Episode 26: Josh Bailey - Former ADF Member and Australian Police Officer, Provisional Psychologist

Welcome to I Will Hold Space For Your Darkness; a First Responder Mental Health Podcast hosted by Erin Jane. 

A former Australian Police Officer and Detective, wife of an American Firefighter, previous crisis counsellor for a suicide prevention organization and current CISM trained, certified Life & Wellness Coach for First Responders, Emergency Services Members, Spouses and Loved Ones.

In this episode, Erin speaks with Josh Bailey, a Veteran of the Australian Defence Force, both enlisted and as a reservist and former police officer with the Australian Federal Police and Australian Protective Services, where he performed duties as an Air Marshall.

Josh left the AFP after an on-duty motor vehicle accident, which resulted in a PTSD diagnosis. He is a registered provisional psychologist in Australia, almost finished his Master's of Professional Practice in Psychology and is also a member of Disaster Relief Australia, a veteran focused, volunteer disaster recovery organisation, with multiple deployments to emergencies and natural disasters, across Australia and New Zealand.

Josh and Erin discuss his incredible life of service, in so many varied capacities, including joining the Australian Army Reserves at 17 and becoming a member of the 1st Commando Regiment (Reserve Special Forces). Josh is open and honest about his pride of attaining his "green beret" but that he was disappointed that he wasn't suited to the role as much as he'd hoped.

Josh tells Erin about joining the Australian Protective Services and that he was amongst the first group to go through the Air Marshalls training, something that ramped up after September 11th, then his lateral switch over to the Australian Federal Police, based in and around Canberra.

He discloses a rather toxic culture at play in the force at the time he was in General Duties and the circumstances surrounding an awful motor vehicle accident that occurred at a high rate of speed whilst on duty. Josh sustained psychological trauma as a result of the accident and ended up with a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) diagnosis, which is one of the primary reasons he left the job.

He moved to Queensland with his partner Tracey and enlisted in the ADF as a Fitter & Turner, however his mental health battles became overwhelming during this service and he was medically discharged in 2020.

Josh has since found purpose with his psychology studies and strongly believes having endured significant mental health challenges himself, places him in an excellent position to be able to help others in the future, as a registered psychologist.

He has also found a wonderful sense of purpose and community with the veteran focused, Disaster Relief Australia organisation.

This was a wonderful conversation, full of some brutal honesty, funny stories and basically just two Aussies having a laugh and a chin-wag. Josh is completely open, about his mental health, triumphs and disappointments along the way, in an authentic manner that not many could emulate or live up to.

This conversation is evidence of the kinds of connections that can be generated through the power of the First Responder Mental Health community and social media.

You can follow Josh on Instagram with the handle ⁠⁠@the_everyday_prov_psych

Find out more about DRA here: https://disasterreliefaus.org/

We both hope you enjoy listening to this episode! 

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