She handed him his meds with a glass of water.  "Nothing wrong with a therapist."  She said as she adjusted the pillows behind him, trying to make him more comfortable.  "I've gone a time or two myself. It can be helpful." It was helpful, she at first had to be ordered to go after the fire that had cost many of her friends her life. She had fought against the entire process thinking she could handle it on her own, but soon the panic attacks started, the mere scent of a neighbor's grill would send her into a panic.  She couldn't do her job, she stopped eating, couldn't focus. 

"You need to talk to someone.  You can't hold it all in. Trust me."  She finished arranging the bed and flopped down in the chair with a sigh. She gazed off into the distance wondering if she should share her story.  "So umm about 3 years ago there was a huge fire.  I don't know if you remember, but an entire apartment complex went up in flames.  It wasn't a slow growing fire, that could have been dealt with.  This was a massive conflagration.  The whole thing was engulfed almost immediately."  She said her eyes traveling to stare out the window.  She wasn't actually seeing anything other than flames.  She decided to tell him.  He needed to know he wasn't the only one.  

"I never bothered to train as a firefighter. I enjoyed being an EMT, I had never felt the need to run INTO a burning building.  Marc and I could do nothing but wait outside.  We were busy of course, basic things, minor bandaging, some oxygen here and there.  It was a mass casualty situation, we weren't transporting anyone but the most serious of cases."  She sighed softly shaking her head a little to try to clear the flames from her vision.  

"The building wasn't in exactly the best shape before the fire.  I remember I was wrapping a sprained ankle on a teenage kid when I heard this horrible roar.  I turned in time to see flames growing, and then a large portion of the building collapsed.  Five of our guys were trapped."  She stopped talking and turned to look at him her eyes meeting his.  

"It stays with you, but you need to realize that it never gets easier unless you talk about it."  She made sure to maintain eye contact.  Yes there was sadness in her gaze, grief she would carry for the rest of her days, but there wasn't the haunted look one would expect to see.  She still grieved, and would forever, but the loss did not haunt her every step.