North Okanagan RCMP officer deals with trauma through music | 24CA News

A North Okanagan RCMP officer is talking out about his expertise with PTSD and the way music has helped him course of trauma.

As a younger man, Jonathan Williams pursued a profession in music however stepped away to grow to be a police officer and begin a household.

Now his front-line expertise has introduced him again to songwriting and lately Williams’ focus is again on music.

He has a brand new CD and is reserving gigs.

Williams served within the RCMP for over a decade. It was a job he loved.

“It felt like I was really contributing. It was fulfilling,” Williams mentioned.

However, what he witnessed at work began to meet up with him across the identical time his marriage was crumbling.

“Even my ex-wife would say you came home and you were a mess: tragedies, trauma, bodies. It was normal stuff when you work but…I was like nope I can’t handle it anymore,” he mentioned.

The demise of his marriage additionally impacted his work.

He recollects one incident the place he handed off a name to colleagues.

“As soon as they left I was rolling up my window as fast as I could because it was coming out. I couldn’t stop it it was amazing. I had to drive away put my sunglasses on and just hope to God that I didn’t get called for something else because I would be showing up and I would be a mess,” Williams mentioned.

“I just found a cul de sac that was very out there and just kind of bawled my eyes out. This is when I knew I need help…I can’t work like this.”

In 2019, he went on go away from the Armstrong detachment and located his means again to music.

“It was through therapy and grieving and struggling with who I was and trying to get to grips with what do I do now. My therapist said at the time, ‘Well, what did you do before the RCMP?’”

Playing outdated songs become writing new ones.

“Writing is when things shifted for me because now I could express these feelings that I couldn’t describe or talk to anyone [about],” mentioned Williams.

An Okanagan counsellor who makes a speciality of serving to front-line employees says artwork and music remedy can enhance optimistic feelings.

“It allows them to decrease stress by processing emotions. It is really an alternative and really effective way to explore their trauma… especially when there isn’t a way of expressing verbally how they are feeling or what their body is experiencing,” mentioned Lisa Butcher, proprietor of Three Sisters Clinical Counselling.

That actually rings true for Williams who mentioned music has been his foremost supply of remedy as he offers with PTSD.

“I have had so much success personally finding a channel that I can use to express the pain and agony. It comes in waves right now but I have definitely come out of an awful place,” he mentioned.

Williams is now planning to retire from the RCMP.

He’ll be specializing in music and utilizing his artwork to assist others with PTSD.

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