Therapy for Veterans and First Responders

It is a calling, and a history. 

A community, a family, and an identity.

More than a job, it is a way to make a difference in the world, and it can be a lot to handle, day in and day out. 

When your job is to fix and protect, it’s hard to ask for help from an outside source. As Veterans and First Responders, you are used to relying on your wits, training, and teammates to get you where you need to go. The idea of seeking therapy is often looked at with suspicion, concern, and/or outright derision. We get that. There is a very real fear that going to therapy will mean becoming less effective at your job, consequently leading to concerns around personal safety and career longevity. Often, it is this fear coupled with the stigma and shame of being perceived as weak for seeking out therapy that unfairly forces some to walk through a difficult time or situation alone. We are here to remind you of two things: no one gets a medal for surviving the tough times in life – you get wisdom and experience, like the rest of us, and asking for help is an incredibly vulnerable and courageous act.

Therapists are trained to be culturally sensitive and aware, to hold non-judgmental and safe spaces, and to ensure that even if they don’t have the same lived experiences (though many therapists do have past careers in public safety, or are Veterans or in the Reserves themselves), they can still offer support for the underlying concerns that exist from high-stress and high-risk lines of work. Recognizing that the military and public safety are their own cultures, we can walk alongside you to learn about and better cope with mental health symptoms such as: trauma exposure, PTSD, extreme fatigue/compassion fatigue, depression, anxiety, substance misuse, relational complications, and systemic and organizational frustrations. Therapy conducted with therapists specially trained to work with Veterans and First Responders can support you in living with the “yes/and” mentality– yes someone may have an opinion, and you deserve to feel healthy both physically and emotionally.

You don’t have to sacrifice who you are or how you function in your line of work to prioritize how you show up for yourself and your future. In the words of Sun Tzu, “…know yourself and you need not fear the result of a hundred battles”.  

Thank you for taking the first step.