Trigger warning, this podcast contains discussions relating to PTSD, trauma, mental health, suicide and other potentially distressing experiences. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, you can call Lifeline on 131114.

There’s the trauma you experience in the job, and then there can be the trauma that comes after it.

I know what it’s like to finally acknowledge that you’re psychologically injured, ask for help, and then find yourself in a process where you can feel like you have to continually prove just how injured you are.

I call it “the trauma after the trauma”.

For police and first responders already carrying the weight of PTSD and psychological injury, the way we handle that next part matters. Because behind every claim number is a person who has already carried more than most people will ever see.

In this episode I share:

• Why having to repeatedly prove and explain a psychological injury can become another layer of trauma
• The enormous shift from being the person who helps others to suddenly being the one who needs help
• How uncertainty around treatment, finances and your future can compound an injury that already has your nervous system on high alert
• Why your claim and your recovery are connected, but should never become the same thing
• The five things every injured officer needs to remember when the claims process starts taking over their life
• What a genuinely trauma-informed workers’ compensation process could look like
• Why the injury, the badge and the claim can all be part of your story without getting to write the ending

Key Quotes

“Sometimes psychological injury is not one dramatic event. It's cumulative. One incident laid over another and another and another.”

“Do not make permanent decisions in temporary moments of hopelessness.”

“Your claim and your recovery are absolutely related, but they are not the same thing.”

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