David Bickel SHE Manager (London)

McLaren Construction

JUNE 2017

Living and Working with PTSD

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Living and Working with PTSD

Married 25 years

3 Children

23 years in the British Army

Served in several Conflict and “Hot

Spots”

Left 2005

Diagnosed with PTSD

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Living and Working with PTSD

Kosovo 1999

Refugee Camp

Thousands fleeing the

fighting

Carrying out first Aid

……..then an incident that

would change my life

years later.

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Living and Working with PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is

an anxiety disorder caused by very

stressful, frightening or distressing events.

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Living and Working with PTSD

People who have PTSD may feel

stressed or frightened even when they're

no longer in danger.

Anyone can get PTSD at any age.

This includes war veterans and survivors

of physical and sexual assault, abuse,

accidents, disasters and many other

traumatic events

PTSD can cause many types of

symptoms

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This is what PTSD feel like living with it.

For starters, all of a sudden you have

absolutely no control over anything.

Your body, your emotions, your reactions,

your thoughts, your dreams, and your will

all do their own thing without any input from

the logical part of your brain.

Just like being on autopilot.

Living and Working with PTSD

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Afraid to sleep.

I’d sit up all night until I couldn’t stay awake, then finally fall

asleep only to be woken up too soon due to a really bad

dream.

I slipped into a state of constant exhaustion.

I couldn’t get out of bed, and if I did, I couldn’t do anything

no matter how much I tried to will myself to do it.

Between the numbness and outbursts, I kind of lost

empathy, and there went the filter for my mouth, that

stopped me from saying whatever popped into my head.

We lost friends as a result of my outbursts /attitude

Living and Working with PTSD

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Living and Working with PTSD

I had ANGER issues and refused

the help my family wanted to give

me

Cant watch things where children

are hurt etc

Flashbacks and Nightmare

DRINK

EATING

HOWEVER………………….

What about work

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Living and Working with PTSD

Struggled to go to work

Concentration

Brining work issues home

Withdrawn from Peers

Irritable

Eventually………….

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Living and Working with PTSD

Signed off sick

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Living and Working with PTSD

Doctors

RBL

Combat Stress

SSAFA

CBT (NHS)

Opening up

Setting Goals / Challenges

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Living and Working with PTSD

Challenges

London Hundred 2014 RBL £1500

London Hundred 2015 Combat Stress £3000

Ride to the Somme 2016 SSAFA £4500

Countryfile told my journey on Remembrance Day 2016

Ride to the Somme 2017 SSAFA £7000

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Living and Working with PTSD Close Out

PTSD is treatable

Employers need to be aware of mental health

HSE are raising the profile by several initiatives

I am lucky……….

However ………..

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