Stony Brook Medicine leads PTSD resilience training program | Long Island Business News

Stony Brook Medicine is leading a resiliency training program with Texas A&M University, aimed at preventing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in first responders. The Worker Resilience Training (WRT) program is supported by a five-year, $3.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health‘s National Institute of Mental Health that runs through June 2030.

“We are conducting a research study to evaluate the effects” of the WRT program “on preventing PTSD and improving resilience in firefighters and EMS workers,” Adam Gonzalez, a professor Stony Brook University’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health in the Renaissance School of Medicine (RSOM), said. “This study will allow us rigorously evaluate the impact of the WRT program over the course of  one year. The primary goal is to prevent PTSD in first responders.”

Beginning in 2026, the training will be offered in New York and Texas at fire stations and emergency medical services organizations.

“First responders risk their lives every day to protect our communities,” Gonzalez said in a news release about the study.

“We are honored to have the opportunity to give back and to work collaboratively to support their physical and mental health,” said Gonzalez, who is the principal investigator and founding director of the Mind-Body Clinical Research Center in RSOM’s Stony Book Neurosciences Institute. 

The program’s implementation is taking place at a time when medical experts say that first responders routinely face hazardous situations and traumatic events that can affect the mental health of millions each year, both in the short and long term.

Developed by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, WRT is a four-hour interactive workshop that educates first responders on the health effects of traumatic exposure and PTSD. Training includes coping strategies and resilience practices, including stress management and healthy lifestyle behaviors.

The Stony Brook team is collaborating with Texas A&M University, whose team is led by  Anka Vujanovic. They will recruit participants for a clinical trial to evaluate the WRT program. Rebecca Schwartz will lead the data coordinating site at The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health, according to the news release.

Gonzalez and colleagues previously tested WRT in a clinical trial with 167 participants, finding that compared to a control group, the training reduced PTSD and depression symptoms and improved key resilience indicators – including stress management, physical activity and healthy lifestyle behaviors – over three months.

Stony Brook and its partners plan to recruit about 800 firefighters and EMS workers for the five-year study, building on prior research. Recruitment will begin in early spring 2026, working directly with fire stations and EMS organizations on Long Island, in Westchester and Rockland counties, and in Houston.

They anticipate that evaluating WRT will offer valuable insights into building resilience and preventing PTSD in first responders. If effective, the program could be adopted nationwide to support mental health and strengthen resilience training across the profession.