About Us
‘Picking Up The Peaces’
PUTP is a not for profit organisation committed to raising National awareness of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We consist of:
- Health professionals (e.g. nurses, paramedics)
- Military (e.g. serving Australian Defence Force and ex Defence personnel)
- Other professionals at high risk of PTSD (e.g. police, paramedics, fire fighters, journalists, construction workers)
- People who have PTSD, or support others experiencing PTSD
Our mission
To raise awareness about PTSD in the broad population
In this way we aim to…
- To help break down the stigma associated with PTSD.
- To help people support their workmates, friends or family members who have PTSD.
- To help people recognise the symptoms of PTSD (either in themselves, family members or work mates)
- To encourage people to seek treatment, if necessary, before health deteriorates to the point where recovery is difficult.
Click here to view our Strategic Plan.
Current health campaign
Too often, people live with PTSD controlling their lives and the lives of their loved ones, and never know what the demon is!
Picking Up The Peaces is developing three key educational tools:
- a National Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day;
- a PTSD Support Group; and
- a PTSD Education Program
The first was achieved when ACT Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Mr Simon Corbell, cut the ribbon and set more than 500 people walking around Lake Burley Griffin to celebrate the inaugural National PTSD Awareness Day on October 11, 2008. An annual event, tied in with Mental Health Week, it now helps to focus community attention on early recognition of symptoms and subsequent treatment. With that education, we hope we are concurrently reducing stigma.
Early in 2010 PUTP and Vietnam Veterans & Veterans Federation set up the first PTSD Support Group in Canberra. It meets for a noon BBQ on the last Sunday of each month at the VV&VF centre at 9 Burkitt St, Page. It is open to anyone interested in PTSD.
The idea is to empower individuals who share common issues and are challenged by similar life situations. By coming together, we can provide mutual support and take the steps necessary to make positive changes in our lives. An important part of managing the disorder involves support and referral systems, where those living with the disorder feel they are understood.
As the Support Groups Association of WA says, “Support Groups become banks of knowledge and experience, enabling people to cope and solve problems. Feelings of self worth are increased, isolation is reduced and doors of opportunity and optimism are opened.”
The PTSD Education Program has been developed and PUTP is currently developing the curriculum to recruit, train and deliver it. This program is supported by the ACT Government under the ACT Health Promotions Grant Program.
Current medical opinion is that PTSD cannot be cured, but it can be managed. The sooner it is diagnosed and treated, the less damage it causes to the lives of those affected. It is an illness, not a weakness.
Background
Currently, we are raising awareness for our Emergency Services personnel. We hope to establish a ‘look out for your mates’ motto. If we work together, we are better able to recognise and seek treatment for this disorder, without having to endure the stigma associated with it.
Our message is that ‘early detection and early treatment’ can save people living with PTSD, and their families, years of anguish. If untreated PTSD symptoms can severely impact on quality of life. PTSD is not only in the mind. Chronic PTSD can lead to forgetfulness, most commonly working memory deficits. It can also lead to social phobia and suicidal actions. PTSD is also associated with many physical complaints, such as fatigue, asthma, heart disease, skin complaints, and dental problems, due to teeth grinding.
This campaign was launched in September, 2008.
How it all began…
It began when David Tonacia returned from a peacekeeping deployment in the Solomon Islands ‘a different man’.
“He was drinking heavily, flew off the handle at the slightest thing, screamed and thrashed around in bed at night and sweated so much I had to keep changing the bed linen,” his wife, Kate, said.
“The man who got off the plane after the deployment was not the man who left.”
Although Kate was a nurse, it took about 5 weeks to find out what was wrong with David, but 9 months for it to be formally acknowledged. In the meantime, he’d experienced a mixed reaction at work. While some provided much needed support, others made life ten times worse. Home life was also tense, and his family walked on eggshells to avoid mood swings. Things came to a breaking point when he began to contemplate suicide.
“I credit the Vietnam Veterans’ Federation ACT Branch with saving David’s life,” Kate said. “They’re dealing with PTSD all the time, and they know what to do and where to go.
“We are so full of gratitude for the help, understanding, coffee, cuddles and warm welcome we receive every single time we walk through their doors. We would not be where we are today without their support.”
It seemed incredible to Kate that a disorder that has been chronicled since wars began should still be so difficult to get help with. Discussing the community ignorance while walking around Lake Burley Griffin with friends one day, one of them said, “Well, why don’t you raise public awareness?”
And that was the start of Picking Up The Peaces for PTSD, in January 2007.
As the small group of friends researched the disorder they quickly realised that although PTSD is commonly associated with war and peacekeeping veterans, anyone confronted with situations where they fear for their lives, or the life of another, is at risk. This particularly applies to those whose work is likely to expose them, such as civil emergency workers.
