First Responder PTSD Research

12/22/2025

For first responders with anxious minds 🧠🚑🔥📟

Anxiety doesn’t mean you’re weak.
It means your nervous system has been on duty for a long time.

In this line of work, your body is trained to scan for danger, anticipate worst-case scenarios, and stay ready—long after the call ends. That doesn’t switch off just because your shift does.

So if today feels heavy, tight, restless, or overwhelming, let this be your reminder:

• You’re not going backward — your nervous system is tired
• You’re not losing control — your body is trying to keep you safe
• You don’t owe anyone an explanation for how you feel
• Other people’s emotions are not your responsibility to fix
• Your worth does not disappear because you’re struggling
• Stepping away from worst-case thoughts is allowed
• This feeling is uncomfortable — and it will pass
• Slow, steady breaths matter more than pushing through
• Taking care of yourself is not selfish — it’s protective gear

You spend your days showing up for others.
You deserve the same steadiness, compassion, and care.

Save this for the days your mind won’t slow down.
Share it with someone who never says they’re struggling—but probably are.

12/21/2025

Stress is part of the job — but suffering doesn’t have to be.

For first responders, chronic stress isn’t just “mental.” It’s chemical, neurological, and cumulative. This image is a simple reminder of something powerful: your brain needs fuel to recover, not just grit to endure.

🔹 SEADOG is an easy way to remember six essential brain chemicals that help counter the effects of stress:

Serotonin (Happy Hormone): time in nature, creativity, rest
Endorphins (Pain Reliever): movement, laughter, safe physical connection
Acetylcholine (Memory Maker): learning, creativity, brain games
Dopamine (Reward Juice): celebrating wins, self-care, quality sleep
Oxytocin (Connection): meaningful conversations, trust, belonging
GABA (Chill Pill): meditation, yoga, slowing the nervous system

None of these require a full lifestyle overhaul. Many can start between calls, after shift, or in small intentional moments.

🧠 Resilience isn’t about shutting stress off.
It’s about giving your nervous system what it needs to come back online.

If you’re in EMS, Fire, Law Enforcement, Corrections, or Dispatch:

👉 Which one of these does your brain need more of right now?

12/21/2025

Small things matter—especially in this line of work.

EMS, Fire, Law Enforcement, Dispatch:
Your nervous system spends a lot of time in high gear. Long shifts, critical calls, constant vigilance—it adds up. On the hard days, regulation doesn’t come from grand gestures. It comes from small, doable resets like the ones in this image.

These aren’t “self-care trends.”
They’re micro-interventions that help your body come down out of survival mode:

• A temperature shift to signal safety
• Fueling your body before cortisol spikes
• Naming one emotion to reduce intensity
• Sending or receiving a low-pressure check-in
• Creating order in a small space when everything feels chaotic

You don’t need to fix everything today.
You just need one small thing that makes the day less heavy.

If one of these feels doable, start there.
If none of them do, that’s information too—not failure.

You were trained to handle emergencies.
You were not meant to handle chronic stress alone.

12/19/2025

🌟 Honored to Share This Recognition! 🌟

I’m proud to announce that I’ve been recognized for inclusion in Marquis Who’s Who for excellence in higher education, counseling, and first responder mental wellness. This distinction reflects more than a decade of dedicated work in counselor education, trauma-informed clinical practice, research, and advocacy—especially focused on supporting those who serve in high-risk professions.

From frontline service as a paramedic to teaching and mentoring future counselors, my journey has been shaped by a commitment to understanding the unique mental health challenges faced by first responders and promoting evidence-informed pathways to wellness, resilience, and access to care.

I’m grateful for the collaboration of colleagues, students, professional organizations, and first responders who continue to inspire this work. This recognition will only strengthen my resolve to reduce stigma, inform policy, and support meaningful change in how we approach mental wellbeing in emergency services.

Read more here ➡️ http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release-service/530033

December 19, 2025 -- Joy Hutchinson, PhD, LPC-MHSP, NCC, BC-TMH, CCTP-II, EMT-P, is recognized for over 10 years of outstanding contributions to education, mental health counseling and first responder wellness

12/19/2025

First responders are trained to run toward, not sit with.

To push it down.
To compartmentalize.
To keep moving because lives depend on it.

But at some point—off shift, years later, or in quiet moments—it catches up.

Facing what you ran from doesn’t mean you’re weak.

Naming what you hid doesn’t mean you’re broken.

Feeling what you buried doesn’t erase your strength.

For many in EMS, Fire, Law Enforcement, and Dispatch, this work is both shattering and freeing—and both can be true at the same time.

You don’t have to relive everything at once.

You don’t have to do it alone.

And you don’t have to “earn” support by being at rock bottom.

Healing isn’t the opposite of resilience.
It’s what allows resilience to last.

