Quebec Police Officer PTSD study shows intervention works

If the military could figure out how to do this, we'd see a lot less suicides and a lot more healing!

Post-Traumatic Stress Risk to Police Lower Than Previously Thought
EHS Today
Sandy Smith
Jul. 18, 2013

Although police officers are at a high risk of experiencing traumatic events in their work, they are no more likely than the general population to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

New research from the Institut de Recherche Robert-Sauvé en Aanté et en Sécurité du Travail (IRSST) on the risk and protective factors of post-traumatic stress reactions in Quebec police officers found that despite the nature of their work, they experience no higher levels of post-traumatic stress disorder than the general population.

The study, “Predictors of Posttraumatic Stress Disorders in Police Officers – Prospective Study,” also confirms that symptoms associated with the development of PTSD in police officers can be attenuated or prevented with specific and adapted intervention. These symptoms include dissociative reactions, emotional and physical reactions, a state of acute stress, depressive symptoms and emotional coping responses to stress.

“Providing police officers with interventional support shortly after and in the weeks following a traumatic event improves the chances of preventing PTSD,” explained André Marchand, lead author of the study, a researcher at the Fernand-Seguin Research Centre of Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital and associate professor at Université de Montréal. “The strategies for adapting to trauma, such as developing a stress-resistant personality and obtaining social support, can be improved through prevention components of police officer training programs.”
read more here

PTSD Awareness must include first responders

June is PTSD awareness month
KETK News
Marlena Hamilton
Reporter
June 28, 2013

TYLER TX, (KETK) — June is post-traumatic stress disorder awareness month.

Not only do men and women from war suffer from this disorder, first responders do as well.

"They are dealing with things that aren't natural for human beings," said Smith County Sheriff's Office Chaplain Doug Haning.

Our police officers, firefighters and ems responders are there in times of trouble.

"We go on what we call auto pilot. Sometimes we are able to stay on auto pilot throughout the scene get through it and then it's time to start dealing with it,'' said City of Tyler Asst. Fire Marshal Laura Mason.

But, they experience situations and tragedies that no one can even imagine.

"Law enforcement and military are a lot alike they have the same stresses 99% of the time your dealing with the ins and outs of your daily business and then there is that 1% of the time where everything is upside down," said Haning.
read more here


PTSD I Grieve from Kathleen "Costos" DiCesare on Vimeo.

Military should learn Army of civilians show up after tornadoes

From 2008 to 2010 I took as much training as possible to be able to hit trauma head on as soon as it happens. Why? Because it works. It takes the survivors out of the event and into safe places. It removes them from what they just went through instead of just leaving them there in shock.

My family did that for me using common sense and wisdom. One time it was a bad car accident. When my parents picked me up at the hospital, my Dad drove us to see what was left of the car I walked away from. We stood there until I didn't need to look at it anymore. My Dad handed me the keys to his car. I thought he was out of his mind after what happened but he explained to me that I needed to get back to "normal" and drive or I may never drive again. He was right.

He took me out of that moment when I was sure I was going to die as the car was out of control heading for the guard rail. Not thinking right, I relaxed, covered my face with my arms and crashed. As I stood looking at the car my parents didn't need to say anything or "fix" me right then and there. They waited for me to talk with their arms around me. Then I said it trying to make sense out of surviving all that with bruises and friction burns. "I survived that!"

As I drove down the same highway I almost died on hours earlier, my hands were shaking as I stayed in the slow lane of traffic tensing up as soon as another car came up behind me. It wasn't a fun ride but when I pulled into the driveway, I was relieved.

Civilians have been doing this for decades but the military hasn't. That is really inexcusable considering war is what clued civilians into responding to traumatic events. Vietnam veterans came home suffering the way all other generations did but they refused to just go home and die. They fought the government and service organizations to fund research. Those efforts led to mental health providers and crisis intervention teams much like trauma centers treat traumatic wounds after what the military learned. So how is it the military is the last to learn what they taught everyone else?

Army of mental health volunteers search for tornado victims
KFOR News
May 28, 2013
by Ed Doney

MOORE, Okla. – The streets of Moore and other communities devastated by the May 19 and 20 tornadoes are filled with residents who have yet to process the mental toll those storms took.

“This lady was saying ‘My husband won’t cry, I need him to cry.’ Well, maybe it’s not time for him to cry,” Jackie Shipp said, with the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS).

Shipp wants to hear more of those stories while walking the streets of Moore.

She’s offering the simplest of things, water and food, hoping people will open up and let her offer them psychological first aid.

She said, “They need someone to ground them and say, ‘What are the two things you need to do today? Did you eat today? When’s the last time you had something to drink?’”

It’s an effort by more than 400 mental health professionals and volunteers from across Oklahoma and several states to help as many people as they can.
read more here

“In the past, they were just telling a guy to suck it up and move on”

Officer in shooting incident named
By Jessica Bruha
The Norman Transcript
May 5, 2013

NORMAN — The female officer involved in Wednesday’s shooting at Main Street and Hal Muldrow Drive was identified by fellow officers as Glenda Vassar.

Vassar repeatedly issued verbal warnings to him, but she shot him after he began to approach her in an aggressive manner armed with a small kitchen knife, eyewitnesses said.

"Earlier this year, Vassar was recognized as the first female officer to receive the Police Officer of the Year award. She has worked as a Norman officer for two-and-a-half years and was commended during the awards ceremony by Chief of Police Keith Humphrey."

During Vassar’s administrative leave, she was required, as part of the policy, to talk to a peer support responder (PSR).

The Peer Support Team was developed to help officers “defuse” or “debrief” from incidents such as officer-involved shootings, Jackson said. The team allows officers involved in critical incidents to sit down and talk to someone who has been in their shoes.

“Suicide is the No. 1 cause of death of police officers,” Jackson said. “In the past, they were just telling a guy to suck it up and move on.”

That was before many realized that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression and other conditions were affecting officers after being involved in critical incidents, he said.
read more here

Taming The Fire Within

At the Point Man Ministries tent during the reunion today, I was a handed a copy of this book to take a look at. After two paragraphs reading Greeks, Romans and first responders, I was hooked but the owner of the book wouldn't let me take it because it was signed by the author to him. This book is now on my list to review and this woman is now on my bucket list to interview.

