For police officers, firefighters, EMTs, and military personnel, staying calm when everyone else is panicking is part of the job.
They are trained to run toward emergencies, make decisions under pressure and keep functioning through situations that most people will never experience firsthand. That toughness is necessary in the moment. The problem comes when the same mindset follows someone home and convinces them that asking for help is somehow a sign that they could not handle the job.
Mental health should be treated the same way as any other part of staying fit for duty.
The stresses facing military members and first responders are not limited to individual traumatic incidents. Long shifts, disrupted sleep, unpredictable schedules, repeated exposure to emergencies and time spent away from family can all accumulate over months and years.
Research summarized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that work-related stress was more prevalent among police officers working afternoon and night shifts than among those working days. Officers working evening or night shifts were also about four times more likely to report depressive symptoms than officers assigned to day shifts.
A broader review of shift-work hazards available through the National Center for Biotechnology Information similarly notes increased rates of burnout, depression, anxiety, insomnia and other mental-health concerns among shift workers. Emotionally demanding professions such as law enforcement are identified as being particularly vulnerable to burnout.
Those findings are important because fatigue, stress and mental health do not exist in separate compartments. Poor sleep can make stress harder to manage. Stress can make sleep more difficult. Long hours can interfere with family and social relationships, while an unwillingness to address any of those problems can allow them to compound.
Seeking support does not mean someone is incapable of doing the job. In many cases, it means recognizing a problem early enough to keep it from interfering with the job, the family waiting at home or the life someone has built outside the uniform.
Support Is Part of Preparation
There is no single solution for the pressures that come with service.
For one person, support might mean speaking with a counselor who understands law enforcement or military culture. For another, it could mean addressing chronic sleep problems, finding a peer-support organization, improving physical health or simply admitting to a spouse or friend that something has been weighing on them.
The important part is refusing to treat suffering in silence as a professional requirement.
Changing the Culture Starts With the People in It
Removing the stigma around mental health support does not require pretending that every difficult shift is a crisis or that every bad day requires professional treatment.
It means creating a culture where asking for help is viewed as a responsible decision rather than a weakness.
That can start at the department, unit or station level. Supervisors can make sure personnel know what resources are available. Peer-support programs can give officers and first responders the opportunity to speak with someone who understands the realities of the job. Departments can also encourage people to use counseling and wellness services before stress reaches a breaking point.
Just as importantly, coworkers can look out for one another.
The person working beside you may recognize changes that are difficult to see in yourself. Increased irritability, withdrawal from family or coworkers, chronic exhaustion, difficulty sleeping or simply not seeming like yourself can all be reasons to check in.
Sometimes that conversation is as simple as asking, "You doing alright?"
And sometimes being willing to answer that question truthfully is the harder part.
Finding the Right Support
One of the barriers to getting help can simply be knowing where to look.
Military members and first responders may understandably want providers who recognize the unique pressures associated with their professions. Explaining the basics of police work, military service or emergency response to someone who has never encountered those environments can make an already difficult conversation feel even harder.
That is another area where Defenders Gateway is designed to help.
The free Defenders Gateway app connects verified military members, veterans, first responders and their families with health and wellness services, nonprofit organizations, family resources and other forms of assistance.
For someone looking for professional support, that can mean having another place to begin the search for resources that understand the Defender community.
But mental wellness is also affected by everything surrounding the job.
Time with family matters. Exercise matters. Sleep matters. Hobbies, recreation and opportunities to decompress matter. So does being able to step away from the uniform and enjoy a few hours without thinking about the next call.
Defenders Gateway also connects members with local and national discounts that can make some of those quality-of-life improvements more affordable, whether that means fitness, travel, outdoor recreation, family activities or everyday purchases.
No discount or app can remove the difficult parts of military or first-responder service. The goal is to make it easier for the people carrying those responsibilities to find support when they need it and make the most of the time they have away from work.
Strength Includes Knowing When to Ask for Help
The men and women who serve their communities are expected to be ready when everyone else needs them.
That makes taking care of their own health, including their mental health, part of remaining ready.
There is nothing admirable about allowing a manageable problem to become a crisis simply because asking for help felt uncomfortable. The same professionalism that tells a first responder to maintain equipment, train regularly and stay physically fit should also extend to recognizing when stress, exhaustion or trauma needs attention.
The uniform may demand toughness.
It should never demand silence.
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