First Help

🌟 September at First H.E.L.P. — A Month of Moving Forward 🌟
September was a month of connection, reflection, and renewed focus for First H.E.L.P. As we continue strengthening our organization and preparing for the work ahead, we’re excited to share a few highlights from the past month:

🎗️ Su***de Awareness in Delaware
We were honored to see Delaware officially recognize September 24–27 as First Responder Su***de Awareness Days through Senate Concurrent Resolution 211. This important step helps break the stigma surrounding mental health, honor first responders who died by su***de, support affected families, and encourage those who are struggling to seek help.

💙 First H.E.L.P. Family Weekend
We came together with members of our First H.E.L.P. family for connection, support, remembrance, and meaningful conversations—reminding us why this work matters.

🤝 Connecting at Conferences
Our team attended first responder conferences, connecting with professionals, advocates, and organizations committed to first responder mental wellness, families, and communities. We’re grateful for the opportunity to learn, share, and build relationships.

📋 Strengthening Our Foundation
Behind the scenes, we’ve been reviewing our operations, strengthening partnerships, taking stock of where we are, and building a clear path forward.

Much of this work happens behind the scenes, but it’s an important part of building a strong and sustainable First H.E.L.P. for the future.

❤️ Thank you to everyone who supported us, attended an event, connected with our team, shared our message, or simply stood beside us this past month. We’re grateful for this community and excited for what’s ahead!

Here’s to October and continuing the work together!

This past weekend, families from across the country came together for First Help’s Family Weekend — united by love, loss, and the memory of a first responder who will never be forgotten.

Together, families visited Memorial Park, where they had the powerful and emotional experience of seeing and hearing their loved one’s name honored among the names of others who made the ultimate sacrifice. For many, hearing that name spoken aloud was a reminder that their loved one’s life, service, and legacy continue to matter.

There were tears, hugs, stories, laughter, moments of reflection, and moments of connection. Most importantly, there was the reminder that no family has to walk this journey alone.

This weekend would not have been possible without the generosity and support of our donors, sponsors, grant partners, and friends who believe in these families and in the mission of First H.E.L.P.

A very special thank you to the City of Rockwall, TX, Motorola Solutions, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, , Team One Network, One Tribe Foundation, 1st Responder Conferences, and all of the incredible organizations, businesses, and individuals who helped make this weekend possible. Your support made it possible for families from across the country to come together, honor their loved ones, share their stories, and find connection with others who understand their loss.

This weekend isn't possible without each of you. Every donation, sponsorship, grant, volunteer hour, and act of support makes a difference.

To the families who joined us: thank you for allowing us to walk beside you, remember your loved ones with you, and honor the lives and service of those we have lost.

Their names matter.
Their lives matter.
Their families matter.

We remember them. We honor them. And together, we carry their names forward. ❤️💙💛

Organizations are often born from pain. Someone experiences something devastating, sees a need that others may not see, and turns that experience into purpose. That purpose can become a mission, and that mission can grow into something extraordinarily powerful that changes and even saves lives.
But building an organization around a deeply personal or emotionally charged cause does not make its leaders immune from the very struggles that helped give birth to it.
A title does not inoculate us from mental health struggles. Being a founder, president, executive director, advocate, or the person everyone else turns to does not somehow protect us. In fact, the enormous responsibility of being the face of a mission, carrying the expectations of others, and feeling responsible for an organization and the people it serves can intensify struggles that may already exist beneath the surface.
We never truly know what lies underneath someone’s smile, determination, accomplishments, or relentless drive.
When something unimaginable happens, compassion can coexist with anger. Empathy can coexist with feelings of betrayal. Grief can coexist with questions that may never be fully answered. Those emotions are not mutually exclusive; they are human.
Perhaps one of the lessons for organizations built around emotionally charged causes is that support cannot exist only from the bottom up. It must exist from the top down as well. We need systems that deliberately check on the people doing the checking. A buddy system for leadership. People empowered to ask the founder, the president, the executive director, or the person who always seems strongest: How are you, really?
Nobody should become so synonymous with a mission that we forget there is a human being carrying it.
No one is immune to mental health struggles. No title, accomplishment, reputation, or position changes that reality. And sometimes the people who appear to have the greatest drive and strength are carrying things the rest of us cannot see.
We need to connect more deeply, ask harder questions, listen more carefully, and take far less for granted.
Sometimes the people holding everyone else up need someone making sure they are still standing.

Stephanie Samuels, MA, MSW, LCSW
CopLine®️, Founder/Director

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FIRST H.E.L.P. ISSUES STATEMENT REGARDING RECENT TRAGEDY AND REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO FIRST RESPONDER MENTAL HEALTH MISSION

Washington, DC — August 22, 2026 — Over the past several days, First H.E.L.P. has received an extraordinary outpouring of support, compassion, prayers, and messages from across the public safety community and the general public. On behalf of our Board of Directors and the entire First H.E.L.P. family, we express our profound gratitude and want you to know First H.E.L.P. remains committed to its mission.

No words can adequately convey the depth of grief surrounding this tragedy. We continue to hold the Solomon family, and all those whose lives have been forever changed, in our thoughts and prayers.

First H.E.L.P. was built around an important and deeply needed mission: to honor the lives of first responders lost to su***de, to support surviving families, and to systematically reduce the stigma surrounding mental health within the first responder community. This work has impacted countless lives and provided a voice to families who might otherwise have been forgotten.

The events of these past days do not diminish the importance of this work. Rather, they underscore the profound complexities of mental health crises and their far-reaching impact on individuals, families, organizations, and entire communities.

First H.E.L.P. has confidence in the justice system and will have no further comment during the ongoing investigation.

As we navigate the days ahead, we remain dedicated to treating everyone affected by this tragedy with the utmost compassion and dignity. We remain faithful to our commitment to the families and first responders First H.E.L.P. was created to serve.

Thank you for your steadfast support during this exceptionally challenging time. Your kindness has provided vital strength to our organization.

# # #

About First H.E.L.P.:
First H.E.L.P. is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 2016 to acknowledge the service and sacrifice of first responders lost to su***de. By managing the nation’s leading tracking database for public safety su***des, the organization ensures these individuals are never forgotten. Through the pillars of Honor, Education, Lead, and Prevent, First H.E.L.P. actively fights mental health stigma, delivers su***de prevention education, and bridges the gap to mental health assistance for officers, agencies, and surviving families nationwide.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

First H.E.L.P. Statement Regarding Ongoing Worcester Investigation

First H.E.L.P. is aware of the ongoing investigation in Worcester, Massachusetts, involving the death of a Worcester Police Department officer and the search for First H.E.L.P. co-founder Karen Solomon.

Our first concern is for the officer who lost his life, his family, his colleagues, and the Worcester law-enforcement community. We extend our deepest condolences to all those affected by this tragedy.

We also recognize the many law-enforcement and first-responder families who have been touched and supported through First H.E.L.P.'s work over the years. We understand that the current circumstances may be deeply affecting members of this community, particularly those who have placed their trust in First H.E.L.P. during some of the most difficult moments of their lives. We remain committed to supporting those families and honoring the trust they have placed in our organization.

First H.E.L.P. is dedicated to reducing the stigma surrounding mental health in law enforcement and the first-responder community, supporting officers, first responders, and their families, and honoring the lives and service of those who have died by su***de. Our mission remains unchanged.

The Board of Directors is focused on maintaining the continuity, integrity, and independence of First H.E.L.P.'s mission, programs, and services to the first-responder community and the families we serve. The organization will continue its work in support of those families and the broader first-responder communities.

The circumstances surrounding the Worcester investigation are an active matter for law enforcement. First H.E.L.P. will have no further comment on the specific circumstances of the investigation.


About First H.E.L.P.

First H.E.L.P. is dedicated to honoring the service of first responders who have died by su***de, supporting their families, reducing the stigma associated with seeking mental-health assistance, and increasing awareness of mental-health challenges within the law-enforcement and first-responder communities. The organization maintains a national database recognizing first responders lost to su***de and provides education, resources, and family support.

First H.E.L.P. extends its deepest sympathy to the family, loved ones, and all others impacted by today’s devastating event. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone during this difficult time.

Mental Health Helplines: International Directory Do you need to speak to someone right now? HelpGuide's directory of hotlines around the world can provide you with help.

New Hampshire has become the first state to extend its employee assistance program to volunteer firefighters, EMTs and other first responders!!

“Remember that first responders see more trauma in a year than most people see in their lifetimes and we take care of our own,” Drye said.

“We keep track of each other when there is a set of bad calls but sometimes that’s not enough. That’s where the Employee Assistance Program can make all the difference”

***deAwareness

N.H. expands mental health support for volunteer first responders New Hampshire has become the first state to extend its employee assistance program to volunteer firefighters, EMTs and other first responders

What are you drinking today?