Firefighter - 2020 - 10

10
SEEKING HEALING IN THE
AFTERMATH OF TRAUMA

For those that arrive at the incredibly
brave decision to seek treatment for
trauma-related concerns, actually accessing
treatment can be difficult. Simply reaching
a live person on the phone or scheduling
an appointment can be challenging as the
modern health care system is extremely
complicated. Once an appointment has
been made, individuals have to grapple
with insurance, payments, and scheduling
time off. To that point, the stigma
surrounding mental health challenges,
including PTSD, is no secret. So, in most
cases physical and mental injuries simply
aren't viewed in the same way, though they
should be. If you catch the flu, you can
typically take a sick day. If you dislocate
your knee, your supervisor will likely work
with you to make room for physical therapy
throughout the work-week. This type of
consideration is not always available for
those seeking treatment for PTSD and
trauma-related disorders.
At UCF RESTORES, we address
these common barriers to care by
approaching treatment differently.
Currently, all of our treatment services
are provided at no cost to Florida
residents, removing the hassle of dealing
with insurance companies and intricate
health care systems. And, of course, all
patient information is strictly confidential,
ensuring that each person maintains
control of their stories, experiences,
and treatment journey. 
To address the care-access barrier, we
have a full-time Clinical Care Coordinator
who serves as a warm and inviting first
point of contact for those interested
in seeking treatment. In collaboration
with our team, the Coordinator conducts
phone screenings to determine whether

2020 FLORIDA FIREFIGHTER

our treatment services are the right fit
for each person's unique needs. In the case
that our program is not appropriate for their
needs, we are careful to pull and provide
resources and referrals that are right for
them. No one is ever "left behind." 

THE UCF RESTORES APPROACH

At UCF RESTORES, we leverage
Trauma Management Therapy, an
empirically supported, comprehensive
treatment program for first responders,
veterans, active-duty military, and other
trauma survivors suffering from PTSD and
trauma-related disorders. By combining
individual exposure therapy and group
therapy sessions, our program addresses
each individual's unique traumatic
memory while working on feelings that
often accompany trauma-related
disorders, like social isolation, anger,
and depression.
While this treatment can be offered
on a traditional outpatient basis, UCF
RESTORES offers a unique, three-week
intensive outpatient program that has
proven to be incredibly successful.
At the end of the program, 76% of
first responders no longer meet the
diagnostic criteria for PTSD.
This program relies heavily on
exposure therapy, which brings patients
"face-to-face" with very specific elements
of their traumatic memory, not to make
them comfortable with that type of trauma,
but to help them process the memory, put
their trauma "in its place" and regain
control of their daily lives.
When someone experiences a
traumatic event, some of the things in that
scene or place at the time of the trauma
become part of their memory and become
danger signals in the future. For example,
if a bomb went off in the room you're

sitting in right now, and the room smelled
like cleaning supplies, your brain may
connect the smell of cleaning supplies to
danger. With exposure therapy, we're
making new neuronal connections in the
brain. In other words, your brain now learns
that danger will not always follow every
time you smell cleaning supplies. So,
exposure therapy would help your brain
learn that the smell of cleaning supplies -
a sensory element that you were exposed
to at the time of trauma - does not pose a
threat to your present reality.
At UCF RESTORES, we often use
virtual reality as a tool to augment
exposure therapy. Because we cannot
(nor would we want to) physically recreate
the traumatic event that occurred in real
life, virtual reality allows us to recreate
patients' traumatic memories - incorporating the sensory elements of sight,
sound and smell - to bring them even
closer to that memory to allow for greater
immersion, which has been proven to
facilitate faster learning and healing. 
This approach may sound counter
intuitive at first, but the intensive
component of our three-week treatment
is crucial. Exposure therapy, though
extremely effective, is not easy for patients
(at least at first). However, having daily
appointments allows us to condense and
reduce the time needed to help them
overcome their trauma. This approach
really challenges the notion that recovery
needs to be a process that takes months
or even years. 
To use an analogy, PTSD could be
likened to a wildfire. When a wildfire
occurs, you don't combat it by tossing a
glass of water at it once a week; you
would use a firehose and attack all areas
of the entire fire at the same time. With
the three-week intensive outpatient
Firefighter - 2020

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