Working 24 hours per day seven days a week, the men and women of the UK’s emergency services are put into some of the most traumatic situations every working day.

The sheer breadth of often hazardous, violent and life threatening situations that they are expected to deal with puts them at an extremely high risk of suffering from a psychiatric injury such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

With the emergency services, it is often the cumulative effects of witnessing and experiencing regular and repeated emergency incidents that can lead to the development of PTSD.

Typical examples of situations that can lead to psychological trauma injury include: 

	Repeated exposure to horrific scenes at accidents or fires (such as bodies mutilated in car crashes, or horribly burned or disfigured in fires.
	Repeated involvement in dealing with serious crime eg where violence has been used especially where children are involved and have been hurt.
	Breaking news of bereavement caused by accident or violence
	Repeated violations such as in verbal abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse and sexual abuse

The symptoms of PTSD can manifest themselves immediately after a traumatic incident or take a long time to develop. Whatever the timescale, the fact is that, if left untreated, the effects of psychological trauma can be overwhelming and have long lasting consequences, disrupting and disabling people’s lives. (see What is Trauma and The Symptoms of Trauma Pages)

For the emergency services, the effects of trauma can leave them with the prospect of losing irreplaceable and highly experienced team members, often for long periods of time.

The people working in the emergency services are its most valuable asset. They - above anything else - have the most fundamental impact on whether the services that the public rely on so heavily operate smoothly and successfully - or not. 

The Red Poppy Company provides organisations with the specialist infrastructure needed to deal with all forms of trauma. 

From helping all staff manage the personal effects of experiencing repeated traumatic incidents, allowing them to remain an efficient and contributing member of the team, through to training managers and senior staff to spot the symptoms of trauma and instigate effective treatment.

For more information on how the Red Poppy Company can help the Emergency Services, go to the Services on Offer Page.