Kingston fire brigade captain Rob Gordon-Haughie said the need for mandatory road accident trauma training was critical, adding he had returned to a changed crew after the incident.

"I've come back to a brigade that has been affected," he told The Courier.

"I think people can say they're alright, but I think there are a few people that still need to be around others and maybe should be seeking some help."

While the CFA offers their members a "24/7 CFA Wellbeing Support Line for free, confidential support" according to its media department, emergency service leaders have said more may need to be done to help battle mental health issues within the field.

Cape Clear fire captain Michael Rowe believes leaders and senior members within fire stations need to work hard to protect younger members from potentially traumatic scenes.

"In our brigade when we turn out to say a car accident, we only allow the minimum amount of people to it to help limit the impact," he said.

Mr Rowe pointed to a car crash his crew attended along the Dereel-Rokewood Junction Road in early 2019 as an example of what he believes needs to be done at all regional fire stations.

"I turned out to that and as soon as I saw it was looking pretty bad I closed the road and kept our members away... while it is human nature to want to help or to just want to look when something traumatic has happened, some people just need to be protected."

These sentiments were echoed by Acting Police Superintendent of District Three, Damien Christensen, who said it's the responsibility of senior police members to shield young officers.

"We look for active leadership before people are exposed to trauma," he said.

"I look for our sergeants to actively provide advice to help limit our members to the exposure of trauma."

Superintendent Christensen added following up with members after incidents take place was also crucial to ensure they had the support available to them.

"Recently I've been monitoring Daylesford, Creswick, Clunes and Trentham members who have been exposed to some confronting incidents over the past few months.

"We invited our psychological and health services to the area and prompted discussion from our members. You can try and pull as many levers as you can to help but sometimes it comes down to people knowing when to put their hands up."

One captain who says the CFA has come a long way in helping fire brigades deal with mental health issues is Buninyong-Mount Helen fire captain James Witham.

He told The Courier he believes the CFA's support staff has done a good job supporting his crew when called upon over the past decade.

"I think from our brigades perspective we feel reasonably well supported by the CFA when it comes to the mental health and wellbeing of our members," he said.

"We're highly trained to deal with emergency situations but it's fair to say there's always room for improvement when it comes to education and awareness.

"The CFA has come a long way in recent years when it comes to education, support and offering programs to assist its members."

With firefighters being pushed to their limits recently due to the bushfire crisis across the state, one academic has called for a renewed approach to supporting emergency service workers.

Associate Professor in Disaster and Emergency Response at Edith Cowan University, Erin Smith, says waiting for emergency responders to put their hands up is yielding troubling results, including a suicide every 4.3 weeks according to the Black Dog Institute.

She believes agencies need to reach out to individuals or crews and tackle the issue before it becomes a major problem.

"I think we need to address the consequences of what they're going to be seeing and doing as part of training and normalising that conversation.

"I think there's a long way to go - both in training and post-training - to make having a conversation more normal."

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