It had stalked her through the years, always there in the shadows. And when it did finally catch up with Julie, PTSD ended her years of service as someone who saved other people yet couldn't save herself.

Just as she couldn't simply walk away from people in need - even though she needed a lot of help at the same time.

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But after ending her job - her raison d'être - Julie still felt compelled to help.

So she threw her energies (and her experience and understanding) into Code 9.

The Code 9 Foundation provides a place of support for current and veteran professional first responders and 000 operators who live with PTSD, depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions that result from their service to the community.

PTSD is the great leveller for our first responders - in the moment of crisis people don't just need them, they expect them to turn up.

For the victims it is likely their first and only disaster. For people such as Julie, it might have been simply their first for the day.

"Many people think, or assume, that a uniform protects you," Julie explained.

"Trust me, it doesn't."

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Working for Ambulance Victoria for nearly a quarter of a century, Julie was one of the earlier female paramedics, and the experience made her tough.

Until 2019, when she was forced into retirement because of ill health - due to PTSD.

Julie's story is not necessarily the usual one, but it is far from being an exception.

Because no-one goes through this much trauma without absorbing some of it - like medical staff in radiology departments at hospital, wearing their radioactivity tags so they know when they are on the borderline of one X-ray too many.

Our ambos and paramedics are yet to find a PTSD tag that can warn you when your overdose is just around the corner - literally.

Julie now volunteers for Code 9; and the ex-paramedic said their motto - 'You're never alone' - gets immediately to the heart of the problem; this tsunami of mental health in severe decline.

Constantly fundraising, the charity's latest initiative was the 000 to 9000 in support of mental health month.

From October 1 to October 30, participants completed 9000 steps a day to help improve their mental and physical health.

This has been the second year in a row the charity has run the challenge, and about 130 people across Victoria participated.

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"I was incredibly impressed by the local support - the Bendigo community - because we're just a small charity in its formative years, we're still kicking off," Julie said.

"And it's nice to see more and more mental health awareness.

"Especially in the current environment, emergency services are doing it tough."

Over the course of the month, the participants raised about $5000.

As a completely volunteer-run charity, this money will go towards supporting people struggling mentally.

"The challenge wasn't all about fundraising for us, but also about support and raising awareness," Julie said.

While you can donate at any time via code9ptsd.org.au, the next big challenge the charity is organising is a trip to the Northern Territory in June next year to hike a part of the Larapinta trail.

The 14 hikers fundraising $3500 each for this trip are putting the collective total towards a service dog, something that costs upwards of $35,000.

Before that, however; they have a stall at St Mary's Anglican Church on November 6, where they will again be raising awareness and funds to support emergency services workers who sacrifice so much for people they don't know.

"If we can save one life, one marriage, one child from being traumatised by a parent's PTSD, that matters to us," Julie said.

To donate now visit code9ptsd.org.au

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