Firefighter's Mental Health Journey Results in Wellness Room at Rock Creek, ID, Fire Station

Every year, 100 to 200 firefighters take their own life. It’s an epidemic amongst those that put the safety of others above their own. The trauma that firefighters are exposed to, on top of the outdated idea of “sucking it up” is what makes the dreaded number rise.

Johnson, a driver/operator for RCFD and was able to create a wellness room to help firefighters and spouses decompress and take time to take care of themselves. The room contains red-light therapy, a sauna, a cold plunge and a massage chair.

Chris’s story

The motivation behind the room comes from Johnson’s experience battling mental health and the ongoing struggles that he still faces every day.

His father was in the fire service for nearly 30 years and was medically retired. With his health going downhill, it started to weigh on Johnson’s family in 2017.

Divorce, financial issues, a bipolar diagnosis and arrests ensued over the next few months for his father, but it was in February 2008 when Johnson was standing at the Sundial Bridge in Redding, CA, on the phone with his mom saying he couldn’t take it anymore.

This trauma that Johnson faced as a senior in high school weighed heavily and it wasn’t until now that it came back to the surface. Now, he has a wife and two boys that are almost the same age difference as Johnson is with his own brother.

"The reason I share this story with you is because this is where my trauma started," Johnson told Firehouse.com. "I started to really feel that pressure of turning right into my dad. The service, a great marriage, two boys, so I started putting a lot of pressure on myself to be the best firefighter I could be. I lived a lot with the fear of looking like I was weak and looking like a failure."

On March 20, 2024, Johnson was at an outlying station when he sent multiple suicidal reels to his wife, Brittain, the night before. Waking up concerned and not being able to reach her husband, she called his best friend Dylon Baker, who is also a firefighter at the RCFD.

After talking to Brittain, Baker immediately reached out to Deputy Chief Ron Aguirre and Aguirre picked Johnson up from the station to address the concern. Tears began to roll down Johnson’s face and the lid that concealed all of Johnson’s trauma, burst.

Following a sit down with Johnson’s chief, Aaron Zent, and Aguirre, it was proposed to Johnson that he could go to the Jae Foundation, an organization that brings awareness to mental health and suicide, or Deer Hollow, a treatment center that focuses on trauma survivors, first responders and veterans.

The Jae Foundation was Johnson’s choice and Baker was able to get him there right away. Johnson spent the whole day talking with the founder, Jason Vickery, and their support team. After seeing his wife for the first time that day, it was decided that he would go to Deer Hollow because more help was needed.

That night Aguirre, Baker and Brittain drove Johnson to the 40-day recovery program in Draper, UT. On April 30, Johnson graduated from the program after diving into his trauma and talking with professionals. He was isolated from the outside world with little contact with his family and took lessons and strategies that he will carry on with him forever.

"The biggest thing that I learned from Deer Hollow is that I was stuck back in 2007 and 2008," Johnson recalled. "They worked on that to get me unstuck to where I can live in the present."

When he arrived home, Brittain saw the happiness in his eyes again. She emphasized how eye-opening the situation was and that it helped her recognize some of her own mental health battles.

Johnson took a month off of work to transition back home and that was difficult for him. When he returned to work, he had nothing but support from the department.

"Everyone was great," Johnson remarked. "The guys were hugely supportive. While I was at Deer Hollow, I was afraid of being judged or ridiculed and that was completely false."

To this day, Johnson hasn’t taken a sip of alcohol or an energy drink since his admittance to Deer Hollow and is down 30 pounds.

RCFD started a peer support group to let others know that it is okay to be open and to share things that you normally wouldn’t.

"If you're struggling, go ask somebody to listen to you," said Johnson "Everybody wants to help. We're in the job of helping people. It's okay, if you're not doing well."

The wellness room

Three months ago, Johnson was talking with a firefighter who pointed out how beneficial it would be to have a sauna in the firehouse, and another conversation happened between senior volunteer firefighter Chris Nelson and Johnson about costs.

