Season 1: Episode 40 - Retired Incident Commander of Valley Fire, Linda Green tells her story of PTSD

Linda worked on the frontlines and as an Incident Commander, where she put 30 years of her life on the line. Her podcast and book tell the story of her life, her struggles and what it’s like to live before, during and after as a California fire-fighter. She lives with PTSD and struggles with the stigma of mental health in the department, amongst friends and tells us her story. You can find her at https://www.encouragegreen.com/ where she offers support and encouragement to others, after a career in fire-fighting or other service where PTSD could be present. First responders struggles are real and her book outlines her 30 year career and offers hope, based on her real life experience. Find her book https://www.encouragegreen.com/book-launch “I was blindsided. That’s probably the best way to describe how it felt, as a perfect storm of forces was brewing, never before experienced by any of us, and descended it’s wrath that day…and changed everything.” - Linda Green Linda Green was the Incident Commander on the devastating Valley Fire, which destroyed almost 2000 structures as it burned across 76,000 acres in the CAL FIRE Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit, and the heartbreak of lives lost. But in the months that followed this life-altering traumatic event she refers to as “her fire”, she knew something was very wrong, even though life seemed to be marching on as always...until it wasn’t. The nuances were there immediately but were masterfully disguised by her well-worn habits of performance and responsibility. She didn’t yet realize her free fall had begun into her own personal “hellfire”. Linda was diagnosed with a Post-Traumatic Stress Injury just months before her retirement in 2016.