A Firefighter’s Career Transition

I was a firefighter for 31 years, working in different stations. I started at the Headquarters in Sydney City as a Junior then moved to Botany, Engadine and Hurstville. I worked for 10 years at Menai attending a range of incidents and was among the 2000 Olympics contingent.

During my career, I attended a number of operations including large bushfires, house fires, and car accidents. I’d also taken on additional responsibilities as Acting Wellbeing Coordinator and volunteer Peer Support Officer.

I enjoyed the camaraderie that comes with working in Fire and Rescue, and I also had friends outside of work. My son loved soccer so I was also part of supporting his interests in soccer.

Primarily there were physical injuries caused by the musculoskeletal demands of being a firefighter. I’d had two shoulder operations that saw me confined to light duties during recovery and that impacted on my mental wellbeing.

I started to doubt my career, started thinking. The peer support I had been providing was reintroducing issues of my own experiences of trauma.

Then, unrelated to work, my knees gave way and I retired from service with physical injuries.

With the physical injuries I was worried I wasn’t fit for the job. I felt a responsibility to the team and I didn’t want to let them down.

During recovery I was away from the station. My life had been built around shift work but now I was working a day job.

I worked in operational support positions with the People & Culture team at Fire and Rescue, including acting in the position of Safety Coordinator for NSW. I applied for promotional positions but didn’t perform well in interviews as my confidence was suffering.

I knew I was going through a paradigm shift. I adopted a growth mindset, focussing on what I had to do to get better. I took one day at a time.

Physical wellbeing was key to resetting my mindset and dumping the psychological weights I was carrying around.

FRNSW’s Health & Safety branch helped me get RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) for my lived experiences. I was conferred a Diploma of Counselling, Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, and a Diploma in Workplace, Health and Safety.

Don’t stay helpless. Go the extra mile, be flexible and open to opportunities. Focus on your strengths.

A couple of weeks after I left Fire and Rescue there was an opening at a school for a bus driver. I thought ‘if I can drive a fire truck I can drive a school bus!’

It was a couple of hours of work and it got me up early in the mornings. I’d often get to the first pickup location early and take a walk along the beach before starting.

Since then I’ve been employed in a workplace health and safety role and was a Safety Officer for the Invictus games.

We all have different strengths. I have a very supportive and loving family and that really helped.

I’d try to go back to my station more because the injuries kept me away from my crew and I felt frustrated and disconnected from them.

The solution is the struggle. Be courageous, turn to your support network: you don’t have to do it alone, and the best thing is gaining a new perspective.