Counseling Take time and look at our short Treatment & Trauma Recovery by clicking on the image below:
First responders, such as police, fire, ambulance, and other public servants may face life threatening situations in the performance of their jobs or may even face death as they engage in their normal duties. Exposure to trauma comes with the job, as these brave people rush toward danger that others are fleeing from, arrive at the scene of horrific accidents, crime scenes, and catastrophes. Police officers find themselves in harms way when criminals use weapons in an attempt to take the lives of others or of the officers so they can escape. When people are in a burning building, firefighters know that they have to place themselves at risk to bring them out of the inferno. Paramedics (including EMTs) do not hesitate to place themselves at risk to come to aid of those trapped in the twisted wreckage of cars and often are faced with the remains of people who suffered horrible deaths. In addition, police officers and firefighters are also on the scenes of catastrophic car accidents, sometimes well before the paramedics arrive, and also assist survivors and face the gruesome remains of those who lost their lives. Although this was part of the job and goes with the territory, these were none the less stressful times to endure.
First Responders Face Crisis Situations Regularly. You can't unsee what you must see in the line of duty. If you are a first responder and have looked death in the face and have trouble dealing with the memories, we can help you. If you wake up at night reliving events that bring back that shocked feeling deep inside, we can assist you in dealing with these recurrences.
Dr. Scoggins not only has decades of experience working with those who have been exposed to trauma, but is also married to a career first responder, herself. Her husband of 38+ years, Tim, was a full-time municipal firefighter and paramedic for seven years before going to flight school. Thereafter, he served as a Search and Rescue pilot for the U.S. Coast Guard, standing rescue duty for 24 hour shifts every third day, retiring after serving more than two decades in the military. The last two years he served at the side of the DEA with Joint Task Force 4 (JTF4), the federal inter-agency drug interdiction task force. He would deploy for weeks at a time to the Caribbean with a team of DEA agents to intercept drug smugglers.
If you have not yet visited the trauma page on this site, please do. Dr. Scoggins not only has served as the clinical mental health services provider for the City of Knoxville municipal employees and their family members, but began focusing on trauma treatment as far back as 2000 when she served with TIP - Trauma Intervention Program of NW Florida. She would wear a beeper and was on call to respond to major fires or police events in which someone was injured or killed, as well as other incidents, such as drownings in Pensacola. She has a heart of compassion for helping those who keep our communities safe, our true local heroes.
If you have visited Dr. Scoggins profile page on our providers section, you have seen that since 2017 she has served as the clinical mental health services provider for municipal employees of the City of Knoxville and their family members. Before the COVID pandemic struck, she served 20 hours per week at The Center, the municipal clinic on the lower level of the Public Works building. However, due to the huge office space at her private practice at 5401 Kingston Pike, Suite 400, clients can easily social distance with more than 800 square feet of space, air purifiers, and regular disinfecting procedures done between each client. As such, in most cases, first responders prefer to come to the Kingston Pk office. In addition, clients always enter through the waiting room, but depart through the back door so they never pass by a co-worker in the waiting room. We also space each client 25 minutes apart to prevent passing each other in the parking lot, as well.
In addition to the first responders who serve as municipal employees of the City of Knoxville, we also provide support to surrounding areas to their law enforcement officers, firefighters, and paramedics.
FYI, first responders receive priority support when involved in an incident. We do everything we can to fit them in on Dr. Scoggins' schedule without delay to get the support they need. Often this means that we call other clients and push back their appointments to another day and time to accommodate those
If you have not yet visited the trauma page on this site, please do. Dr. Scoggins has completed extensive training in EMDR initially in Bethesda, MD over a period of four months in 2010, with additional courses of instruction in advanced EMDR over the years thereafter, attaining the level of being a Master EMDR provider. Dr. Scoggins works with individuals at the level in which they are comfortable, with the 36 inch scanning green light bar shown in the image on our home page of our office, as well as sensors for the palms of the hands and headphones used in the treatment.
EMDR is a neuro-psychological approach to treating PTSD. In essence, it resets the neurotransmitters in the brain and the result is a significant reduction in the recurring stressful thoughts, as shown in the red in the brain scans on the right. Ten police officers involved in line of duty shootings we the subjects of this study and the scan on the right shows the effect of completion of a series of EMDR sessions over the weeks following the incidents. This case study is one of many which serve as scientific evidence that EMDR is effective in providing positive results to those receiving the support.
If you have PTSD, get in touch with us right away. We can help!
