If you or someone you know is experiencing an emotional crisis, please call or text 988 to contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To contact the 24/7 Crisis Text Helpline, text “4HOPE” to 741741.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — May is Mental Health Awareness Month, but for many emergency responders, coming forward can be difficult.
The Columbus Police Department is working to resolve the issue.
Columbus Police Officer Don Padden, a 30-year veteran of the police force, said that while great strides have been made in addressing mental health issues among emergency responders, the work isn’t done.
“I started in 1990,” he says, “back then I never talked about my emotions. I bottled them up and didn’t allow myself to get emotional.”
Mr Padden said at the time police didn’t seek counselling because they thought it was a sign of weakness, and he hopes the same doesn’t happen to the younger generation of paramedics.
“I don’t want them to end up like us,” Padden said. “I have a lot of friends who have committed suicide because of this job, I have a lot of friends who have become alcoholics or drug addicts because of this job. I want to help them so they don’t have to suffer like I did.”
Padden said the opening of the wellness center is a big step in the right direction, a place where officers can talk about how they’re feeling, in complete confidentiality.
“I want officers to be able to talk freely about going to a wellness center to get mental health help, just as much as I would say, ‘I’m going to the gym,'” Paden said.
He said being a police officer was both the best and the worst profession, adding that it was impossible not to have mental and emotional problems while doing the job.
“We’re human beings,” Padden says, “and we need places to go to learn about those feelings, express them, manage them, and grow in healthy ways from what we’re seeing.”
Dave Jerrold of the Columbus Fire Department appears in a video about the wellness center, which is open to them. In the video, Jerrold says emergency responders will find three things when they visit the center: confidentiality, community and connection.
“We want to meet our members where they are, get to know them a little bit more, really explore what’s going wrong and connect them with resources that can help them, whatever their situation may be,” he said.
Padden said he hopes paramedics will be open to seeking counselling, but for now he plans to advocate for them and make sure they know they are not alone.
If you or someone you know needs help, there are resources available.