If this resonates, you’re not alone—and you’re not failing.

You’re human, doing hard work in a hard profession.

12/18/2025

For EMS, Fire, Law Enforcement, and Dispatch:

Depression doesn’t always look like giving up.
Sometimes it looks like showing up anyway—while everything inside feels backed up and overflowing.

This image captures what many first responders live with quietly:

Energy that runs hot one shift, cold the next

Old calls, old losses, and unspoken beliefs sitting in the basin

Sleep disruption, nervous system overload, and emotional regulation working overtime

Avoidance and compartmentalization doing their job… until the drain clogs

When the sink is full, even one more small task can feel impossible—not because you’re weak, but because your system is overloaded.

You were never meant to hold everything forever.
Depression isn’t a personal failure—it’s a signal that your system needs support, relief, and space to drain.

If this resonates:

Start smaller than you think you need to

Ask for help before the overflow, not after

Remember: strength includes maintenance, not just endurance

Checking on the people who “seem fine” saves lives—sometimes your own.

💛 If you’re struggling, you don’t have to do it alone. Support is part of the job, too.

12/17/2025

For First Responders: Forgiving Yourself Isn’t Weakness — It’s Survival.

You replay calls.
Decisions made in seconds.
Outcomes you wish had been different.

If you wear a badge, a uniform, or a headset long enough, you will carry moments you’d change if you could. That doesn’t make you broken. It makes you human.

This image is a reminder that self-forgiveness doesn’t mean excusing mistakes — it means acknowledging reality, learning, and choosing not to keep punishing yourself forever.

💭 Name the moment — without cruelty.
❤️ Notice what it still brings up in your body.
🗣️ Talk to yourself the way you would a partner, a rookie, or a patient you care about.
📖 Ask what it taught you — not how it condemned you.
🫂 Choose self-forgiveness today, even if you can’t promise it forever.

You are allowed to move forward and still care deeply.
You are allowed to grow without erasing your service.
You are more than the worst call, the hardest shift, or the moment that still hurts.

You don’t heal by hating yourself.
You heal by learning — and staying.

If this resonates, you’re not alone.
Check on your people.
And let someone check on you.

12/17/2025

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Customize a care package and help Crown Royal turn our iconic purple bags into care packages for soldiers and veterans, reminding them of our support and thanks.

12/17/2025

🚑🚒👮‍♂️🎧 For EMS, Fire, Law Enforcement, and Dispatch

There will be days when survival looks like minute by minute instead of call to call.
Days when the weight of what you’ve seen, heard, or carried makes forward motion feel slow—or impossible.

And that’s okay.

Healing isn’t linear. Strength isn’t constant.
Some days, getting through the shift is enough.
Some days, just breathing and staying present is the work.

This is a reminder that:

You don’t have to “push through” every feeling

You don’t have to be okay on a timeline

Taking things hour by hour doesn’t mean you’re failing—it means you’re listening to your body

Your nervous system has done exactly what it was trained to do: protect you.
Now it deserves patience, compassion, and time.

Everything doesn’t have to make sense today.
You are allowed to go minute by minute and still be moving forward.

💙 You are not weak for slowing down.
💙 You are human—and that matters.

12/16/2025

I’m excited to share that my recent publication, “The Lived Experiences of Emergency Medical Technicians When Seeking Individual Counseling,” is now available to read.

This study centers the voices of EMTs who have sought individual counseling and explores how help-seeking is shaped by trauma exposure, occupational culture, stigma, and systemic barriers within emergency medical services. Rather than focusing only on statistics, the work highlights the real experiences behind why many EMTs delay care and what finally brings them to counseling.

My hope is that these findings contribute to more culturally responsive, stigma-free mental health support for first responders and inform counselors, educators, leaders, and policymakers working to improve wellness and retention in EMS.

Read it here-
https://link.growkudos.com/1euavl287wg

12/16/2025

Do you struggle with this? I do.

Self-sabotage doesn’t always look like laziness.
For first responders, it often looks like pushing help away, staying busy instead of slowing down, or telling yourself “I’ll deal with it later”—after this shift, this call, this season.

We’re trained to function under pressure, tolerate discomfort, and keep moving no matter what. Those skills save lives.
But the same skills can quietly turn inward—keeping us stuck, disconnected, or exhausted long after the call is over.

If you’ve ever:

Known what would help but avoided it anyway

Waited until you felt “strong enough” to rest or talk

Stayed in survival mode because slowing down feels unsafe

You’re not broken.
You adapted to an impossible job.

Awareness isn’t blame—it’s power. And small, imperfect steps still count. You don’t have to fix everything at once. You just have to stop pretending you don’t deserve the same care you give others.

Minute by minute is still progress.
You’re allowed to choose yourself, too.