Helping Our Helpers Stay Healthy

The Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists www.atss.info is hosting a conference in Toronto, September 30 to October 2 - "Safely in Our Hands: Helping Our Helpers Stay Healthy". The line up of speakers and topics looks very interesting.

Traumatic stress is real and affects many on the front lines: paramedics, police officers, firefighters, correctional officers, dispatchers and those in the military. These are the women and men who see, hear, and deal with events the average person cannot even imagine. And sometimes it is hard to get out of the back of your mind.

While personally I've been at major traumas of adults including decapitations, transections, drownings, stabbings, shootings, 95% burns, (and on the list could go) which have never bothered me, it was the calls involving children that bothered me. My first child death, the young girl who burned in her closet while the neighbours and firefighters tried to break down her bedroom door which her mother had locked that haunted me. We tried in vain to resuscitate the 4 year old who was covered totally in burns... I still remember, as if it was today, her skin sticking to my hands and arms as I worked on her and having to peel it off after. While it no longer wakes me in the night, it does bring tears 27 years later when I think about it. There were other calls as well, but this was the first for a young 21 year old paramedic. Yes, traumatic stress is very real. And while most of us hid it very well to the outside world (but burdened our families with the effects) and carried on with our chosen careers, it did get the better of some. Alcohol, drugs, depression, anger, and even suicide has been caused to some degree by the stresses on the job.

My complements to this organization. If it were not for previous commitments I would be attending this seminar.

For more information on the seminar go to www.atss.info.