Report co-author and Black Dog Institute executive director Professor Sam Harvey, said new methods would be tried if traditional means failed for workers.

“We want to make sure that any emergency service workers or volunteers in Victoria that come forward for treatment of PTSD know that they're getting the best quality treatment and the treatment that is most likely to work,” he said.

“We now have a range of different treatment options that are effective for PTSD in emergency service workers, including talking therapies and a range of pharmaceutical treatments. 

"If someone doesn’t get better with initial treatment, there are a range of other evidence-based treatments that should be tried.”   

Emergency service workers are twice as likely than the general population to experience mental health problems, largely due to the high risk of trauma exposure at work. 

An estimated 1 in 10 of Australia’s 370,000-plus emergency workers and volunteers will develop PTSD related to critical incidents.

Widespread bushfires and floods have heightened levels of stress and increased risk of trauma for emergency workers in Victoria over recent years. 

Lead co-author Professor Richard Bryant, Director of the Trauma Stress Clinic at UNSW, said treating an emergency service worker is "fundamentally different" than treating someone in a different line of work. 

“Australia is now leading the world in the way we care for and treat emergency service workers with PTSD," he said. 

"These guidelines aim to share what we have learnt through more than half a decade of working with this population, to lift quality of care across Australia and internationally.” 

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