The selection process to be an emergency responder is comprehensive and rigorous. From the day we imagine being a police officer, firefighter or paramedic until well after we leave the job, our life is transformed - much of the time in very unhealthy ways. For many, including myself, what I did became what I was -- this over-investment is inherently unhealthy: recent studies show that between 50-70% of male police officers will develop Type II diabetes in their lifetime. Direct linkages between lifestyle and the physiological responses the body undergoes in response to occupational stressors plays a huge role in that life-altering disease. We do not live in a vacuum; those with whom we interact, and those with whom we love, many times take the brunt of what we bring home, and that is not fair! It is imperative to understand what a healthy relationship is and be committed to strengthening and maintaining it.
Much of my practice focuses on stress (acute, occupational, organizational, and chronic) and trauma that emergency service personnel are faced with every time they respond to a call. I am trained and certified in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and have found it extremely beneficial when assisting clients who experience difficulty integrating what happens at work to their personal world-view. EMDR can help address the accumulation of events and help prevent, and/or mitigate their negative effects from becoming entrenched which can lead to a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In addition, I am trained in Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) which uses many of the same principles and foundational blocks that Francine Shapiro, PhD., developed almost 40 years ago when she developed EMDR.