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Alana Russell | Frontline Therapist | AU

@thepolicesocialworker

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Independent, evidence-based practice
📍Australia wide
First responders, veterans & mums
🧠 EMDR Intensives 👀
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Sometimes a conversation about hurt can start to feel more like a courtroom debate. One person is explaining, defending and trying to resolve the issue.
The other is trying to feel heard. And somewhere in the back and forth, empathy gets lost. 💬 Does this pattern feel familiar?

Save this or share it with someone who needs to to hear this reflection.

#FirstResponderMarriage #FirstResponderRelationships #FirstResponderSpouse #MarriageCommunication #EmotionalConnection by @thepolicesocialworker

I’m Alana I am a social worker & trauma informed therapist. Partner of a police officer. Mum to Irish twins.

I have been a social worker for 11 years and have spent the majority of my career working in frontline and complex roles so I don’t talk about stress, trauma, or burnout from the outside looking in. I’ve lived the pace, the pressure, and the way it quietly spills into relationships, parenting and everywhere it shouldn’t be.

After most of my career frontline child protection (where I worked alongside emergency services) I moved into private practice where I now work with clients across the country navigating similar struggles at work and home.

Supporting our first responders has become a focus point of my work and something I’m deeply passionate about.

In September 2026, I closed my two office spaces in Sydney CBD and Caringbah and moved to the Mid North Coast expanding my area of support from Sydney to Queensland & I continue to support clients across Australia Online in my usual clinical work.

So if you are new here, there is no pressure, you can read along, explore the resources linked in my bio, follow to keep connected incase you need it in the future or submit an enquiry to see how we can work together now. It would be great to hear what brings you here and for you to introduce yourself. Send me a direct message!

Outside of the therapy space you will find me at the gym, in the garden, reading a book, or doing charity work. I am a creative person, I enjoy sharing my insights in carousels and creating a space to have real conversations which feel lived in rather than “text book” by @thepolicesocialworker

I remember one workday so clearly.

My male colleague had to wait while I expressed breast milk in the office before we headed out to a job. Then there was the constant worry about making it back to the office in time to do it all again if we got stuck in the field or at court.

He was wonderful about it… maybe a little confused… but I felt like a burden.

For the first time in my career, I didn’t feel like the capable, dependable person I’d always prided myself on being. Suddenly, I had more than the job to think about.

I had lived a lifetime before even showing up to work, getting two toddlers out the door & to childcare.

Then there was the unexpected race back to childcare when the phone would ring telling me one of my kids was sick and needed to be picked up.

The guilt of leaving my team to pick up the pieces. The work that would still be waiting for me after I took carers leave. The constant sickness.

Then there was the guilt of not getting to my children fast enough because I was in the middle of a work crisis. And the weight of knowing that if I didn’t do my job properly, there could be real consequences.

I couldn’t do OT or stay back. There was no one to pick up the kids and put them to bed, it was all on me.

No matter what I chose, I felt like I was letting someone down.

For a long time, I thought equality meant doing the same job as everyone else.

I could do the work.

I did do the work.

But it was difficult doing both.

It wasn’t until I became a mother that I realised equal opportunity doesn’t always mean equal experience.

If you’re a first responder mum, or any working mum balancing shift work and family, or in male dominated professions and you’ve ever felt this too…

I see you.

(This song is by Noah Kahan for his mum, isn’t that precious? Orbiting around her..)

#FirstResponderMum #EmergencyServices #ShiftWork #WorkingMum #FrontlineWorker by @thepolicesocialworker

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. Have you heard of it or experienced it yourself? I’d love to hear your thoughts below 🧠 ⬇️🚨 #EMDRTherapy #FirstResponderMentalHealth #FirstResponderTrauma #TraumaRecovery by @thepolicesocialworker

Stopped by for the Family Open Day to support @nswpolicelegacy @recruitmentnswpf @marineareacommandnswpf

You can learn more about the cause here
https://www.policelegacynsw.org.au/about-us

You can donate anytime, and any donation ads up to make a big difference.

Working In the field of mental health support for first responders it is a cause that’s important to me and the community I’m a part of. Any chance to show my support I do and will 🙏

#socialwork #nswpolicelegacy by @thepolicesocialworker

To our first responders that have been holding this question.

Save or share with someone that has been considering support.

#emergencyservices #firstresponders #frontline #mentalhealthmatters by @thepolicesocialworker

How’s that work life balance looking? GIFS only.

