“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster… for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.” – Friedrich W. Nietzsche
I turned 18 during my Emergency Medical Technician course and have been involved in some aspect of public safety and/or healthcare ever since.
I know first-hand the stress and trauma associated with, as my favorite professor used to say, “having a front row seat to the greatest show on earth.” You are constantly bombarded with the joys of life and the depths of despair. Pain and suffering are all-to-real in this world, and all of us in these professions bear witness to this on a daily basis.
This takes a toll, whether we want to admit it or not. Upon being hired into these professions we are somehow expected to magically become impervious. To somehow become immune from the pain and the grief. It is a cultural expectation of being the “toughest one in the room” and of not showing any signs of weakness. So, some people in these professions turn to Mal-adaptive ways of coping, such as alcohol or drug use. Others suffer in silence, and some suffer mental health issues because of it.
Yehuda Berg said it best: “Hurt people hurt people.”
This exposure does not only impact that professional, but also those who they come into contact with – sometimes including hurting those they love the most. The cross-over effects of workplace stress are real and can escalate. Divorce rates, and suicide rates in these professions are significantly higher than the national average.
I am deeply honored to be a part of the Indiana District 5 Resilience and Emotional Support Team (REST) providing critical incident stress management and debriefing services to colleagues across the state of Indiana. As a peer, I have seen and experienced the horrors they talk about in our confidential sessions. I have felt the pain and the grief. And I see some who still believe they must “suck it up” and carry on. In these sessions we plant the seeds to self-care and how the culture must change. Together, we must water and nurture these seeds. Nationally, we are already facing shortages in public safety and healthcare hiring. We MUST focus on healthy long-term retention of those called to be of service to others. Anything less is a failure of our society. We MUST do better in recognizing and supporting those who protect, serve, and heal us. We can no longer take mental health, and especially their mental health, for granted.