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​Darren Michael Gregory

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Walk The Talk: First Responder Peer Support

1/27/2017

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A Boots-On-The-Ground Peer & Trauma Support Systems Guide
"It's amazing what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit for it."
~ Harry S. Truman
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​The world is finally catching up a bit for those of us psychological injured during our time in Public Safety.  The Government of Canada has instituted a study of Public Safety Workers in Canada, to determine levels of trauma and PTSD symptoms in those of us still standing.  The process is proceeding  with the goal to develop a comprehensive national strategy to better address our issues with PTSD in Public Safety.
Over the past year we've also seen Provincial Governments move forward to provide presumption of illness language into compensation law.  To date, the Provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario have completed this process.  Other Provinces and Territories remain in discussion, with the Opposition Party in British Columbia now behind Public Safety workers, having introduced legislation for amendment to the Workers Compensation Act in BC last year.

For survivors from the industry, this movement grants hope that future workers will receive the care and provision of supports that we didn't.  We've heard a lot of talk on the issue over the years.  Although we're pleased with the shift we see finally coming, there is still much work to do.

We've heard plenty of talk.  Considering that we're still losing far too many of our brethren to suicide, we continue now to persuade some  urgency in getting the planning of these promised measures by Governments moving.  We do so because we know that developing care-streams will ultimately save unnecessary loss of life. 

A still evident stumbling block seems to be leadership in Public Safety.  It appears our leaders now realize something proactive needs to be done, however they remain stuck, it seems, in being able to figure out exactly what they might need to do.

Enter Walk the Talk: A Boots-On-The-Ground Peer and Trauma Support Systems Guide.

This guide is written by two former police staff-sergeants, Sylvio (Syd) Gravel and Brad McKay.  Syd was a guest for our first webinar, Transitions Home From Trauma in 2015.  Although I've not had the pleasure as yet to meet co-author Brad McKay, others in my peer-support network hold both authors in high-esteem.

Together these gentlemen bring a combined 55 years of experience, both in active duty and as survivors who've experienced trauma on the job.  They worked together for years, co-founding the development of the York Regional Quad-Services Critical Incident and Peer Support Teams, ​as well as the Ottawa Police Service’s Robin’s Blue Circle – an informal post shooting trauma peer team in existence since 1988.

As a trauma-survivor myself from the ranks of Public Safety, Walk the Talk offers today's leadership a missing piece of the puzzle.  If the agency I worked for had developed a care-system based on the recommendations in this book, perhaps myself and others might have made it through our chosen professions.

​We've learned that when employer organizations are pro-active, accepting the reality of trauma with provision of a recovery-path made available, workers psychologically injured have a much higher chance at success.  When employers and workers walk hand-in-hand to allow each experience of trauma, and working through the experience together to build a greater sense of resiliency, provision of a care-stream on the part of leadership supports both the injured worker and the agency itself.

​Providing quality, trauma-informed help, as close to the experience of injury in time as possible, can grant an employer retention of a quality worker.  Designing and implementing Peer-Support and Critical Incident Stress Management, protects everyone from the harms Operational Stress Injuries impose.

​We want to see best-practice, and better outcomes for current workers.  Rather than the outcomes too many of us have experienced in which our employers were forced to consider those of us stricken as a liability, leaving us stranded and feeling as though we've been thrown-away.

From the authors of ​Walk The Talk:

“Walk the Talk”, introduces all the phenomenal “Boots-On-The-Ground” information that every organizational leader needs to have at their finger tips to go from having nothing or very little in place to reaching the gold standard in Peer and Trauma Support Systems within the workplace."

This guide is a God-Send, as far as this survivor is concerned.  It offers a step-by-step study, offering clear guidance to establishing CISM and Peer Support systems within any Public Safety Organization.  For those of us that were abandoned, the development of Critical Incident Management Systems and the development of functional Peer-Support Teams and systems, was the missing piece that led ultimately to our own career demise.

Topics covered in Walk The Talk include:
  • Protecting Society's Protectors
  • Assessing an Organization's Awareness
  • Getting Management Onside
  • Organizational Pre-Hiring Preparedness
  • Organizational Support for Families
  • Middle Management Leadership
  • Developing CISM Teams
  • Developing Peer Support Teams
  • Staffing CISM and Peer Support Teams
  • Organizational Training for CISM and Peer Support Teams
  • How a CISM and Peer Support System Can Work
This is an extensive offering, and one I recommend reaches the hands of Public Safety Leadership in Canada, across the country, coast-to-coast.

We've now discussed the issue of Trauma and PTSD as survivors, and we've passed-on to decision-makers all that we know.  Now is the time for leadership in Public Safety to take charge and establish quality systems for prevention and quality care.

It's time to "Walk the Talk" getting done what needs doing.
​
This offering from Syd Gravel and Bruce McKay is now available to help us get there.

​Walk The Talk Is Now Available:  Follow This Link

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Sylvio (Syd) Gravel
Syd Gravel is a former staff sergeant with the Ottawa Police Service. He is a twenty-eight-year PTSD survivor and has been a peer support leader since 1988.

In 2007, he was nominated by his peers and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, and inducted by the Governor General of Canada for the Order of Merit in Policing, Canada.  He has written and published two other books: “56 Seconds” and “How to Survive PTSD and Build Peer Support.”

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Brad McKay
Brad McKay retired in 2015 after thirty-three years of service with the York Regional Police. Involved in a shooting in 1984, Brad found there were no formal peer supports or mental health programs available.  Having to process the event on his own with help from his network of family and friends, Brad worked to improve the CISM System at York, leading to the birth of the Operational Stress Injury Prevention and Response Unit in 2013, and the York Regional Police Peer Support Team in 2014.

Walk The Talk Is Now Available:  Follow This Link

Syd Gravel Interview:  Transitions Home From Trauma
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Disclaimer: These materials and resources are presented for educational purposes only. They are not a substitute for informed medical advice or training. Do not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem without consulting a qualified health or mental health care provider. If you have concerns, contact your health care provider, mental health professional, or your community health centre.
Darren Gregory © 2017: All Rights Reserved
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    Author

    Darren Gregory: Wynndel, British Columbia, Canada.

    Certified Community & Workplace, Trauma Specialist, Traumatology Institute.

    25 Years in Recovery: Traumatic Stress Injury-PTSD, Depression & SUD.

    Certified: Community & Workplace Trauma Educator Traumatology Institute.
    ​Associate Member American Academy Of Experts In Traumatic Stress.

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