First-Responder and Veteran Counseling in Sycamore and North Aurora ILIf you are interested in counseling for job related stressors or difficulties coping with exposure to a traumatic event at work or while on duty, call OakHeart at 630-570-0050 or 779-201-6440 or email us at [email protected]. We have counselors, psychologists, and social workers available to help you at one of our locations in North Aurora, IL, Sycamore, IL, and/or via Telehealth Online Therapy Services serving Kane County, DeKalb County, Dupage County, and beyond.
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Do Many First Responders, Veterans, and Healthcare Workers Need Support?Many first responders and healthcare professionals are routinely exposed to life-threatening situations, death, and human suffering. Veterans often were throughout their service. Many struggle with the mental cost of their job as a result. This can range from anxiety disorders to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to depression that results from burnout to substance use disorders.
Research suggests that first responders, healthcare workers, and veterans who are or were chronically exposed to life threatening conditions, dangerous work conditions, and morally complex decisions have significantly higher chances of developing post-traumatic stress disorder, as outlined below: |
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First Responders: In one meta-analysis examining first responders all over the world, Arena and colleagues (2025) found that 14.3% of first responders, or 1 in 7, develop probable PTSD as a result of their routine job duties and 1 in 12 or 8.3% develop probable PTSD as a result of disaster work. Arena and colleagues also found PTSD rates have been increasing since the COVID-19 pandemic. Other studies suggest that, on average, 10% of this group meets diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (as cited by Bryant, 2021).
Other Healthcare Workers: Another meta-analysis conducted by Sahebi and colleagues (2021), found that 13.52% of healthcare workers met criteria for PTSD during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sahebi and colleagues (2021) also cited that previous studies suggest 21.5 to 38% of healthcare workers develop PTSD, suggesting that the prevalence rates in healthcare workers is significantly higher than the general population (as cited in Sahebi et al., 2021). Healthcare workers are not only more likely to develop PTSD than the general population, but are also more likely to experience comorbid sleep issues and health problems, such as headaches, gastrointestinal problems, and cardiac issues (Hruska et al., 2023).
Veterans: Na and colleagues (2025) found that 177 of 1257 veterans who endorsed having a combat role in the military, or 18.1%, screened positive for PTSD in a study of national data (from the 2019–2020 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study (NHRVS)). Additionally, Na and colleagues (2025) found that 1-in-4 veterans from the Iraq/Afghanistan War (from national data from over 4,000 veterans) endorsed having current thoughts of suicide.
As suggested by this data, to answer "Do many first responders, veterans, and healthcare workers need support?," yes. Constant exposure to death in chronically stressful settings clearly heightens risk for PTSD development and other comorbid mental and physical health problems.
Other Healthcare Workers: Another meta-analysis conducted by Sahebi and colleagues (2021), found that 13.52% of healthcare workers met criteria for PTSD during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sahebi and colleagues (2021) also cited that previous studies suggest 21.5 to 38% of healthcare workers develop PTSD, suggesting that the prevalence rates in healthcare workers is significantly higher than the general population (as cited in Sahebi et al., 2021). Healthcare workers are not only more likely to develop PTSD than the general population, but are also more likely to experience comorbid sleep issues and health problems, such as headaches, gastrointestinal problems, and cardiac issues (Hruska et al., 2023).
Veterans: Na and colleagues (2025) found that 177 of 1257 veterans who endorsed having a combat role in the military, or 18.1%, screened positive for PTSD in a study of national data (from the 2019–2020 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study (NHRVS)). Additionally, Na and colleagues (2025) found that 1-in-4 veterans from the Iraq/Afghanistan War (from national data from over 4,000 veterans) endorsed having current thoughts of suicide.
As suggested by this data, to answer "Do many first responders, veterans, and healthcare workers need support?," yes. Constant exposure to death in chronically stressful settings clearly heightens risk for PTSD development and other comorbid mental and physical health problems.
"Why Is This Population at Increased Risk for PTSD?"
