A voice for emergency worker mental health

For 17 years, Paul worked within communities affected by trauma and grief. Eventually, the events he witnessed week after week came to a head.

“There was a culmination of trauma over the year. Within five or six weeks we had a run of six child deaths but you keep working. You become robotic,” he recalls.

“Then one Friday night I was called to deal with a drunk male and my chest started beating very hard – I thought I was having a heart attack. I went to the job, got back to the station and felt exhausted. The next morning, I was supposed to go to work but I just couldn’t move. My body shut down. That was the last shift I did.

“I’d seen people in my team deteriorating but I didn’t recognise it in myself. I’d get a thought in my head and it would spin round and round like a tornado. I’d see images of traumatic scenes I’d attended and just didn’t know what was happening to me.”

In 2014, Paul was diagnosed with PTSD, major depression and anxiety and he medically retired in 2017. Getting the right support to recover has been a long journey. He has got to where he is today with the help of family, medical care and the correct blend of medication and psychological support.

“There weren’t the resources in the Northern Territory then and a program like Responder Assist is certainly needed to support emergency workers there,” says Paul.

He and his family returned to Victoria and Paul is studying a Masters of Counselling. He has become a strong advocate for emergency workers and their mental health. In July he will begin the Heart 2 Heart Walk from Central Australia to Canberra to raise awareness of first responder mental health.

He wants the implementation of the national action plan that was recommended by the 2019 Senate Inquiry into the high rates of mental health conditions experienced by first responders. Paul says a national database of practitioners with trauma-focused therapy is also needed.

“Based on my own experience and what I now know about mental health, I want to be a voice for first responders,” he says.

“We need to change the culture, talk about how we are feeling and ask for help.”