I keep talking about the different types of PTSD and how they all need to be treated differently. Anne Freund not only works for the VA, she is a specialist in PTSD and worked with law enforcement with Critical Incidence Stress Debriefing! I have to meet her someday soon. WOW, she seems to be exactly what I have been talking about there needs to be more of.

"Taming the Fire Within: Life After War is a paperback book of approx. 260 pages with a color photograph on almost every page, from all different wars ranging from the Civil War to the present. The book is written for all generations of warriors in a down to earth, straightforward style. It discusses and explains the natural reactions virtually all war veterans experience after they return from the war zone. This book will be helpful not only for the veteran, but their family members as well.

Anne Freund, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist who has been practicing since 1989. She graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor’s in Psychology and from the University of Florida with a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. Dr. Freund completed her internship at the VA in Bay Pines, FL.

She has been with the Department of Veterans Affairs since 2005. Prior to that she worked with law enforcement and first responders as part of a Critical Incidence Stress Debriefing Team. Dr. Freund began conducting PTSD support groups in 2005, shortly after arriving at the VA.

She has had specialized training in PTSD at the National Center for PTSD in Menlo Park, California and at the Center for Deployment Psychology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr Freund is a member of the American Psychological Association, the International Society for Traumatic Stress, European Society for Stress Studies, and the Association of VA Psychologist Leaders.

Massacre of children leaves many asking, 'Where’s God?'

I am so tired of religious leaders taking the easy way out of saying "there is no good answer" when the worst tragedy happens. It shows they lack the ability to see God in all things including times when evil is committed. They forget that God will not interfere with man's freewill. It is up to them if they listen to His voice to do good in this world or to turn away and do evil against others.

Today we focus on the pain and the horror of so many children being killed along with innocent adults just trying to teach them so they could have a better future. That future will now include remembering this evil act, yet I refuse to ask "where was God" because I know He was there.

Some parents are holding onto their children tonight and some will thank God it wasn't them at the same time they grieve for the other parents. Some parents are waiting to be able to claim the bodies of the children they kissed goodbye this morning as they sent them off to school. Some of them are asking "where was God" and some will blame God. All of them will be searching for answers and turning to clergy for help but if they hear "there are no easy answers" their healing will not begin.

God was there when teachers risked their lives to pull children to safety. He was there when police officers rushed to the school only thinking about the kids not knowing what they were rushing into or if they would also die this day.

He was there when arms reached out to comfort and when the nation sent up prayers to heaven for strangers they would never meet. He is there when crisis responders drop whatever they were doing and rush to be there for all of those in need including the responders having to cope with seeing all the children.

God is always there when times of crisis come but we focus on the evil other people are capable of.

The gunman pulled the trigger of the guns and according to reports this far, he was shooting at random. Why he did it we may never be able to understand but even knowing why will not change the outcome. We do know that parents loved their children and their children loved them. We do know that teachers wanted to give these children a bright future as they hoped one day these children would grow up to change the world for the better. We do know that the members of the police force and emergency responders cared about the members of their community enough that they were willing to risk their lives for them. While evil did surface this day, love did as well.

If you are a member of the clergy don't give them easy answers or try to back out of giving any answers at all. They don't need you to fix them right now but help them cope with this horror and listen to them. Don't tell them one of the stupidest things I've ever heard come out of the mouth of a pastor, "God only gives us what we can handle" because when you tell them something that sickening you are telling them that God either did it to them or He allowed it to teach them a lesson. If you think that gives anyone comfort ask yourself how you'd feel hearing that. To be there for them you have to really be there for them, all of you. Your ears must listen, your heart must feel and your prayers for them must include God giving you the right words to come out your mouth to actually give some comfort to them even if it is tiny compared to the depth of their pain.

Massacre of children leaves many asking, 'Where’s God?'
By Dan Gilgoff and Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editors
December 14, 2012 06:17 PM ET

(CNN) – As he waited with parents who feared that their kids were among the 20 children killed at a Connecticut elementary school on Friday, Rabbi Shaul Praver said the main thing he could do for parents was to merely be present.

“It’s a terrible thing, families waiting to find out if their children made it out alive,” said Praver, who leads a synagogue in Newtown, Connecticut, and was among nine clergy gathered with parents at a firehouse near Sandy Hook Elementary School, where the shooting occurred.

“They’re going to need a lot of help,” Praver said of those who are close to the dead.

From the first moments after Friday’s massacre, which also left six adults and the shooter dead, religious leaders were among the first people to whom worried and grieving families turned for help.

Over the weekend, countless more Americans will look to clergy as they struggle to process a tragedy in which so many of the victims were children.

“Every single person who is watching the news today is asking ‘Where is God when this happens?’” says Max Lucado, a prominent Christian pastor and author based in San Antonio.

Indeed, many religious leaders on Friday stressed that the important thing is for clergy to support those who are suffering, not to rush into theological questions. A University of Connecticut professor on Friday hung up the phone when asked to discuss religious responses to suffering, saying, “This is an immense tragedy, and you want an academic speculating on the problem of evil?”

“There is no good answer at that time that anyone can hear and comprehend and take in,” said Ian T. Douglas, the bishop for the Episcopal diocese of Connecticut, referring to counseling family and friends of the dead. “They’re crying out from a place of deep pain.” read more here

Working to prevent PTSD,,,,again

If I had a dollar for every time I read something like this, I'd never need another dime in donations!

Working to prevent PTSD
September 5, 2012

(NECN/NBC News: Erika Edwards) - When most people hear the term "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," they automatically think of the military, but PTSD doesn't discriminate.

Anyone can develop the condition.

Researchers at Emory University are looking at trauma patients who never stepped foot on a battlefield with the hope of preventing PTSD from developing.

Susan Cash has spent most of her adult life looking for healing after surviving a violent rape and shooting as a young woman.

"My own father could not even hug me, I would lay in bed and pray my husband would not touch me. It was awful, and everyday was a challenge," she says.

After years of trying different forms of therapy Susan was eventually diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Dr. Barbara Rothbaum of Emory University says most people think PTSD is a soldier's disease, but civilians are also greatly affected.

"About 70 percent of us will be exposed to a traumatic event that could result in PTSD," Dr. Rothbaum says.

