Tracy Mastropavlos and Lesley Read were among the first responders at the Grampians bushfires, offering critical emotional support.
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Lesley Read spent her Christmas Day surrounded by the unrelenting blazes of the Grampians bushfires.
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Instead of indulging in a Christmas lunch, the Seymour Intereach local area co-ordinator was deployed as part of the CFA Peer Support Team to help in bringing mental health support to first responders on the scene.
Ms Read spent four days in Horsham, starting at 7.30am and often not finishing until 9pm.
This dedication however is something that Ms Read is well acquainted with.
Ms Read has been with the CFA for over 20 years, and has been part of the Peer Support program since 2008.
Ms Read said the personal toll of being involved in deployments such as this one had no comparison to the rewarding nature of her job.
“For me, the benefits far outweighed anything else,” Ms Read said.
“I have been very lucky in what I do, I love to give back and it’s really important to be able to do that.”
It can be easy to overlook the immense strain that mental health can have on first responders when you take into account the physically-demanding labour that comes along with the job.
Ms Read said the importance of mental health in first responders was equivalent to that of their physical health, and being able to provide mental health support was what attracted her to the Peer Support program.
As someone who has been part of the CFA for over two decades, Ms Read can personally empathise with the difficulties faced by first responders. This allows her to clearly see how beneficial the program is for those tackling scenes like the Grampians bushfires.
“It just gives them a chance to be able to talk to somebody who knows what they’re going through and has been in a similar situation, because we’ve all at some stage been on the back of a truck,” Ms Read said.
Lesley Read has been with the CFA for over 20 years.
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Billie Davern
Fortunately, missing Christmas Day festivities was well-understood by her immediate family, who all have close ties to the CFA as well.
Although she was missing her daughter and husband, Ms Read was able to spread festive cheer with other members of the Peer Support program as well as familiar first responders, both of whom she considers to be a part of her family.
“Over there, there were people that I knew, so it was a family,” Ms Read said.
“It didn’t really matter that I wasn’t with my proper blood family or my own extended family, I was with my CFA family.”
On Christmas Day, when the first responders were gearing up to face the Boxing Day blazes, the Peer Support Team was able to offer a cheerful distraction to those set to be facing the fires the following day.
Ms Read said the team’s day involved driving to surrounding fire stations to offer any emotional and psychological support needed, organising reindeer and Santa hats to make the day more festive, helping with the Christmas dinner and arranging for one of the peers to attend the Incident Control Centre dressed as Santa.
It is programs such as the Peer Support Team which allow for vital support to be given to those risking their lives for our country.
“I just think that the (Peer Support) program is probably one of the most important programs that the CFA has, and the Victorian one is recognised as one of the best in the country,” Ms Read said.
“There are over 270 people just like me out there who do this every day without question, and we fly a little bit under the radar because we’re not on the big red truck.
But every single person that’s in the program is as passionate about it as I am.”
Ms Read was awarded the Outstanding Service Medal in 2018 for her dedication to supporting her CFA peers since 2006, and still continues to be a committed member of the Peer Support Team today.
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