Stony Brook Medicine will launch a new program aimed at preventing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among first responders in New York and Texas starting in 2026. The initiative is funded by a five-year, $3.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), which will run through June 2030.
The program, called Worker Resilience Training (WRT), is a four-hour interactive workshop designed to educate firefighters and emergency medical services workers about the health effects of traumatic exposures and PTSD. WRT also teaches coping strategies and resilience practices such as stress management and healthy lifestyle behaviors. The training was developed by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences together with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Adam Gonzalez, professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Stony Brook University’s Renaissance School of Medicine, leads the project team from Stony Brook Medicine. Anka Vujanovic heads the Texas A&M University team, while Rebecca Schwartz will oversee data coordination at The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health.
“First responders risk their lives every day to protect our communities. We are honored to have the opportunity to give back and to work collaboratively to support their physical and mental health,” said Gonzalez, principal investigator and founding director of the Mind-Body Clinical Research Center in RSOM’s Neurosciences Institute.
A previous clinical trial conducted by Gonzalez’s team involved 167 participants and found that those who received WRT experienced fewer PTSD and depression symptoms compared to a control group. Participants also showed improvements in stress management, physical activity, and other healthy behaviors over three months.
The upcoming study aims to enroll approximately 800 firefighters and EMS workers over five years. Recruitment will begin in early Spring 2026 across fire stations and EMS organizations located on Long Island, Westchester County, Rockland County in New York State, as well as within Houston, Texas.
Researchers hope that if successful, this model could be expanded nationwide to support mental health resilience among first responders.
For more information about the NIMH grant supporting this effort, see this abstract.
