Emerg Services Society has it all wrong.

[Freida]

Yep - 5 years in the military and 23 years in dispatch -- so I totally get the society sucks mindset. Can't get ptsd benefits from dispatch because we aren't "first responders" and had to fight the VA for 5 years to get my disability benefits from them. Like @Friday said -- you can tell a society by how they treat the injured or old and here in the US at least we suck at it.

Something I always struggled to remember is that we dealt with 20% of the people 80% of the time, and that there are kind, good people out there. But when you are dealing with the idiots day after day that's a tough thing to remember.

Journaling is hard. Really hard.
Then one day my t said -- you already have all this crap in your head, so you may as well write it down and see if that helps. Kind of like using my fingers to move the memories from brain to paper.
Does it help? Eventually. It's not easy, but it does help

Journaling here? On the web? Oh hell no!
So I don't think of it as journaling - I think of it as talking with others who get it.
And since we are all screen names it lessens the stress factor.

Everyone around here gets it.

 

[sp33]

Thank you for your service. I think that sucks that dispatchers are not considered first responders. Dispatchers are in most cases the first point of contact in emergency situations and are absolutely affected by this. In addition, the job is thankless and a lot of the times you don’t even get closer and learn the outcome of the calls you take. Dispatchers save lives and are heroes.

Closure is the word I meant, not closer.

 

[Freida]

So then the next question is --If we know we can't change them, how do we change us?
How do we make a place where we can find those few people who do get it and let go of our anger at those who don't? Because that's a big part of ptsd recovery - figuring out how we can be ok with the actions of others