She and her colleagues are trying to prevent ptsd by starting therapy immediately after a traumatic event.
read more here

IMPORTANT EVENTS IN NIMH HISTORY
1946—On July 3 President Harry Truman signed the National Mental Health Act, which called for the establishment of a National Institute of Mental Health. The first meeting of the National Advisory Mental Health Council was held on August 15. Because no federal funds had yet been appropriated for the new institute, the Greentree Foundation financed the meeting.

There is the place to start. Crisis response started because Vietnam veterans started the research in what happens after trauma. Yep, those guys. This is not new, has been researched all over the world for a very, very long time.

Crisis intervention teams are fairly new but not what is done after someone is exposed to traumatic events. Talking about what happened helps the healing process by taking that time of fear and translating it while in a safe place so that moment replaces the moment of terror. In other words, brings things back to "normal" again. Leaving that pain along with all of the responses the body goes through during the event leaves the survivor still in the fight.

I've read about this for 30 years but lived with it. My family talked about everything especially when something went wrong, which was a "normal" occurrence for us. Long story short, with an abundance of traumatic events I survived, I do not have PTSD simply because I had someone to talk to right after it happened.

This is one of the reasons why I did so much Crisis Intervention training from 2008-2010. It works! But it is far from new.

Another veteran arrested after calling crisis line

Suicidal veteran's case pits promise, federal law
After calling a crisis line for troubled veterans, Sean Duvall found himself charged with a weapons violation.
By Laurence Hammack
February 12, 2012

Homeless and depressed, Sean Duvall wandered the streets of Blacksburg, each step taking him closer to suicide.

In his backpack he carried a final note to his family and a crude, homemade gun fashioned from a piece of steel pipe, a shotgun shell and a nail rigged as a firing pin. For seven days, he contemplated killing himself.

Then, on the night of June 8, 2011, Duvall turned to the country he had served.

A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Duvall called a toll-free crisis line the Department of Veterans Affairs offers as a confidential resource for troubled veterans.

Duvall was looking for help. Instead, he found himself in federal court, charged with possessing a destructive device and three related felonies that could send him to prison for 40 years.

For the government to promise a veteran help through a confidential crisis line, then betray that trust by using his own words to convict him, is more than just unfair, Duvall's attorney argues.

"This is dishonorable," federal public defender Randy Cargill wrote in court papers. "It is wrong; it is unfair; it shocks the conscience."
red more here

Mentally ill have 31 new advocates after police training in Crisis Intervention

"Why should veterans be treated differently than any one else?" I get that question a lot. The answer is, they are different than anyone else. Less than 10% of the population can call themselves Veteran and less that 1% serve today in the military. Think that makes them very different from the rest of us just with that, but top off the fact these men and women survived a year at a time in combat. We can understand civilians with PTSD after a tornado, car accident, crime or sudden death of someone they loved, but we can't seem to manage to understand a combat veteran coming home with PTSD because their traumatic events aren't counted on one or two fingers, but many need a calculator.

There are Veterans' Courts opening up across the country to treat them because they are different than the rest of the population. While many think this is a rare thing, even the Law Enforcement officials recognize confronting people with Mental Illness is confronting someone in crisis. Between 2008 and 2010 there were several of these trainings I attended and I can tell you first hand, it makes a huge difference in how you look at people and how you are able to judge someone needs help.

Police training makes a difference in crisis
by Lori Caldwell lcaldwell@post-trib.com
June 11, 2011

“I don’t believe in jail for the mentally ill, but the resources aren’t there. They need an advocate. I’m glad for this program, it works.” Judge Pro Tem Itsia Rivera

GARY — The mentally ill have 31 new advocates.

Last-week’s graduates of the Police Department’s five-day Crisis Intervention Team program learned diagnostic, communication and response skills that go far beyond handcuffs and jail cells.

“You are joining the rank of a very specialized team,” Danita Johnson-Hughes, president of Edgewater Systems for Balanced Living, told the group Friday afternoon. She and other speakers at the graduation ceremony, including Mayor Rudy Clay, thanked the officers for participating in the program.

Since 2003, the Gary Police Department, with Methodist Hospitals, Edgewater Systems for Balanced Living and the National Alliance on Mental Illness have been training officers in ways to quickly evaluate and assist mentally ill people.

“Take what you’ve learned and utilize it,” Chief Gary O. Carter said at the closing ceremony. “It’s self-rewarding.”

Police from Gary, Indiana University Northwest, Schererville and Hammond attended the class along with Gary Community School Corp. supervisory aides and Davis Security employees.
read more here
Police training makes a difference in crisis

Chapel of the Net

Matthew 4 19

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."(New International Version)



I have a new blog, Chapel of the Net.  It is for trauma survivors. 

It is a nondenominational blog based on Christian beliefs. There are not many traumatic events I had not been touched by but not one has destroyed me.




Domestic violence

My father was a violent alcoholic until I was 13. With the help of AA, he stopped drinking and never touched another drop until he passed away at the age of 58.

My ex-husband beat me once and nearly killed me. I was saved by my landlord and the police.



Divorce

I divorced my ex-husband and he stalked me for over a year. I have been married to Jack, a Vietnam vet since 1984.



Car accident

I survived being hit in the rear and sent head on into a guard rail.



Traumatic brain injury

At 4 ½ I was pushed off a slide at a drive-in movie. I fell two stories head first and landed on cement.



Health crisis

Miscarried twins and hemorrhaged.

After my daughter was born, I had an infection that was not treated properly. It caused a massive infection that almost killed me eight months later.



Death of family members

Father at the age of 58

Brother Warren at the age of 42

Brother Nick at the age of 56

Mom at the age of 85

My husband lost his whole family, Father, Mom, two sisters in 13 months.

His nephew committed suicide. He was a Vietnam veteran and committed suicide due to PTSD and heroin.



Job loss

I lost my job working for a church, a job I loved and didn’t receive unemployment. As a church they didn’t have to pay into the system and I was left with no income to support my ministry. We survived on my husband’s disability and pension.

It is the fact I have not lost hope that I am stil here.  I want to give to others what was given to me and that is the support and love that has seen me through it all. 
 
Please visit Chapel of the Net and as the days go on, I hope you will not only find comfort there but share it with others.  If you went through something, please share it and how you overcame it.
 
There will be no ads on this site and totally reader supported.

