Tag Archives: firefighters and PTSD

I'm grateful to know three very special people, Dawn Balstad-Johnson, Dr. Burt Clark, and Asst. Chief (Ret.) Linda Green, and even more grateful to have read all three of their incredible books. Here, for my money, are three outstanding books that should be in your firefighter library or that of a firefighter you love.

But perhaps the greatest threat to our psychological well-being is reluctance on the part of many in the emergency services field to accept that these hazards exist and that their negative impact on our lives, our families, and our organizations are real.  In many respects, to quote the adage, “We have met the enemy and it is us.”

I named this “Realizing you won’t win brings Peace” because I am there. With a cold outlook, a war is many different battles from many different angles that keep hitting us and we fight. We literally fight a new “battle” in this war with PTSD every morning when we wake up and we fight for our lives.

Treating and recovering from a brain that's been injured through post traumatic stress (PTS) or PTSD is unlike that for a physical injury that's visible to the world. Former firefighter and PTSD sufferer/survivor Nathalie Michaud writes about here continuing journey.

If we’re to be successful in becoming more proactive in our efforts to protect our people from the emotional toll that our profession can take on firefighter mental health, shouldn’t we be taking a good hard look at the one place that they should feel safe, secure, and respected, the fire station?

Chief Robert Avsec has compiled a bibliography of previous articles and posts he's written on the subjects of firefighter mental health, depression, PTSD, alcohol and substance abuse, and much more. Firefighters and officers alike should benefit from the information contained in these articles.