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CoffeeSnob — Wed, 02 May 2018 08:00:14 GMT

Um, hello. Yes, I'm very new here. Firstly, I'm really happy to have found these forums. My story is I’ve been a police officer since I was 20. I was in my 18th year of operational duties when I was diagnosed with PTSD and depression. I like to think I'm in a much better place now - I'm trying to be more open about what's going on for me and just trying to get my life back in order. I became pretty isolated over the last few years, so this seems to be a good place to start reconnecting. Thanks for having me.

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Birdy77 — Wed, 02 May 2018 08:09:15 GMT

Hello CoffeeSnob 😊

It's so great you've found your way here.

That was not an awkward entry at all! It was perfect.

Please feel very safe here and free to say whatever you have on your mind, lay your burdens down with us.

We will always listen and care.

🌻birdy

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CoffeeSnob — Wed, 02 May 2018 08:21:16 GMT

Thanks very much birdy. I'm really glad to be here.

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Ggrand — Wed, 02 May 2018 08:22:30 GMT

Hello CoffeeSnob,

Welcome to BB forums, Here you will find very caring and non judgmental people.

Im so pleased that you reached out to the wonderful people here on the forums,

Im really sorry that your struggling with PTSD and depression..

Its nice to hear that your proactive in getting your wellness back and coming in to do it..

This is a safe place to say as much or as little as you feel to, and many wonderful people will call in to give you their insight into what they've been through and how they are managing there mh..

Can I ask you ( if that's okay, and only if you want to answer). are you seeing professionals to help you manage your mental health, I'm asking only because I tried to manage my own but found it's to hard to do it on our own..

I hope you get as much benefit and help that I've received from being a member of these forums..

Warm and caring thoughts,

Grandy..

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CoffeeSnob — Wed, 02 May 2018 08:29:42 GMT

Hi Grandy,

Thank you for the warm welcome. I look forward to navigating my way around the various forums.

Yes, I had 12 months of treatment and recently finished working with a really great psychologist. My goal is to keep the lines of communication open and not go back to the old strategy of bottling everything up. This seems like a really great environment to do that.

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Ggrand — Wed, 02 May 2018 09:44:04 GMT

Hello Coffe,

I hope you don't mind me shortening your name..

I enjoy surfing the forums, I've been hear 9 months now and still find that I have a lot more threads to find and learn off. I really hope you enjoy looking around..

You have a good goal, keeping yourself open to discussion and not bottling thing inside, I try to do that, but when I go down I bottle things up..I'm pleased your trying so hard to get well,

Thank you for your lovely reply, it means a lot to me..

Warm and caring hugs, ( not sure if you like hugs, just in case you do. I'm sending you some).

Grandy

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PamelaR — Thu, 03 May 2018 23:55:06 GMT

Hello CoffeeSnob

Birdy and GGrandy have already welcome you to the Beyond Blue forums. They are great supporters as you'll find when you travel through the threads and posts.

It's great to have you here. There are many different forums, threads and posts that you may be interested in. There is one under the PTSD & Trauma forum - for Medical and First Responders. That you might find useful.

You'll find as I go on I'll ask some questions. It's just to see how we can help some more. There's no pressure for you to respond at all.

Just to let you know, I too have PTSD that is from trauma early in my life. Though I was only diagnosed 7 years ago. I'm now 64 and retired. What I've found is I have to continually be aware that I can be triggered. It's only been recently that I've learnt to identify the triggers immediately and challenge my beliefs. I've had other different therapies over the years - emotional behavioural therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, exposure therapy (with drastic results) with varying degrees of success.

What I've found is - it's ongoing management to keep and stay well. It works most of the time, however, retirement sent me into a tail spin. That's when I joined Beyond Blue forums. This and a new psychologist have helped me tremendously.

What type of work are you doing these days? Do you have any one that provides support or that you can talk to about your PTSD?

Again, no pressure to answer. Just if you feel like it, to get the conversation going for us.

Kind regards

PamelaR

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Tams20 — Fri, 04 May 2018 00:14:37 GMT

Hi CoffeeSnob,

You got me with your thread title, then I saw your username and Lisa Simpson as your avatar - I like your style! Good way to make an entrance 😊

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, being in the police force would be tough... Glad to hear that you’re in a better place now. Hopefully the forums can help you improve even further.

Welcome to the forums, hope to see you around.

Tams (fellow coffee snob)

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CoffeeSnob — Fri, 04 May 2018 02:02:30 GMT

Hi Tams,

It's always nice to meet another coffee snob. Thanks for the warm welcome, I'm glad to be here.

