How Do Responder Agencies Handle Workplace Trauma in Frontline Agents?
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Because their roles exist largely to render aid in the worst moments of citizens’ lives, a police officer, firefighter, or emergency medical professional can be exposed at any instant to things the average person could go a lifetime without seeing. It is an immensely stressful aspect of the job, capable of sending even the mentally strongest worker into a spiral of mental turmoil, requiring individuals to devise coping strategies and their employers to implement programs that account for the traumatic exposure. Without these protections in place, these personnel can face devastating outcomes: shattered relationships, mental illness, and even suicide. Of course, most responders understand there is a high possibility of witnessing horrifying scenes well before they enter the field. Even then, knowing and experiencing can be two very different things. Officers who volunteer to scan seized devices image-by-image for the presence of child pornography, for instance, may find it hard to conceptualize what they are about to experience. In these situations, “no questions asked” walkout rules and provisions mandating that volunteers undergo mental health screening at greater intervals [PDF link] may be seen as minimum protections. In other instances, a single, particularly gruesome accident or murder scene may be all it takes to inflict added burden on public safety personnel, searing images into their brains unlike any that most people will ever experience. The stress these situations create, combined with the very real pressure of working a job in which one’s life is routinely in danger, can lead to an environment rife with opportunity for improved handling of mental health issues. For employing agencies, the challenge is clear: finding a combination of solutions that provide effective help to suffering responders, while meeting the strict budget and scheduling parameters of any public sector job. Vicarious trauma: A hidden force in law enforcement, other responder fields The problem at the core of many cases is widespread enough to touch personnel across the breadth of response, corrections, and criminal justice services. Vicarious traumatization is described in one above resource as an affliction “that turns empathy for a victim into a form of suffering.” Symptoms related to vicarious traumatization are sadly well known to many first responders and their families. Under a collection of headers including “Physical,” “Intellectual/Cognitive,” “Behavioral,” and “Spiritual,” a list compiled by responder-focused mental health foundation SHIFT Wellness spells out numerous potential outcomes of the illness [PDF link], including (but not limited to):
- Fatigue
- Reduced productivity
- Forgetfulness
- Emotional instability
- Risk-taking
- Substance abuse and/or excessive drinking