Cumulative Trauma Events & The #1stresponder

By The Station House Retreat Staff

The first responder community has made a great effort to address the effects that a critical incident can have on first responders. Critical Incident Stress teams have been set up by departments across the country and, ideally, work with first responders when they experience a traumatic event. If an officer observes a suicide or a firefighter has to respond to a deadly car wreck, their departments are going to make sure that they talk with someone, and that is appropriate. But there is another very real danger I’ll refer to as the cumulative effect.

It is not necessarily that one big disaster that is going to take you down. It may be the cumulative effect of the stuff that builds up day after day whether it is: arresting the bad guys and watching them released; having to deal with the worst in societal populations; false alarms; inadequate resources; going home knowing that no matter how good of a job you do, there will be more bad things for you to deal with tomorrow. When the cumulative effect goes unmanaged it is understandable that an individual will look to self-sooth, often with drugs and alcohol. This unhealthy form of self-soothing ads to the unmanageability of life as things begins to spin out of control.

As a therapist, I can relate to the cumulative effect. Day in and day out we admit new groups of client into treatment. Some come and go and, at times, it feels like a revolving door. It sometimes seems never ending, and that wears. I treat individuals for addiction and they relapse and I must accept that as part of the process. Similarly, a police officer may arrest a person and find them back on the streets a couple months later. The revolving door can be frustrating and that is emotionally exhausting, and frustrating. Exhaustion and frustration are fuel for any addiction.

In treatment, I teach my clients to check-in with themselves daily. A twelve step program encourages a daily inventory. As a clinician, I am encouraged to be mindful of “compassion fatigue”. The common thread here is self-care. To remain sober and to live a happy, healthy life we need to practice self-care. We all need to be mindful of the cumulative effects of day-to-day stress. We need to find healthy ways to self-sooth that do not include alcohol or other drugs.

About the Author: Station House is a treatment program in Boynton Beach, Florida that only accepts first responders as clients. This allows us to provide a safe and secure environment where all of the clients are peers, and the therapy is customized to the needs of this special group.