A Journey from Weight to Freedom

First Responder Marriages First-responder marriages are unique for a variety of reasons.   Although they face the same challenges as mainstream civilian marriages, they also face added challenges that are unique to the line of work.   This impacts the lives involved in these marriages from the spouses to children and extended family/relatives.   Many first-responders are almost never able to make it to family functions, and they often have to work through major holidays.   If your spouse is not also a first-responder and does not have parents or close family who are also in that line of work, in-laws are often not understanding of why their son or daughter-in-law cannot make it to the family Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas get-togethers, birthday celebrations, etcetera.   The first responder parent is often missing from important school events for their children, and they may have to be sleeping at times when the family is awake.   Depending on scheduling, husband and wife may only

First Responders and Trauma As those of you who have been following my blog know, I have a passion for working with first responders and their spouses.   Today, I would like to focus on trauma-which is a part of daily life for those in the line of work.   Defining a traumatic event Trauma occurs when we experience a threat to our physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual well-being—whether that threat is actual or perceived.   In such situations, our reaction can be as extreme as intense fear, helplessness, or horror.   A noteworthy fact is that our emotional experience during the event is what determines whether or not the event is traumatic, not the event on its own.   In other words, the meaning that we attach to the event in relation to ourselves is what determines whether or not the event will have a traumatic impact on us.   After the experience After experiencing a traumatic event, it is perfectly normal for us to experience a range of emotions and reactions such as