On Saturday morning, I had the honour of attending and helping to open the first Australian Resource Centre for post traumatic stress disorder (ARC4PTSD) ‘Walk for Awareness’ on the Gold Coast.
This organisation, established by Michelle New, brings together patients and mental health care professionals with the shared goal to reduce the burden to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients.
This walk was in support of emergency service and military personnel suffering from PTSD.
The event was the inaugural walk in Queensland and only the second in Australia.
The reality is that emergency service personnel typically see more tragedy and human heartache in a week than most people do in a lifetime, and over time this can take its toll on even the most resilient person.
Events such as this are vitally important for several reasons:
- The raise awareness of the issue;
- They raise valuable funds to go to supporting sufferers;
- They help to destigmatise what was in the past all too often considered a ‘shameful’ secret; and
- Importantly, they let the emergency service personnel see that they are supported by members of the community
Despite a bleak and rainy winter morning a large number of people turned out to offer their support.
The Tallebudgera Lions Club (although miles from their home) attended and put on a free sausage sizzle for everyone for breakfast.
I was approached by a young woman who had in the past suffered from domestic violence, and only escaped the situation after police intervention – she offered me her heartfelt thanks for the police who saved her and her daughter.
There were also a large number of sponsor’s stalls, offering different support options.
All of them offered very real hope and support to our emergency service personnel who often get little, if any thanks.
I am immensely proud of the women and men that I serve with and it was heartening to see such strong support for them, especially those who are experiencing difficulties.