Exposure to numerous road fatalities during 15 years in the police force left Adam Paterson with PTSD and depression.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
"I had bad flashbacks and I'd get panic attacks around people," the 49-year-old said.
Oppy, his dog, changed his life.
Mr Paterson received the Labrador retriever through Assistance Dogs Australia, a national charity.
The organisation trains dogs to support former police, firefighters and Australian Defence Force personnel diagnosed with PTSD.
After leaving the NSW police force in 2010, the Newcastle resident spent eight years suffering from mental illness.
"It just leaves you exhausted all the time," he said.
"I very rarely left the house - almost never on my own.
"I was very ill. I had a couple of stays in psychiatric hospitals."
While out in public, Mr Paterson was "always hypervigilant of what was going on around me".
"That's where Oppy has helped me the most. He notices if I'm becoming distressed a lot sooner than I do.
"If he knows I'm starting to get worked up, he'll nudge me with his nose. If that's not enough, he'll woof at me.
"Eventually he'll jump up on me. He's amazing."
He said Oppy gives him "time to deploy other coping mechanisms, like being more mindful in the moment".
As a police officer, he was at the scene of numerous fatal road accidents.
"The first three dead people I saw were three kids that I knew through scouts or school," he said.
That crash happened at Tea Gardens when he was a young police officer.
He also worked during a spate of road fatalities in the Hunter Valley.
"The papers were calling it Death Valley. There were a lot of truck fatalities at Muswellbrook and on the Putty Road," he said.
The Newcastle crash investigation unit "worked out that if I worked a Sunday, someone would die on the road".
"I tended to attract fatal crashes," he said.
"I had bad flashbacks and I'd get panic attacks around people."
- Adam Paterson
When he had his own children, witnessing youngsters dying or becoming seriously injured in crashes played on his mind more.
"I was having nightmares," he said.
Being around other people triggered his anxiety.
"I'd walk past a crowd of people and get the smell of death. I still get that.
"Even sometimes when I drive past places, I'll get the smell of blood or decay."
He lost friends over his condition.
"They think, 'why can't you just get over it, it's been 15 years'.
"It's not that I'm holding onto these things, they're holding onto me."
Mr Paterson now works as a driving instructor, with Oppy keeping watch from the backseat.
"I help people be safe on the roads," he said.
He helps people with mental and physical injuries to drive again. This includes people who have had a stroke, live with dementia or have injuries from things like serious car crashes.
"They may have emotional obstacles deterring them from driving," he said.
His new job helps his mind.
"I feel like I'm still contributing to road safety, but from a different angle," he said.
He said it was "not all sunshine with an assistance dog".
"We get refused entry into restaurants sometimes. Security guards in Sydney won't let us into buildings.
"Assistance Dogs Australia sorts that out, which is brilliant. That's all thanks to people donating."
It takes $60,000 and two years to train each assistance dog. To donate, visit assistancedogs.org.au
