Post-Traumatic GROWTH is Possible
- Robert Harris
- May 19
- 2 min read
Something shifts after you run the worst call of your career. Maybe it's weeks later. Maybe it's months. You notice you're more present with your family. You speak differently about what matters. You stop sweating the small stuff. You care more deeply about the people around you. You understand your strength in a way you didn't before.
We always focus on the negative aspects of the job related to traumatic events. However, there is plenty of room for the positives as well. When we understand how we can adapt to the job in positive manner, we can grow! It's like some people say, "what doesn't kill me only makes me stronger," but so much more.
Research published this year studied first responders from paramedics to firefighters to police across multiple countries. Here's what they found: 52 percent of us experience measurable positive psychological changes following trauma exposure. Not in spite of what we've seen. Shaped by it.
This isn't about minimizing the hard calls or pretending the trauma didn't happen. It's about recognizing that the same event that can break someone can also build someone. The difference isn't luck. It's how you process it. The research points to specific things: adaptive coping, building resilience, how you talk to yourself about it.
Your worst call might be remaking you into a stronger version of yourself. You might not see it yet. But if you notice you're different in good ways, trust that. That's not denial. That's post-traumatic growth. While some people have a natural ability to do this on their own, don’t worry. You don’t have to do it alone. A little guidance, or therapy where appropriate, from a professional can help reframe your thinking.
Ask yourself this week: what's shifted in me since I started this work?
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