It’s no secret that as first responders, we face a constant gauntlet of traumas. Just showing up for a shift or call exposes us to situations most people never experience even once in their lives, much less time and time again. Big city, small town, volunteer or full-time, we willingly immerse ourselves in the worst of the worst in the name of helping others.
So what happens when people are expected to operate at their absolute best in the absolute worst situations, but don’t manage their trauma and stress in a healthy way?
The short answer? Their decision-making is clouded.
The risk of loss of life and property is great. The more in-depth answer would involve looking at how a first responder with unresolved trauma might perform while on duty.
Let’s start with what qualifies as unresolved trauma. Most people experience some form of trauma at some point. It can come from abuse, a difficult childhood, witnessing a horrific accident or experiencing the death of a loved one. Many will seek professional care and support to help them attempt to resolve and heal from what they’ve experienced.
First responders are unique in that they experience trauma day in and day out. It’s part of the job description. In recent years, the stigma surrounding first responders who seek treatment and talk about the bad calls has diminished. The problem is, sometimes the root of the problem lies in the responder’s distant past, particularly in childhood.
Unresolved childhood trauma plays a role in your everyday decisions, even if you’re not a firefighter. But if you are, your leadership and decision making are bound to be affected in one way or another. Unresolved trauma can weigh you down and make the simplest of tasks seem daunting. The backpack that we fill up with trauma rocks gets heavy if we never remove any.
How can unresolved trauma and untreated post-traumatic stress disorder affect someone’s ability to think clearly in high stress situations?
Our fight-or-flight response is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system, which detects danger and directs the body’s response to it. It acts as a gas pedal, giving us the energy needed, in the form of released chemicals, either to stand and fight against the danger or run from it. The problem with trauma – and more specifically with PTSD – is that the system gets confused. Very confused. Individuals with PTSD often describe their brains as “always going” and that thoughts are coming in from every direction.
In some cases, a high-stress situation provides a sense of release from those overwhelming thoughts and images of past events.
However, in other cases, introducing a stressful situation, coupled with the need to make critical decisions based on safety, can be a recipe for disaster. The brain feels even more overloaded and seeks relief by making a quick decision with an immediate outcome. And that's not always best. This scenario plays out every day in the first responder workforce. Luckily, most cases don’t end in a loss of life.
But that’s only one end of the spectrum.
What can be done to help improve leadership decision-making in the first responder community?
In a nutshell, education and training.
It’s important to look at mental health and wellness resources and their implementation and the changing culture surrounding the stigma. There is a wealth of resources and modalities available for first responders to mitigate stress and trauma, from traditional talk therapy and counseling to noninvasive retreats and animal therapy.
Self-care modalities that help re-center and focus on the now have finally become popular in the first responder community. Some of these include meditation and mindfulness, yoga, reiki, massage, acupuncture, breathing techniques and breath work, and journaling (also known as simply writing it down). Education and training can come in many forms, from classroom courses to conference-level presentations, webinars, and podcasts.
The point is that first responders carry far too much stress and unresolved trauma that can affect the critical thinking abilities of those in leadership roles. The more we talk about this and dare to show some vulnerability, the more likely the culture will shift to produce stronger, more resilient, and clear-minded first responders.