Almost everyone develops some PTSD symptoms after exposure to what is called a Criterion A trauma, or exposure to death, sexual violence, or serious injury. After exposure to one of these terrifying events, if someone does not effectively process the event in a way that represents a natural recovery, they are at an increased risk of developing PTSD (Resick et al., 2017). For example, nearly everyone who gets in a car accident has difficulties getting back in the car afterwards. They may have nightmares about the accident, intrusive thoughts about it, and feel more alert for several weeks. If they continue driving and have time after the accident to feel the natural emotions triggered by the event and process what happened, they will likely recover from the event. However, if they are unable to process the emotions related to the event for any reason, including avoidance of emotions, busy schedules, or exposure to additional traumatic events, they may not recover from the event and their brain may remain stuck in the fear state related to cars and driving generally. To recover from a traumatic event, the brain must learn that the event happened but it is not still happening. For these reasons, healthcare workers, first responders, and veterans are at an increased risk for developing PTSD, as they are exposed to Criterion A events often but rarely have time to process related emotions due to the nature of their job and needing to attend to the next emergency sometimes minutes or hours later. In addition, research suggests that first responders may be at a higher risk for developing PTSD if they have prior trauma exposure, genetic risk for psychiatric difficulties, difficulties with expression of emotion, or anxiety about experiencing anxiety (as cited in Bryant, 2021). PTSD development in first responders is also linked to avoidant coping style, lack of organizational support, negative life events that are ongoing, and rumination (as cited in Bryant, 2021).
How Do We Treat the Impact of This Work?
The hidden wounds of saving lives and serving our country can be treated with various forms of psychotherapy. The type of therapy will depend on how your work or service has impacted you and your clinician will be able to help you consider the pros and cons of various approaches. Medication management can also be helpful in combination with therapy.
There are a number of evidence-based therapies we provide at OakHeart to address PTSD symptoms that have resulted from working as a healthcare worker or first responder or from time in the military. They include (but are not limited to): Cognitive-Processing Therapy (CPT) and Prolonged Exposure Therapy (see PTSD page for additional treatment options)
Cognitive-Processing Therapy (CPT): CPT is an evidence-based, first-line treatment for PTSD. It is an adaptation of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), an effective treatment for PTSD and a variety of other mental health challenges. We also offer trauma-informed CBT for a less structured approach to treating PTSD. CPT is a more structured version of trauma-informed CBT. CPT first encourages processing of memories of stressful or traumatic experiences, with the goal of processing related natural emotions that the client may be avoiding. CPT also focuses on how emotional responses to trauma impact one's interpretation or view of the event. This part of therapy targets the content of cognitions, especially cognitive distortions, that evoke strong emotions. In an attempt to make sense of traumatic experiences, individuals may assimilate, accommodate, or over-accommodate the experience into their world views. Assimilation involves fitting the event into one's prior held beliefs. For example, if a client believes that good things happen to good people and bad things should happen to bad people, an unexpected death while on duty or at work at the hospital may be falsely interpreted as evidence of being a bad person or bad provider. Therapy would attempt to correct this attempt at assimilation. Over-accommodation is when the individual drastically changes his/her beliefs about the self and the world to achieve control and safety. The goal of therapy is to facilitate accommodation, which consists of changing one's beliefs enough to integrate the event in a balanced, healthy, and realistic way (Resick, et al., 2008). Treatment focuses on several areas that are thought to be most impacted by traumatic events: Safety, Trust, Power/Control, Esteem, Intimacy. For example, if a patient dies despite best efforts to save them, the healthcare provider may thereafter believe death is more likely than before, they may struggle to trust their clinical judgment, they may repeatedly check charts for enhanced control, they may feel like a failure, and they may distance themselves from loved ones to reduce shame. The goal of treatment for this client would be to see the reality of the event which is that they did their best and nothing has changed about them or the world; they just were unable to do the impossible.
Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE): Prolonged exposure therapy, or PE, is another first-line, evidence-based treatment for PTSD. Treatment includes psychoeducation about common reactions to trauma, breathing re-training, in-vivo exposures to situations or things that are being avoided by the client, and imaginal exposures to the client's traumatic memories. What this looks like for first responders, healthcare workers, and veterans is reviewing a memory (or memories) in detail that is/are being actively avoided and returning to aspects of life that may be avoided because they remind you of the event(s). Through repeated exposure to the memory, desensitization to the memory takes place so that the client can learn the memory is actually no longer dangerous. For example, if a Veteran was exposed to death during combat, repeated, systematic, and structured exposure to the memory of the soldier dying will allow them to stop thinking about and dreaming about this event. By approaching the memory and triggers of the memory, the brain can recover and realize that the event(s) is/are no longer happening.
There are a number of evidence-based therapies we provide at OakHeart to address PTSD symptoms that have resulted from working as a healthcare worker or first responder or from time in the military. They include (but are not limited to): Cognitive-Processing Therapy (CPT) and Prolonged Exposure Therapy (see PTSD page for additional treatment options)
Cognitive-Processing Therapy (CPT): CPT is an evidence-based, first-line treatment for PTSD. It is an adaptation of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), an effective treatment for PTSD and a variety of other mental health challenges. We also offer trauma-informed CBT for a less structured approach to treating PTSD. CPT is a more structured version of trauma-informed CBT. CPT first encourages processing of memories of stressful or traumatic experiences, with the goal of processing related natural emotions that the client may be avoiding. CPT also focuses on how emotional responses to trauma impact one's interpretation or view of the event. This part of therapy targets the content of cognitions, especially cognitive distortions, that evoke strong emotions. In an attempt to make sense of traumatic experiences, individuals may assimilate, accommodate, or over-accommodate the experience into their world views. Assimilation involves fitting the event into one's prior held beliefs. For example, if a client believes that good things happen to good people and bad things should happen to bad people, an unexpected death while on duty or at work at the hospital may be falsely interpreted as evidence of being a bad person or bad provider. Therapy would attempt to correct this attempt at assimilation. Over-accommodation is when the individual drastically changes his/her beliefs about the self and the world to achieve control and safety. The goal of therapy is to facilitate accommodation, which consists of changing one's beliefs enough to integrate the event in a balanced, healthy, and realistic way (Resick, et al., 2008). Treatment focuses on several areas that are thought to be most impacted by traumatic events: Safety, Trust, Power/Control, Esteem, Intimacy. For example, if a patient dies despite best efforts to save them, the healthcare provider may thereafter believe death is more likely than before, they may struggle to trust their clinical judgment, they may repeatedly check charts for enhanced control, they may feel like a failure, and they may distance themselves from loved ones to reduce shame. The goal of treatment for this client would be to see the reality of the event which is that they did their best and nothing has changed about them or the world; they just were unable to do the impossible.
Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE): Prolonged exposure therapy, or PE, is another first-line, evidence-based treatment for PTSD. Treatment includes psychoeducation about common reactions to trauma, breathing re-training, in-vivo exposures to situations or things that are being avoided by the client, and imaginal exposures to the client's traumatic memories. What this looks like for first responders, healthcare workers, and veterans is reviewing a memory (or memories) in detail that is/are being actively avoided and returning to aspects of life that may be avoided because they remind you of the event(s). Through repeated exposure to the memory, desensitization to the memory takes place so that the client can learn the memory is actually no longer dangerous. For example, if a Veteran was exposed to death during combat, repeated, systematic, and structured exposure to the memory of the soldier dying will allow them to stop thinking about and dreaming about this event. By approaching the memory and triggers of the memory, the brain can recover and realize that the event(s) is/are no longer happening.
References
Arena, A. F., Gregory, M., Collins, D. A. J., Vilus, B., Bryant, R., Harvey, S. B., & Deady, M. (2025). Global PTSD prevalence among active first responders and trends over recent years: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 120, 102622. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2025.102622
Bryant, R. A. (2021). Treating PTSD in First Responders: A guide for serving those who serve. American Psychological Association.
