According to a First Responder Mental Health Needs Assessment conducted in 2025 by the Benjamin Center for Public Policy Initiatives at SUNY, New Paltz, first responder mental health remained at crisis levels, with 94% identifying stress and 90% citing burnout as major challenges. Over 50% reported depression symptoms, 38% experienced PTSD symptoms and 16% reported suicidal thoughts.
As conversations around first responder mental health continue nationwide, an Albuquerque-based organization is training firefighters, law enforcement officers and others to regulate stress before it turns into something more serious.
Yoga For First Responders, headquartered in Albuquerque, hosted its 38th Instructor School March 2 through 6 at the Bernalillo County Public Safety Training Academy. The five-day intensive certifies and licenses instructors to bring a specific nervous-system-based protocol directly into fire departments, law enforcement agencies, EMS services and dispatch centers.
Founder and CEO Olivia Mead did not originally set out to create a national organization. Mead was a longtime yoga instructor teaching in studios across New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles when she began questioning the direction mainstream yoga had taken…