Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Radio Interview

Excerts from ABC


Have you ever had a seriously bad day? One that requires years of recovery? Graeme Jarry is a former security guard who experienced that kind of day when he tried to foil and armed robbery, more than 10 years ago. Subsequent to that incident, his life became unbelievably tumultuous and challenging. It's difficult to imagine that a person could go through so much, only to crawl back up again and become a new man in the process.

Talking about the armed robbery he tried to intercept, Graeme says no amount of training can prepare you for that situation. It left him physically and mentally affected, suffering from posttraumatic stress. He says, "I found for a long time I couldn't sleep. I was at such a heightened sense of alertness and fear. I became very drained and worn out. I couldn't say what I was feeling and what was going on. I used to sleep with my firearm under my pillow; I was in fear. I'd had a couple of phone calls that were threatening; this was after the police had caught the guys and I'd identified them."

At doctors' insistence, he took a range of medication and underwent shock treatment. Except he feels these measures provided little to no assistance. At one point his wife couldn't cope and left him, and he attempted suicide.

Incredibly, he's since restored a sense of wellbeing in his life and now helps others with drug dependencies. He says, "I do look back on the person I once was... I've got a zest for life today that I didn't have for the last 10 years. A lot of the last 10 years isn't there actually. Emotionally, I sort of didn't grow for that period of time. Sometimes you feel like a kid, quite raw, you can accept it rather than keep trying to change it. You can work on, making yourself stronger."

On top of this I am building an online business.

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