Counseling for First Responders

Does any of this sound familiar?

● Your body clock is all out-of-whack because of the hours of the job and you don’t
sleep. You often feel like you’re running on fumes.
● Your brain and body feel like they’re always on high-alert
● You feel guilty for missing out on things at home or not being able to be there for
your kids as often as they need
● You feel like you can’t talk about the stress of job to your partner because you
don’t want to appear weak or you don’t want to stress her when she has already taken
on so much with parenting.
● If you’re single, you’re alone with all of the trauma and stress to deal with on your
own
● Maybe you drink a little too much to take the edge off or use marijuana to help you sleep, but you don’t love having to rely on substances to get you there.

• Maybe you withdraw altogether into gaming or gambling or TV, but none of it

seems to truly help.
● You’ve seen the dark side of human nature and struggle to reconcile that with
any goodness you’re able to see in the world
● Public scrutiny and recent events make your already difficult job nearly
impossible now
● You’re cranky and irritable at home with your family and sometimes your fuse is
shorter than you’d like it to be.
● Because you work in life-or-death situations, the stakes are incredibly high and
you find yourself overthinking and criticizing yourself wondering what more you
could have done.

​