APPROVED & FUNDED BY THE CITY OF OAKLAND · BUILT FOR FIRST RESPONDERS

Mental health care firefighters will actually use.

Most programs never reach the people who need them. This one has — for over two years inside the Oakland Fire Department, on a city-funded contract that’s been renewed. We now work with cities and departments beyond Oakland.

SET-UP A 20-MINUTE CALL
Two firefighters in protective gear, one woman holding a yellow helmet and a man holding a red helmet with a face shield, standing next to a fire truck inside a fire station.

U.S. practice a city has funded to deliver ketamine-assisted therapy to first responders

First place medal with the number 1st inside a circle

Delivered to Oakland Fire Department

Celebrating 24 plus years

Firefighters treated

Number 17 inside a circle with a dark background

Approved & renewed by the City of Oakland

A checkmark inside a circle with a red outline

* Not experimental — a city government approved this program and renewed the contract.

The work wears people down — repeated calls, bad sleep, missed holidays, years of staying composed when nothing about the situation is calm. It catches up as burnout, anxiety, PTSD, marriages under strain, and drinking or weed that started as a way to come down after shift.

For a department, none of that is abstract. It's people calling in, going out on leave, or walking away from the job.

What the job does to people, and what it costs you

Leave

Turnover

Disability

A firefighter wearing a yellow helmet with the number 835 and a police officer wearing an orange helmet with the number 27, engaged in conversation at an emergency scene.

You've offered help before. Here's what usually goes wrong.

Most departments already have something — an EAP, in-network therapists, peer support, a chaplain. The trouble starts when a firefighter actually goes: they sit with a counselor who's never been in a firehouse and spend the first sessions explaining the job before they get to anything real. Most don't go back.

What's been missing is a program built for firefighters, run by people who already understand the work.

Interior of a therapy office with a sign that reads 'true yang therapy' on the wall. There are two white armchairs with colorful round pillows, a small table with a decorative object, large green plants, a window with curtains, and a ceiling fan with a light.

Built for first responders, start to finish

A list of 10 skills or expertise areas including science, technology, engineering, math, education, health, marketing, sales, management, and finance.

Clinicians who've done the job

Current and former first responders, including an ICU nurse. Nobody needs the firehouse explained to them.

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Works when talking hasn't

Nervous-system based therapy approaches: Somatic Therapy, Ketamine-Assisted Therapy, and EMDR-the most established trauma treatment there is. Reaches what talk therapy couldn't.

Black and white aerial view of a city with numerous high-rise buildings, roads, and a river.

We get station culture

The "deal with it later" reflex, the fear of coming apart. We expect it — which is why people stay in treatment.

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Confidential & separate

Healthcare, not a personnel matter. Nothing in a file, no effect on standing. Often the only reason they come in.

Two years inside Oakland Fire

This program wasn't tested in a lab. We've run it inside a working fire department, on a city contract, for more than two years — and the City of Oakland renewed it. Our method uses evidence-based interventions designed to stabilize the nervous system: trauma-focused therapy approaches including EMDR, body-based somatic therapy, and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy.

100%

reported improvement in depression, anxiety and PTSD

57%

reported reduced alcohol or substance use

✓

contract renewed

17

firefighters treated

86%

reported ability to handle the work schedule

86%

reported improvement in relationship to work

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Easy to bring in. Fits how your department already runs.

Number 1 inside a peach-colored circle
Number 1 inside a peach-colored circle

Step One
We Talk

A short call about your department and what you're dealing with.

Step Two
We Set It Up

We handle the contract, station materials, and training briefings — you just point your people our way.

Number 2 inside a circle.
Number 2 inside a circle.

Step Three
Your People Get Care

Confidential, in person or virtual, around shifts.

Number three inside a circular border
Number three inside a circular border

Step Four
You See Results

Measurable improvements in mental health, fewer disability claims, and data you can report to leadership.

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Number 4 inside a circle with a light background
Set Up a 20-Minute Call
Set Up a 20-Minute Call

*The Oakland program is paid for by the city, at no cost to the firefighters. We'll walk you through how that's set up and how it adapts to your department.

Living room with a tan recliner, a large green plant in a pot on a wooden stand, a window with brown blinds, a bed with a blue cover and pillows, a white curtain, and a small patterned stool on a colorful rug.
Living room with a tan recliner, a large green plant in a pot on a wooden stand, a window with brown blinds, a bed with a blue cover and pillows, a white curtain, and a small patterned stool on a colorful rug.

Questions You’re Probably Asking

Straight answers

A firefighter cleaning a fire truck outside a fire station, with a hose and cleaning supplies on a wet parking lot.
A firefighter cleaning a fire truck outside a fire station, with a hose and cleaning supplies on a wet parking lot.

  • FDA-approved, legal, given in a clinical supervised setting as part of structured therapy. Nobody takes it alone.

  • Yes. Treatment is protected under HIPAA, the same as any other medical care. Records stay with us. Nothing goes into a personnel file, and the department never receives information about who's in treatment or what's discussed.

  • Through your department's existing wellness fund. Oakland's program is funded by a union-voted wellness allocation. We'll walk you through how to structure it for your department.

  • Minimal. Treatment is fully confidential and separate from department records. The only consideration is budget, and we help you identify existing funding sources. Oakland Fire leadership has reported no hesitation or concerns from personnel.

  • Most do. This reaches the firefighters an EAP doesn't.

About True Yang Therapy

Led by Marni Levy, LMFT, with a team of trauma-trained clinicians — several current or former first responders. The first practice in the country to partner with a city to bring ketamine-assisted therapy to first responders, with two years doing it inside a working fire department.

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See if it's a fit for your department

The first call is short, and there's no commitment.

SET UP A 20-MINUTE CALL

Already trusted by the City of Oakland.