TESTIMONIAL

“To Whom it May Concern,

My name is Nadine Jenkins. I am a detective with Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and specialize in crimes against children. I am a certified child forensic interviewer through the National Association of Certified Child Forensic Interviewers. I have completed 94 forensic interviews. I have worked for DCSO for  21 years and for approximately 14 years have worked as a detective handling homicides, suspicious deaths to include suicides, crimes against children, and sexual assaults. Over the years, I have been exposed to horrific crimes scenes and I am no stranger to trauma and cumulative PTSD. This year, I have started to experience headaches, inflammation in my body that is severe, and medical doctors are testing for the possibility of an autoimmune issue.   

I share this because, a couple of months ago, I started to receive trauma informed spa services from Arron. After my first session, I started to feel a difference in my body that was more pronounced with additional treatments. I was more relaxed. My body ached less. I was able to focus at work more and sleep more peacefully. My mood improved and I felt better prepared to handle my day to day stressors. This treatment was so much more than just a massage or an hour of self care. When you do a stressful job, it wears your body down and there is not much you can do to manage the internal havoc on your body. The pain and inflammation cannot be fixed with a massage or taking a hot shower or going to the gym, like other more traditional “self care” methods. The toll on your body is both physical and mental and, in my profession, there is little done to tend to either.

Arron’s trauma informed services are important because there are few, if any, reasonable self care options available to first responders to actual combat the physical toll the stress of the job causes. I will give you an example. Last year, because I was suffering mentally from what I do for a living, I went to a First Responder Resiliency course. However. This course cost several thousand dollars for just three days! At this retreat, I learned about the physical affects my career has on my health, why I happened,  and I learned coping strategies, such as meditation, yoga, and breathing exercises to mitigate the negative effects of my work. However, I could not afford this on my own. I received a scholarship from donors who supported their program. Without this, I would not have been able to attend. Often, the self care a first responder needs may be available but it is not something they can afford on their own. They want the help, they need the help, but many do not get the help because it is not affordable even when available. Because of this, first responders suffer in silence and our suicide rate is higher than ever.

I believe in what Arron is doing. I believe in her work. I believe that First Responders need and want help but that often, we cannot afford the help we need.

With all my heart, I am asking you to believe in Arron and her desire to continue her fight to provide trauma based treatment to First Responders, such as myself, who need it even more than we know.

Respectfully,

Nadine Jenkins

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office “