Alcoholism, Mental Health and Being a First Responder

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I am starting a You Tube series talking about alcoholism, mental health and the criminal justice system. It’s focused on my career as a paramedic, but I hope that maybe other people can relate. This is my first shot at it. Honest feedback requested.

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Hey Jim! Won’t have a chance to watch this for a little while, but look forward to it. I am retired military where I had combat medic training and multiple combat deployments and have been an EMT-B volunteer, as I’m in such a small town. Definitely believe the mental health aspect needs to be maintained constantly.

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Thank you so much!!

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I’ll gladly take a watch at this,

I joined the FD at 16, got my EMT at 17, went into the Army and then to paramedic school, I have also worked for sheriffs and as a 911 dispatcher,

For me it was a sense of belonging, to get the family I never had, I was an OutKast with many friends. It was weird I was trying to conform to an acceptance to society standards And I enjoyed helping people.

Where I’m from the firehouse was essentially an exclusive drinking club, bar never closes and If you can sit at it you can drink. Plus chicks dig uniforms. I thought it was glorious but it had its dark side, the sheer horrors that still haunt me, the pain I felt many times. It also introduced me to my love of cocaine.

I left it a few times trying to be who I want to be, not conformed to a appearance standard, a society standard and a “hero”’standard.

Living under those conditions hiding who I am really made me worse. It made me unhappy and coping not only with the pain of not being myself, but the experiences I had daily.

People often get offended when I say this, but I can relate to the LGBQT community in one way, I understand how difficult it is to have to pretend to be someone else, to meet expectations, while who you are has to hide in the shadows

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Congratulations on your 507 days :slightly_smiling_face:

I watched the video, thank you for sharing your experience and being so honest.

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Congratulations . im not a u tube guy but if it helps others good on you wish you well

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