 |
| By Safe Call Now® President & Founder - Sean Riley |
A dear friend of mine always says and he’s right, “We treat
our cars better than we treat our first responders in addiction who are going
to die”. When the red light comes on in
our vehicles we immediately take the vehicle into the mechanic and have it
assessed, evaluated and fixed. When
we’re dealing with the alcoholic or addicted first responder, the red lights
come on and as a profession we will enable them to protect our partners (blind
loyalty), try to fix the problems ourselves (which only a professional can do)
or cast them aside and throw them away as if it is someone else’s problem (the
easy way out).
The diseases of addiction
and mental health when combined are two of the deadliest diseases known to
mankind, yet they are the only two diseases that we allow the first responder
who’s brain is incapable of making logical decisions dictate the terms of
treatment. Maybe for fear of not
offending them, ending their career, who knows there are many other reasons
usually associated with “The Thin Blue, Red, Green Line”. Ultimately I have determined that the main
cause is that “It’s always been done this way in the past”. This is why Safe Call Now® exists, an
organization that is willing to change the culture and thinking of an entire
profession that experiences these diseases at twice the rate of the general
population according to some studies and some say even higher. Who knows?
I just know first responders are dying from it.
I want to speak with all of you about the alcoholic and
addict mind and what the first responder may be thinking and doing when they
are in this situation. I am familiar
with this because I was “That guy”. The
guy who would lie to your face, smile, tell you everything is alright, convince
you that everyone else is crazy, function within the work environment, control
the situations, create drama within others to direct the attention away from me
and convince you that I was right.
Fortunately or unfortunately I do not think like you.
Alcoholics and addicts usually have above average
intelligence (I would like to think so) and are very creative because we’ve had
to be to get what we want and manipulate situations to obtain our main
objective… to get the alcohol or drugs at any costs. I remember when my supervisors were impressed
with my ability to “Think outside the box” to solve complex cases. The reason for this is I felt I had to
perform at such a high level that it would divert attention away from me and my
drug use. On the outside I was “That
guy” people were coming to for advice on creative ways to solve cases which fed
my ego all the while I was falling apart on the inside and in my private
life. It’s kind of ironic that my
thinking was so delusional in nature, my brain was hijacked by the disease of
addiction and there was no logic to my decision making and I was able to
convince others that I was this brilliant “Guy” (or at least I thought
so). Yet somehow I was able to make it
work for over 23 years and as I progressed through my disease I really felt I
was superior to others. I’m not proud of any of this and it is
actually very embarrassing when I look back upon it all.
Over my 23 years in alcoholism and addiction the little red
lights on my mental dashboard came on, I showed them to you but you didn’t know
what to look for or you didn’t know how to handle it because it’s not a part of
your training. Let me give you some
examples (I think I could write a book on this, there goes my ego again)… While
I was exceeding expectations, people were amazed with my work and I remember
people saying, “Sean does crazy stuff, his thinking is crazy but he solves
these cases in amazing fashion”. If
people are telling you an employee is crazy, they probably are, no matter how
well they are performing. I remember a
Captain once told me that my days were either off the charts better than anyone
else’s or off the charts worse than anyone else’s, there was no middle
ground. Sound familiar? First responders
are type-A personalities usually all in or all out.
Coincidences equal clues in my book and that’s
one that was missed. Ironically for me,
the biggest red lights I put out there were very insignificant to others and
they were the little things. I remember
that first day when I stopped shining my shoes; let my physical mailbox at work
get out of control, not answering emails, having personal mail delivered to the
department… “Normal people” don’t do these kinds of things. Once I started letting the little things go,
it justified in my mind each and every compromise I would make next and I would
convince you my actions were right (delusional thinking). It really is the “little things” and the
“little red lights” that come on that will indicate to you something is wrong.
These diseases when left untreated are progressive, chronic
in nature and will always lead to jails, institutions and death. I had two of the three down and had attempted
the third but was too much of a coward to complete it. What I do know today is that I have to put as
much effort into my sobriety as I put into being an alcohol or addict. My disease is sitting out there in the
parking lot doing push-ups every day waiting for me to fail so it can kill
me. I’ve had people tell me that working
for Safe Call Now® and helping others must really be the catalyst for keeping
sober.
It’s actually quite the
opposite. Safe Call Now® is my career,
what I do outside of my profession to take care of myself is what keeps me
sober. My old alcoholic and addict
behaviors do come out from time to time and I have to be on guard for them
constantly. I still make mistakes but
they don’t ruin my life anymore and I’m able to deal with them without
substances, not always in the best manner but much better than when I was in
the disease. It’s a lifelong battle for
me and I try to live by… “If I have one foot in yesterday and one foot in
tomorrow, I just threw away today”!!! All
I really have is “Today” and I’m good with that! The good news is, that when treated these first
responders will be the most resilient employees you have and will usually
outperform their peers.
Today in the first responder profession we have more highly
educated, highly trained employees who have been vetted out extensively both
physically and psychologically yet they are imploding inside and the greatest
danger to them is not the “Bad guy” on the streets, the “Burning buildings” or
the “Convicted murderer” in the prison cell… it is themselves! I’m not a mathematician but I can clearly see
that these numbers don’t add up? It’s
why we exist and do what we do… Saving the lives of those that protect us… one
call at a time! Stay safe out there!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment