PTSD Umbrella Society

C company caught an apartment fire last night. Quick work on the confinement line while the second engine was on route quickly knocked the fire down allowing fo...r a search of the residence. Well done C shift! #pentictonprofessionalfirefighters #pentictonfiredepartment #iafflocal1399 #bcpffa #iaffcanada #iaff #firefighters #firetruck #nightshift

Happy Canada day!

On June 26, Captain Rae Simpson retired with 29 years of fire fighting experience with the Penticton Fire Department,#pentictonprofessionalfirefighters. He was... instrumental in the building of Penticton’s Rope Rescue Team, served on the Union Executive and put in countless hours in volunteer time for the citizens of Penticton. We wish him the best in retirement! It was a pleasure working with and for you! #pentictonprofessionalfirefighters #pentictonfiredepartment #pentictonfirefighterscharitablesociety #firefighter #firecaptain #retirement #leadership #iafflocal1399 #bcpffa #iaffcanada #iaff

Today is PTSD Awareness Day June 27!! It was created to educate people on PTSD and encourage them to talk openly about it. It focuses on spreading the word ...that PTSD is treatable and people who suffer from it can have hope for a better life. Spreading The Word On PTSD Awareness Day There are many ways to spread the word on PTSD Awareness Day. Even small actions can make a big impact in informing people about PTSD and treatment options. Ways to encourage PTSD awareness may be: ~sharing social media posts or videos about PTSD. ~leaving posters or pamphlets in public places. ~organizing a community event to support PTSD treatment. ~talking to someone suffering from PTSD about mental health care. ~sharing resources for people with PTSD. ~supporting organizations such a ours (Refuse To Lose) to help with associated costs for treatment, education, and other support for PTSD. ~educating yourself about PTSD and treatment options. Learning about PTSD can be a starting point for someone who is suffering from it to seek help. It can also be a way for someone who knows nothing about it to be more sympathetic and encouraging to those who struggle. Understanding PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops in people who have experienced or witnessed life-threatening trauma. This type of trauma includes but is not limited to workplaces, combat, sexual assault, serious accident, or a natural disaster. While it’s normal for a person to experience bad memories, insomnia, and fear after a traumatic event, these feelings usually go away after a few weeks. Individuals who suffer from PTSD continue to have symptoms for months or years. Four core symptoms of PTSD are: -reliving the event over and over in the mind. ~avoiding reminders of the trauma, even things a person once enjoyed. ~negative changes in thoughts and feelings. ~constantly feeling on edge or guarded. People with PTSD often have difficulty getting close to others, which can affect friendships, marriage, and other relationships. They may feel unfulfilled because they are not fully engaged in life. Living with constant fear isn’t healthy. It can lead to other mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression. In some cases, it causes people to abuse drugs or alcohol and become addicted, which may increase PTSD symptoms. In most cases, PTSD does not resolve on its own. Untreated PTSD is likely to get worse as a person continues to follow negative patterns rather than resolving the issue. Fortunately, treatments are available. PTSD Treatment Options PTSD can be treated with for example cognitive-behavioral therapy (many other therapy’s are available as well) ,antidepressant medication, or both. Medication only relieves PTSD symptoms as long as someone is taking it, but it can help a person focus on therapy and work through trauma-related issues. Behavioral therapy for PTSD includes: ~Cognitive processing therapy, which involves examining how trauma changed the way someone thinks and feels. With a therapist, they learn to think about the experience differently so they can move on. ~Prolonged exposure, which consists of talking repeatedly about the traumatic event until it becomes less frightening. It may also include going to places and doing things that cause fear (in a safe, controlled environment). ~Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), which uses eye movements or sounds to reduce anxiety surrounding traumatic issues. Individuals who suffer from other mental disorders along with PTSDsuch as addiction or depressionmay find that PTSD treatment helps with these issues as well. Why Is PTSD Awareness Day Important? Mental health is essential to a happy and fulfilling life. Many people are unaware that there is treatments for PTSD , and some may not even realize they have it! Some individuals still hold the misguided belief that PTSD is a form of mental weakness that can be overcome with time and determination. This belief prevents people from getting the help they need and often makes the problem worse. Untreated mental health issues can cause other difficulties in a person’s life such as job loss, broken relationships, and poor overall health. Healthcare costs and crime that may result from mental instability can be hard on society as well. PTSD Awareness Day brings to light the silent struggle of millions of individuals. It teaches the public that PTSD is a real mental disorder that can be treated and encourages people with PTSD to ask for help without shame. True strength and healing starts with asking for help, don’t be afraid to ask for help If you or someone you know are struggling please reach out! www.refusetoloseagainstptsd.ca

Have Fun! Be Creative!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!! Have a wonderful day!

