SJM_PTSD_0419FINAL.QXD_Cancer_7_09 3 / 28 / 19 3 : 31 PM Page 1 community When it comes to MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT , first responders are still FIGHTING THE STIGMA . By Liz Hunter | | We see people on their worst day . Children , people in car accidents . You take it home with you and at night you see it in your dreams . ” uniquely in - tune to their struggles because protect their home . They don’t come home he has walked in their shoes . A former and talk about work , in essence to protect Kim Berdine has been serving in emer - police officer , Bizzarro unwound at the end their family , but what happens is they wind gency medical services ( EMS ) for 27 years . of the day by up emotionally disconnecting from loved Also a nurse , Berdine felt her life’s mission grabbing drinks with fellow ones . They start to become isolated , they was to help people . Lately , she feels some officers . Social drinking turned into alcohol drink , they may become involved in an of the people who need the most help are abuse and everything in his life went down - affair . It’s a common cycle that happens , ” her fellow first responders . hill , leading to the loss of his family and says Michael Bizzarro , Ph.D , LCSW , director , A recent study by the Ruderman Family what Bizzarro describes as a sort of mental clinical services for first responders at Penn Foundation reveals that police officers and torture of self - loathing . One night he sat in Medicine’s Princeton House Behavioral firefighters are more likely to die by suicide his apartment with a 9 mm , figuring suicide Health . than in the line of duty . PTSD and depres - was the only way to stop the pain . Then he Founded six years sion rates among them are also as much suddenly had a thought that said , “ If you ago , this center was as five times higher than within the civilian do this , you will stigmatize and scar your the first in New Jersey to provide inpatient population . son for the rest of his life . ” addiction and mental health services specif - “ [ The trauma ] takes a mental toll on He entered a 12 - step program and icallyfor first responders , providing treatment everyone . People handle it differently . Some turned his life around . Now he wants first plans , nursing care , group and individual people drink , or get quiet , they might eat too responders like him to know that there is a therapy , family therapy and education , in much or not eat at all or take breaks from the safe space to turn . “ That is a challenge in addition to other services . job , ” says Berdine . In a country already facing this profession and PTSD . Not many want “ Historically , a lot of officers or first re - a mental to admit there is anything wrong , ” he says . sponders were not typically treated in New health crisis , first responders witness “ They are Jersey , ” says Bizzarro . “ They were sent out in the mindset of honor , integrity , what happens when patients are brought in of state ; a majority were sent to Florida . We bravery and service to others . They are for treatment during a crisis . “ Seeing how needed a place in New Jersey that was there to help you and nothing can be wrong they get treated doesn’t exactly promote us skilled enough to address these issues . Six with them . To comprehend they could have wanting to talk to anyone about what we years later we’ve treated almost 1,200 first a chink in their armor is challenging . ” may be dealing with , ” she says . responders . The term PTSD might initially be cor - The topics aren’t exactly fodder for the Although Bizzarro is now the one pro - related with the military , but one doesn’t dinner table either . “ It’s not uncommon for viding counseling to first responders , he is need to have been engaged in a war to ex - an officer who is dealing with trauma to SOUTH JERSEY MAGAZINE volume 16 issue 1 SouthJerseyMagazine.com 28 |