have heard of this sort of cliche
statement before okay a good amount of
you I’d say we often tell ourselves
these things in order to prepare
ourselves for whatever life throws at us
our challenges our weaknesses and
sometimes even preparing ourselves to
speak in front of everyone for the first
time when I think about this statement I
think about the brave from the selfless
the men and women in uniform the
protectors of our communities those who
cannot show certain emotions during
certain times in order to protect our
own life you see we live in a world
where society places this image that we
have to show our best selves on our
worse that in order to succeed in life
you should show that you are stronger
and never show your weaknesses that
those who show emotions are considered
I’m about to talk about something that
might be a little bit sensitive a topic
that not too many people often want to
hear some of the information that I’m
going to share may be a little bit
triggering and so therefore viewer
discretion is advised however I do
believe that this is an important topic
because this is something that happens
in our world and it happens around us
all the time some of the images that I’m
going to share are from the courtesy of
a current firefighter and paramedic the
name of danielson Hall who has created
these images from his own interpretation
of the line of duty I want you all to
think about someone who you know who is
a first responder this person can be a
friend a family member of
a friend or it could just be a stranger
that you’ve seen responding to an
emergency I want you to think about that
person throughout the entirety of the
segment post-traumatic stress disorder a
condition where a person encounters
difficulty recovering after experiencing
or witnessing a terrifying event this
formulates itself into certain symptoms
such as nightmares anxiety mistrust and
flashbacks
although the adrenaline and the
excitement of being a first responder is
always something that catches the eye of
many people first responders are twice
as likely to develop post-traumatic
stress disorder more than the average
person a cross-sectional study unveiled
that 1/4 of firefighters worldwide will
have PTSD and one-third of paramedics
will have the same that’s pretty
staggering a single study of 250
firefighters and paramedics designed to
assess the work trauma that these
individuals were going through and they
did it before and after study and before
the exposure of the traumatic incidents
that they were going through only 1% of
them stated that they have some sort of
a mental health related stress due to
on-site trauma and then after the
exposure has occurred 8.4 percent of
these individuals developed
alcohol-related problems 16.3% went on
work cleave and 6.8% had to take
psychiatric medication that is something
that not too many people know about and
that’s something that a lot of people
consider to be taboo it’s very
interesting to see that there was an
overall 30 percent change in a person’s
behavior
based on those traumatic incidents this
also plays a part in to a person’s
relationship and personal life
divorce rates are also very high within
first responders as is ten percent
higher than the national average of
fifty percent seventy two percent of all
first responders are sleep deprived he
thought being a college student was was
bad suicide rates are also something
that is a common factor within first
responders a recent report has shown
that in 2008 over a hundred and forty
one law enforcement officials have lost
her live from suicide and in 2016 it was
reduced to only 108 although there was a
reduction this still was and still is an
issue that we are encountering more and
more first responders died from suicide
then impacts of the incidents that they
deal with in the line of duty a young
and passionate newly recruited
goes into work the first day and is
really excited he just turned 21 and
this is his first day you know when his
call he wants to prove that he is
different from all of the law
enforcement officials that the society
portrays the negative way until he is
faced with a chilling call of a murder
scene in impoverished area how will he
respond I was really curious to know
more about this and I really wanted to
see and feel what it might be like to be
a law enforcement official and see the
complexities and difficulties that they
face since many of them are shown in a
negative way that the media represents
so I went and I spoke to a captain of a
Fire Academy I’m sorry the police
academy and he told me to do this
police simulation training I thought to
myself like how does this simulation
training going to really help me
understand what it’s going to be like to
be
a lot of Firstman official on-site
because it’s just a simulator I was
wrong I went into this room and it was a
dark room and there was this huge screen
similar to how what you see right now
and I was put into a scenario of a
school shooting upon my arrival of going
into the hallways the physical impact of
the environment and the fear of losing
my own life start to get the best of me
as I kept seeing these realistic
elements of people dying right in front
of my face and seeing people getting
shot and all of a sudden my hands start
shaking my heart starts being really
fast and everything starts getting into
tunnel vision and I just try to find the
suspect knife open fired what would you
have done I guess probably the same
thing I was very nervous at that point
and that’s the only thing that I thought
about and then I thought to myself I
said I wonder how the situation would
have played out if a law enforcement
official who was dealing with symptoms
of post-traumatic stress was also forced
to make a split-second decision in a
high-risk environment is reported that
many first responders often don’t like
to talk about these things because they
lose respect and it’s just not something
that they do and it’s not just law
enforcement officials who have this
macho protective role of you know trying
to save the communities and not let
their reputation get the best of them
it’s also all of us and the rest of the
first responders you see there’s a
commonality between mental health of
first responders and the impact the
public safety in the communities that
they serve when certain feelings and
emotions are being compartmentalized
and pushed aside when certain traumatic
stressors are not being acknowledged it
shows itself in other ways in the long
term this then becomes a microcosm to a
widespread issue from the stigma our
public safety officials view on the
concept of mental health so how can we
solve this ongoing issue
you see we often think that regardless
of one’s profession in the end we’re all
human human beings have a basic need of
being loved and supported by others
here are some key components that I have
come up with personally that I believe
can bridge the gaps between public
safety workers and the citizens of our
communities
the first key element is acceptance to
be accepted in such a way that with or
without having a personal defect will
not only stabilize a person’s
self-esteem but it will increase the
likelihood for them to ask for help when
needed and not feel as though it is a
bad thing to do so without the negative
criticism for judgment the second thing
is empathy having the ability to
understand someone is one thing but
being able to put yourself in that
person’s shoes not only enables that
person to know that there’s someone that
truly understands them but also gives
them a relief that to know that there’s
someone who genuinely cares for them and
is willing to see things in their way
which also increases the likelihood for
asking for help last but not least
compassion compassion is one of those
emotions that we all crave and it’s also
a motion that we take the most for
granted it’s a powerful thing you see
it’s not the people that save lives it’s
the
act of kindness studies have shown that
by practicing altruism and compassion
not only does it decrease the stigma of
mental health but it also increases a
person’s overall life expectancy by
implementing these three components of
compassion empathy and acceptance not
only can we create a catalyst for social
change but we can alter the way we
perceive others and the way others can
perceive us so I’m going to end with
this quote we cannot help everyone but
everyone can help someone so let us all
start with a simple act of kindness
thank you [Applause]