Wildland Firefighter Wellness Foundations

[ OVERVIEW ]

This 32-hour, evidence-based training strengthens operational readiness by equipping the wildland fire workforce with practical tools to sustain performance in high-demand environments. Designed for line personnel, leadership, dispatch, prevention, and support roles, the program is grounded in current research and built for the realities of wildland fire. It integrates physical conditioning, stress physiology, recovery science, psychological flexibility, and emotional intelligence.

Participants develop the capacity to lead themselves first—managing energy, decision-making, and stress under pressure—so they can contribute to safer operations, stronger teams, and longer careers. The result is not just individual resilience, but workforce-wide leadership capacity that supports readiness during fire season and stability in the off-season.

Training Details

Training Location

Reno, NV

Training Fee

$1200.00

April 27–May 1, 2026 | Monday noon – Friday noon

Next Dates

⤷ Reserve your spot today

Course Schedule 

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Day One: Foundations of Operational Health & Readiness

Establishes the framework for understanding how physical, mental, and relational factors influence performance in wildland fire. Participants explore the interconnected drivers of readiness, safety, and long-term sustainability across a fire season and throughout a career.

  • By the end of Day 1, participants will be able to:

    • Engage in structured reflection to strengthen personal readiness, leadership capacity, and long-term career sustainability within the wildland fire environment.

    • Explain how physical, mental, relational, occupational, and purpose-driven factors interact to influence performance, safety, and resilience across a fire season and throughout a career.

    • Identify risk factors for chronic disease and overuse injury that are common in high-demand professions, including key biometric indicators that impact operational capacity.

    • Demonstrate working familiarity with current evidence-based public health and performance recommendations relevant to high-intensity, seasonal work environments.

    • Describe how social dynamics, environmental exposure, behavioral habits, and physiological stress responses interact to influence health, decision-making, and crew functioning.

    • Develop a personalized operational health plan that includes clear goals, measurable actions, and strategies to sustain readiness during fire season and recovery in the off-season.

Day 2: Fuel, Recovery & Regulation

Focuses on the foundational habits that sustain endurance and cognitive clarity in high-demand environments. Participants examine practical strategies for nutrition, hydration, sleep, and stress regulation that support operational performance and effective recovery.

  • By the end of Day 2, participants will be able to:

    • Explain how nutrition and hydration impact endurance, cognitive clarity, and decision-making in field conditions.

    • Apply practical fueling strategies appropriate for long shifts, remote environments, and limited food access.

    • Describe the role of sleep in reaction time, mood regulation, injury risk, and crew safety.

    • Identify realistic recovery strategies during assignment and in the off-season.

    • Practice brief, field-applicable mindfulness and nervous system regulation techniques to improve focus and stress response.

    • Recognize how cumulative fatigue impacts communication, leadership, and operational judgment.

Day 3: Physical Capacity & Injury Prevention

Addresses the physical demands of wildland fire and the conditioning required to meet them. The day emphasizes job-specific fitness, durability, load carriage, mobility, and injury prevention to strengthen both immediate performance and long-term career longevity.

  • By the end of Day 3, participants will be able to:

    • Identify the physical demands of wildland fire and the energy systems required for sustained performance.

    • Evaluate current fitness practices in relation to job-specific demands.

    • Apply strength, mobility, and conditioning principles that support load carriage, durability, and injury prevention.

    • Recognize early warning signs of overtraining, cumulative fatigue, and musculoskeletal strain.

    • Develop strategies to maintain physical readiness across fire seasons and throughout a career.

Day 4: Mental & Emotional Strength Under Pressure

Explores the psychological demands of wildland fire. Participants build skills in stress regulation, emotional intelligence, communication, and psychological flexibility to support sound decision-making, crew cohesion, and resilience in high-stakes situations.

  • Day 4: Mental & Emotional Strength Under Pressure

    By the end of Day 4, participants will be able to:

    • Recognize the psychological demands of wildland fire, including cumulative stress and operational exposure.

    • Identify early signs of burnout, emotional exhaustion, and stress injury.

    • Apply principles of psychological flexibility to decision-making under pressure.

    • Strengthen emotional intelligence to support communication, leadership, and crew cohesion.

    • Practice strategies for regulating stress in high-stakes environments.

    • Identify support resources and peer strategies within the wildland fire system.

Day 5: Integration & Personal Readiness Planning

Day 5 brings the week together. Participants translate learning into a personalized readiness plan designed to sustain health, performance, and leadership capacity during fire season and throughout the off-season.

  • By the end of Day 5, participants will be able to:

    • Synthesize learning across physical, mental, and relational domains.

    • Assess personal readiness strengths and areas for growth.

    • Develop a practical, measurable personal readiness plan tailored to their role and operational environment.

    • Identify strategies to sustain health and performance during fire season and transition effectively in the off-season.

    • Commit to specific actions that strengthen both individual capacity and team functioning.

Training Facilitator

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Heather Haslem, MS, PCC, NBC-HWC, CWP

Heather Haslem is an organizational well-being consultant, Professional Certified Coach (PCC), and National Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coach with over a decade of experience in health science, resilience training, and workforce development. She holds graduate degrees in psychology and human development with a specialization in gerontology, and she brings particular expertise in chronic disease prevention and management. She is also certified in Mind-Body Medicine, integrating evidence-based approaches that support stress regulation and long-term health.

For the past five years, Heather has focused on applying principles of aging well to high-stress professions—helping individuals sustain performance while protecting health across the arc of a career. Her work translates current science in stress physiology, recovery, psychological flexibility, and behavior change into practical tools that strengthen operational readiness and workforce sustainability.

Heather is passionate about creating experiential learning environments that move beyond lecture into applied skill-building and real-world integration. Working with wildland firefighters is the population she most values serving, and she collaborates closely with fire professionals to ensure the training reflects both scientific rigor and operational reality.

⤷ Contact Heather