'We're not broken beyond repair': N.S. firefighter starts PTSD support group
CBC
When Derrick Lang began suffering from PTSD after his time serving in the Royal Canadian Navy, he didn't know where to turn.
"When I got injured, I was lost," Lang said in an interview. "Nobody seemed to have any answer to where I should go, what I should do, how do I navigate?"
Lang, now a firefighter with the Hubbards and District Fire Department west of Halifax, wants to use his past struggles to help others. So he started a support group for first responders in Nova Scotia.
The group meets every Friday evening on Zoom, and is open to veterans, paramedics, firefighters, police officers, correctional officers or any other first responder who may need support for PTSD.
"We need to have each other's backs," Lang said. "It's not just on the ground, it's after."
Lang said though people can share their feelings, it's not meant to be therapy. One of its main goals is to teach people how to access the care they need.
PTSD is "an injury, just like a broken ankle," he said. "You heal from an injury, if you get the right support. And we're just trying to provide that and line people up with connections.
"We're not broken beyond repair. And people need to feel that at their core."
Lang believes his own experiences make him a great person for others to turn to when they need help.
In the late 1980s, he was injured on HMCS Margaree. His PTSD began a few days after the accident, and the symptoms escalated for years. In 2012, after being re-injured, Lang finally received a diagnosis of complex PTSD.
But the journey didn't end there.
Before he got the care he needed, Lang said his relationships with his children, friends and colleagues suffered. His career as a contractor ended because he couldn't leave his home without experiencing flashbacks.
It was "really difficult to find somebody that was qualified enough to help me in a way that I needed to be helped, because of the intensive trauma that I'd been through," he said.
He said even trying to apply for insurance coverage for care could be retraumatizing, because his case often didn't fit their specific mould.
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