About 15 years
ago my son decided to join the NSW Rural Fire Service[1]
(RFS). He is now a retained firefighter with NSW Fire and Rescue. Even as a
young volunteer he had to learn to cope with attending incidents with traumatic
sights.
When someone
becomes a member of the emergency services it opens up a new world to their
family; a world they are often protected from. It can make it difficult for
them to understand what their “hero” is going through. They change. Their
family can see it, their workmates can see it but they are reluctant to talk
about IT.
What is IT? IT
is what they see and deal with in their job.
In Australia
there is an organisation called Behind The Seen. They understand that all emergency services personnel see what others don't.
They understand that practical help is needed to deal with the horrors
and prevent them from growing from and grim memory to serious depressions or
post-traumatic stress disorders. They can cause nervous break downs and family
break ups.
Unfortunately our governments here do far too little to support the men
and women we consider heroes and I understand in many places around the world
it is not much better; often less support.
Behind the Seen has created a series of programs developed to
raise awareness of the unique lifestyle and incident stresses
experienced by frontline emergency service providers and their families.
It supports first responders by providing some simple tools that will
support and protect their fellow work mates and their families.
For more information on how Behind the Seen works please visit their website
[1] For overseas readers
the Rural Fire Service is a volunteer organisation in NSW trained to fight
fires in rural areas of the state. As even some town on the outskirts of Sydney
don’t have a full time fire brigade these volunteers are often called to house
fires and motor vehicle accidents.
