Corrections Officers, First Responders and Frontline Care Providers
I acknowledge the difficult and honourable work you do as corrections officers, first responders and frontline care providers. Many of you will have worked in intensely stressful environments for months or years on end. So often this work is under-appreciated, unacknowledged and comes at great personal cost.
Here are some of the heartbreakingly common threads I have heard:
- You find it increasingly difficult to enjoy your days off
- You don’t feel really alive or engaged with the people you love the most
- You feel flat and numb or you feel easily enraged or terrified by things that used to not bother you
- You find yourself overwhelmed by routine daily tasks
- You find yourself snapping at your wife or kids with little provocation
- You no longer pursue the hobbies that you used to pursue on your days off
- You distract yourself with overwork, shopping, pornography, drugs, alcohol
- You no longer find any peace in your spiritual practices or community
- You find yourself on high alert anytime you are in public, scanning the faces of every person that approaches you or your loved ones, locating the exits in every room, tracking your children’s whereabouts at all times
- You only feel safe at home
- Once you get home, you find yourself zoning out for hours on end
- Your friends and family don’t understand what you have seen and experienced
- Your friends and family, even your partner, may not even want to hear about what you have seen and experienced
- Your friends and family, even your partner, are at a loss for ways to support you
- You have noticed that your social circle has narrowed and now is limited to your workmates
If this sounds like you we can talk.
I offer trauma-informed counselling for acute workplace stress and cognitive processing therapy (CPT) and prolonged exposure (PE) for the treatment of PTSD symptoms.
Men Who Have Experienced Trauma
Have you had overwhelming experiences, where you could not cope? Does it feel like it could happen again at any moment? This can mean that you don’t feel safe, even when you know logically that you are safe. It can mean that you feel tense, agitated and on guard all the time. It can mean you have trouble concentrating, you withdraw from your friends and your family and you can feel out of touch with your own body. Maybe you react really strongly to things that other people disregard. Maybe your reactions are so strong you feel out of control. Or maybe you feel numb and cannot muster the energy to respond, even when you want to.
These responses indicate trauma.
If this sounds like you we can talk.
Men Who Have Used Violence
If you have been violent, it can be really hard to look at that part of yourself without condemning all parts of yourself. Here I am guided by the words of lawyer and social justice activist Bryan Stevenson:
“Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.”
All of us are complex; all of us have more than one side to ourselves. I will help you both take accountability and remember the parts of yourself that want to live peacefully and with kindness.
Email or call me if you are struggling with trauma, PTSD or shame.
250-818-4057