Search

Each year, approximately one in five people will experience a mental health problem or illness. The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) is a recognized leader in policing for its multifaceted and innovative approach to supporting persons living with mental health issues. Further, the VPD appreciates that persons living with mental health issues are, sadly, often targeted by offenders – resulting in them being 15 times more likely to be the victim of a crime.

The number of people with mental health issues, especially post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), has risen considerably in the past decade. The majority of those suffering are military personnel and first responders – for whom memories of past experiences have become a harrowing, yet routine part of their daily lives. Camp Aftermath, an undertaking of the Aftermath Association, has taken a philanthropic healing approach to support veterans and first responders who are suffering from PTSD.

Frontline workers are exposed to varying degrees of traumatic situations almost daily, increasing the prevalence of mental health issues and associated sleep disorders. Indeed, 2017 research from Johnson & Johnson shows that Canadian military service members and first responders struggle to get support for their own health needs. 

The Positive Side of Post-traumatic Stress

The evaluation and integration of all SAR-related knowledge can help search managers consider and integrate many analytic factors that should help find missing wanderers in less time, and with better end results.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale has issued a statement on the review of workplace harassment within the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). This is the full text of his statement:

"The Prime Minister has given me a clear mandate to ensure that the RCMP is a healthy workplace, free from harassment and sexual violence.

The Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Status of Women, today hosted an informative gender-focused discussion with experts in various related fields as part of public consultations taking place across the country to inform a new defence policy for Canada.

Meeting participants included academics and subject matter experts from a variety of non-governmental organizations, including the Institute for Inclusive Security and the White Ribbon Campaign.

Today’s discussion focused on five main points:

Each year, the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada release a report on the state of public health in this country. This year, he has chosen to focus on family violence in Canada:

Family violence is not just about physical abuse. It comes in many forms, including sexual, emotional and financial abuse, as well as neglect.

The statistics are staggering:

In Canada, every day, just over 230 Canadians are reported as victims of family violence.

The mind is the most powerful tool we have at our disposal, and its abilities shouldn’t be taken for granted. Memories stored in our brain constitute a large part of who we are, and our long-term memory allows us to memorize not only facts, but also repetitive physical movements. This is known as muscle memory, or motor learning, a type of procedural memory that is developed by programming a specific motor task or movement into the brain’s memory through repetition.

One of the most important issues in policy development is to make sure that the subject being scrutinized is accurately identified so the right questions can be asked to help get the most effective answers. This is critical because the converse is also true; ask the wrong questions and you will get the wrong answers.

John is a 40-year-old police officer who recently sought medical attention for repeated nightmares, difficulty sleeping, and vivid flashbacks of a traumatic encounter he experienced over six months ago while on duty.