Mental health top of mind at first responders conference in Regina

WATCH: A conference discussing mental health with responders is in Regina this week, featuring several keynote speakers. Damian Smith has more.

Hundreds of first responders gathered in Regina on Wednesday to continue the conversation of mental health in a sector that can take a toll on its workers.

Since the organization’s start in 2018, the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research Treatment hopes to break the stigma surrounding mental illness with first responders and other public safety personnel.

“Those who serve us don’t really often think that they need help, but sometimes they do,” said Executive Director of CIPSRT Leslie Anne Keown. “So, it’s about how we get that research into tools that they can use every day.”

“It was interesting because they saw these old police officers that were just grouchy and mad and never really understood why they were, you know, so cynical,” said Casey Ward, the Co-Chair of the Public Safety Steering Committee.

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Ward has spent more than two decades as a member of the Regina Police Service and was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) a few years ago.

“They were just mean to everyone. Through those 25 years of seeing that, it was all that stuff that was built up that nobody ever spoke about,” he added.

This year’s theme “thriving in public safety” deals with the institute’s research efforts on how workers can perform well in the field, with strong and honest mental health.

Tyler Smith, a survivor of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash back in 2018, was the opening keynote speaker.

Smith said that in the early years of his physical recovery from the crash, he ignored the reality that a large number of his teammates and friends were gone. Since he left the Broncos in November 2018, his advocacy for mental health has only grown further.

“This [conference] is obviously about the workplace and having the skills and mental skills for now. I think that everything culminates into the fact that you’re still a human being, you’re still a parent, you’re still a son or still a daughter.”

The conference continues at the Delta Hotel on Thursday with a few more guest speakers on hand, with topics on sleeping under duress, employee wellness and mental health of police officers.