How You Can Use Crises to Transform Your Life

We've all had one crisis or another. For my family it was my husband and PTSD taking over, the loss of the twins I was carrying, deaths of all our family members, job loss, accidents and health problems. The list seems to never end. Right now it is a financial crisis, but we've had many of these hard times before.

It's really hard to get through hard times when things don't seem to be getting any better. Yet when you look back at other hard times you've faced, one thing stands out, those bad days didn't destroy you because you're still here.

Looking back, faith gave me hope and hope got me from one day to the next no matter what the crisis was. I turned the heartache of watching my husband suffer with PTSD and all that did to my family, into something positive. Helping veterans and their families get through their own pain. What you see on this blog is part of what I do. Tracking reports across the country makes it impossible for anyone to think this is not a national problem. The videos are part of it. Putting in my two cents on essays is part, but then there are the emails and heartbreaking stories leading up to emails when other families come thru the worst of times just like we did.

If you measure success by money, then I am an absolute failure, but if you measure it by lives saved, families held together and proving hope to other people, then I guess you could say I have succeeded. On the grand scale of things, I'm just a nobody, ignored by a lot of powerful groups no matter how hard I try to get them to just listen. Yet on a human level, I talk to some of the most magnificent people you'd ever want to meet.

Right now there is a couple involved with a ministry. He is a veteran trying to heal from PTSD and the wife is a Godsend to him, standing by his side and trying to do whatever she can to help him heal better. All they want is to take what this crisis has done and turn it into a positive outcome by helping other families and especially veterans.

There was a Vietnam veteran, outcast from everyone he knew yet all he wants to do is get better and stronger so that he can help other veterans.

These people are simply amazing. They didn't want to give up and they certainly didn't want to give in. Neither do I. Reading the advice from Tony Robbins may seem like just publicity for his new show but when you think of the gift he has to offer, let him publicize it all he wants because he's giving a lot more than others have.

A Chance to Break Through: How You Can Use Crises to Transform Your Life

Arianna Huffington and Tony Robbins
Posted: July 26, 2010

A month ago, when Tony Robbins was passing through New York, we met for a drink. In the course of our conversation, we realized that -- from our different perspectives -- we both had been thinking about a similar problem: how can people faced with enormous challenges carry on without collapsing under the burden?

I had just finished my upcoming book on Third World America in which I write about the millions of middle class Americans who are suddenly finding themselves without a job, or without a home, or without the possibility of giving their children a better future. By the end of the book, I found myself consumed with identifying practical solutions and sources of help that those struggling could use right away -- instead of anxiously waiting for government to act. And I recognized that it all starts with each individual's inner strength and resilience.

Tony, meanwhile, had been working on "Breakthrough with Tony Robbins," a series of primetime TV specials for NBC focused on the stories of people who had been dealt an incredibly bad hand by life. He showed me a clip and I was not just deeply moved but, more the point, I was struck by how these people were able to find the strength to transform their lives -- even in the most extreme circumstances.

The clip I saw was about a newlywed who jumps into a swimming pool on his wedding day, hits his head, and instantly becomes a quadriplegic. When we first encounter them in Tony's special, premiering tomorrow night, he and his wife are trapped in their house -- the wife feeling depressed and angry; the husband feeling guilty and at a loss for what to do. The transformation in this couple's lives that we see by the end of the hour is stunning -- and I knew it would be really inspiring for anyone going through difficult circumstances of their own (most of which, of course, would pale in comparison to becoming a quadriplegic).

By the end of our meeting, Tony and I had decided do something on HuffPost that would focus on solutions instead of problems. The result is Breakthrough: The Power of Crisis, which launches today.
read more here

How You Can Use Crises to Transform Your Life

Mental health cases tax police, emergency workers

My friend Lily Casura at Healing Combat Trauma sent this.

Mental health cases tax police, emergency workers
LISA RATHKE,Associated Press Writer

"Because they're completely falling through the cracks," he said. "They're not cracks, they're chasms."

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Police found him sitting on the floor of his old apartment near a bucket of urine, still dressed in his hospital gown.

The apartment had been condemned for the squalor — food on the floor, flies — and his smoking in bed. But the mentally ill man, just released from the hospital, had managed to get back in. For the second time in four days, he was taken by ambulance to the hospital.

Three firefighters, a battalion chief, the police chief, two police officers, a code enforcement person and a housing official responded, and finally, an ambulance crew — at a cost of thousands of dollars, Police Chief Michael Schirling said.

Police and emergency responders around the nation have long struggled to deal with people who have mental illness, and some say the situation is only getting worse. A poor economy and cuts to institutional programs threaten to overwhelm personnel trained to deal with crime and vehicle accidents, not mental crises.

"The problem seems to be accelerating in scope and severity of late," the police chief said. "More folks in need of mental health services, more significant issues occurring on the street as a result, and fewer available services for folks in acute crisis or those who are service-resistant."

On the same day they removed the mental patient from the condemned apartment, police searched the other end of Burlington for a homeless man who'd been yelling at kids in a residential neighborhood. Parents wouldn't let their children out alone. Some called 911.

The man has paranoid schizophrenia and other mental illnesses but has refused treatment, so police charged him with disorderly conduct. The chief called it a "workaround," designed to get him into the mental health system by judicial order.

"It's a perversion of the system," he said.
read more here
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091121/ap_on_re_us/us911_mental_health

Healing after a traumatic crisis

Taking a look at what humans face in our daily lives that involve times of crisis may help us understand why soldiers end up suffering so much more.

Levels of crisis in our own lives.
Loss of a pet, we are told, get a new one
Loss of a friend and feeling totally lonely, we are told, go out and meet someone else.
Loss of parent for an adult child, we are told, at least we had them as long as we did.
Loss of a spouse due to death or divorce, we are told, you are still young enough to find someone else.
Loss of a child, we are told, you can have more.

We lose jobs and are told we are better off and will find a better job, but no one seems to be able to tell us how to pay our bills, find our pride when our identity was connected to the job we did everyday. No one can tell us why it was us getting let go of while others were still on the job no matter if we were better or not at ours. Companies close their doors and everyone is unemployed but no one seems to be able to tell us how we an tell our kids we have to move out of the house because we can't find a job and pay the mortgage anymore.

Illness that comes and we are told we will die soon then we have to decide if we want to fight it, put a financial and emotional burden on our families or if it would hurt them more for us to give up.

