Being a first responder comes with several unique challenges. 24 hour shifts, being recalled or force-hired to work additional shifts, significant time away from family, exposure to traumatizing situations, a challenging and sometimes unsafe work environment and chronic sleep deprivation all lead our first responders to being taxed greatly. They have the ultimate task, as well, of fitting in a demanding job and work schedule to busy personal lives and learning to navigate how to balance it all.
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Therapy for First Responders and First Responder Families in California
Feelings of Burnout from the Job
​Burnout is of significant concern with first responders due to the demanding nature of their jobs and the unique stressors typically present in their work and schedules. Burnout is a state of chronic physical and emotional exhaustion, often accompanied by feelings of cynicism and detachment from work and a sense of a lack of control and effectiveness at one's job. Often, these feelings can spill over into one's personal life as well. Some signs of burnout to look out for:
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not wanting to show up to work
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irritability and anger
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conflict at home or in your relationships
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losing interest in activities that you typically enjoy or look forward to
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wanting to disconnect from work, relationships, social events, activities you typically enjoy
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chronic fatigue
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headaches
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disturbances to sleep
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difficulty managing stress
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finding a lack of compassion
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losing focus and having a lack of attention to detail
Therapy for first responders - how can it help?
Therapy can offer several benefits to both first responders and their family members. Finding the right therapist for you matters a great deal. If you are interested in taking the step to begin therapy, I offer a free consultation call to help you determine if I might be a good fit for you on this journey. Some of the things that we can work towards in therapy together are:
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Trauma processing - first responders, by the nature of their jobs, often experience traumatizing situations. They are our front line help when our worst days happen and in the line of duty they see and attend to things can be difficult to process while on the job. We need some way of processing trauma or traumatic events that we have experienced or witnessed in order to heal and move forward from them. Early intervention after a trauma can help one develop coping skills for subsequent traumas that may occur ont he job; it can also help prevent mental health symptoms like those associated with PTSD from developing.
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Stress management - as noted above, there are several factors that can make life as a first responder as well as the loved ones that support them stressful. Stress impacts us in so many different ways and it is imperative that we learn how to develop a well-rounded plan of stress-management and self-care - one that addresses the ways in which stress impacts us emotionally, mentally and physically. Learning stress management tools can also help prevent burnout.
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Emotional regulation - experiencing or witnessing traumatic events, being overly stressed or taxed, and then on top of it frequently being away from family and loved ones can take a serious mental and emotional toll. Do you find yourself struggling to control your anger, get through feelings of anxiety or depression, or identify what emotions you're feeling to begin with? Therapy can help first responders learn about emotion regulation, how to process and attend to their emotions and now to get unstuck from being in painful or frustrating emotion states.
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Cultivating resilience - Therapy can be very strengths-based in it's approach; I believe that the work of first responders calls individuals that possess a lot of different strengths. Engaging in therapy can help one tap into their strengths and to identify adaptive mindsets that build resilience in the face of stressors that occur both on and off the job.
Therapy for the Partner at Home
Spouses and family members of first responders encounter their own unique challenges. They can experience heightened anxiety about their loved one's safety while they are at work, experience feelings of overwhelm as they handle much of family life by themselves, and often have to go far longer than they would like without seeing their loved one and spend holidays and other important dates without the whole family present. Often, they can feel overwhelmed by manning the fort at home on their own, juggling childcare, and sometimes attending to their own career and it's individual stressors. Learning how to process through these stressors, attending to all of the emotions that come with them, and identifying effective coping skills for this partner are just as valuable as therapy for the first responder.
How Couples Therapy Can Play a Role
While many truly love being a part of the first responder culture, it does not come without it's unique challenges, and the first responder and his or her partner can experience these challenges in very different ways. Communication becomes paramount when time together is limited and intentionally attending to the relationship helps couples cope with irregular schedules, uncertainty and a lack of control over what could be a dangerous career, feelings of emotional distance, and juggling different roles in the family. First responder couples and/or families often have to put more work into their communication and maintenance of their individual mental health and family cohesion than others. Therapy can help a couple develop the language that helps them move forward in their challenges. Working on communication allows a couple to more consistently see each other as a teammate and not an adversary. Developing coping skills and mindfulness around how the first responder family attends to individual, couple and family needs helps families stay on track with each of those needs. The goal of couples therapy can be setting up systems for the couple and family that will work for the years to come.
I truly enjoy working with first responders and their families and helping them identify skills and systems (self-care to improve mental health, communication skills, general life organization, and finding supportive resources that could add tremendously to their overall wellbeing) that are going to work for them and their families. While doing telehealth (remote therapy via secure video platform), I am able to see anyone that is in the state of CA.
