The Security Guard.

This is a true story about a security guard who suffered unimaginable personal stress but kept it to himself until a catastrophic workplace event rendered him unable to do his duties.

He was one of a team of security personnel whose vehicle was brutally hijacked. Since he was an employee of our security client, he received the trauma debriefing and therapy he needed. We initially thought the event at work was the root cause of his stress and anxiety, but after multiple sessions it became clear that he was still struggling, so we received approval from his employer to continue with longer-term counselling for him to ensure he could manage and get back to work.

While he and his wife were at work a year before the incident, his daughter was abducted and gang-raped on her way to school. His daughter made it through the event, but the dad has lived with dread and worry ever since — especially because she has continued to take the same route to school every day.

What we learned.

• Certain occurrences are just triggers for long-buried trauma that has never been dealt with.
• We need to investigate both the root causes and the outward manifestations of trauma.
• The need to maintain open communication about our emotions and mental health.