Virginia Beach EMS Adds Dedicated EMS Mental Health Support for Providers

In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, Virginia Beach EMS Chief Jason Stroud is proudly introducing to the community Virginia Beach Emergency Medical Services’ new Health and Wellness Manager Jesalyn Moore.  

Many find serving as an emergency medical services (EMS) provider a rewarding experience and a way to use training and expertise to save lives and make a difference. Serving as an EMS provider also comes with physical, emotional, and mental stress — which can impact providers if not recognized or proactively addressed. This is why EMS Chief Jason Stroud recently advocated for the addition of the department’s first health and wellness manager.  

A Responsibility of Leadership 

Jesalyn Moore joined Virginia Beach EMS (VBEMS) in March as its inaugural health and wellness manager. She brings more than 10 years of experience working with first responders and military members, and is a licensed substance abuse treatment practitioner, clinical social worker and certified advanced alcohol and drug counselor. In less than two months, Jesalyn has already made significant impact and influence at VBEMS and is working with senior leadership to redefine what it means to “take care of our own.”  

Chief Stroud embraces the notion that member wellness is a responsibility of leadership and not only for mental health providers. Fortunately for VBEMS, he connected with Jesalyn, and found that their philosophies, ideas and concerns for member wellness aligned. 

Mentally Healthy Providers Mean Continuity of Care for Residents  

A 2022 Virginia EMS Provider Mental Health Survey (from 2,930 valid responses) showed 82% of EMS providers experienced job-related burnout, traumatic stress, PTSD, depression, suicidal thoughts or other impacts throughout their career. This same survey indicated that 71% of respondents experienced at least one of these in the past 12 months.  

The emotionally stressful and life-threatening situations providers face, often daily, are why it’s vital to make proactive mental health and wellness programs available to our members. 

Ensuring mental health support for EMS providers can also benefit residents by improving the quality and safety of prehospital care. When our providers are mentally healthy, they are better equipped to handle stressful situations and provide optimal emergency care to patients. This results in more effective responses to emergencies and improvements to the well-being of the Virginia Beach community.  

Accessible Care in Real Time 

As an embedded clinician, Jesalyn’s day-to-day responsibilities are intentionally dynamic — ranging from ambulance ride-alongs and program development to onboarding new recruits. She is accompanied by her therapy dog, Phoenix, and together they provide mobile support services. Often present on scene, Jesalyn offers first responders a moment of respite between calls and a trusted resource for immediate mental health support. This proactive presence normalizes wellness conversations and makes care accessible in real time. 

“A key driver of the program’s success has been Chief Stroud’s visionary decision to integrate the health and wellness manager position directly into departmental leadership,” she said. “This top-down structure has fast tracked cultural change, signaling to employees that seeking support is not just accepted but expected and encouraged.” In fact, the entirety of the senior leadership team, with Jesalyn, will spend two days together in July deep-diving into their own wellness and learning how to better support personal growth through post-traumatic experiences.  

Jesalyn reports directly to the chief, ensuring mental health remains a strategic priority alongside operational planning. This reporting model enables swift implementation of wellness initiatives and timely responses to the evolving needs of the department. 

The impact has been immediate. Employees are increasingly practicing support-seeking behaviors, and trust in wellness services continues to grow. Jesalyn’s work to introduce vetted community mental health professionals has resulted in the creation of a direct referral line, allowing seamless access to care. Providers now have a clear path from in-the-moment support to ongoing treatment, whether through Jesalyn or trusted external partners. 

A Frontline Battle 

As a result, this model is not only meeting the needs of the department, but it’s also setting a new standard for how public safety agencies can prioritize mental health from the inside out. 

Chief Stroud and Jesalyn have agreed upon a model intended to best serve the department’s membership, which includes some of the following tenets for success: 

• Mental health and wellness interactions with VBEMS personnel must be confidential.  
  • Chief Stroud, or any member of his leadership team, do not ask for, or are not given, any personal identifying information regarding Jesalyn’s interactions with members. 
  • Jesalyn’s work with VBEMS members is protected information under federal employee protections. 
• Success is not possible without direct access. 
  • Jesalyn has direct access to providers outside of the office and is given the flexibility to meet them where they are on a schedule that she best determines. 
  • All providers also have direct access to Jesalyn.  
• Member wellness is everyone’s responsibility; however, Command must lead the way. 
  • Jesalyn is a member of the command staff and reports to the chief.  
  • This includes direct office access and regular, unfiltered honest feedback, one-on-one conversations with the Chief. 
  • Jesalyn attends senior staff meetings and is given equitable opportunity for input and feedback. 
• Health and wellness access can't be filtered. 
  • First-line EMS supervisors are given Jesalyn’s contact information and asked to notify her when incidents meet certain criteria, or whenever they believe it to be beneficial.  
• One person cannot do it all, and there isn’t a one-size fits all approach. 
  • The health and wellness manager is one component of member health and wellness programming. 
  • VBEMS also provides Employee Assistance Program (EAP) services, a peer-support team, chaplaincy, trauma-informed respite spaces with amenities, partnership with a therapy dog program, and additional psychological support services through contract.  
  • Efforts must continue to reduce workload and daily stressors to manageable limits.  

The addition of Jesalyn as the VBEMS health and wellness manager, and leadership’s commitment to continually “moving the needle” for member wellbeing will help our EMS system be better tomorrow than we are today. 

Jason Stroud, MPP, CPM, NRP, serves the City of Virginia Beach as its EMS chief. In this role, he uses his more than 25 years of emergency services and local government leadership experience to lead Virginia’s largest third-service municipal EMS agency. Jesalyn Moore, LCSW, LSATP, CAADC, serves the department as its EMS health and wellness manager. In her role, she works with senior leadership to lead in developing programming, policies and resources related to mental health and wellness. Virginia Beach EMS serves a community of 465,000 and responds to more than 56,000 calls-for-service each year. Learn more about EMS by visiting ems.virginiabeach.gov. You can also contact Virginia Beach EMS at vbems@vbgov.com. 

• VBEMS