The province is taking steps to help prevent traumatic mental stress for first responders.
On Tuesday, the Government of Ontario released the findings from a roundtable that discussed traumatic mental stress prevention for front-line emergency workers. Their findings pointed to three main focuses: prevention, response and support.
“We know that certain occupations have more occurrences of traumatic mental stress than others, and that some sectors have developed best practices that could be shared across the province,” said Minister of Labour, Kevin Flynn.
The roundtable developed a number of follow-up actions, which includes making mental stress a priority for the Ministry of Labour, working with other ministries to provide mental health support, and organizing workshops to share strategies across several sectors.
“It is essential that, together, we end stigma, break down barriers and ensure our first responders, and all workers, get the mental health care and accommodation at work – with the proper tools in place to identify and respond effectively to issues of operational stress injuries," says Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, Yasir Naqvi.
According to Tema, 23 first responders have died by suicide in Canada since April 29.
