SHIFT: Driving a Culture of Support for First Responders
Strong Teams. Healthy Culture. Resilient Response.
SHIFT is a statewide initiative of the Michigan Rural EMS Network (MiREMS) designed to strengthen the mental wellness, resilience, and retention of Michigan’s EMS. Grounded in trauma-informed, evidence-based practices, SHIFT helps first responder agencies embed psychological health and wellness into everyday operations, creating workplaces where responders can thrive.
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Our Mission and Vision
Mission: To equip EMS agencies to lead with resilience, care for their teams, and sustain a culture of wellness.
Vision: To build EMS agencies that lead with resilience, act with compassion, and respond with strength by embedding trauma-informed, psychologically healthy practices into every level of our organizations.
 
Building Psychologically Healthy EMS Agencies
SHIFT equips agencies with practical tools to address the stressors experienced on the job, reduce stigma, and foster connection. The initiative strengthens peer support systems, expands behavioral health education, and guides agency leaders in creating policies and environments that make mental wellness a shared priority.
 

Our Values Framework
Participating agencies commit to the SHIFT Values Framework for Psychologically Healthy EMS Agencies, a charter of ten guiding principles that define what a culture of wellness looks like in action.
These include:
 

• Leadership Accountability: Modeling and sustaining visible, integrity-driven commitment to mental health.

• Safety and Trust: Building predictability and transparency into every level of care and communication.

• Peer and Supervisor Support: Recognizing and responding to stress early through compassionate connection.

• Accessible, Confidential Care: Providing stigma-free, confidential options for support that meet first responders where they are.

• Prevention and Education: Prioritizing proactive training and awareness to build resilience.

• Empowerment and Collaboration: Ensuring responders and their families have a voice in shaping wellness initiatives.

• Equity and Inclusiveness: Embracing diversity across race, gender, geography, and lived experience.

• Holistic Wellbeing: Supporting the whole person—mind, body, and spirit.

• Data-Informed Improvement: Measuring outcomes and learning from real-world experience

• Shared Learning and Partnership: Promoting collaboration across agencies and disciplines.

 

These shared values create a foundation for trust, belonging, and accountability—where caring for those who care for others is embedded in daily practice.

A Shared Commitment to Culture Change
Together, these frameworks form the backbone of SHIFT’s mission—to drive a culture of support within Michigan’s first responder community. By aligning agencies, partners, and leadership under a unified set of values, SHIFT is creating a sustainable statewide movement toward resilience, connection, and psychological safety.

With support from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, MiREMS is implementing the SHIFT project with select rural EMS  agencies, with plans to expand to ensure every rural EMS professional in Michigan has access to resources and support to thrive