Wendy Norris

About the Instructor

Wendy is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Texas LODD Task Force. She is also a Master Certified Chaplain & Instructor for the Federation of Fire Chaplains. Wendy is the Presiding Officer on the Governor’s Advisory Panel for the Star of Texas Awards for injured and fallen first responders and serves as a chaplain and first responder for the Forest Bend Fire Department. She also serves on the Texas Department of Health's First Responder Mental Health Working Group and coordinates the Phoenix Project for Injured First Responders working group. She has worked on response teams for local, state, and national disasters including 9/11, hurricanes Katrina, Ike, and Harvey, the Santa Fe ISD shooting, the El Paso Wal-Mart shooting, and led the LODD Task Force response during the West Explosion. After facing a career-ending injury, Wendy saw the need to fill a gap in the fire service when it came to caring for and supporting first responders that were catastrophically injured in the line of duty. However, her work quickly changed to serving the agencies and families of fallen law enforcement officers, firefighters, and EMS personnel. Recently her work has expanded to developing and implementing postvention support programs and services to agencies and families that have experienced a loss of a first responder due to suicide. Wendy gained extensive experience in caring for the long-term needs of families and loved ones of homicide victims after serving for two years as a public information officer for the City of Santa Fe Resiliency Center following the mass shooting at the Santa Fe High School in 2018. She is currently working alongside several leading first responder agencies in Texas to develop programs, policy, and guidelines to care and support first responders that are struggling with mental health issues. She is also working as the Communications Specialist for the Gulf Coast Center’s COVID-19 Crisis Counseling Program.