligible to use any of our Services and access all of our health and wellbeing resources, whenever you wish.

Indeed, we have a range of services, activities and programmes for people who have left or retired, helping you to reconnect with your time in the Service and to live well.

Find out more:

firefighterscharity.org.uk/lifetime

Meet Iwan

On-call firefighter Iwan Ward, his wife Anita and their two sons received our support during a challenging time. Here, they share their story…

No-one can predict when a difficult shout will leave a lasting impact on you. For Mid and West Wales on-call firefighter Iwan Ward, it came in 2023, and led to months of challenges with his mental health.

Fortunately, he knew we were there to offer support and reached out to us early. Since then, we’ve supported him through remote counselling and welcomed him and his family to Harcombe House for a Rest and Recharge stay.

Iwan, 40, works full-time as a window cleaner, alongside his oncall role. He’s also a local councillor and has two young sons with his wife, Anita, so life can be a major juggling act at times. That said, he wouldn’t change any of it and has always felt incredibly proud of his firefighting role.

While Iwan knew about the support we offer, he didn’t call us until last year when he started facing challenges with his mental health.

“We lost a little girl in a house fire last year and, for me, that was a tipping point because we’d had a really rough 12 to 18 months as a station leading up to it,” says Iwan. “I think I probably saw more bad deaths and fires in that 18 months than I’d seen in the last 15 years.

“When the incident happened, it was 9.30pm at night so my boys were still awake. Then as I came home in the morning, my kids were waking up, so that was tough –stepping back into family life.”

Iwan says he struggled to open up to his family about how he was feeling. He also found it difficult to sleep and often woke up to flashbacks from the fire. While he says he didn’t feel at a point of

crisis, he knew getting support as early as possible was key.

“I knew, while I might be okay with it at first, I didn’t know what I’d be like in 10, 15, 20 years,” he admits. “I’ve seen people trying to be strong and then in 10, 15 years, they’re finished. I wanted to deal with it straight away.”

The whole family benefited from a rest and recharge stay at Harcombe House, and Iwan followed the visit up with remote counselling sessions. He says: “It was amazing, it was just a chance to talk about everything. I can’t recommend it enough.”

Watch Iwan and his wife Anita’s full video interview: www. firefighterscharity.org.uk/iwan

Did you know?

We can help you with all this and more…

Getting fitter

Nutrition advice

Tips to combat poor sleep

Wellness Coaching

Overall boost to your wellbeing and lifestyle

Mindfulness and relaxation exercises

Help following a battle with Covid-19

Long or short-term illnesses

Home adaptations and specialist equipment

Bereavement support

Social connection in retirement

Help with accessing benefits

Support following trauma

Mental health support and guidance

Getting back on the run after an injury

Building resilience

Financial advice and support

Physiotherapy

Suicide crisis support

Psychological support for 16-17 year-olds

In 2022/23…

We helped 10,367 beneficiaries in total across the UK

102 on-call firefighters attended an online Hope Programme

222 wellness workshops were delivered across 17 different fire and rescue services

6,248 digital consultations were delivered across physical and psychological services

We held 7 Child and Family Weeks at Harcombe House

20 Living Well Groups met regularly

Over 10,000 free copies of our children’s book, The Wolf Was Not Sleeping, were sent to families across the UK

How we’re funded

All the many and varied ways we can support you won’t cost you a penny. However, we wouldn’t be able to offer any of them without your support either.

As your charity, we are almost entirely funded by the generosity of members of the fire services community across the UK.

Through donations and fundraising, your colleagues, friends and families come together to help raise the £12m we need each year to make a difference to the lives of over 10,000 people.

Indeed, just as you are there for your local communities through

£5 a month:

thick and thin, helping to raise the income we need to run our services means that you and your colleagues are there for each other too.

You can help us to ensure your colleagues across the UK get the support they need by becoming a regular donor today.

Simply visit

www.firefighterscharity.org.uk/ donate

Helps towards funding a monthly one-to-one digital session for an on-call firefighter in a remote location

£10 a month:

Helps towards funding a specialist session for a on-call firefighter experiencing trauma

Other ways to support us

As well as a regular donation, there are a host of other ways you can support us.

