FireFighter Wellness

Doing the job of a firefighter is very rewarding but it also takes a toll on you as a person internally and in your close relationships at the same time.  “You as the person of the firefighter” -meaning you the human being that works as a firefighter that is required to be calm/stoic in the face of a crisis eg.firefighters running into a burning building when the rest of us are running away from the fire.  This moving towards the “unsafe/dangerous” takes a toll on “you the person of the firefighter” and may impact your unconscious survival stress response.  The traumatic incidents that might happen on a daily basis to you the firefighter may not impact you right away but it begins to accumulate over time like filling up a backpack with rocks, some big (calls that impact you more mentally/emotionally and you notice the impact more immediately) and some little (impact you less immediately but begin to stack on top of one another mentally, emotionally, and physically).  You cannot ever fully take off this backpack even when you go home, or when you interact with your spouse or kids, or even when you go to sleep and year after year this starts to take a toll on you.  Perhaps it is that one call that just sticks with you and is affecting you in some way.  Maybe you notice memories or physical sensations when you are out for a drive along a certain street, or avoiding certain streets all together.  Developing a relationship with a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) before you are in crisis is a healthy preventative measure just like consistent physical workouts to keep you strong for the physicality of the work you do.  Regular counselling sessions take care of your mental well being is just as imperative because this work you do requires support as it is heavy, heavy work in more ways than just the physical, it also is heavy mentally and emotionally.  Therapy with a trained First Responder trauma therapist who has experience, is trustworthy, and supports the important work you do allows one to take care of “the person of the firefighter” so you do not burnout.  Therapy can be helpful in the following ways:

Develop healthy coping strategies and personalized toolkit for on and off the job

Support your resiliency

Build and strengthen your personal relationships

Work through traumatic events through a researched trauma therapy such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization, and Reprocessing)

Support your mental health to continue doing the job you love to do!