Breaking down barriers to mental health care for police
Distressed, unfulfilled and incoherent. The sergeant could no longer function after being exposed to a series of traumatic incidents in the line of duty.
Diagnosed with an Operational Stress Injury (OSI) or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), he returned to work - business as usual.
Three months later, the sergeant turned his weapon on himself and took his life.
It’s difficult to deal with a crisis when you are in crisis yourself. Unfortunately, many police in Ontario face this challenge daily. When we need the police, we want them at their best. We all lose when police, or any emergency service worker, suffers with an OSI.
Stan French is answering the provincial call for action to reduce the effects of Operational Stress Injuries within our police services by helping to define the extent of the problem.
The Ombudsmen of Ontario, André Marin issued the call to action following the report “In the Line of Duty” which detailed 23 suicides in the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) from 1989 to 2012.
An adjunct nursing professor at Nipissing University and former forensic mental health nurse with military experience in Afghanistan, French was inspired by the evidence-based approach of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). The CAF improved mental health services after defining the scope of the problem through studying the patterns, causes and effects of health and disease conditions.
“I felt that with my experience I was uniquely placed to bring together the people that could make this work,” said French. “I have an opportunity to make a significant difference to improve mental health care. To not take action would be an opportunity wasted.”
Through the Canadian Institute of Military and Veterans Health Research, French connected with Dr. Dianne Groll, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at Queen’s University, who got on board as the primary investigator.
Retired colonel Dr. Randy Boddam, whom French served with while working with the acute care mental health team in Afghanistan, agreed to provide psychiatric advice; and Sharon Chin, Canadore College/Nipissing University Collaborative Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) program professor, who leads the mental health nursing portion of the BScN program and knew of the project through clinical connections joined the team to assist with data transfer and analysis.
French and his team formulated a 425-question survey that has been emailed to nearly 35,000 active police officers and support staff. The survey aims to give an understanding of OSIs in the province and to assess the level of need for standards in evaluating future OSI programs.
The team envisions the study being repeated in 5-10 years to assess OSI program goals and to determine if OSI rates have improved after care systems are put in place.
Due to the research method’s fairly inexpensive way of assessing the current rates of OSI, the survey can also be repurposed for other emergency service populations and in other locations.
The research team from Canadore College, Nipissing University and Queen’s University is now reaching out to local retired police officers and civilian personnel to participate in the survey.
All serving police in Ontario have received personal invitations to the survey through their work email. Former police (sworn or civilian) who wish to participate can visit theOntario Police Health and Operational Stress Injury Survey for Former Members page for more details.
French will present the preliminary results of the study along with how it will benefit work-place mental health strategies for police at The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police conference in February 2015. The event is co-sponsored by the Mental Health Commission of Canada on Mental Readiness and Strategies for Psychological Health and Safety.
By Neeley Hansson