mental health workshop

“There’s a lot of things you will see in your career that you can’t unsee,” First Responders mental health workshop

Oct 30, 2019 | 3:30 PM

PRINCE GEORGE–The Building Resilient Workplaces workshop, targeted at promoting positive mental health in the workplace for first responders, took place today, Oct.30th at the Marriott Hotel.

According to WorkSafeBC first responders are at a higher risk of mental health-related injuries because of their type of job. “There is a stigma focused around that…and the stigma is if you can’t take care of yourself mentally you are in the wrong profession, and we need to break that stigma,” said Bruce Ferguson, Deputy Fire Chief for the Township of Langley and the Fire Chief’s Association of BC Representative on the BC First Responders Mental Health Committee.

“There’s a lot of things you will see in your career that you can’t unsee, and that’s what we go through as first responders,” said Gord Ditchburn, first responder and President of the BC Professional Fire Fighters Association. The workshop focused on 26 recommended practices that leaders can help enforce in the workplace such as, addressing stigma, and intervention and treatment. Ditchburn says that ensuring that first responders take care of their mental health is key not only for work but for when they go home, “it’s everything because at the end of the day you go home, you have a family and you have a life and you don’t want to be that person walking out the door and feeling empty.”

The day-long workshop is one of five that is being held in BC organized by the BC First Responders Mental Health Committee.