Hope to chat soon.

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CoffeeSnob — Fri, 04 May 2018 02:09:37 GMT

Hi PamelaR,

Thanks very much for your reply. It's great to "meet" you.

I agree with what you say about ongoing management and taking control where you can. Exercise and meditation are my two favourite strategies and I do quite a lot of writing too.

I'm still a police officer, but working in a very different role now which has taken some getting used to. So I still have support from within my organisation.

It's great that you've found the forums helpful. I'm looking forward to getting more involved.

CoffeeSnob

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Guest8901 — Fri, 04 May 2018 22:50:48 GMT

Hi CoffeeSnob. I see that you have accumulated quite a fan club here. So good to see, and very deserving. Can I add my welcome as well?

I'm really happy to read that you are managing your PTSD and associated depression reasonably well. Ongoing management is so important, and its fantastic that it appears you have the much needed support required. Exercise and meditation works well for most, and is something we should all strive to continue. I also find writing helpful as a form of self expression. I'm generally very quiet and reserved, so it helps to get things out through my writing. Although it tends to be very dark, and often angry. Not like me at all, and it never sees the light of day. Its purely therapeutic and something my psych suggested. I've also recently started pursuing artistic pursuits - sketching etc. I enjoy that, and can become totally engrossed in it. Definitely a plus.

Yes I too have PTSD. For me as a result of a particularly traumatic and life threatening event which took place some 20 years ago. But I never sought help for it until earlier this year, at which time I was finally diagnosed. So far I have not had any specific treatment for it, as its kind of been a matter of skirting around the edges a little with a number of other factors also coming into it. Many years of DV adds to the equation, so there is a bit to work on for me. C-PTSD on top of PTSD. I have to say that your story gives me hope that things can improve, and you're proof of that.

Good on you for persisting with your police career, albeit in a different role. You say its taken some getting used to, which I'm sure it has. Do you now enjoy your new role? It must be reassuring to have ongoing support within your organisation, just makes things much easier than it would be otherwise.

I greatly admire your attitude and commend you for coming here. Firstly for your own benefit, but also for so many others of us here who are inspired by your story. I have been here on the forums since late December and have found the support and understanding received here to be invaluable. I have no other support other than a very good clinical psych who keeps close tabs on me now. But she only came onto the scene recently. I hope you find the forums as beneficial as what I have. There are some truly lovely and helpful people here.

Thank you for sharing your story, and I look forward to reading more from you as you increase your involvement here.

Amanda

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CoffeeSnob — Sat, 05 May 2018 03:42:11 GMT

Hi Amanda,

Thanks very much for your lovely message and for sharing your own story too. It's interesting to hear how helpful you've found creative outlets to be, it's the same with me. I'm also very reserved and initially struggled to talk about what was going on with me. I started writing for my psychologist, would leave it with her then we'd talk about it the next week. It worked really well and we managed to get through all the trauma I'd been exposed to over my career.

I stopped seeing her early this year and I confess I'm struggling a bit with that. I thought joining the forums would be a good way to keep talking about things that come up. So far I've found the people here to be very friendly and supportive. I'm also seeing a lot of strength, courage and generosity here, which is wonderful.

Regarding my new role, I enjoy it now, but it's taken me two years to accept that I'm no longer an operational duties cop. I now work as an intelligence analyst, which is of course a desk job. I just never saw myself working from a desk. But now that I've had a bit of experience and done a bit of training, I can see a future in it. It's actually quite interesting and challenging work.

Thanks again,

CoffeeSnob

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Ggrand — Sat, 12 May 2018 03:05:52 GMT

Hello CoffeeSnob,

I just thought I'd do a check in and see how you're feeling.

Im pleased to read that you have adjusted to your new position and can see a future in it for you...as an intelligence analyst...Um that sounds like it would be a very mind challenging position. .

CoffeeSnob, you said you stopped seeing your psych earlier this year and your struggling with that decision, I'm wondering if you would be able to start seeing her again, I'm concerned that maybe you stopped seeing Psych a little to early and that managing your MH may become hard again for you..

I hope you have a good weekend, .xx

Kind thoughts ,

Grandy..

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CoffeeSnob — Sun, 13 May 2018 02:01:09 GMT

Hi Grandy,

Thank you for checking in with me, I really appreciate it.

I'm still pondering what to do about ongoing treatment. As you say, I may have been a bit hasty with that decision. I hope to work that out in the next couple of weeks.

Enjoy your Sunday,

CoffeeSnob

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