The NB Story

The NB story - an invitation to all serving and retired police to join us

It is the unspoken, often embarrassed and at time self-unaccepting diagnosis that we are walking for this October. 

Who are we? Two recently retired Detective Senior Constable’s with a combined service of 31 years for the NSW Police. First and foremost, we are both mothers and wives, who have suffered firsthand from the effects of PTSD at some stage.

We hope to raise enough money to put support into the services that can assist our fellow blue family. The Black Dog institute is a free and confidential mental health support for emergency service workers and volunteers. It allows Police to openly speak how they are feeling without judgements. It will allow Police to find themselves again and live the life they deserve.

Continue to read our personal story…

In 2010, our lives crossed paths when we were both stationed at Parramatta Detectives office. Little did we know at this time we would become lifelong friends.

Apart from the obvious trauma we have been exposed to over the years, we have seen firsthand the devastating effects of mental health upon our colleagues, friends, relatives and close loved ones. It is often a common misconception that NSW Police are trained to ‘deal’ with confronting, traumatic and often horrific scenes. How do you train a person to accept the human body being cut open and organs individually sliced, searching for burnt body remains, confronting violent scenes and death of children? No human being can ever be trained for this.

After so long of being exposed to trauma, it becomes numb. In our experience, there are two different types of cops, firstly the ones that hide it and dismiss the exposure so much that it slowly eats away at their core until they break. The second is the police officer that will self-accept at one point this is not ok anymore, I am a human being, enough is enough I am ready to leave this career whilst I can with some of my mental health intact. After entering this career, no Police officer will ever leave as the same person. 

We have seen the devastating effects these diseases can have upon families, broken fathers and broken mums.  They try to continue their normal daily activities as if the weight of the world is not on their shoulders. They are instead internally being paralysed by not having support and coping mechanisms in place at the time they should have. They continue to go to work and provide a service to the community that they should provide themselves. There is an assumption that NSW Police are provided with support services throughout their career, including support from senior management. The sad reality this is simply not true. More needs to be done to raise awareness for the service that protects and supports the community. 

We will walk every day in October putting one foot forward for all of those, past and present Police that were and are too afraid to speak out about their mental health. You do not have to be tough anymore, it’s ok to say I am not ok. Regardless of how others may perceive you, they too one day will understand when it comes around that unless you face it, it will build up and take over.

Its authored that, police and emergency services workers are twice as likely to experience high or very high rates of psychological distress compared to the general population.

 Those who have spent more than 10 years in their jobs are also more than twice as likely to experience psychological distress and six times more likely to experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

We will continue to raise this awareness, so the community and the Police family do not have to read headlines like ‘the body of a male 46-year-old detective sergeant was found deceased at Ermington Police Station’ and ‘NSW cop awarded $1.8m after 'catastrophic' PTSD failures’ by senior management.

We hope to raise enough money to put support into the services that can assist our fellow blue family. The Black Dog institute is a free and confidential mental health support for emergency service workers and volunteers. It allows Police to openly speak how they are feeling without judgements. It will allow Police to find themselves again and live the life they deserve.

Please support our cause and help us make a little bit of a difference for the brave humans that protect and serve you, your family and the community. Remember as a civilian when people are running away from the danger, police are running towards it, risking it all to save a life and bring those responsible to justice. 

Thank you!

Natasha Blume and Natalie Burston

Did you know… 

Did you know that 1 in 5 people experience symptoms of mental illness each year?

In fact, every day in Australia, 9 people will die by suicide.

Mental illness can be debilitating and can have a devastating impact on not only those living with it, but those around them.

I'm walking to raise funds for Black Dog Institute, so that they can put ground-breaking new mental health treatment, education, and digital services into the hands of the people who need them most.

It would mean so much to me if you donated to support my walk.

Together, we can create better mental health for all Australians.