The call for connection.
Transforming the Way Nurses and Healthcare Systems Recover
Structured debriefing and emotional wellness for nurses and healthcare systems.
Alone is no longer enough.
Support for Nurses and Healthcare Systems
Debriefing the Front Lines provides structured debriefing and emotional wellness for both individual nurses and healthcare systems. Whether you’re a nurse carrying the weight of repeated trauma or a healthcare leader striving to resist re-traumatization and create a culture of safety - you’ve found the right place.
For Nurses
Confidential, evidence-informed debriefing facilitated by board-certified nurse coaches. Process trauma, restore psychological safety, and access scholarships or long-term support to sustain for your emotional and professional well-becoming.
For Healthcare Systems
Confidential, evidence-informed debriefing facilitated by board-certified nurse coaches. Utilize debriefing as an intervention to address trauma, foster psychological safety and create a culture that supports care.
We are the nation’s only nonprofit organization dedicated to debriefing both single-incident and Cumulative Care Taking Trauma®. Psychological safety, or the absence of interpersonal fear, is an intention rather than a declaration. We strive to create safe spaces, while recognizing that true safety can only be defined by the individuals we support.
Extending Care Across Healthcare
We also offer debriefing support for all healthcare staff.
Support for Nurses
Our confidential, evidence-informed debriefing helps you process trauma, restore psychological safety, and sustain your emotional well-being.
"I am so thankful for this space that Debriefing the Front Lines has created and the much needed work they are doing.”
Danielle, BSN, RN, NC-BC
Cumulative Care Taking Trauma®
If Trauma is cumulative so is healing.
Cumulative Care Taking Trauma® describes a pattern seen and deeply felt across the nursing and healthcare professions the emotional, physical, and spiritual strain that results from repeated exposure to abnormal and traumatic events without adequate time or space to recover.
It is compounded by systemic factors — inadequate staffing, limited resources, insufficient mentorship, lack of psychological support, and structural inequities — that silently erode well-being and safety over time causing physical, emotional and spiritual suffering.
Julie’s Story
“I believe that telling our stories is a huge part of healing. Debriefing the Front Lines allows for storytelling with support. Nurses understand other nurses — there’s a knowing that’s already established, and this is extremely helpful when working through trauma. I appreciate DTFL for acknowledging cumulative care taking trauma and putting words to something I’ve known for a long time.”
Julie, BSN, RN
Through guided debriefing sessions, Julie found language for what she had silently carried. The space to acknowledge, discuss, process, and recover helped her begin restoring a sense of psychological safety — and reconnect with the purpose that drew her to nursing in the first place.
Path Forward
At Debriefing the Front Lines, we help nurses like Julie process cumulative trauma through structured, trauma-informed debriefing. By normalizing supportive mental health resources, we make healing a shared professional practice not an exception.
Are you experiencing
Cumulative Care Taking Trauma®
Focused, one-time sessions to process critical events, restore safety, and be heard.
Short Term Support
Focused, one-time sessions to process critical events, restore safety, and be heard.
Long Term Support
Targeted programs addressing specific healing goals through evidence-based and holistic methods.
Specialty Packages
Take our quiz to see which Debriefing Sessions are right for you.
Debriefing Scholarship Program
At Debriefing the Front Lines, we believe that seeking help is an act of courage. Our Scholarship Debriefing Program was created to ensure that nurses facing mental health or financial challenges have access to essential debriefing care.
This program provides two types of financial assistance, depending on your current circumstances:
Debriefing scholarships are for
Nurses unable to work due to anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other mental health challenges
Nurses on medical leave of absence or FMLA
Reduced rate sessions are for
Working nurses experiencing major life events and extenuating circumstances causing financial hardship
Together, We Make Healing Possible
Our work is mission driven with heart centered pricing - meaning those that can pay do so and those who are experiencing hardship are provided scholarships.
Monthly Donor Spotlight
Christine,
APNP, FNP - BC
“The nursing profession means so much to me and to know there is an organization dedicated to the well-being and mental livelihood of my fellow nurses gives me so much gratitude to those who run it”
The work DTFL is doing is extraordinary and selfless. DTFL is an organization I support on a monthly basis.”
68% of funding for the Scholarship Debriefing Program comes from the generous donors of our commUNITY during our annual GivingTuesday.
💌 Mark your calendar, our annual GivingTuesday campaign begins Nov 18th and culminates on the National Day of Giving on Dec 2nd!
What Nurses are saying:
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“DTFL has grown from a daily communication initiative and debriefing within a small scale to a nationwide healing campaign."
