As a member of the fire service, you’re already familiar with situational awareness. You have to complete a size-up of every scene before reacting. Internal situational awareness training (iSAT) follows the same idea. Learning to do an internal size-up will allow you to respond more effectively at home, at the fire station, and in the field. iSAT is based in the practice of mindfulness, and research shows that firefighters who participate in mindfulness are better able to cope with stress and anxiety, depression, and potential traumatic exposure. Exercises like iSAT have also shown to be effective for firefighter suicide prevention efforts.
The following exercises are designed to help you to build behavioral resiliency and endurance in order to be more effective on and off the job.
iSAT with COVID (Explicit- 10 min) – This iSAT exercise focuses on coping with the stress brought on by COVID-19.
Introduction to iSAT (10 min) – This will give you a description and rationale for iSAT and take you through a quick exercise.
iSAT with Breath (5 min) – Use this exercise after the intro to give you a brief challenge of focusing on the breath.
iSAT with Breath (10 min) – Use this exercise for an even longer challenge of focusing on the breath.
iSAT with Breath (15 min) – The longer the exercise the more challenging. Keep it going with 15 minutes.
iSAT with Thoughts (10 min) – This training is designed to teach you the skill of overcoming difficult thoughts.
iSAT with Being the Firehouse (10 min) – This exercise increases your ability to notice thoughts and feelings without getting carried away by.