Perhaps the worst thing we go through is when we believe we did the best we could, did what we were intended to do, did the right thing and still had to carry a heavy load away while others seem to be able to just go off on their merry way without ever having to pay a price for anything.

Now that it is in more common terms, this is what the go through. They deal with the rest of the crisis we all do but then they get to have to watch their friends die, strangers die all around them and too often have to be the one to take a life to save the lives of those they serve with.

Now maybe you can understand the following a bit better.


Trying to find an eraser.
Trying to dismiss Maj. Hasan as "not one of our own" instead of acknowledging that he was but turned against them is like trying to think of it as a total stranger coming onto the base with weapons and deciding to kill off some soldiers. Having a picture of that in their minds will only make it worse. Hasan was one of their own but not worthy of them, the rank he held or the fact he was put in the care of their mental health. The result after trauma will still be there but without facing the truth behind the suffering, they will be filled with absolutely no reason for the pain they are carrying.

Hasan "Not One of Our Own," Soldier Says
1st Responder to Scene of Deadly Shooting Says "Soldiers Do Not Do This to Each Other"; Fort Hood Seeks Return to Normalcy

(CBS) Updated 6:48 p.m. EST

Soldiers at Fort Hood continued to display a mix of anger and disbelief at Maj. Nidal Hasan's alleged role in the deadly shooting rampage that left 13 people dead and dozens more wounded.

"I can't really say this was done by one of our own. Soldiers do not do this to each other," said 1st Sgt. James McLeod, a first responder to the scene whose unit suffered three fatalities.

But for the first time in almost a week at Fort Hood, there was a homecoming of troops from war - a bittersweet time for the post still grieving last week's shooting. Nearly 300 members of the 1st Cavalry Division returned home Tuesday night after a year in Iraq - the first such reunion since last Thursday's deadly rampage, reports CBS News correspondent Don Teague.

"It's kind of bittersweet to me," Jennifer Goetz, the wife of returning soldier Specialist Sean Goetz told Teague. "So much loss and then just so much happiness right now and love and joy."

Meanwhile, military officials at the base are focused on ensuring the mental health of soldiers as Fort Hood slowly returns to normal after a fatal shooting rampage last week.

"The mission at Fort Hood continues," Col. John Rossi said Wednesday, a day after President Barack Obama joined other officials in a memorial for the fallen.

Mr. Obama denounced the "twisted logic" of the attack and vowed their "killer will be met with justice - in this world and the next."

Rossi would not address the specifics of the case against Hasan, an Army psychiatrist.

Instead, Rossi said all the units affected must use a combination of "friendship and leadership" to help any comrades psychologically affected by the attack.

"We expect leaders to be invasive. You need to know your soldiers. It's OK to ask them how they're doing," Rossi said, adding that "battle buddies may know each other better than anybody else" and can be a valuable resource for identifying any emotional problems.

"Let's find it from within and then seek help if they need it," Rossi said.

Fifteen wounded in the attack remain in the hospital - four in intensive care - according to Rossi. He could not confirm whether any scheduled deployments would be delayed in the wake of the attack.
read more here
Hasan "Not One of Our Own," Soldier Says

Battle Buddies aid so that soldiers can have someone to talk to and have someone watching their backs. Problem is, are they trained to know what is the right thing to say, the right thing to do, when to call for more help? It would be great if they simply took their own life experiences and then used their hearts to see the need. Then they would automatically know what to do and how to respond. Untrained, they could make things worse. They need to be there to listen, be quiet when needed and speak when needed but they also need to know what to say.

Imagine a well meaning chaplain trying to explain the worst thing possible and come up with a reason for it. While the do not intend to do harm their mouths can do more harm than good simply by a choice of words.
Death of a friend, "God needed them more"
A loss of a friend, breakup of a marriage, death of a family member or severe wounding, "God only gives us what we can handle"
These kinds of statements do as much harm as when they ask "Have you thought about killing yourself?" which may in fact put the idea into their head as a solution to their problems.
There is so much that goes into this and we need to be asking if and how well these battle buddies are trained especially when there was yet another report of the suicide rate going up again.

Young Fort Hood Soldier Reacts: 'I Wanted To Cry, But I Couldn't'
Joshua Chaney Contributor
Posted: 11/10/09
Glen Jolivette, 19, of Coshocton, Ohio, had the day off from his job as an Army signal support systems specialist at Ft. Hood last Thursday when the accused gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, started shooting.

"I found out about everything going on over a public announcement system," Jolivette said. "It said word for word, 'Seek shelter immediately, close all doors and windows, make sure all ventilation is closed.'"

Looking out the window of his room, he saw about a dozen civilian helicopters in the sky. He got on the Internet and found out what had happened. As he refreshed the page, the death toll continued to rise.

Out his window, he saw "the creepiest thing in the world. The busiest post in the world was totally dead, no one in sight. I felt a rock just build up in my chest and I wanted to cry, but I couldn't."
read more here
Young Fort Hood Soldier Reacts

Des Moines Police take on traumatic stress head on

We're reading only parts of the stories when police officers are involved in shooting people or responding to murders, domestic violence especially when they involve children. We read about how they responded, read about the civilians involved but we hardly ever think about the police officers after any of it unless they have to go on trail for what they did. That's a shame because in a time when we are finally talking about PTSD in soldiers, Marines and veterans, we leave police officers, firefighters and emergency responders totally out of the reporting on PTSD.

The problem is that police officers, drug agents and FBI agents have a lot in common with the troops in the military and the National Guards. They are not just exposed to traumatic events, they are also participants in them. Many times they have to make life or death decisions in a second and then have to live with those decisions for the rest of their lives. Sometimes, it is not a clear cut conclusion. Those are the times when what they thought they had to do will eat away at them.

We can read about a the shooting of a man they thought had a gun but it turns out, he was unarmed. The outcome is the same and the man is dead but the officer then must overcome the guilt they feel for making the wrong decision. We blame the officer then forget all about it, never knowing what the officer went through after. We dismiss any aftermath as being part of a group of problem officers the media loves to take on because we don't want to look at good cops making one bad decision and heaven forbid we ever look at a cop having to make these decisions every day.

