Australia: Police Officers Struggle for Help With PTSD

Late policeman’s brother vows to help those struggling
Border Mail Australia
BLAIR THOMSON
1 Jul 2017

THE BROTHER of an Albury policeman who took his own life after a battle with post traumatic stress disorder is helping others in the force who are struggling.

MESSAGE: Patrick Seccull says those battling PTSD should know that there is help out there, and that life can be good despite how bad things can get fighting the illness.

Tony Seccull, 41, followed in the footsteps of his older brother Patrick when he joined NSW Police as a young man.

The father of one lost his battle at his Burrumbuttock property on February 1, leaving a gap in his large family that will always be there.

Patrick, who has also worked as an Albury policeman and has had his own fight with the disorder, said his brother died about five years to the day after his discharge from the force.

By the end of his service, Tony was worn out and just wanted to retire without the grinding stress caused by the police insurance company.

Mr Seccull links his brother’s PTSD to an incident early in his career, the full impact of which didn’t surface until a firearms training course on the Border sometime around 2010.

Tony had been stationed at Nyngan in central NSW in the early 2000s and like many times before, he was called to a domestic dispute.

But it was no ordinary call out, with a farmer firing shots from a high-powered rifle at Tony and his partner, leaving them pinned down.
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