PTSD in Emergency Services

It's something not thought of often, if at all, before doing your big daring stunt to impress the girl, to show off in front of your friends, or look "cool." The risky backflip into murky waters, the drag race up a dark lane, or that "wicked burnout" you had to do in a busy street. What happens when it all goes wrong? When the worst possible but most likely outcome comes about?

Emergency services. The kings and queens in their differing shades of blue. Those sirens like the angels singing in your time of need as the traffic parts like the red sea and the flurry of blue and red lights come screaming down the middle all for you, to help you, to save you. They're there in a flash whether it be to rip you from your wrecked car and reunite you with your child, or to pick up what's left of you and comfort your family.

But then what? Do they go home to their families and tell them about their day? The child that didn't make it? Or the boots they had to chuck out because they were covered in an ended life? Do they dare traumatize their beloved partner with the horrors?

No. They go to their next job. The next fire, or injured child, the next domestic or to help the next idiot who tried to show off. On and on, until the shift is done. Then they'll go home to their family, who will instinctively ask, "How was your day?"

And with a smile on their face, they'll simply say, "It was good."

That's all that is said. They'll spend their days hoarding off the black dog, reliving the memory over and over because it's "normal." "She'll be alright," that's the nature of the beast when committing to these careers. And then there'll be a few months of peace until they catch a familiar scent in passing and, in that moment, they're in the memory. Right back at THAT accident, pulling the mother whose perfume smelt of orange blossoms from a car while her baby screams in the backseat and the drunk driver who caused it all walks away unscathed.

The anger from that moment stays with them. It eats them alive slowly every single day, and yet they continue on. Until it all becomes too dark.

Now it's their family's turn to pick up the pieces of a loved one who didn't need to be a love lost.

It's estimated that 10% of all emergency service workers suffer from PTSD in differing stages; of that, 20% of police officers within Australia are believed to be suffering daily compared to the 1-3% of the general population.

Speak up, seek help, before it all becomes too dark.

Its OK to not be OK.

Lifeline Australia: 13 11 14

Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636

Kid's Helpline: 1800 551 800