With a career in emergency medical services spanning nearly three decades, New Windsor resident Sarah Dineen is no stranger to the trials of working in the field. The impact of the job can often cause emergency workers and other professionals to struggle emotionally.

“I think sometimes people don’t realize that something is bothering them. They might be having issues sleeping, but chalk it up to crazy hours, lose a passion for the work, mood changes and just question the outcome of events. It’s all cumulative in our minds and bodies. I think ending the stigma around mental health is really important,” said Dineen.

In 2018, Dineen began a journey of self-improvement for herself. “In March of 2018, I began to work on my personal development starting with positivity. It really spoke to me with respect to how learning the tools to manage your reaction to stress is crucial,” she explained. After doing some self-improvement for herself and becoming an Intuitive Life Coach, she felt the tools she learned would benefit her colleagues and fellow first responders. By offering a judgment-free environment for clients, she reminds them that “it’s okay to feel” which is especially important in the male-dominant field of emergency responders.

“I’ve always noticed that there was a need,” explained Dineen, “People are struggling, but you would never know it. I think the need has been more noticeable after Covid.”

After working side by side with first responders, Dineen explained due to the nature of their business, they are often hard to help from an emotional standpoint. “I think generally speaking first responders hold their emotions in,” she shared. The day to day stress of the job tends to compound and bottle up inside with no room for release.

Dineen wanted to use her skills to help others and developed a workshop “Healing the Heroes” as part of her mission to give back to her first responder family. “My workshop is really about stress and how if unchecked it can manifest. I really want to help others tap into themselves and let go of some of that stress,” she shared.

As part of her work, she teachers first responders about EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) which aims to retrain the brain. “People might have trauma from ten years prior and they don’t realize it’s impacting their day to day. With the workshop, they can say I now have a tool to get rid of it or ease it,” she explained.

Dineen said reducing stress and trauma is critically important not only for first responders, but for everyone from children to adults. “Covid was damaging in many ways in our profession. On a day to day basis nobody knew what was going on and the protocols were changing daily. It was very stressful,” she shared.

Dineen, a wife of a fellow emergency responder and mother of five children, said processing stress is the first step in learning how to manage it. “I definitely think the techniques, such as EFT, would be beneficial for students and schools to learn. The stress from Covid impacted students who are now back in the classroom and teachers and administrators as well,” she expressed.

When asked what she hopes first responders take away from her workshops, Dineen explained, “My ultimate goal is to help people who currently have a negative mindset or trauma learn how to live a positive and happy life. If I can help one person, I want to do that.”

For more information regarding upcoming workshops and programs, please visit.sarahdineenheals.com.