#emergencyservices #frontlinefamily #firstresponders by @thepolicesocialworker

Today’s topic - burnout 🔥

You can ask me anonymous questions through the link in my bio and I’ll share my take on it. There are always options, even within workplaces. Start by understanding contributing factors and then exploring options. We do a lot of this work in sessions, so you can map out what will work for you, your workplace & achieving a better balance.

Disclaimer: Thoughts are general in nature & posts containing educational content do not replace actual therapy.

Also for my followers here - as you know I value lived experience - You may be able to help someone by posting your experience of burnout in the comments 👇

Have you been burnout and recovered?
Did anything help or not help?
If you have left a job due to burnout what did you notice first?
What advice would you have give yourself 5 years ago?

#emergencyservices #burnout #recovery #frontlineworkers by @thepolicesocialworker

There has to be room for families like mine in the conversation about motherhood 👮‍♂️🪖🚒🚑

When you think of a two parent household do you think more resources, more time, more emotional support, shared parenting?

If so, where does that leave the household where one partner dips in and out consistently for days and nights so the primary load is on the default parent? Deployments, work trips away, missed events.

Operating as a single parent, yet partnered.

Frontline families can’t quite put words to it because their marriage doesn’t feel comparable to others, or maybe even their original idea of a relationship growing up.

It’s not single, but it’s not together either.

Personal relationships of our frontline are struggling which means, they are going to be at a higher mental health risk, impacting their job performance; it’s not just the job impacting the home life. The two spheres overlap ♾️

How do you find language to represent two parents but only of them parenting for large blocks of time? Solo parenting has been used, but then single mothers feel that this is not the same as their experience of solo parenting 💭

I don’t know that we’ve landed on the perfect answer yet to completely represent and grasp this concept. But I don’t think we need have it all figured out to start conversations about it.

But I do know this: Your experience, like mine, deserves to be represented somewhere.

With frontline careers parenting It’s never going to feel equal but it has to feel fair & to feel like teamwork.

****We are not a one parent or single parent household. We have a two parent household, with different levels of contribution. Both experiences are valid and have strengths and limitations in their own way so let’s keep these discussions kind****

#FrontlineFamilies #FrontlineMums #FirstResponderFamilies #SoloParenting #shiftwork by @thepolicesocialworker

“Alana, I know these things are problems, but what are the solutions? I want to fix it FAST!”

I hear you!

🚨 That's why I'm introducing EMDR Intensives for First Responders! 🚨

EMDR and trauma-focused CBT are among the recommended first-line psychological treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Australia.

So, what is an EMDR Intensive, and how is it different from standard EMDR?

It's the same evidence-based EMDR therapy, but delivered differently.

Instead of attending weekly appointments over several months, EMDR Intensives involve longer sessions scheduled closer together, allowing for focused trauma processing over a shorter period.

Designed with frontline workers in mind, particularly those juggling shift work, unpredictable rosters and limited time off.

Because getting help shouldn't be another thing you struggle to find time for. (You do spend all of your career prioritising others!)

💬 Comment BOOTCAMP and I'll send you the details.

Or submit your expression of interest through the link in my bio or at www.alanarussell.com.au

#EMDRIntensive #FirstResponderMentalHealth #TraumaTherapy #FrontlineMentalHealth #FirstRespondersAustralia by @thepolicesocialworker

Parenting alone this week, so planning for a few micro moments 🤠

Back to basics. Noticing my window of tolerance early. Breath. Morning sunlight. Sleep. Movement.

And continuing to do things with the kids, even when it’s not always successful and I’m totally outnumbered….. regulating huge emotions for two toddlers and myself. Nothing fancy. Just the things that help me feel a little more grounded when life is a lot. Working on what I can control & respond to.

This weeks reminder is that:
✨ My capacity has just shifted meaning my own expectations of MYSELF need to shift too ✨

There will be time to do more but that time is not right now as a parent holding one hundred percent on the home front.

What’s something that you need to remind yourself during blocks of parenting alone?

#shiftworkfamily #emergencyservices #motherhoodunfiltered #coregulation by @thepolicesocialworker

The hardest part isn’t always the shift work.

It’s trying to build and sustain a relationship around a life that doesn’t follow the rules everyone else seems to be playing by.

These families are built differently.

And I think frontline families deserve more conversations like this.

✨ It won’t be equal, but it has to feel FAIR. ✨

Because understanding the job and understanding your partner can exist alongside having needs of your own.

You’re allowed to want both.

There has to be give & take.

Your partner may not be able to meet all your needs. There are many reasons why that might be the case.

But there are other ways.

And you deserve a life that feels fair.

#policepartner #policewife #policefamily #firstresponderfamily #frontlinefamily by @thepolicesocialworker