A veteran Northern Territory cop who has been to thousands of critical incidents says the police force needs to bring back welfare officers to counsel those working on the frontline.

Senior Sergeant Garry Smith has been in the Northern Territory Police force for almost three decades and is now getting treatment for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

"With the career that I've had, I've been to thousands of critical incidents," he said.

"My opinion is the human body is not designed to continually be subjected to trauma to the worst society can throw at you."

The well-known duty watch commander said while he received support from professional psychologists when he hit rock bottom, officers respond better to earlier intervention from their colleagues.

"Coppers want to talk to coppers," he said.

"They would prefer to talk to someone who's been there and done that."

The NT Police Association has been lobbying Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw to reinstate the roles axed by the former commissioner John McRoberts.

"Commissioner McRoberts didn't feel the need to have members in those roles," Police Association president Paul McCue said.

"We strongly oppose that view, it's good to see a refreshing outlook on what's an important issue for our members."

Mr McCue said the professional counselling on offer under the current employee support services was not enough.

"As we know that can often be once it's too late. We were advocating for a long time to get assistance for people who may not be at that critical point, but just need someone to talk to," Mr McCue said.

He also pointed out that the roles helped break down the "too tough" culture in the police force, which prevents people revealing their struggles with PTSD.

"That tough exterior may hide an underlying issue and that person may need to talk to someone," Mr McCue said.

"Anyone in a situation where they need to put their hand up and say they need some assistance for traumatic stress issues may be concerned about their job.

"But we're hopeful the reintroduction of welfare officers, a better peer support system in place ... will eliminate those concerns."

Senior Sergeant Smith said the fear of appearing too weak to be a cop also stopped him from getting help.

"I was one of these people that just put on the brave face and I was too tough to get affected by it," he said.

"But I did slide down to a very dark area because of it. The culture is just harden up princess and move along."

'I beat myself up very hard, knowing that I could have saved her'

Senior Sergeant Smith said there were several incidents that brought on the PTSD.

One of them was trying to save a woman who he knew from a house fire in Alice Springs.

He said he was set on getting into the lounge room to find the woman, but did not realise she was hiding underneath the window he had smashed in and crawled through.

"As it turns out I was probably crawling across her at the time," he said.

"Knowing that at the end of the event, I beat myself up very hard, knowing that could I have saved her.

"For a phase there I was waking up with horrible dreams with this victim, this lady, screaming at me, swearing at me, calling me every word under the sun saying, 'You didn't save me, you didn't save me'.

"And it was just a picture of a skull with flames."

He said he turned to the bottle as a way to self-medicate from those nightmares, as he did from many other tragic incidents.

He went into a spiral of self destruction: poor diet and hygiene, isolation, gambling, erratic thoughts and decision making and relationship breakdowns.

"When I did hit rock bottom, I ended up self-harming and ended up in the custody of my peers," he said.

For Senior Sergeant Smith speaking out about the problem and the possible solutions means he is starting to deal with the disorder.

"Now it's time to move on and help others," he said.