It is very important to understand how and why we may or may not react, to various situations. When we were all students, education, and training in our own mental health and its challenges, was glossed over. It is the elephant in the room that no one wants to acknowledge or deal with, and most certainly not your employers. You must be tough, cowboys don't cry. You have chosen to follow this path and if you cannot deal with it, then leave!
First Responder Mental Health Coaching is critical for the longevity of your career and relationships and, it should be presented by a colleague, who has been exposed to your working conditions. How else can someone understand your level of distress, when they have never actually experienced it, for themselves?
We know very well when an outside person comes in to tell us how to do our jobs, we fold our arms in hostility and discuss between ourselves, "what does she/he know"?
Something that has always interested me, is how first responders from the medic on the scene, to the nurses and doctors in the emergency room, treat suicidal patients who have survived a suicide attempt. They are treated with contempt and very little empathy. Amongst ourselves, we often 'joke' about the incident, perhaps it is a coping mechanism. Do we react in this way because we are afraid this is a us, looking at ourselves in the mirror every morning, or our future selves? Does this behavior act as a protective shield around what is really going on inside, day in and day out. Would be very interesting research material.
First responder mental health coaching is about teaching you about the different mental health issues you will be faced with during your career, how to identify them, and seek help before you end up in a body bag. It is here to educate you on the challenges and strategies, you can use for yourself or your partner. It is about encouraging healthy outdoor physical activities or hobbies to cope with the ghosts and complexities of some of your calls.
Many of the older firefighters will throw their arms up in protest, "they don't make firefighters like they used to", 'this new breed of firefighters are soft". We have all heard them and these words may have even come from our own lips. But are they soft, this new breed, this young blood, or do their working conditions, current call rates, the high crime, and violence they are exposed to, day in and out, very different to the exposure in "the good old days of firefighting"
If you are one of those old generation firefighters back in the 'good old days' consider this:
People obeyed the rule of law, the bylaws were enforced, the buildings were compliant with safety and building requirements, highrise buildings did not have informal settlements and shacks erected inside them. There were no such dilapidated buildings and inner-city slums we see today, which need to be navigated during a medical call at night, never mind when the building is well alight. Lifts worked, stairs were not missing, buildings had running water and electricity, were not in such state of disrepair, a fire deathtrap. You did not have to dodge bullets or have bricks raining down on you while carrying out your duties. Deal with such hostile bystanders and communities armed with guns. Just a thought to ponder.
I would also like to ask the old firefighters how has their retirement faired. Did your small retirement businesses fall away or thrive. Did your marriages and relationships survive? Do you have drinking problems? How is your relationship with your children? Remember you too will carry some scars with you. No firefighter ever retires without scars, without the ghosts following you, they never retire, do they? It is time that we are all honest with ourselves. We cannot give the very best of ourselves every day to our calling and communities without some baggage.
Perhaps we are voicing how badly things are carried out today. Should we not also be voicing and discussing, what has gone wrong? Why do the firefighters not have the tools of the trade, is it the firefighters or is it the fire department management and structures, that have failed the firefighters and the communities they serve. So many of the firefighters work with very little or no resources and strive to do the very best they can and then go home feeling as though they have failed their communities, feel useless, worthless, dejected. Is it not time the old guard and young blood sit down to share their experiences and knowledge. Both the old firefighters and young blood need to ask themselves these uncomfortable questions so we can move forward together.
As the old guard, you knew if you were killed in the line of duty, it would more than likely be from a motor vehicle accident while responding or inside a structural collapse. Today our firefighters/EMTs are more than likely to die in one of the multiple health traps, due to lack of resources and/or backup/rescue teams, incompetent and inexperienced officers who lead firefighters to their deaths, or to be robbed at gunpoint, shot, stabbed, and raped, and/or murdered while in uniform. The playing fields have changed and just leaving home in a uniform makes us a target.
Mental health is as important as it was then as it is now. The world we live in has changed and so with it is the need for continuous mental health care so we can retire and thrive.