A $40-million plan to address post-traumatic stress injuries in emergency responders and other front-line public safety personnel was unveiled Monday.
鈥淲hen it comes to addressing the mental health needs of those who protect us, there is always much more that we can do together,鈥� Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Ralph Goodale said at an event to launch the .
鈥淭oday we are saying, in no uncertain terms, that we will not wave off symptoms and diagnoses as simply part of the job.鈥�
Monday鈥檚 announcement is meant to help people like Kevin Martin of Winnipeg, an advanced care paramedic who was diagnosed with PTSD after responding to a fatal fire in 2016. After the call, Martin couldn鈥檛 eat or sleep and was often irritable. At his wife鈥檚 urging, Martin sought professional help and was diagnosed with the disorder.
鈥�(From) everything I've read, the quicker you can get on this stuff and start treating it, the quicker the better,鈥� he told CTV News.
The action plan will look at finding new ways to address the mental wellness of police officers, firefighters, paramedics, correctional workers, border guards, intelligence personnel, dispatchers and other people who perform front-line public safety duties. It is estimated that more than 200,000 Canadians work in these professions.
Half of the funding will be split between a 10-year study of the mental wellness of new RCMP recruits and a pilot program providing online access to cognitive behavioural therapy. This program is expected to make it much easier for public safety personnel in rural and remote areas to access help.
鈥淚 think rural access to mental health care is certainly a major issue,鈥� Dr. Nicholas Carleton, a psychology professor at the University of Regina, told CTV News. 鈥淭hey should be able to go online and beginning accessing resources and supports in a very rapid way.鈥�
The online program first rolled out in Saskatchewan, where first responders in the province dealt with a school shooting in La Loche and the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in the span of 26 months.
The remaining $20 million will go to a new research consortium comprising the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment.
Goodale said there is currently a 鈥渟carcity of existing evidence about what treatment and tools work best to deal with PTSI in public safety personnel,鈥� which is why the action plan is heavily focused on research efforts.
鈥淚t will lay the foundation for better, more accessible treatments,鈥� he said.
A study published in 2016 found that approximately 70,000 police officers, firefighters and paramedics in Canada had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
