Outsourcing Trauma

Our communities outsource trauma to our first responders everyday all across America. Difficult jobs must be performed by dedicated men and women willing to risk everything to include their emotional well being. Law Enforcement Agencies interact with the public millions of times a day in America with very favorable outcomes. Occasionally the Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) will encounter violence on the streets or in the homes of the places they are called to investigate.

LEOs will be exposed to approximately 188 traumatic critical incidents in a 30 year career. Once upon a time ago a LEO career was 20 years. Legislatures are making their careers go longer and longer due to the legacy costs of retirements. When you look into the health risks associated with first responders wether Law Enforcement, Fire Fighters or Paramedics, there is an overwhelming amount of data to show heart disease, hypertension, strokes, autoimmune and pick your cancer is pervasive in these fields. In Florida where I reside the retirements typically garner a higher percentage for Law Enforcement vs. civilians that work for governments. Florida state pension system which covers sheriff's offices and school teachers alike have a special risk category for LEO which pays in at 3 percent per year, and the civilian school teacher pays in at 1.6 percent per year. The Special risk is not due to danger but life longevity. We can actually extend this now. Let me explain below.

Cortisol is the biggest killer of our first responders, high stress loads or often referred to as allostatic load. The accumulation of stress stores in the cells of the body. Read the book "The Body Keeps Score" by Dr. Bessel Vanderkolk, it is telling. When we operate in the fight or flight daily it trains the nervous system to be extremely reactive. We root traumatic stress triggers, they stack and accumulate over time and weave into a tangled mess leading to disease.

Let's talk suicide, do you realize we lose more first responders every year to suicide than line of duty deaths? It's a statistical fact. Plus we don't even track retired first responders or first responders that just quit after 5 years. I would argue if a true study on suicides were launched looking at the career fields, these numbers would be as high as our veteran population and maybe even higher. No one wants to look into this reality because first responder agencies have a hard enough time recruiting and retaining quality staff.

Crushing the Stigma

Changing the narrative is critical. We must stop looking at PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder or anxiety as mental health disorders. They are not! They are neurological injuries. The nervous system get's stuck in the on position, that's it. They become mental bad habits, the brain believes it is supposed to be reactive in this manner for self preservation. I have had personal conversations with Dr. Frank Ochberg, a world renown psychiatrist and an editor of the DSM in 1980 that labeled PTSD for the very first time on the heals of the Vietnam War. Dr. Ochberg has been trying to get the label changed to Post Traumatic Stress Injury (PTSI) ever since. At Tactical Resiliency USA we are in 100 percent agreement. We are seeing full healing of a nervous system within 1 to 3 hours worth of work using non-clinical interventions. More on this below.

Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office in California

March 5th and 6th of 2024 Abel Rodriguez (Retired Special Forces) and myself were invited to fly out and attend a Tactical Resiliency Workshop under their Wellness Grant. They had selected 10 Deputies ranking Patrol to Captain, SWAT, Homicide, Child Sex Crimes and Uniform Patrol to attend. They were selected because of the number of critical incident exposures they have had in their careers. A few were also combat veterans on top of Law Enforcement. Not a single person present had less than 8 traumatic incidents where when associated the emotional pain was significant on a 0-10 stress scale. Most could feel the discomfort in the 8-10 range. Many of these events occurred more than 10 years ago. that is what is referred to as an allostatic stress load. In 2 days, Abel and I worked with everyone using the Peer Rescue Protocol (PRP) and 100 percent of them reported feeling relaxed and having the best night sleep of their lives after the session. That is clutch, getting them to sleep so they can hit Rapid Eye Movement (REM) to reconsolidate the memories and emotions. That is how we are designed to heal.

Suzy Powell-Roos, a former Olympic Athlete is their Wellness Director for a reason. She understands the need to operate in what is commonly called the flow state. Negative emotions are what prevent this. When she first reported to Sheriff Jeff Dirkse what she experienced going through the PRP she had difficulty explaining the feelings she had or what even happened. Sheriff Dirkse is a West Point Graduate and former Infantry Commander with service in Iraq. He gets it! They have invited us back to train their Peer Support team as well as their Crisis Negotiators. His desire is to change the culture in his profession. We must stop ridiculing people for being human and feeling bad about what they witness. Every LEO I worked with out there is blessed to work at such an agency. In 6 years in this space I have never seen leadership lean in first. Two Captains went through the protocol first, which finally gave permission for the rank and file to recognize being human is ok. Truth be told if you work 30 years in the field as a First Responder and you don't feel emotions related to what you see, you are either a unicorn or possibly a sociopath. Let's CRUSH the Stigma!

If your agency is interested in having Tactical Resiliency USA come out and host a Tactical Resiliency Workshop at your agency feel free to reach out to [email protected] or call directly (863) 221-6304. We will be more than happy to discuss options with your agency. If you have a Wellness Grant, no better resource than to regulate the emotions of your members for better health outcomes, let alone retention and community engagement.