Norwich Township Fire Lt. Tom Bolin, a 27-year veteran firefighter, secretly suffered from anxiety, depression, and PTSD while working for the fire service.
It was easier to sweep those problems under the rug than to confront them, he says. But over time, the problems worsened to the point where he contemplated suicide, even falling asleep with a gun on his chest in 2019..
Since then, he’d gotten help. And he has taken on a new mission of talking to young firefighters and recruits about the mental health problems that can come with the job and working with the organization Firefighter Suicide Prevention to help firefighters find mental health help.
“I want to normalize it,” he tells WBNS. “to be able to sit around the table and talk about it.”