We depend on them for our safety and that makes it hard to remember they are still human just like us. Unlike us, they are willing to put their lives on the line for someone else. It's time they were helped to heal as humans exposed to abnormal events just as we help the troops and veterans of combat heal.

New Des Moines police unit helps officers fight job stress
By DANIEL P. FINNEY • dafinney@dmreg.com • July 29, 2009


Jeremy Sprague needed to get his head right.

In July 2004, Sprague, then a Dallas County sheriff's deputy, was one of four law enforcement officers who shot and killed a suicidal man who allegedly pointed a gun at authorities in rural Van Meter.

A grand jury later ruled the officers acted properly, but Sprague struggled with taking a life. He lost sleep. He tried to reconcile killing a man, even in the line of duty, with his Christian faith. He wanted to talk to somebody, but cop culture leaves little room for emotions.

"In law enforcement, you can't really expose your feelings, and I didn't feel like there was anywhere for me to turn," Sprague said. "So, I ended up bottling up all the stress. It wore me down."

With time, counseling and a job change, Sprague healed. In 2006, he became a Des Moines police officer. Now he and 14 other members of the Des Moines police and fire departments are working to make sure their peers never have to suffer in silence as Sprague did.

A handful of Des Moines police officers, firefighters and an emergency dispatcher launched a peer support group with an eye to helping colleagues avoid post-traumatic stress disorder and other crisis-related struggles. The committee began work on the project in spring 2008.
read more here
New Des Moines police unit helps officers fight job stress

After trauma comes a teachable moment

After trauma comes a teachable moment

by
Chaplain Kathie

When we talk about PTSD and our troops along with our veterans, we do a great injustice if we do not use every teachable moment possible to help them heal.

Despite a recent study about intervention and crisis response, there is a great deal of more evidence the right crisis intervention works to help people recover from traumatic events. The key word is the "right" intervention.

Trained responders, unless having experiences of their own recovering from traumatic events, will only learn what they are told. If it isn't personal to them, they will walk away with a heavy binder of information and notes, but not much more than that. If the instructor is not fully knowledgeable, that load of education is not worth much than a "load" and they will not respond in the right way. In some cases, they may end up needing some crisis intervention for themselves as well. If the training is right, then they are able to go out in the field helping people recover instead of doing more damage.

It's the same condition in the military. We've read article after article on military Chaplains more interested in proselytizing than helping soldiers overcome what they were just exposed to. When this happens, teachable moments are lost. PTSD is allowed to take hold and may be fed by the wrong response from the very people the troops turn to for help. Once this happens, it is extremely difficult for them to trust someone else enough to seek help from.

Fort Bliss Expects To Handle More PTSD Cases With Influx Of Soldiers
Dena Richardson/KFOX News Reporter
Posted: 7:37 pm MDT July 26, 2009
Updated: 9:24 pm MDT July 26, 2009

EL PASO, Texas -- Plans are under way to handle more cases of post-traumatic stress disorder with the influx of soldiers, according to Fort Bliss officials.

About 20,000 troops are stationed at Fort Bliss currently. But following realignment, there will be nearly 35,000 soldiers, and that could mean more PTSD cases to treat.
read more here and watch video
Fort Bliss Expects To Handle More PTSD Cases

With the troops comes a "tougher than" attitude telling them they are supposed to be strong enough to take whatever comes their way. This complicates the will to seek help from anyone. When they find the will to acknowledge the need, part of them is still in hero mode, denial as well as a sense of obligation to the rest of the men in their units. For the time they take to seek help, they think about how much they need to be with their units instead of focusing on the "one among them" instead of the military family as a whole. They want quick answers and quick recovery to get back to their units.



Should the person they turn to offer a long, drawn out response, they will not be hearing anything they need to hear because their brain is screaming "just get to the point" so they can get out of there. With PTSD, there is a very long list of issues they are facing and the responder needs to focus on their most pressing issue at the time. They can do this if they listen first and then respond to the issue the one seeking help foremost in their mind.

Veterans also carry that "tougher than" attitude within them. It's very hard to get any of them to seek help and they won't unless they know PTSD is not because there was anything defective in them but part of the emotional chain they carry within them. They confuse courage as being emotionally barren while it was because they had compassion in the first place, they found the courage to act on it and risk their lives for the sake of others.

Many years ago, I almost blew the chance to help a veteran heal. I was new at all of this and was more interested in giving the veteran everything I knew all at once. I saw his disgust in his face. I stopped talking and started to listen. His issue was not anything that I had addressed shoving the answers at him. He was more concerned with losing God. Once I actually heard him, I was able to focus on his most pressing issue at the time and then help him to understand what PTSD was. Had I not stopped talking, he would have just walked away and there would have been a teachable moment lost.

Experts know that as soon as PTSD is addressed, it stops getting worse, but what they don't talk about is the right way to address it. Sometimes we can do more damage if we add the frustration of not being heard to the one seeking help. Another way we blow it is when we do not warn them that when they begin to face PTSD, they usually get this emotional rush flooding out of them. This is terrifying to them and they think it's getting worse instead of knowing that it is good to cry. It's an emotional release of what they have been carrying around as a human. If they don't see it coming, recovery can go into reverse. Another teachable moment lost.

The second we respond to someone after trauma we are given part of the "golden hour" responsible for the rest of their lives. PTSD progresses into a full assault against them for every moment left un-addressed. While we have veterans as old as WWII veterans seeking help for the first time, they have shown us that it is not too late to help them heal but the damage done to their lives cannot be reversed. There are years worth of pain they carried and in turn inflicted on their families. This is something else we don't talk about. Distant, detached husbands and fathers end up causing a lot of bitterness in the family. Relationships come under attack because of the lack of knowledge and help. Some go beyond the point of no return but some relationships can be restored with forgiveness fused with understanding. This only comes after knowledge is delivered and acted upon. If no one addresses the family issues these veterans come with, then many of the psychological steps taken can be reversed should the family be left out of all of it.

Resentment will feed PTSD symptoms. The wrong response from family members will feed it. If the family is included in the recovery they will be able to have the tools to adjust and cope appropriately as well as forgive. Again, teachable moments lost as uninformed family members react out of hurt instead of being part of the healing.

