AMU Emergency Management Health & Fitness Opinion Original Public Safety Resource

PTSD Awareness Helps First Responders During Holidays 

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By Allison G. S. Knox
Contributor, EDM Digest

In the last few years, interest groups and nonprofit organizations have created educational awareness programs that focus on a specific day or month to highlight their importance. January, for example, is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

The holiday season can be a difficult time emotionally for some people. Mental health professionals know this is especially true for those who have experienced a traumatic event, a personal loss or are alone. That’s why the holiday season is a great time to showcase the importance of mental health services for first responders.

First Responders Often Struggle with PTSD around the Holidays

First responders have an increasingly difficult time with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) around Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year holidays. This should come as no surprise, considering the numerous traumatic events they experience on an almost daily basis.

The Journal of Pre-Hospital Emergency Care notes, “Certain professions, including law enforcement and EMS are exposed to high degrees of workplace stress, therefore it is hypothesized that these individuals are more predisposed to conditions including anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation and behaviors.”

That is why mental health professionals emphasize PTSD awareness, education and mental healthcare to help public safety professionals get the appropriate help they need. This awareness helps to make a difference in first responders’ well-being.

Allison G.S. Knox

Allison G. S. Knox teaches in the fire science and emergency management departments at the University. Focusing on emergency management and emergency medical services policy, she often writes and advocates about these issues. Allison works as an Intermittent Emergency Management Specialist in the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. She also serves as the At-Large Director of the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, Chancellor of the Southeast Region on the Board of Trustees with Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society in Social Sciences, chair of Pi Gamma Mu’s Leadership Development Program and Assistant Editor for the International Journal of Paramedicine. Prior to teaching, Allison worked for a member of Congress in Washington, D.C. and in a Level One trauma center emergency department. She is an emergency medical technician and holds five master’s degrees.

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