War, conflict, and organized violence
Being a first responder who carried sustained exposure to mass violence or disaster
Working as a first responder, aid worker, journalist, or in any role that meant sustained professional exposure to the aftermath of war, disaster, or mass violence. Carrying what you saw in the course of doing your job. Secondary trauma that accumulated over time and that often had no space to be acknowledged or processed.
Sustained professional exposure to the worst days of other people's lives accumulates in a person, however sturdy the training claimed to make you. The culture of your work may have prized carrying it silently. Silence compounds. Setting some of it down among people who can bear to hear it is not weakness. It is maintenance you were always owed.
Nothing on this page is a diagnosis, and nothing here decides what is wrong with you, because nothing is wrong with you. Something happened to you. This page exists so that when you are ready, you can find people who understand it from the inside.
You do not have to carry this alone.
Bridge of Hope Recovery is a free, anonymous, peer-led fellowship for trauma survivors. Meetings run throughout the week by phone, by video, and in person. No cost, no waitlist, no one asking for your real name.
Related experiences we cover
- Serving in combat or a war zone
- Being a civilian who lived through war or armed conflict
- Surviving genocide or ethnic cleansing
- Being displaced or becoming a refugee because of conflict
- Experiencing or witnessing political violence or state sponsored violence
- Losing family members or community to organized violence