Our Emergency Service Worker PTSD treatment program offers individual therapy for current and former Emergency Service Workers, including Police, Firefighters, Paramedics, Correctional officers and Military personnel who are experiencing ongoing distress related to traumatic events experienced during their careers.

This treatment program is offered as part of a clinical research trial. The government has funded our Clinic with research grants to investigate treatments for PTSD in the context of Emergency Services work. These research grants enable us to provide a free and specialist service. Importantly, this treatment is independent and confidential, meaning no employer or organisation will be made aware of the person’s involvement with our Clinic.

To be eligible for this treatment program, you need to meet the following criteria:

  • You need to be a current or former Emergency Service Worker,

  • You need to have experienced PTSD for longer than one month after the traumatic event(s), and

  • You must be able to comprehend and speak English.

Treatment will involve 12 weekly one-on-one sessions with an experienced Clinical Psychologist, each lasting approximately 90 minutes. We are providing assessments and therapy in our clinics at UNSW Randwick and at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research or via videoconferencing for people who cannot attend one of our clinics.

What is the treatment?

As with our other research trials, the Emergency Service Worker PTSD treatment program is based on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and is informed by the best available evidence from scientific and clinical trials. 

Many international studies have shown that CBT is the most effective treatment available for PTSD and related difficulties. After a traumatic event, many Emergency Service Workers have revealed difficulties dealing with what happened, including intrusive and distressing memories and nightmares, combined with much anxiety. After a traumatic event, many people also change how they see themselves and the world. This is often accompanied by feeling “low” or “flat” and some people may report a loss of interest in things that usually brought them joy. To address these problems, CBT teaches people how to understand and change thinking patterns, face their fears, and re-engage with their life post-trauma.

Whilst this program primarily focuses on PTSD, it also includes information about dealing with organisational stress and other common difficulties that can arise following exposure to multiple traumas. These may include depression, substance abuse, panic, anger, and guilt.

Our clinic has focused on examining new ways of enhancing existing CBT treatments and to tailor them to Emergency Service Workers who have been exposed to multiple traumas and organisational stressors. Specifically, our current treatment trial is examining how a simple attention training computer task as an addition to CBT can help Emergency Service Workers respond better to treatment. Eligible participants will be randomly allocated by chance to our gold standard CBT or CBT plus this computer task.

  • You are welcome to contact our Clinic by phone or email. We will then walk you through an over-the-phone intake process to determine whether our treatment programs will be suitable for your needs. You will be asked some questions about your trauma exposure and how it is affecting you. This conversation should take approximately 30 minutes.

    If we think this program is right for you, we will proceed with a full assessment and then commence the program.

    You can find more information about our enrolment process and waitlist here.

  • If you need treatment but you are unsure whether this program will be appropriate for you, please feel free to contact us for further information or referral options.

View our participant information and consent form here.

Note. This study is ethically approved by the UNSW Human Research Ethics Committee (HC230221).