{"id":386952,"date":"2026-03-15T21:49:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T21:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/386952\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T21:49:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T21:49:20","slug":"henrico-firefighters-first-group-of-first-responders-in-the-country-to-get-anonymous-mental-health-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/386952\/","title":{"rendered":"Henrico firefighters first group of first responders in the country to get anonymous mental health app"},"content":{"rendered":"

HENRICO, Va. (WWBT) – Henrico County firefighters now have access to a new mental health app that allows them to seek support anonymously, making the department the first group of first responders in the country to use the platform.<\/p>\n

The app, called Sound Off, was developed by William Negley, a former CIA officer who served in Afghanistan. Negley said anonymity was central to the app\u2019s design after observing that stigma prevented people from seeking help through traditional channels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re simply not going to walk it into CIA mental health services to talk about our drinking problems,\u201d Negley said. \u201cLike, that was just a non-starter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HenricoHenrico Fire Department(wwbt)<\/p>\n

Negley originally launched Sound Off to serve veterans and U.S. Special Operations personnel. He said the first responder community faces elevated levels of trauma that often go unaddressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know in the first responder community there is significantly increased levels of trauma,\u201d Negley said.<\/p>\n

The app works by giving users an alias. Once linked to their organization, they gain access to mental health and peer support resources matched to their background. <\/p>\n

\"HenricoHenrico County firefighters now have access to a new mental health app that allows them to seek support anonymously, making the department the first in the country to use the platform.(wwbt)<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re a Navy SEAL, if you\u2019re a Henrico County firefighter, if you\u2019re a Green Beret, what that allows us to do is pair you with the clinical or peer support resources that we have for you,\u201d Negley said.<\/p>\n

The decision to create an anonymous mental health resource hit home for Negley after a personal loss. Negley said his brother-in-law, a former Navy SEAL, died by suicide 127 days after separating from the service. \u201cBill had meaningfully unlimited access to mental health support, but he was never going to walk into a room and expose himself like that,\u201d Negley said.<\/p>\n

Henrico County Division of Fire Chief Jackson Baynard said the death of a department lieutenant prompted leadership to move quickly to adopt the platform.<\/p>\n

\"HenricoHenrico County Division of Fire Chief Jackson Baynard.(wwbt)<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of our lieutenants, Michael O\u2019Brien, committed suicide,\u201d Baynard said. \u201cAs a chief of a department, that hit hard, hit heavy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baynard said firefighters regularly encounter scenes that stay with them long after a call ends. \u201cYou can ask probably any firefighter, you know, what still haunts you to this day, and there will be calls that cycle through,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s taken to some people where they say, \u2018I can\u2019t do it anymore. I can\u2019t see another body lying in the road. I can\u2019t see another traffic fatality.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He said some firefighters have turned to alcohol to cope. \u201cMaybe I just need to have a couple drinks to calm my nerves,\u201d Baynard said.<\/p>\n

\"HenricoHenrico County firefighters now have access to a new mental health app that allows them to seek support anonymously, making the department the first in the country to use the platform.(wwbt)<\/p>\n

Amber Harris, an outreach case manager with the Henrico Fire Care Team, will serve as a peer supporter on the app. Harris said she has personal experience with substance use disorder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI almost lost everything due to my addiction \u2014 my children, my home, my vehicle, my nursing license was investigated,\u201d Harris said. \u201cSo I have firsthand experience and knowledge of how difficult the disease of substance use disorder is and how much support and understanding is needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris said her background will inform how she supports firefighters who reach out. \u201cI love that with my experiences, I\u2019ll be able to support our own folks that I know how hard they work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Baynard said the department hopes the app will have a direct impact. \u201cHopefully it will save lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WWBT. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HENRICO, Va. (WWBT) – Henrico County firefighters now have access to a new mental health app that allows…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[276],"tags":[9,4302,18,135,19,17,21189,21187,21186,167,502,21188,21190,21185],"class_list":["post-386952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-eire","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-live-speeches","tag-live-updates","tag-live-video","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-press-conference","tag-real-time-coverage","tag-video-updates"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116235401191908222","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}