PTSD & First Responders

When is it time to get help?

People may be able to recover from short term stress through the utilization of their own coping mechanisms along with the support of friends and family. Significant distress that lasts longer than three months indicates chronic PTSD and should be attended to. Symptoms that start six months following an incident are classified as delayed onset PTSD and require treatment due to its complex nature.

If you, or someone you know is considering suicide, oris in a dangerous or life-threatening situation, please call 911 or proceed to your nearest emergency room.

For immediate help outside of our office hours, throughout Alberta, please call 211 or one of the following distress lines:

• Edmonton: The Crisis Centre call 780 482 HELP (4357)
• Greater Edmonton region: Rural Distress Line at 1-800-232-7288.
• Calgary: 403 266 HELP (4357)

Trauma/PTSD in first responders treatment methods 

There are several effective treatment methods for dealing with trauma or PTSD. Your therapist will discuss with you the best options for your individual circumstance. Some treatment methods that are typically successful in treating PTSD include:

• Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based approach to treatment that focuses on how people’s thoughts, emotions, and beliefs influence their behaviour and how they perceive themselves.
• Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is an approach that works to help the brain process information, memories, sounds, and feelings in a way that makes them be seen in
• Narrative therapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses narratives and/or client’s personal stories to help people separate themselves from their problems, believing that the person isn’t the problem; the problem is the problem.
• Exposure therapy is a form of treatment where your therapist will create a safe environment where they expose you to the triggers you may fear or try to avoid in an effort to decrease your anxiety towards that trigger.
• Virtual reality assisted therapy (VRAT) is a computer-based system that allows a user to experience a sense of presence in a computer-generated or video presented three-dimensional environment. It’s a form of therapy that utilizes the immersive experience that VR technology provides to support individuals who experience anxiety related to common fears or phobias.
• Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is a treatment method that’s similar to cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) but emphasizes building skills to manage stress, emotional response and regulation, mental health issues, and the psycho-social aspects of relationship building.
• Hypnosis and hypnotherapy can allow clients to travel deeper into the unconscious or subconscious to look at and work with issues and ideas perhaps inaccessible otherwise. It’s like guided daydreaming: a form of relaxed concentration.
• Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) is an effective, research-backed, non-invasive process in which a focused magnetic field stimulates under-active brain cells, activates them to work more efficiently and transforms lives through symptom reduction. rTMS can be particularly effective when used to treat severe depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, OCD, chronic pain, migraines, post concussion symptoms, and burnout that has not fully responded to conventional treatments (medication/therapy).