As adults, we get to choose the kind of career that we want to do for the rest of our working life. Many of us choose the safer option like an office job or even working for ourselves. Many others choose to be part of the emergency first responder crew, because they want to do a job that is extremely worthwhile and job satisfaction is important to them. They also want to be in a position where no working day is the same as the day before, and they want to be able to experience adrenaline rushes on a regular basis. These people are to be commended for their career choices, but after living this kind of working life and then having to take compulsory retirement can be a difficult pill to swallow.
When you think of your typical working day, it really doesn’t amount to much, but when you consider what first responders get up to in any working week, it may give you goose bumps. These people deal with mayhem and death every day of the week and they keep coming back for more. While it might provide fantastic job satisfaction, there are the physical and mental scars that need to be addressed. Many first responders find it difficult to deal with retirement while also dealing with these issues, and so thankfully, the First Responder Retirement Academy was set up. These exceptional people provide a number of different services and we will look at some of them here today.
- Financial assistance – As a first responder, you have always gone through your working life, having your whole day planned for you and there was no ambiguity as to expectations. Now that you’re retired, you need to make a lot of decisions by yourself and this might be something that you just aren’t ready for. Making decisions about your finances and balancing your budget can be difficult because your retirement payment may not be as high as a salary that you have always been used to. The people at the First Responder Retirement Academy are there to help you work through it all.
- Assistance dealing with anxiety & stress – Now that you have all of this free time on your hands, its usual to not know what to do. In the past, your days were laid out for you and now you have to make decisions by yourself. You may be spending a lot more time with your spouse now and that might put pressure on your relationship after being together over 40 years. Retirement can be a really difficult time for many ex-first responders and they need someone to talk to.
The people of this excellent academy may not have all of the answers that you want, but they will certainly try their best to help you. They know exactly what you’re going through and they are there to help.