Paramedics, Police and Emergency Services / First Responders
We help the Helpers.
People who work in emergency services, doctors, nurses, paramedics, fire brigade, police officers and call centre operators for emergency services are exposed to the worst of humanity’s suffering.
When we experience horrific circumstances, a few things help – knowing that your feelings are normal, having time and capacity to emotionally process the experience, and knowing that you did a good job and it is over now.
Unfortunately, for most emergency workers, as well as frequent exposure to the effects of human violence or other suffering, there is a culture of expectation that you have to ‘tough it out’ and ‘put up with it’.
So you don’t know if others feel the same as you.
Added to that, you usually don’t have time to emotionally process it because you are called out to another job;
And on top of that, you rarely know the outcome for the patient and are not able to talk about what you saw or experienced with your family or friends, or you don’t want to because you don’t want them to be upset, like you are.
Often Emergency workers start to believe that in order to stay in the job they have to shut off their feelings to survive. This can have a longer lasting effect on emotional regulation and cause even more distress when ‘breakthrough’ feelings occur.
How can therapy help?
Therapy addresses several of the key causes of distress for Emergency Workers.
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You can talk about what you saw and how you felt as a result of what happened or didn't happen, in a confidential space, with a trained listener.
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We can assist you to feel your feelings safely without being overwhelmed by them.
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You don’t need to worry about the impact on our team members when you tell your story. Our clinical and administration team are trained in trauma informed care so we know how to reduce the impact of vicarious trauma. We will also assist you to adopt those strategies so you can go back to work with less fear of being traumatized by what you see and know.
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We can help you to make sense of what happened and find ways to live fully - without suppressing emotion or becoming a robot.
