Being Part Of A First Responders Family

For every First Responders in the world, there is a family behind them. In a world where the pandemic has changed the views of how we can look at First Responders , we tend to forget they had often left their family in order to protect, serve and save the community. 

I am a First Responder family . I have seen the darkness that comes with the uniform. I have seen the divide and the toxic that comes with the uniform.

My friend , Dan Bowers always said “ Families are the First Eyes to their 911 loved ones mental and moral injuries. “And how important it is to understand the signs of an injury. Therefore being Proactive is number one. 

And how true that is! We are often the forgotten ones . Pushed aside . Left to clean up the rumble . 

Many First Responders live with mental and moral injuries, many do not and many do not know if their struggling quite yet. 

Today is #NationalFirstRespondersDay ! It’s a day not only to thank many of these amazing women and men who sacrificed their own lives for you, but the left their loved ones behind in order to do that. 

I’m proud to be a clinical support person for First Responders Family Resilience Support Group Ottawa for the past 5 years! We are the very First Family peered based group for our First Responders in Canada alone. We paved that way for so many other groups to add the family value. 911 families are truly the first eyes to the highs and lows of what it’s like in the inside after seeing their loved one continuously see traumatic incidents and events over and over again and the toxicity within services. Sadly it does exist! 

Today is much more than a “thank you” . It’s the awareness, the acknowledgment that is much needed. We are not all bad. There is so many good humans in this group. So many. 

#GetLouderOnMentalHealth #MentalHealth #SanctuaryTrauma #EmployeeWellness #Canada #FirstResponders