Chris Dudfield and Lachie the black Labrador provide pastoral care and mental health support for frontline workers at emergency incidents. Photo: Claire Fenwicke.
For the past three years a black Labrador and his handler have been on the periphery of major incidents to help reduce the risk of our first responders from experiencing PTSD.
Emergency Services Agency volunteer Chris Dudfield said it was the job of him and three-year-old Lachie to “loiter with intent”, examining from the sidelines to find those who may not be coping, and then finding an operationally safe moment to have a chat.
“We will go to critical incidents and we’ll go to events out in the public that are pretty horrible … bringing [Lachie] on-site at an incident has very tactical and clinical reasons,” Chris said.
“The hypothesis is that what that does, in an ultimate outcome, is it actually allows people to go back operationally and less likely to experience things like PTSD.”
Chris has a master’s degree in the field of clinical spiritual care, and has been focusing on how to reduce acute stress injuries of first responders.
But it’s about more than having a cute puppy available for a chat.
“But you actually have to do it very, very well, and so it’s not just, ‘Oh, the dog’s here, I can have a pat and a cuddle’, it’s actually a combination of a handler and the dog who’s doing the work,” Chris said.
“I will use him as a conduit to get to those deeper places … there are various ways that we can do that, depending on what’s being seen. Sometimes [he’s] a tactile distraction … but also it can actually be mimicking the dog’s behaviour or making the dog do certain [actions] that can either ground that person or it enables us to look through some of the things that they’re expressing at that time.”
It’s a delicate balancing act to ensure first responders aren’t distracted at a scene, but also aren’t missed if they appear to need help.
If it’s a scene that requires an ambulance, Chris and Lachie might wait until a patient has been loaded into the ambulance before engaging. Or they’ll head to the hospital to be part of a debrief.
At a fire, they might wait at a staging area or evacuation point.
Sometimes Lachie stays in the car. Or sometimes people self-identify and approach Chris and Lachie on their own accord.
Chris said it was about using the tools at his disposal to hopefully reach a better outcome for the first responder at the time.
“We can actually get into that deeper aspect of what’s happening for them in terms of emotional distress or existential distress, and so we can deal with that at the scene,” he said.
“[That] means they’re then able to go to the next incident or they can go home with that somewhat processed rather than have that complete burden of stress on them and compound.
“The dogs are really a conduit and a tool for this type of work that we do.”
ACTSES peer support worker Sue Elsbury with dachshund Maddie, who’s recently become a mascot for the service. Photo: Claire Fenwicke.
A recent addition to the ESA’s mental support toolbox is Maddie, a dachshund owned by ACT State Emergency Services peer support officer and volunteer Sue Elsbury.
Sue said it was just as important to have support resources available for volunteer services, who were often engaged in emotionally taxing work such as searches for missing people.
“When people come back from searching, sometimes all they want to do is just sit quietly, and they just love having a dog to sit on their lap or give them a pat, and she just seems to know what to do,” she said.
On Maddie’s days off she’s a story dog, giving children who are having difficulty learning to read someone to voice the pages aloud to and not feel judged.
She’s recently become an official peer support mascot for the ACTSES, meaning Maddie will be deployed more regularly to incidents and events.
Sue said Maddie’s connection to people resonated long after an incident had ended.
“Some of the people that I’ve helped will often contact me again, and it will be because of something Maddie had done for them or a special time that they had with her,” she said.
“She just seems to know what to do.”
