Letter: Encouraging traumatised RUC officers to seek help - everyone needs a good night's sleep
A letter from Aileen Quinton:
After a year of physical health challenges and a nightmare of stress in June where my mental health took a hit that I didn’t bounce back from as quickly as I thought I should, I finally succumbed and sought help.
This coincided with the anniversaries, a day apart, of the deaths of my father and my eldest brother, Derek, both ex-RUCR, and got me thinking.
Whatever service demons my father suffered were kept from me, as I was still at school when he retired, aged 70.
However, Derek was on the scene of our mother’s murder in Enniskillen. His Roads Service day job also had him in the midst of the horror minutes after the Omagh bomb.
He and a colleague in their police car on duty in Fivemiletown waved at another car with two other colleagues just before they turned a corner to their murder.
Occasionally I got a “just in case it’s on the news... but I’m ok” call, relating to some attack on police too close to home. That’s just what I know about.
I know, like many, Derek suffered for his RUC service but didn’t ask for help. The mindset that drove them to join and do the right thing for others was often the same mindset that minimised their own needs, especially when they felt the imperative was to “just get on with it”.
Some are still reluctant to seek help because they feel they need too much whilst others think their needs are too trivial.
Reluctance is even more pronounced if they have had a close colleague murdered and want any help etc to go to that family. I know many bereaved and physically injured by terrorism who all want former officers to get any help they need too and not let survivor guilt make them feel unworthy.
The prevalence of barriers to seeking help was confirmed by contact with https://www.prrt.org, which aims to “help build new and healthier futures” for retiring or retired police officers, and contacts in https://seff.org.uk.
SEFF offers help to those, including police, negatively impacted by the Troubles. This might involve recognised therapy or therapeutic activity, eg involvement in allotments. PRRT can help with wellbeing issues, even if unrelated to terrorism.
I was involved in trauma awareness back in the day and did a panel radio show with Gordon Turnbull, world expert in PTSD and in charge of the RAF hostage debrief programme.
One caller worked with the French Resistance, and was captured with a young girl by the Gestapo. She was tortured to death in front of him. He still woke up in the night, shaking. The least we owed him was a decent night’s sleep. Hopefully, calling in was step one to this end. Sometimes heroes need help even years later.
My focus has been on RUC because that is my family background but there will be overlapping issues with all security, emergency and criminal justice services.
My immediate family is beyond help but there are others who aren’t. I just hope you come forward for your sake and that of your siblings, children, parents and friends. Let’s get you at least a good night’s sleep.
Aileen Quinton, Fermanagh