Hruska, B., Patterson, P. D., Doshi, A. A., Guyette, M. K., Wong, A. H., Chang, B.P., Suffoletto, B. P., & Pacella-LaBarbara, M. L. (2023). Examining the prevalence and health impairment associated with subthreshold PTSD symptoms (PTSS) among frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 158, 202-208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.12.045
Na, P. J., Schnurr, P. P., & Pietrzak, R. H. (2025). Mental health of U.S. combat veterans by war era: Results from the natonal health and resilience in veterans study. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 158, 36-30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.12.019
Resick, P. A., Monson, C. M., & Chard, K. M. (2017). Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD. The Guilford Press.
Sahebi, A., Yousefi, A., Abdi, K., Jamshidbeigi, Y., Moayedi, S., Torres, M., Wesemann, U., Sheikhbardsiri, H., & Golitaleb, M. (2021). The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder among health care workers during the covid-19 pandemic: An umbrella review and meta-analysis. Front Psychiatry, 12, 764738. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.764738
Arena, A. F., Gregory, M., Collins, D. A. J., Vilus, B., Bryant, R., Harvey, S. B., & Deady, M. (2025). Global PTSD prevalence among active first responders and trends over recent years: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 120, 102622. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2025.102622
Bryant, R. A. (2021). Treating PTSD in First Responders: A guide for serving those who serve. American Psychological Association.
Hruska, B., Patterson, P. D., Doshi, A. A., Guyette, M. K., Wong, A. H., Chang, B.P., Suffoletto, B. P., & Pacella-LaBarbara, M. L. (2023). Examining the prevalence and health impairment associated with subthreshold PTSD symptoms (PTSS) among frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 158, 202-208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.12.045
Na, P. J., Schnurr, P. P., & Pietrzak, R. H. (2025). Mental health of U.S. combat veterans by war era: Results from the natonal health and resilience in veterans study. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 158, 36-30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.12.019
Resick, P. A., Monson, C. M., & Chard, K. M. (2017). Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD. The Guilford Press.
Sahebi, A., Yousefi, A., Abdi, K., Jamshidbeigi, Y., Moayedi, S., Torres, M., Wesemann, U., Sheikhbardsiri, H., & Golitaleb, M. (2021). The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder among health care workers during the covid-19 pandemic: An umbrella review and meta-analysis. Front Psychiatry, 12, 764738. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.764738
Resources
Professional/Clinical Organizations
Population-Specific
Crisis/Immediate Support
Treatment Locators
- ISTSS (istss.org) -- The leading international professional organization for traumatic stress researchers and clinicians, offering education, resources, and treatment guidelines.
- ADAA (adaa.org) -- A nonprofit focused on the prevention and treatment of anxiety, depression, and trauma-related disorders, with resources for both the public and professionals.
- APA PTSD Resources (apa.org/topics/ptsd) -- The American Psychological Association's hub for evidence-based information on PTSD, including treatment options and how to find care.
- National Center for PTSD (ptsd.va.gov) -- The VA's comprehensive resource center for PTSD education, research, and treatment information for veterans and the public.
Population-Specific
- Safe Call Now (safecallnowusa.org) -- A confidential 24/7 crisis and referral line staffed by current and former first responders, available to all public safety employees and their families.
- Give an Hour (giveanhour.org) -- A nonprofit connecting military members, veterans, and their families with licensed mental health professionals for free, confidential care.
- The Headstrong Project (theheadstrongproject.org) -- A nonprofit providing free, stigma-free, evidence-based PTSD treatment to post-9/11 veterans and their families nationwide.
- Code Green Campaign (codegreencampaign.org) -- A first responder mental health advocacy organization dedicated to reducing stigma, providing education, and connecting responders with culturally competent care.
Crisis/Immediate Support
- Veterans Crisis Line (veteranscrisisline.net) -- A free, confidential crisis line available 24/7 specifically for veterans and service members, reachable by calling 988 and pressing 1.
- Crisis Text Line (crisistextline.org) -- A free, confidential text-based crisis support service available 24/7 by texting HOME to 741741.
- 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (988lifeline.org) -- The national 24/7 phone and chat lifeline providing free, confidential crisis support to anyone in emotional distress.
Treatment Locators
- National Center for PTSD Treatment Locator (ptsd.va.gov/gethelp/find_therapist.asp) -- A VA-hosted tool to help individuals find PTSD-specialized therapists and treatment programs near them.
