Retired Firefighter Learns to Take Back HIs Life From PTSD

PTSD treatment works — the VA has helped me and it can help others
Herald and News
By DEWAINE HOLSTER Guest Writer
June 11, 2017

After my retirement from the fire district I was looking for things to do. I considered many ideas; while I was exploring the idea of helping the VA with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) soldiers, I discovered a link for first-responders.

June is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder awareness month.

I was diagnosed with “Chronic PTSD” June of 2016. I served as a first-responder for near 35 years. To date I have spent 10 months in counseling.

I have learned many things about PTSD and have made it a personal goal to share my journey, educate and to minimize the stereotyping of PTSD victims.

I responded to over a couple hundred incidents involving death. Some were extremely horrific and graphic. Deaths were of all ages, genders, people we knew and those we didn’t know. The ones we knew were obviously more difficult to manage emotionally because we knew them and / or their families. Deaths involving children were always more emotionally troubling.
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