Center faculty, Rachel Topazian, PhD, was recently awarded two federal grants to study job-related mental health issues for firefighers.
Topazian is an assistant professor affiliated with the Centers for Health, Work and Environment and the Injury and Violence Prevention Center at CU Anschutz and the Center for Firefighter Injury Research and Safety Trends at Drexel University.
"Firefighters are at high risk for adverse mental health outcomes like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder," said Topazian. "These projects are designed to help us better understand and improve firefighter mental health, providing critical support to the first responders who protect our communities."
Topazian's pilot project is funded by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Mountain and Plains Education and Research Center, and will examine firefighter interest in psychedelic-assisted mental health treatment. "Colorado is one of the first states to legalize psychedelics, but we don’t know whether Colorado fire departments have policies addressing legal psychedelic use, or if firefighters are interested in pursuing psychedelic use for mental health," said Topazian.
Mike DiStefano, PhD, MBe, Assistant Professor in the Center for Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the CU Skaggs School of Pharmacy is a key collaborator on this project.
"We know that firefighters experience high rates of PTSD and depression, two conditions that people may try to treat with psilocybin," he said. "Colorado provides a unique opportunity to study how to support safe and effective psilocybin use in this population amid widening regulated and unregulated access."
Topazian is also begining a project funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Firefighters have concerns about confidentiality that prevent them from accessing mental and behavioral health care. This study will identify best practices for protecting firefighter confidentiality, assess firefighters’ confidentiality preferences, and develop a toolkit to help fire departments implement confidential mental health programs.