First genuinely harrowing call.
Hello to the fellow SAR community. I’ve been active for over a year now on calls, and I have been on ones where people have sadly died but I’ve never actually been near it.
Context I live in a very small costal community (the type where everyone knows everyone) few weeks ago we had a call to someone threatening to jump off a cliff, 20 year old lad. Other services helped to talk him down and no rescue was required.
A few nights ago the same person jumped, we went to it, he survived and we got him back to the top (he was not in a good state, but miraculously was still alive and partially conscious) and into ambulance service care. As we stretcher carried him away I couldn’t help but wonder what hell on earth it’s gonna be for him or if he’ll ever recover fully.
I will state overtly I have plenty of support and access to a wealth of mental health resources both within our agency and out. So that’s not what I’m looking for. But would appreciate any thoughts and perspectives from other SAR personnel when dealing with trauma type incidents.