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When a fire has consumed all available oxygen, it only takes one open door or window to create a deadly backdraft and subsequent explosion. Like a backdraft, our minds quickly can starve for the care and well-being that's needed to be productive and happy. The mind can be a tricky enemy when mental health isn't addressed. We can have a mental explosion with just one minor trigger.
I've been in the first responder environment since 2001. I started my career at the age of 18 as a paid-on-call firefighter in my hometown in Illinois. Before that, I had no primary ambition. I just graduated high school and had no clue what I wanted to do. I always talked about being a firefighter and, because of an accident-prone childhood, even saw firsthand what firefighters do. I knew I wanted to do this job, because, as an inspired young adult, I wanted to help people. Little did I know that helping people meant that I would see some of the worst things that a person could see. Honestly, no one can be prepared for that.
I hope to share how I've learned ways to cope with job-related stress, anxiety and mental overload.
The build-up
Early in my career, I wish that I had some mental health guidance. As an 18-year-old, I was unprepared to see and process traumatic patients/situations.
One of my first traumatic calls involved an older woman who was the victim of a hit-and-run accident. Arriving on scene was a shock in and of itself, but then, I had to transport my first deceased patient.
As a newer firefighter, I wasn't prepared to experience these things. I played high school sports and went to school dances just a year before. It was a shock to my system to see an older woman who just came out of church lying in the middle of the road. Brain matter was on the pavement. Her life was gone in the blink of an eye, and my life was changed.
In 2001, there were no programs to work...