NANAIMO RCMP OFFICER TAKES TO SOCIAL MEDIA TO TALK ABOUT GOOD COPS #YourStories If you have thought in the last week "there aren't any good cops" I w...ould like to introduce myself.. Hi! I'm Andrea and I am a good cop! I have been a police officer for the past 10 years. I started policing at 25 years old. Although I considered myself more "worldy" than most of my friends, my parents were divorced, I had traveled the world, worked in a third world country and bought my own home. I realized on day one of the job just how sheltered my life really was.. I started out in an area which is considered heavily drug entrenched. I saw more drug use, drug overdoses, prostitution, stabbings, shootings, dead bodies (including children and watching someone take their last breath) in the first 6 months than I care to discuss or remember. I had spent 6 months training to shoot having never had never held a gun in my life, handcuffing, law and how to march flawlessly. What I hadn't learned and hadn't realized was at 25 I was expected to be an expert on the following: - parenting, although I wasn't yet a parent; - marriage, although I wasn't yet married; - mental health, although I had no schooling, very little training or virtually no understanding of; - de-escalation, the only thing that has come naturally because if anyone knows me they know I love to talk; and - self defensive, I have been punched in the face multiple times since I started this job, have had more than one person grab my gun, have been bit, spat on, scratched and thrown like a rag doll. Once you put on the uniform you are expected to be all of the above by society but also maintain your paperwork to which there is more than you can imagine - a form for everything! You are expected to work solo, long days and even longer nightshifts. I remember more 12+ hour shifts I didn't even pee than ones I did. And eating.. a luxury, shoving whatever I could find in my face and chasing it with cold coffee purchased hours prior. My experience only includes "big city" style policing, to those who have back-up 30 minutes or longer away, my respect for you is immense! I have been called a cunt too many times it has lost all meaning, a bitch, stupid, ugly, fat, white trash, butch and told I should die and/or kill myself multiple times. And I am NICE! Now I don't tell you any of this for pity or sympathy. I tell you this as this is my reality.. This is OUR reality. Yes, I chose this job, we all did. We don't HAVE to be here but we are and we will because 99.9% of us plain and simple give a shit! The calls we attend are dictated by YOU the callers.. we don't make things up as we go. We have enough calls not to have to do that. And this is just patrol.. where I currently work we had four new Child Sexual Exploitation investigations in one day.. ONE day. On top of the 30+ we are already investigating. My time spent in community policing where I thought I would be reading books to Kindergarteners was spent hearing the most horrifying stories from Youth about sexual assaults, violence, bullying etc. As a mama, a police officer and human being that nearly broke me. But no, I won't quit my job and here is why.. I chose this job to make a difference and I 100% know I am. The children we have and will save make all of the above negative less technicolor and more greyscale. I choose this job because I am a good person and 99.9% of my brothers and sisters in blue are the kindest, caring, most hardworking, have your back people you could ever meet! Of course we have dark moments and of course we have bad apples but we want as much as the rest of you to to send those ones packing too! We are jaded and we are hurting right along with you.. We have a responsibility to uphold the law and sometimes you won't like it, sometimes we won't like it either but we didnt make the rules. I will be doing this job for at minimum 15 more years. In that time what I know for certain is I WILL be punched in the face again, spat at and someone will probably try and take my gun. I will do what I need to do to make it home to my children and those who love me. That is just my physical body. As for my mental and emotional body well that will probably come out black, blue and shattered but I will do it for you, for all of you who need me. People I don't even know. Will I screw up? Probably. But will it be because of systemic racism that is said to lurk within our ranks? Plain and simple.. No! Because Black Lives Matter, Indigenous Lives Matter and we also matter.. Not in the way you're thinking because this really isn't about me but because I couldn't live with myself making a person, let alone a race feel like garbage. I hope upon hopes for my children, for your children, for my family, for your family and whoever is on the other side that we all make it out okay. Literally every single day at work I hear someone say "why would anyone want to be a police officer?" I hear active Police Officers making comments that they would never in a million years encourage their children to become Police Officer.. Recruiting is scoffed at. What once was a profession to be proud of is now hated by society as a whole.. My greatest gift is shattering the stereotype of who and what a police officer should be. This happens regularly and quite possibly because what most people know about police is seen on TV instead of interacting with us or knowing us. So Hi! I'm Andrea, I'm just a Mama who is also a good cop. Please I am begging.. get us people who can help us! More Mental Health Workers, more nurses, Safe Injection sites, safe supplies, give us more and better training, better tools and resources. Don't give us less, give us more and find ways to add more! Let me hold you on your darkest days and hold you accountable when you make mistakes. Please do the same for me and for us, as a good cop among thousands and thousands of other good cops! Andrea Poitras, Nanaimo

I have had a bit of an overwhelming week but I can say that recognizing and being aware of how I’m feeling has been a huge help in taking the steps to move forward in a healthy way!

Did you know that between 10 to 35 percent of our front line health care workers are expected to develop PTSD? This pandemic has taken a toll on our first respo...nders (aka front line workers) and we want to be able to support them when they are in need. This month we have a fundraiser in which the proceeds will go to OSI-CAN, a non-profit support initiative that helps Veterans and First Responders who have experienced traumatic events that significantly impact their lives and the lives of their loved ones. During this fundraiser, Healthy Mugs will give 50% of the proceeds directly to the charity to help those dealing with PTSD/OSI. Help support our frontline workers by purchasing a mug or t-shirt.

Red Shirt Friday...Support our Troops... CMN Canadian Military News #3DivOneTeam members of eFP BG Latvia took part in Ex BALTIC WARRIOR on June 6, 2020. Much l...ike @1CMBG's MOUNTAIN MAN event, this exercise featured a 17 km rucksack run, 1.6 km portage, 5.2 km canoe, and finished with a 7.5 km rucksack run. See more

June is PTSD/I Month...

A gem, hidden in the Okanagan area.