Being A Uniformed Professional Is Demanding, And You Deserve Care, Too

Uniformed professionals have sworn to put others before themselves, whether you’re a nurse putting your patients first, a member of the military who has to put the mission first, or a firefighter putting the safety of others over your own. But under that uniform, you, too, are a human being and deserve care.

There are a number of presenting concerns that you may have, which a mental health professional can assist you with, including (but not limited to):

• Addiction
• Acute stress, PTSD
• Relationship challenges
• Work-life balance
• Burnout

Often, uniformed professionals do not realize that there is a problem because the problems are masked by various symptoms including, but not limited to, mood changes, insomnia or irregular sleep patterns, or diet abnormalities.

Even when there are a number of presenting concerns, there are also a number of reasons why uniformed professionals do not seek help. Many believe that:

• Their career progression will be affected
• Seeking help makes them weak
• Seeking help will make others think they are weak
• Mental health challenges should not affect them

How I Can Help

Life experience, career experience, and education experience have afforded me the privilege to support uniformed professionals in their journey to finding wellness and balance in their life. 

I, too, am a uniformed professional and have worked with others in the helping professions for more than 12 years, including:

• Nurses
• Doctors
• Correctional officers
• Police officers
• Members of the Canadian Armed Forces
• Firefighters

My approach is very client-centred and non-judgmental. I strongly believe in the concept of unconditional positive regard. This means that regardless of my own beliefs and values, my job as a therapist is to help you no matter your history or personal choices. My aim is to create a space where my clients feel safe to express their thoughts, feelings, and emotions so they can be discussed with seriousness and respect.

What To Expect

Expect our sessions to be ambitious and determined in nature, while still creating a space that allows for vulnerability, especially in the beginning. As a uniformed professional, feeling vulnerable can be the most challenging part of therapy because you so often carry the burden of being strong for others. But you too require and deserve sleep, nutrition, and self-care, just the same as the people you serve. You too deserve good mental health, and therapy can help you achieve that.

Being a uniformed professional is demanding, physically and mentally. It can often feel that you are supposed to only give, as you live by the montra “service before self”. However, remember that you are a person too, and you deserve the self-care and personal maintenance that everyone needs.

_{This article was  written by Dylan Lowartz during their time at Shift Collab.}