All it took was a few emails with Golden Design Inc. and an explanation behind why they wanted a red-light sauna for the RCFD. If the station covered the shipping costs, Golden Design would donate the sauna. Even the $380 shipping cost was covered by Johnson’s mother.

Chris reached out to Float Magic, a wellness center in Twin Falls, about a massage chair and they had a new one that they were willing to donate to the room.

Even with the chair being delivered, Johnson did not have approval from the chiefs on any of it. Johnson started with RCFD Capt. Gary Sabin and provided him with research about how beneficial the tools can be.

"There's more to this wellness room. It's about people's overall wellness," said Sabin. "The sauna is great for after structure fires for cancer prevention, and help with your mental health, in general."

However, after a presentation that his wife built and having the owner of Float Magic as a subject matter expert, with the stipulation of it not costing a dime for the district, Johnson got the green light with Aguirre exclaiming his full support for him, "I'm going to help him push this across and go as hard as I possibly can," said Aguirre.

A space within the locker room was utilized for the wellness room. Moving a wall, tearing out a sink and inserting new flooring was the next challenge for Johnson. Within 28 days, demolition and construction were completed without a penny being spent by the district.

The companies that helped were:

• Builders First Source Donated lumber to build the walls
• Kimberly Construction: Built the walls
• Legacy Flooring: Did the flooring
• Pacific Supply: Provided mud, tape and drywall
• Garibo’s Construction: Hung the drywall
• Petersen Brothers Construction: Did all the mud and tape
• Standlee: Gave financial donation including the cold plunge
• Home Heating & Air: Did HVAC
• Mito Red Light: Donated the red-light panels
• Select Source: Donated Paint
• Painter: Donated his time and skills
• Anitas Buck n Bar: Provided a monetary donation
• Dylon Baker: Did the electrical work
• Todd Sherwood Gallery: Photo for room

Support provides for firefighters, spouses

The room can be used by firefighters and spouses that are off duty from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and there has been a signficant buy-in throughout the department.

"Home life can be completely different, and the spouses get the brunt of that," Johnson tells Firehouse. "We're trying hard to change that. We're trying to figure out a way to get spousal support almost to the same level as firefighter support."

Johnson gives a lot of credit to the community because they saw the need for it and jumped into help.

Throughout the time of building the room and getting the donations accrued provided some worry throughout the department on Johnson’s behalf. It was a lot to take on.

"I knew when he started talking about it, that it was going to get bigger than he ever expected," explained Baker. "I think his vision of this wellness room, helping others and helping himself, gave him the power to stay grounded."

"I put a lot of weight on myself, and I could feel it," said Johnson. "There were some challenging times for me. I broke some boundaries that I set."

Johnson was able to take those strategies and strongholds he got from Deer Hollow and get back on the train of working on his mental health and taking care of himself.

"I think that's a huge part of the fire service that everybody misses," said Baker. "We are so fixated on helping others that we forget about ourselves. I think that's the biggest benefit of that room, it is just making sure that we're ready to do our job when we're called."

After all the hard work, the room was opened for use on Oct. 9.

"I told him you don't have to have a gold collar pin to be a leader," said Aguirre. "For such a young person in the fire service to exhibit the kind of leadership that that kid has, he's going to move mountains in his career. He's going to do phenomenal things."

The nonprofit

Taking this effort beyond RCFD, Johnson and his wife started a nonprofit, Two-In-Two-Out Wellness, with their mission focus on bringing wellness resources directly into firehouses, while also extending support to spouses and families who carry this journey alongside their firefighters. There are intentions of creating wellness groups and rooms in fire stations throughout the nation.

"There's nobody who is better to preach about taking care of yourself, than him," said Brittain.

"Eighteen months ago, if Baker hadn’t answered my wife's phone call, I don't know if I would have made it any further than that shift," said Johnson.