This week on Wellbeing, we speak with Paul Sharratt from Fire & Resue NSW, Australia. Paul is currently station manager with Fire and Rescue and joined the firefighting sector in 1992. Over this time he has responded to large scale bush fires, including the recent Australian 2019-2020 Bush Fires. Firefighters are exposed to people who are hurt, distraught and in some cases fatally injured. For these reasons PTSD is not an uncommon occurrence in those serving as Firefighters. After experiencing an accumulation of traumatic events over his career, Paul joined a peer support team and was soon diagnosed with PTSD.  

In this episode, Paul shares a bit about his career as a firefighter, the PTSD support available in the firefighting field, how PTSD affected his life and relationships, how he came to get help with his PTSD and his journey to learning to manage his PTSD so that he can still live his best life. 

“I had a house fire, with a person at that stage reported missing, I ended up falling through a floor while I was searching for them and that job in itself was probably not overally, you know it wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but it brought up a lot of a issues that I hadn't really resolved” - Paul Sharratt on this episode of Wellbeing 

Tune in next week when we speak with a daughter of a World War Two Veteran about her father's PTSD.  

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Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins
Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing 

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