We will see an increase in PTSD cases as outreach efforts reach the older veterans and the newer veterans gain understanding enough to seek help. The problem is there are just not enough people to go around and even less are trained the right way. It seems that everyone is looking for a quick answer, grabbing at every new program that comes out. Bloggers shoot out the latest press release about programs being offered as the new "answer to all solution," but there is not one program that will ever work for all. Should a veteran seek the wrong program because it worked for someone else they know but does not work for them, they will give up on help. If they understand that each individual responds differently, they will keep looking for the one that will work for them with confidence there is an answer somewhere for them.

As I try to put out as much information as possible on this blog, it has been disheartening that so much has been left out of the conversation concerning the moments we lost by not doing what needs to be done. Too many have already been frustrated away from help because of the lack of appropriate help at the VA and service organizations. There are not enough professionals to go around and even less providing what needs to be known. There was a time when I could get a veteran to understand what PTSD was and then send them for the diagnosis and treatment they needed but those days ended years ago as the influx came in like a tsunami.

I cannot treat them or diagnose them and most of the other advocates online cannot either. Providing information and understanding is their only job but it does little good if there is no one to send them to so they can act on what they have just learned. Unfortunately, we keep losing moments when we could be helping them heal because there is just a lack of people to send them to. It will be this way for a long time with ever increasing numbers unless everyone dealing with PTSD is trained appropriately to respond the right way as soon as possible.

We will see more veterans taking their own lives, more families destroyed, increasing numbers of homeless veterans, drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence and veterans in jail unless we take all of this as seriously as the military comes up with plans to send them into combat. We can treat them as soon as they are hurt or leave it to fester and infect the rest of their lives. The choice is our's to make but they and the rest of the country will pay the price in the long run. We will have only ourselve's to blame if we do not learn from what we've already known.

Can we prevent PTSD in everyone?

by
Chaplain Kathie

Recently there was a study saying that intervention after traumatic events was ineffective. Bloggers ended up posting it like crazy as if it was a proven fact instead of one study. If this is the case, then everyone doing it and participating in intervention is wrong. I really doubt that. Can we prevent PTSD in everyone? I wish we could but I am living proof that it worked for me.

4 1/2 pushed off slide onto concrete at a drive-in movie playground in Revere MA. Fractured scull, concussion and my brother thought I was dead. Trip to emergency room, tech missed the cracked scull and sent me home. Next day, different emergency room, found the crack and immediately admitted me. One week later I was finally able to go home. What happened after this was constantly talking about it with my family. Ok, we had a typical Greek family where everything was discussed do death with my Mom and her sisters.

Violent alcoholic father until I was 13 and he stopped drinking. Again, nothing was a secret in the family but outside it was a different story.

Car crash that totaled out my Mom's car with me driving home from work on Route 128 in rush hour traffic. I was hit in the rear end and thought I was going to die. The car went into a spin out and smashed into the guard rail. In shock, I couldn't stop laughing as I pushed the car from the passing lane to the breakdown lane. Laughing while waiting for the ambulance and did not stop laughing for over an hour. Again, we kept talking about it until I was done talking.

Ex-husband tried to kill me when he came home from work one night and absolutely lost it. He ended up being taken to jail and then stalked me for over a year.

Miscarriage of twins, which can cause PTSD especially when I was hemorrhaging.

After giving birth to my daughter, I had a balder infection that was never cleared up as the doctor thought it was. I ended up in the hospital with a massive infection, septic, with a bacteria count higher than my doctor had ever seen in a live patient. Again, I almost died, but kept talking about it.

My whole life has been one traumatic event after another and I have all the characteristics in common with people ending up with PTSD. I am deeply compassionate, as you must have noticed by reading my blog by now. I take on the pain of others. I am deeply religious. You cannot say that I don't have a violent bone in my body because when my ex-husband was in the process of trying to kill me, I was fighting back and did a lot of damage to him in return. (Ex-swimmer and jock so I packed a pretty good punch) The difference is, talking until I'm done dealing with it so that I can move on. Every time it was a bit harder to get over but I came out of it stronger. That's the difference.

Getting over traumatic events does not happen unless you work at it. Otherwise it takes control over you. This is why I believe so strongly in intervention after traumatic events. It's why I've taken almost every class offered on crisis intervention and became a Chaplain. The events in my life were out of my control, but what happened after them was in my control and in God's hands. I held onto them as tightly as possible. What happened to me was not created by God but He used my faith and my experiences to help others.

While PTSD cannot be fully cured, you can heal. You can recover parts of your life you thought were gone forever and find the "old you" still alive and kicking behind the wall of pain. I believe in prevention as much as possible to stop most of the people from having PTSD gain the upper hand and healing those who couldn't be reached in time.

Next time the bloggers fly off and post how crisis intervention does not work, think about me and remember that if I didn't have people to talk to, I wouldn't be able to do what I do now. I'm living proof it works and this was before any of the advances in intervention happened. My family just did it naturally without knowing what it would lead to.

Act Now to Prevent the Incarceration of People with Mental Illness

Trust me on this. If Fred Frese is involved with this, it is a big issue. We've read about Veterans Courts because they take into account the unique issues veterans have coming back from combat. They are not just doing this for the newer generation of veterans, but for all veterans. Mental illness is not a crime and should never be treated like one.

Act Now to Prevent the Incarceration of People with Mental Illness

June 12, 2009

The criminalization of people with mental illness is a growing problem that devastates many members of our community. A study released this month in the journal Psychiatric Services shows that the prevalence of people with serious mental illness in jails is increasing.

The study, which was presented June 1st at a Senate briefing featuring NAMI National board member Fred Frese, found that overall, 16% of jail inmates have a serious mental illness.

Even more alarming, 31% of female jail inmates have a serious mental illness. These numbers suggest that up to 2 million jail bookings every year involve an individual with serious mental illness. In light of this study, it is more important now than ever before to support programs that help people stay out of jail.

This week, the House Appropriations committee approved the FY 2010 budget for Commerce, Justice and Science programs, which includes $12 million for the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (MIOTCRA). MIOTCRA grants support communities working on crisis intervention teams (CIT), mental health courts, and similar programs that are proven to help break the cycle of incarceration.

The bill also includes $100 million in funding for the Second Chance Act, which supports re-entry programs to help people get the services and support they need to successfully reintegrate into society. The full House is expected to vote on the bill the week of June 15.

Act Now!Let your Representatives in the House know that people with mental illness should not be in jail.

