Canada’s first mental health directory to support first responders launches today

For immediate release

November 12, 2019

Canada’s first mental health directory to support first responders launches today 

Vancouver, BC – The Directory of Occupationally Aware Clinicians brings more than 150 specially trained mental health professionals just a click away for BC fire fighters and other first responders. The online database gives users the opportunity to access vetted mental health clinicians who are trained to best serve their unique needs, which stem from the operational stress they are exposed to on the job. 

“British Columbia’s first responders are asking for help. Every day, I get an email or call from a fire fighter requesting a clinician referral. Partnering with the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Association and the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors, our shared vision is to deliver support in an accessible and immediate way to keep first responders safe,” says Matt Johnston, Surrey fire fighter and founder of First Responder Health. 

The directory was established in response to research showing that public safety personnel are at an increased risk of mental health issues such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. A 2017 Canadian study found that 44.5 per cent of the 6,000 fire fighters, police, dispatchers, correctional workers, and paramedics who were surveyed struggled with symptoms consistent with one or more psychological disorder. For the general population, the average is much lower at 10 per cent.

“Many of our members struggle in silence because of a lack of treatment providers who understand the trauma fire fighters face while working to keep our communities safe. We must change this narrative by getting them the help they need from specially trained clinicians,” says Gord Ditchburn, President, BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Association. 

The directory clinicians are handpicked from a growing network of trained psychologists and registered clinical counsellors who have gone through training on how to enhance their therapeutic skills in building meaningful relationships with first responders. 

The Directory of Occupationally Aware Clinicians is the result of a two year initiative to identify and train these healthcare professionals. Members of the directory have gone through two day trauma training workshops where they learned how to support the needs of public safety personnel and their family members. 

The Occupational Awareness Training: Treating First Responder Trauma Program is supported by the BC First Responder Mental Health Committee, which is chaired by WorkSafeBC, and was developed by Johnston and Steve Farina, Lower Mainland Vice President, BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Association and Chair of the Mental Health Taskforce. The two-day program is an entry point to working with first responders and compliments the advanced training that all of network clinicians have received. Many of the clinicians have also completed the two-day level two program, which features a variety of recognized experts in the field of trauma, resiliency and healing, with a specific application to members of public safety personnel and their families.

"What I love about this directory is that it includes a group of truly humble, curious and talented mental health professionals that have taken the time to immerse themselves in our first responder culture, language, hierarchy and unionized work environment,” says Farina. “Understanding the nuances of chain of command, available benefits and the landscape of the fire service is crucial when taking on first responder clients, because we are a unique group with our own distinct challenges.” 

The directory was designed to be accessible and easy to navigate. For this reason, it does not have a paywall, data mining or advertising. First responders can access support by booking an online counselling session or by using the directory to quickly and easily search for a clinician nearby. The platform can be accessed online or via an app to deliver counselling services to those who need it, when they need it. 

To access the directory, visit www.firstresponderhealth.org/directory

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MEDIA CONTACT

Nicole Clark

Director of Communications

BC Professional Fire Fighters Association

P: 604.436.5617

E: communications@bcpffa.org

BUILDING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL STRENGTH OF FIRE FIGHTERS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept 16th 2019

BUILDING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL STRENGTH OF FIRE FIGHTERS 

(Vancouver, BC) The Canadian Mental Health Association Vancouver-Fraser Branch (CMHA VF) and the British Columbia Municipal Safety Association (BCMSA) have partnered to engage and inform firefighters in four areas crucial to their work: building psychological resiliency, trauma, psychological distress, and trauma-informed responses. This will be achieved through BCMSA offering CMHA’s program Resilient Minds: Building the Psychological Strength of Firefighters to both volunteer and career municipal firefighters across the province starting in January 2020. 

Research has shown that firefighters are frequently exposed to distressing events and critical incidents such as motor vehicle accidents, burnt bodies, failed rescue attempts, threats to one's own life, and completed suicides. This exposure can trigger posttraumatic stress reactions and increases their chances of developing a mental illness. Firefighters experience a 50% higher rate of marital problems and a 30% higher rate of death from suicide than the general population. A North America wide study in 2017 showed there were more deaths from suicide than ‘in-line-of-duty’ deaths among firefighters. 

Resilient Minds is a new workshop originally developed in a partnership between CMHA VF and the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services. It was developed in response to the disturbing experience of firefighters and stress-related injuries outlined above. Resilient Minds uses CMHA’s “4R Action Toolkit” to build skills needed to reduce personal risks related to psychological impacts, and assist members of the public, colleagues and family who may be struggling with a mental health problem or be in a crisis. 

“Using the latest information in the research literature, combined with the wisdom of the lived experience of firefighters, lived experience of people with mental illness and CMHA’s knowledge of how to promote positive mental health, CMHA has developed a program that is benefiting the firefighters who work so hard to keep us safe,” says Michael Anhorn, Executive Director, CMHA VF. 

The evaluation of a province-wide pilot of Resilient Minds found that in addition to effectively educating firefighters on psychological resiliency and stress-related injuries, the program helped to reduce firefighters perception of stress on all of the 17 stressors measured in the evaluation. It also increased the firefighters’ confidence and ability to support their peers, members of the public and family members experiencing psychological distress. Based on these findings and the incredibly high satisfaction ratings from the pilot program participants, CMHA and BCMSA have developed a partnership to ensure this workshop is available to both career and volunteer fire service personnel across the province. 

“Combining BCMSA’s expertise and reputation in delivering safety training to municipalities and CMHA’s expertise and reputation in promoting positive mental health has led to a powerful partnership focused on significantly advancing the work of preventing stress-related injuries in our province’s fire services personnel,” says Mike Roberts, Executive Director of BCMSA. “We are looking forward to working with British Columbia’s fire departments and the CMHA to reduce stress and stress-related injuries among firefighters in BC.” 2 

Fire departments wanting to make this training available to their members can reach out to BCMSA to discuss implementation plans. 

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About CMHA 

CMHA is Canada’s most established mental health charity and the nation-wide leader and champion for mental health. CMHA VF believes everyone deserves to be mentally healthy and live in a healthy community. By offering community-based mental health education, services, and supports for all ages, CMHA VF contributes to the long-term health and wellbeing of our communities. We have three pillars of work: 

• Wellness and Community Inclusion – CMHA VF walks alongside people living with mental illness. We support them to reach their hopes and dreams and to live full and contributing lives in their communities.

• Prevention and Early Intervention – CMHA VF increase young peoples’ mental health knowledge while developing their skills to maintain positive mental health and to ask for help when they need it.

• Mental Health Promotion – Mental health includes habits and behaviours that build positive mental health, social support networks we can count on and having a strong connection to our community. We help people with these aspects of living a mentally healthy life and reduce the stigma related to mental illness.

About BC Municipal Safety Association 

The central purpose of the BCMSA is to improve worker health and safety through the sharing of knowledge and resources within local government. The BCMSA delivers many training and education programs throughout the province and strives to be the health and safety resource of choice. 

Media Contact 

Cecilia Olmos, Events and Communications Manager, CMHA Vancouver-Fraser Branch 

P: 604-872-4902 ext. 237 

C: (778) 385-3638 

E: Cecilia.olmos@cmha.bc.ca