1. Take on a challenge: Whether it’s completing a marathon, climbing a mountain or sitting in a bath of beans, each year our supporters take on some incredible personal and organised challenges for us. Find out about all our events at www. firefighterscharity.org.uk/ getinvolved.

2. Recycle your old clothes: Clear space in your wardrobe and do good by donating your old clothing at one of our dedicated recycling banks. Find your nearest one at www.firefighterscharity. org.uk/recycling.

3. Visit our shop: With a great range of gifts, merchandise and clothing, The Fire Fighters Charity Shop is bound to have something for you. Browse our selection at www.firefighterscharity.org.uk/ shop.

4. Donate your time: We couldn’t do what we do without the support of our incredible volunteers across the UK. There are plenty of ways you can volunteer. Visit www. firefighterscharity.org.uk/ volunteer to find out more.

Who do you know?

When businesses and organisations lend us their support, it gives our fundraising a real boost. So, we’d like to know whether your employer would be interested in partnering with us?

Who do you work for in your day job? Do you have a relative, friend or contact who works for an organisation which supports charities? Or are you simply looking at new ways to fundraise for an event or challenge you have coming up?

If the answer to any of these is ‘yes,’ we’d love to know.

Partnering with your employer could be a great way for them to show

their support of you, their fire and rescue service, and of its on-call firefighters.

We’re asking you to consider any businesses or larger corporations you know of that could either offer a donation to us or consider us as their charity of choice when it comes to their fundraising efforts.

To find out more email our corporate team at corporate@ firefighterscharity.org.uk

Take a break with us

Have you heard about our holiday rentals?

All year round, we’re pleased to offer you the chance to book a holiday with us at one of our picturesque centres across the UK.

Everyone needs a break sometimes, and when you’re working on-call, we know finding time to enjoy a getaway with your family or friends is incredibly important.

We have year-round dates available to book a short break with us at our centres in Devon, Cumbria or West Sussex. And this would be a holiday with a difference…

Each time you book, you’ll be directly supporting your colleagues and their families across the UK, as all profit from our holiday rental business helps to fund our vital support services.

We have self-catered bungalows and apartments available to book at Harcombe House in Devon, Marine Court in Littlehampton and Jubilee House in Cumbria, with great facilities available at each of our sites to make your holiday one to remember.

Find out more at

https://www.firefighterscharity.org.

uk/holiday-rentals.

Fire Family Fundraiser

Set yourself a personal challenge, or come together as a team. However you want to fundraise, there’s a Fire Family Fundraiser for you.

All year round, on-call fire and rescue service personnel across the UK take on Fire Family Fundraisers to help us raise the £12m we need each year to positively impact the lives of over 10,000 people.

We have all the tools you need to get started - from fun and creative inspiration for all abilities, to social media images, posters and packs - as well as a simple way to register your events on My Fire Fighters Charity and our website.

Whether you fancy testing your physical endurance, holding a bake sale or taking on a crochet challenge, our teams have tonnes of ideas to help you find a Fundraiser that works for you.

You can also chat to others on My Fire Fighters Charity to find out more about how people go the extra fundraising mile, and share your photos along the way.

Find out more and register your Fire Family Fundraiser at www.firefighterscharity.org.uk/firefamilyfundraiser

Get in touch, here’s

how…

Every phone number and link you need to get in touch with and find out more about how we can help you and your family today, tomorrow and into the future.

Suicide Crisis Line: 0300 3730896

Our 24/7 crisis line is open day and night, for any member of the fire services community experiencing thoughts of suicide.

Support Line: 0800 3898820

If you think you might need our support, or that you might benefit from one of our residential, in-person or online programmes, call our Support Line to find out more. Our dedicated Assessment Practitioner team will chat your situation through with you and help you to access the right service and support.

Our website: www.firefighterscharity.org.uk

Everything you need to know about how we can help you, as well as a simple request for support for support form available at: firefighterscharity.org.uk/support.

My Fire Fighters Charity:

Our online community and health and wellbeing hub, join My Fire Fighters Charity to access resources, courses and much more. Apply for support, join our On Call Crew group, meet others.

Register online: www.firefighterscharity.org.uk/myffc

Download the app (Apple App Store)

Download the app (Android Google Play Store)

Find us on social media:

X: @firefighters999

Facebook: /thefirefighterscharity

Instagram: @thefirefighterscharity

LinkedIn: @thefirefighterscharity