Kristen Wheldon

Psychologist | President and Founder of Fire Service Psychology Association

Dr. Kristen Wheldon is passionate about the behavioral health of firefighters and their families. She is the President and Founder of the Fire Service Psychology Association (FSPA), the nonprofit created to bridge the gap between professional psychology and the fire service. Dr. Wheldon previously worked as the Director of Behavioral Health for the Los Angeles Fire Department. In that role, she provided direct psychological services to firefighters and their families, managed and supervised the peer support and crisis response teams, provided training on behavioral health topics, and supervised two doctoral psychology students. As one of a few fire psychologists in the country, she recognized that firefighters do not have access to psychological care tailored to their specific needs and founded FSPA. Since then, she has assisted the United States Fire Administration with developing its newest Executive Fire Officer Program curriculum for the National Fire Academy and is an active instructor. She serves on the National Fire Protection Association’s Standard for Emergency Responder Occupational Health and Wellness committee. She is a Public Safety Sector Council Member for the National Occupational Research Agenda at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.