One of the main roles of a police officer is to keep civilians safe, even if that means keeping them safe from harming themselves, but how do they go about doing so in a professional and ethical way? The Ministry of Health and Wellness is providing them with the training to learn how. I stopped by this morning to see what that entails and here's what I found out.
Many times police are the first responders to sensitive and emotionally unstable events when out in the field. They don't want to say or do the wrong thing when trying to de-escalate what can be a life and death situation, and at the same time it also takes a toll on them. That's why the Ministry of Health and Wellness has stepped in to provide training to these officers, led by a mental health technical advisor:
Iveth Quintanilla, TA Mental Health, MOHW
"The police play a major role when it comes to the work being conducted in the community, whenever there are suicide attempts or cases of suicide the police are called so it is important for them to be able to learn how to respond to calls in order to assist the community more and that is why we are providing the sessions for the police officers."
And today's session will be one of many as part of an initiative they hope to continue, educating officers on how best they can respond to mental health related cases.
Iveth Quintanilla, TA Mental Health, MOHW
"So today we continue the weeks activity for world suicide prevention day the theme for this year is changing the narrative on suicide. So we continue the conversation with the police we are teaching them in terms of the signs and symptoms how they can access support and how they can also provide that support to the community and along with the activities we are having for today we scheduled some massages that will be done for them as part of self care that is being offered to them we know that they often work in high stressed environments, and they are exposed to trauma on a daily basis and so it is important for them to look after themselves and this is one way that we are collaborating with the ministry."
September 10th was World Suicide Prevention Day.
