First Responders - Terrace Metrics

Terrace Metrics for First Responders

Among first responders, the constant exposure to stressful situations-combined with the strain of working long hours on little to no sleep-can negatively impact overall mental health. The impact of stress on first responders is sobering: suicide rates are 5 times higher, alcohol abuse is almost 3 times higher, and and the rates of divorce are 4 times higher than the national average. Unfortunately, many first responders under extreme distress suffer in silence; they may deny their stress to others in the workplace, or they may fear that doing so may risk their job.

Measuring both is critical – the presence of even one risk indicator can reduce productivity, increase absenteeism, reduce employee retention, and drive poor performance.

What We Offer

In just 15 minutes, employees complete a secure, private, and confidential assessment, customized to the needs of each department. Individualized results are generated immediately after administration and are only seen by the user. The online reports is interactive; users can immediately access a self-guided curricula, videos, and other intervention tools that can assist them in their efforts to improve their own behavioral health.

Users can take the assessment whenever and wherever they prefer, using any platform (desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone). They can take it as many times as they would like to monitor and improve their own behavioral health.

More importantly, the system is monitored by trained mental health professionals. These professionals can quickly contact individuals self-identified as being in high distress, to ensure that they are connected to community resources. This contact is made through the user’s private email and is never shared with the employer.

The employer receives a comprehensive, aggregate report that details the overall behavioral health of employees.

Our Indicators

The indicators are chosen by the employer and can be customized to match the needs of specific departments. All indicators have strong norms and excellent psychometric properties (including reliability and construct validity). Finally, the indicators are the most robust predictors of workplace productivity and provide important insight into the collective workplace behavior health.

The indicators are not intended to diagnose, and the items are not intrusive.

Resiliency Indicators

Global Life Satisfaction: Overall assessment of feelings and attitudes about one’s life
Hope: Assesses goal-directed thinking and the motivation to work around barriers that hinder goal attainment
Leadership Skills: Specific leadership skills needed to influence others.
Personal Standards: Expectations of one’s own personal abilities.

Resiliency Indicators

Ostracism: Degree of perceived social isolation. The indicator examines two forms of ostracism: being ignored (i.e., the individual believes that others do not pay attention to them) or excluded (i.e., others acknowledge the individual but choose not to interact with them).
Anxiety: Assesses the degree and severity of anxiety symptoms.
Depression: Assesses the degree and severity of depression symptoms.
Self-Criticism: Degree to which one overly focuses on their perceived faults and blemishes
Trauma: This brief screener assesses the degree of distress associated with a past trauma in the past 30 days.
Drug/Alcohol Screener: This screener assesses the degree of distress associated with alcohol/drug use in the past 30 days. The items do not ask intrusive questions (such as how often or how much).

How the Process Works

The process is very easy and requires virtually no time for employers and employees. Here are the steps in the process:

1. The employee receives a link to their customized assessment

2. Once completed, the employee views their confidential results immediately, via a secure, online portal

3. The online report is interactive; the employee can click on any indicator and retrieve videos and print resources (including a self-guided curriculum)

4. Employees can take the assessment as often as they wish, allowing them to monitor their own behavioral health

Only the user has access to their information. The data is strictly confidential; employers are not aware of which employee completes the assessment and they never have access to identified data. The information is not public data and is never part of an employee’s personnel file.