‘Convoy for a Cause Rolling Out of Brisbane’ – Triple M Radio Interview
The Stand Tall 4 PTS Lightning Convoy travelled two weeks along the East Coast of Australia, raising awareness of PTS, and the fact that there is help available.
Daryl Elliott Green participated in the convoy and was interviewed by Triple M radio on the day of the launch.
He has battled PTS since surviving an infamous close-range shooting in Chermside in May 2000. In the interview he explains that while soldiers and frontline workers are commonly diagnosed, anyone can suffer from it. “We’re talking about military personnel and emergency services personnel, but you’ll have victims of crime, people involved in road carnage, even people involved in horrible domestic violence incidents. It can be a single event or prolonged exposure,” he says.
And Daryl explains that we need to be more straightforward about getting help. “If you’ve got trouble with your plumbing, you call a plumber. If you’ve got car trouble you call a
mechanic. If you’re having flashbacks, bad dreams, anxiety, you should be calling a mental health professional (or GP),” he says.
Lately the word “disorder” is being dropped from the name of the condition. “Because it’s not seen as a disorder, it’s a condition, an illness. There’s nothing wrong with you, what you’ve been
through is an extraordinary set of circumstances and you’re having a natural reaction to it,” Daryl says.
He explains there’s still a stigma surrounding PTS, because there are a lot of misconceptions about it: “That someone’s just a shirker, or looking for time off work, or looking to sue an organisation. Those things are very very harmful and it drives the person into the pit of despair and anxiety, and it’s unfortunately all too common,” he says.
The convoy left Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium at midday on the 14 June 2016.
