Peterborough Police Partner With Wounded Warriors Canada to Provide Additional Mental Health Support to Officers and Their Families
/In an effort to provide additional mental health services to first responders, the Peterborough Police Service and Wounded Warriors Canada have announced a partnership on Monday afternoon.
Wounded Warriors Canada is a nationally recognized organization and mental health service provider dedicated to serving ill and injured trauma exposed professionals and their families. The group is currently working with over 100 police services across the country. Photo by David Tuan Bui.
The partnership will aid Peterborough Police Service members and their families.
The Peterborough Police Service Peer Support Team has been actively seeking partnerships with external agencies to benefit all Service members. Wounded Warriors Canada has been chosen as its first priority partnership according to a press release.
“I was part of organizations both at York Regional Police and London Police Service where we partnered with Wounded Warriors so when this came to my attention here in Peterborough, it was a natural that I would support this here as well for the benefit of our members,” said Chief Stuart Betts of the Peterborough Police Service.
Peterborough Police officers often encounter traumatic experiences which is something the public may or may not be aware of, explained Betts.
“Most people are going to see one or two really terrible things that happen in their lives,” he said. “Our police officers can see one, two, three or five in a single 12-hour shift and there's an accumulative effect that goes along with that. Some of our folks are responding to things where people do the most horrible, imaginable things to other individuals out there.”
“That's what the police are affront to and exposed to,” said Scott Maxwell, Wounded Warriors executive director. “What they could see in a shift could be more trauma than an individual maybe hopefully in their lives. But the reality of that requires very tailored, culturally-specific, occupationally aware, training and counselling assistance to make sure that we are getting in front of this reality.”
Anyone from the Police Service can confidentially apply for Wounded Warriors’s services.
Some available programs include:
Trauma Resiliency Program
Spousal Resiliency Program
Couples Overcoming PTSD Everyday
Couples Resiliency Program
Warrior Kids Camp & Virtual Program
Surviving Family Program
PTSD Service Dogs
Operations Stress Intervention Dog
