Tag Archives: firefighter

During our panel discussion we discussed a term that hasn't gotten much attention thus far in the firefighter mental health conversation: emotional or mental hygiene. We'll go to the doctor when we feel flu-ish or a nagging pain. So why don’t we see a health professional when we feel emotional pain: guilt, loss, loneliness?

My mission is two-fold: bring awareness to all so that sufferers are no longer afraid to talk and ask for help; and PTSD brain imagemove both Canada and the United States to recognize PTSD as a presumptive illness for firefighters. PTSD is a brain injury that happens because of all that we see and have to deal with through our jobs as firefighters and medics.

During that year, more physical issues came to the surface. Feeling tired, yet unable to sleep; feeling irritable, aggressive, and anxious; nightmares and night terrors were surfacing and night sweats were now a normal nightly routine. If only I could get some sleep...but there was much more to come.

Today, the public scrutiny is almost instantaneous because the Internet and social media platforms give anyone with a device and access an outlet to this "new" court of public opinion. And in this "court" there is no judge and no jury of your peers--only millions of people with Internet access and their own oft-times "half-baked" opinions.