- Ariella, BSN, RN
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![Julie, BSN, RN]()
“I believe that telling our stories is a huge part of healing. Debriefing the Front Lines allows for story telling with support. Nurses understand other nurses unlike traditional therapists..."
- Julie, BSN, RN
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![Ellie BSN, RN, CEN]()
“DTFL was an incredible experience! I love the resources shared with me and they have definitely helped my mental health! I am still thinking about it months later, so that's how impactful it was.”
- Ellie BSN, RN, CEN
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![Katherine BSN, RN]()
"Debriefing the Front Lines has assisted in my healing journey and played a key role in helping me find hope after experiencing increased personal and work stress."
- Katherine BSN, RN
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![Caroline BSN, RN]()
“Debriefing the Front Lines has given me a space to share my experiences of being a nurse during the pandemic."
- Caroline BSN, RN
Meet the team Debriefing the Front Lines
Tara Kosmas
MSN, RN, NC-BC, CHSE, SOAR
Michelle Oakley
BSN, RN, NC-BC
Kacie Salas
BSN, RN, NC-BC
Janaye Decker
BSN, RN, NC-BC
Support For
Health Care Systems
Partner with us to implement trauma-informed programs that enhance clinician well-being, safety, and quality outcomes.
We invite you to be a part of the solution.
Post-critical event support, workplace violence, hurricane aftercare for mental health
And more.
Crisis Recovery
A comprehensive, in person debriefing model inclusive of quality, safety, and clinician well-being.
And more.
Debriefing Training
Include 1:1 or group debriefing sessions as a well-being initiative, support offering and healthcare benefit to all employees.
And more.
Partnerships
Partner with Debriefing the Front Lines to create a culture of quality, safety, and emotional resilience in your organization.
Debriefing the Front Lines supports hospitals and systems through:
Boutique style support through Implementation of our existing debriefing and peer support programs as a third party partnership providing debriefing sessions to healthcare workers.
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Plan the shift from from having to utilizing your well-being programs through trauma-informed implementation strategies.
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Thought partnerships and curriculum support for educators, leaders and nurse-coaches building well-being programs.
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Debriefing Trainings - from one day workshops to implementation support over a year
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Partner with Debriefing the Front Lines to create a culture of quality, safety, and emotional resilience in your organization.
Mission + Intention
Restoring the Humanity of Healthcare, One Debrief at a Time.
Debriefing the Front Lines provides structured debriefing for both individual nurses and healthcare systems, addressing single-incident and Cumulative Care Taking Trauma®.
We are pioneering debriefing as a validated intervention for trauma in healthcare. Our intention is to provide clear frameworks, practical tools, and research-backed language that guide interventions, trainings, and ongoing study, laying the foundation for debriefing as a national standard of nursing practice.
The ADPRN
Debriefing Framework
Our signature training model guides healthcare teams through structured, trauma-informed debriefing.
ADPRN equips clinicians and leaders with the tools to sustain psychological safety and collective well-being across all levels of care.
1. Acknowledge Our Humanity
Recognize the emotional impact of caregiving and create space for empathy.
Built on Five Core Principles
2. Discuss Quality and Safety Freely
Encourage transparent reflection in a retaliation-free environment.
3. Process Experiences and Emotions
Transform difficult events into opportunities for examining quality and safety for future outcomes.
4. Recover a Sense of Safety
Restore equilibrium through peer-to-peer co-regulation and trust-building.
5. Normalize Supportive Resources
Integrate mental health tools as essential components of professional practice.
The ADPRN Debriefing Framework is currently in 11 states across the country!
Including 13+ units throughout the state of Maryland with 100+ facilitators trained and growing!
Continuing Education & Resources
Our Impact in Practice
Trained facilitators across 11 states and growing
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Healthcare System Debriefing Partnerships
Scholarship Debriefing Sessions (that’s 48% of all sessions!)
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Debriefing Sessions
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Nurses provided sobriety support through daily sober check in’s and monthly peer support groups
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Nurses served post-disaster through Rekindled Frontlines Outreach
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Est March 2020
16 days after a global pandemic began, one by one we began Debriefing the Front Lines.
FAQs
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Yes. These are private pay sessions either independently or through healthcare partnerships. Schedule a session here.
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No. Due to funding guidelines and resources, scholarships are only available to nurses.
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We do not offer debriefing sessions to EMS, LEO or firefighters at this time.
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We do not accept insurance however we can provide you with a Superbill for possible reimbursement or use your Health Savings Account (HSA).
Let’s Connect
Follow our journey
