'We're not trained for the trauma': Narrative gaps and communicative challenges among volunteer waterside responders

Mental wellness among frontline emergency responders has received growing attention, yet the psychological toll on volunteer responders remains under-researched and under-supported (Sharp et al., 2020). This paper focuses on the Waterside Responder Scheme (WRS), a UK-wide initiative operated by the RNLI and fire and rescue services, which trains community volunteers to carry out waterside rescues. While the scheme equips volunteers with essential physical rescue skills, it currently lacks tailored mental health support—leaving responders vulnerable to both primary and vicarious trauma.

This study draws on qualitative interviews with five WRS volunteer responders—four of whom applied their training in real-life waterside rescues—and two interviews with trainers from the RNLI and a fire and rescue service in the north-east of England. It explores how both volunteers and trainers narrate their experiences of crisis response, emotional impact, and systemic gaps in psychological and emotional support. Situated within a critical health communication perspective, the analysis adopts a participatory approach, combining discourse and narrative analysis to examine how mental wellbeing is communicated informally, yet frequently deprioritised in training and institutional discourse.

The findings illuminate the emotional labour of volunteer first responders and the informal coping strategies they develop in lieu of structured psychological preparation. By analysing how responders and trainers talk about distress, readiness, and support needs, the study highlights the critical role of language not only in narrating experience but also in shaping the communicative environments through which mental health awareness is—or is not—integrated into safety practices. It further argues for embedding trauma-informed frameworks (Lanza et al., 2018; Travers et al., 2022) into training design for community safety schemes.

The study demonstrates the value of applied linguistic approaches in addressing urgent local and regional needs while contributing to national and global conversations about wellbeing, safety, and community-based care practices.