Write a letter today telling them to support funding for MIOTCRA and the Second Chance Act as part of the 2010 Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Bill.

Learn MoreVisit the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project Web site to learn more about the study.

Visit the House Appropriations Committee Web site to read a summary of the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Bill.

Read more about the briefing on the prevalence study hosted by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Psychologist is wrong on critical incident stress debriefings

Stephen Perrott could not be more wrong on this.

Psychologist: Crisis debriefings may actually cause stress

By BRIAN MEDEL Yarmouth Bureau
Sat. Oct 18 - 5:13 AM
YARMOUTH — Post-traumatic stress disorder is real, but expecting most people will experience it after a crisis is often not realistic, says a clinical psychologist.

The disorder often results from witnessing traumatic events, said Stephen Perrott, a psychology professor at Mount Saint Vincent University and a former Halifax police officer.

Critical incident stress debriefings are done routinely nowadays, Dr. Perrott said this week at an emergency planning conference in Yarmouth. People are even "forced into mass debriefing situations," he said.

"If you have a suicide in a school, they’re rushing in grief counsellors, and pretty soon, you’re getting pictures on the TV of 14- and 15-year-old girls crying hysterically, hanging on to each other," Dr. Perrott said. "People have gone in and caused a problem where there wasn’t one."

He said he wasn’t criticizing crisis and grief-counselling teams but just seeking a balance, keeping in mind that a negative psychological reaction is not a bad thing but a sign of health.

It’s not much different with adults who have been through a troubling situation.

"Sometimes we may be too quick to respond to people when they would cope by themselves OK; people are generally quite resilient," Dr. Perrott said.

"As a former police officer, the point I made was that we’ve come a long way from 30 years ago when police officers were exposed to very traumatic situations and nobody was concerned at all about the possibility of them having a negative psychological reaction, to a situation today where we are keenly aware of the possibility of a negative psychological reaction.

"Sometimes we may push too hard to get people to come forward with expressions of distress when in fact they are not feeling very distressed at all. By pushing and needling, sometimes we might get a negative psychological reaction (and) almost like an interrogation, kind of push them over the edge."
go here for more
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1085340.html

When people experience traumatic events, most of them need to talk it out. It's as simple as that. It helps them overcome the abnormal. Crisis intervention is not about PTSD only, but it is about taking care of people who have experienced something that is not part of normal life.

I am not a psychologist, just a humble Chaplain who has been involved in traumatic events, especially when it comes to veterans for 26 years. I've seen all kinds of problems and reviewed all kinds of ways people can help others. The problem is, too many psychologists do not understand trauma any better than they understand PTSD.

The simplest way to explain the common knowledge of talking after trauma is death. Every time someone dies in a family, they are surrounded by people available to talk to. The family leans on each other as well as friends and neighbors. They are able to talk to a willing, caring ear for at least a week following the tragedy of loosing someone they loves. This happened to my own family last week when my brother died at the age of 56.

The first responders arrived to help my brother and they knew my niece. At the hospital, they were helped by a hospital Chaplain. My niece called me from the hospital to let me know what happened. Being in Florida when my family needed me back in Massachusetts was extremely difficult. I booked the flight out that night. Between the time my brother died and the time I arrived, my sister-in-law and two nieces were surrounded by family, friends and neighbors.

There were phone calls to make and funeral arrangements to make. Each and every step, there was the opportunity to talk and share what we were going through. With every phone call to notify people close to my brother, there was the opportunity to talk. At the funeral home, we were once again embraced by the funeral director who had taken care of all of my family members in the past, far too many. At the wake we were embraced again by family and friends as well as at the funeral itself. After the funeral, according to Greek Tradition, we shared a meal with the people who attended the funeral, again, being surrounded by people who cared about us.

When someone in our family dies, it is assumed by all that they need support and comfort. They need to have the opportunity to talk, cry, share and be comforted. When someone witnesses a traumatic event when someone else dies, they are often forgotten about yet they need the same kind of opportunity to cry, talk, share and be comforted the same way the family of the deceased does.

I've heard all kinds of situations when Chaplains arrived on scene of a tragic event. Witnesses need someone to take care of them the same way the responders do. They are not forced to talk or anything else, but they are provided with the opportunity to do so and allowed acknowledgement that they too have suffered a tragedy.

Crisis intervention does not eliminate PTSD but it does reduce the rate of it by providing people with opportunity to seek what they need. It is common knowledge that to be alone after a tragedy is the worst thing to have to go through.

Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
International Fellowship of Chaplains
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington

Police Officers Learn to Help Veterans in Crisis

Officers Learn to Help Veterans in Crisis
Darry E. Owens


The Miami Herald

Sep 30, 2008
September 29, 2008, Orlando, FL - Though aging vets from past wars present ongoing problems, Barbara Lewis, crisis intervention training commander for the Orange County Sheriff's Office, said deputies are facing the issue more now because of veterans home from the current wars.

''We're seeing it in these economic times: stressors in their lives pushing them over the edge,'' Lewis said. ``Anything we can do as law-enforcement officers to protect our returning vets is important.''

Given the troubling incidence of post-traumatic-stress disorder -- or PTSD -- associated with recently returned troops, mental-health experts have pushed for alternative ways for law enforcement to deal with vets in nonviolent incidents.

A recent RAND Corp. study found nearly 20 percent of returning troops -- about 300,000 -- have PTSD or major depression.

Of those, only 53 percent sought treatment. Many others are battling traumatic brain injuries and depression that also can alter mood and behavior.

go here for more

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/11295

Social workers can get secondary trauma

Social workers can get secondary trauma


Published: April 22, 2008 at 5:35 PM
DANVILLE, Pa., April 22 (UPI) -- Hearing repeated stories of suffering from trauma victims causes serious psychological stress in clinical social workers, U.S. researchers found.

Geisinger Health System senior investigator Joseph Boscarino and colleagues examined psychological stress, job burnout and secondary trauma among 236 New York City social workers following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
click post title for the rest

Every time I read a report like this I shake my head in agreement. While I know how hard it is on me being online, I can only imagine how hard it is on people doing this face to face, seeing the pain in someone's eyes and the tears. I give them a lot of credit because I wouldn't be able to do that on a daily basis. It's bad enough from where I sit already. There should be bumper stickers "support your mental health worker" because they sure do need it.