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John, Police Officer
John is a 24 year old Police Officer who has worked with the traffic policing unit for three years. The work is satisfying but the hours are long; there is never enough staff and there’s always too much work to do. However, he gets on well with his colleagues and his boss. Although he enjoys the odd tipple, even his girlfriend knows him as “sober John”!
One day, whilst on duty he witnesses an out of control truck plough into a bus shelter. Although he and his colleague had been alerted that there was a truck in the area which passers by had reported as driving erratically, he had not expected to witness an accident. The incident happened in the early afternoon and three of the five people waiting for a bus were killed. The other two were seriously injured. The truck driver had suffered a heart attack and simply veered out of control. John went to render aid whilst his colleague called for back up. John witnessed a seven year old girl die, she held his hand as her life ended. He tried to help many of the other injured before the ambulance service arrived but he felt dazed by the situation and after the event, his memories of the incident had a dream-like quality to them.
That night, after filling in lots of paperwork, he went home to his flat. His girlfriend came over and although he tried to tell her about it, he just could not bring himself to talk about the death of the young girl. It was all too much. He had a stiff drink and tried to get to sleep. However, his mind was racing and he felt as if the incident was just about to happen again.
The next day he reported for work but felt as if the world was in slow motion. However, he did not want to appear weak in front of his colleagues so he ‘soldiered on’ in spite of the way he felt. He was hoping to get promoted soon as he’d just passed his Sergeant’s exams and did not think that saying he felt like he was going crazy would be a good idea. But the image of the crash occurring in front of him kept coming back into his mind and over the next day or two he became more introverted, telling his girlfriend that he had to work late and avoiding his work colleagues. Whenever anyone asked how he was, he said “fine” but fine was definitely not how he felt! In fact, he felt completely useless. He knew he should have done something to stop the crash. If only he’d got to the scene earlier maybe he could have saved lives.
A few days later his Sergeant beckoned him in to the office. He suggested to John that he see one of the unit’s TRiM Practitioners. He said that although the interview was not compulsory, it was a really good idea. The Practitioner would be another Police Officer, someone who would understand John’s experiences and who was used to dealing confidentially with colleagues. The Sergeant also told John that the meeting was to include the colleague who was in the car with him during the incident and if John attended the TRiM meeting, he would also be supporting his buddy. John reluctantly agreed to go but was not sure that it would make any difference.
During the TRiM interview, trained practitioners would sensitively ask both John and his colleague about the event and they would be alert for the signs that either of them might have been excessively affected by the incident. In John’s case they would have spotted that he was not doing well; they would have spotted that he was blaming himself; was suffering signs of acute stress; was cutting himself off from sources of support and was not performing effectively at work. These are all evidence-based indicators that someone is not adjusting to a traumatic experience. With gentle guidance and some practical advice, they would aim to mentor John whilst he recovered from the episode. Should he not recover, they would encourage him to seek professional help. They would also do the same for his colleague. Encouraging professionals such as John to talk to their colleagues, is likely to be a way of breaking down the numerous barriers that exist within organisations that prevent help-seeking behaviour. Importantly, the TRiM Practitioners would not provide therapy or interfere with the recovery process. Instead, using the 'watchful waiting' process, they would aim to support John, whilst monitoring how he was progressing.
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