Dr Orlando Mardner
Unseen Burdens: Mental Health, Trauma, and Burnout in Private Security
Unseen Burdens: Mental Health, Trauma, and Burnout in Private Security
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They protect everyone else. But who protects them?
At 10:45 p.m., a lone security officer talks down a stranger holding a blade. He wins. Then he goes home, and the real battle begins, alone and in silence, with no one to call.
This is the unseen reality of private security.
In half the countries on Earth, private security officers now outnumber the police. More than 20 million people stand watch worldwide, in offices, hospitals, venues, transport hubs
, and high-risk sites, absorbing pressure the rest of us never see. Yet unlike police, firefighters, and the military, most are given almost none of the mental health support their work demands.
Unseen Burdens is the first book to confront that gap head-on. Drawing on more than two decades in the profession, Dr Orlando Mardner, security professional, educator, and founder of the Professional Security Academy, exposes the psychological cost of a job built on vigilance, control, and silence.
Inside, you will discover:
- Why trauma in security work is cumulative, not a single dramatic event, and why that makes it so easy to miss
- How stigma and a culture of “toughness” keep officers silent, and what finally breaks the cycle
- The hidden link between low pay, night shifts, broken sleep, and declining mental health
- What police, military, and European models get right, and how the industry can catch up
- Practical pathways toward a healthier, more sustainable security workforce
This is not a book about weakness. It is about the cost of strength without support, responsibility without release, exposure without recovery.
Whether you wear the uniform, lead those who do, set policy, or love someone who stands watch, Unseen Burdens will change how you see the people who protect us.
Volume I of The Security Mental Health Trilogy.
WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR
Security officers, door supervisors, lone workers, supervisors, HR teams, unions, training providers, mental-health professionals, researchers, and policymakers.
WHY THIS BOOK MATTERS
Because private security is a high-risk profession without a high-risk support system. Unseen Burdens gives the industry its first honest mirror — and forces leadership, regulators, and corporations to confront the crisis they have ignored for far too long.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr Orlando Mardner writes from the intersection of experience, service, and responsibility. His career in security has taken him across frontline, supervisory, training, and sector-development roles, giving him a close view of the pressures carried by those who work in protection, risk, and public-facing safety.
In Unseen Burdens, he gives voice to the professionals who are often expected to remain calm, strong, and invisible while carrying the emotional weight of long hours, risk exposure, fatigue, and silence. His work is rooted in one clear belief: security professionals are not just uniforms, roles, or operational assets — they are human beings whose wellbeing must be taken seriously.
As founder of the Professional Security Academy and creator of the Security Science Professionalisation Matrix, Dr Mardner continues to advocate for higher standards, structured development, and a more compassionate understanding of the private security profession.