What if half our paramedics left their profession due to mental health challenges?
Date: 2025-01-31
Empowering paramedic workplaces to address psychological harm
Mental health tools and resources from the Public Services Health & Safety Association (PSHSA) available to the first responder community.
Supporting first responders
The Public Services Health and Safety Association (PSHSA) is committed to reshaping mental health strategies among first responders through specific initiatives and innovative new service offerings.
Our dedicated first responders are the foundation of our community’s wellbeing. They face difficult working conditions compounded by recent crises and mental stress injuries like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that have exacted a toll at an unaffordable cost.
What if half our paramedics left their profession due to mental health challenges?
We teeter on the edge of this stark reality — one that jeopardizes our emergency services and public safety personnel. Yet, within this tipping point lies promise, and PSHSA is making strides with two significant initiatives: Radius, a job-based psychological risk assessment, and the Enabling Mental Illness Prevention in First Responder Workplaces project.
Assess unique job-based risk of psychological harm with Radius
First responders are at a higher risk of developing mental health disorders compared to the general working population, with exposure to traumatic events being a major contributing factor. 44.5% of Canadian public safety personnel screen positive for at least one mental health disorder.1
What if there was a way to identify the risks of psychological harm for first responders and create solutions to mitigate them?
Introducing Radius
Radius is a digital solution focused on assessing unique job-based risks of psychological harm and collaboratively identifying actionable solutions to enhance worker wellbeing. Rooted in evidence and extensive research, Radius is a purpose-built solution designed to harness the collective voice of workers, leaders, and wellness professionals to improve mental health outcomes.
With Radius, you can:
- Evaluate risk of psychological harm at the job level
- Create actionable solutions to prevent harm
- Collaborate across all levels of an organization
- Gain a holistic view of psychological health
Using Radius, supervisors and workers engage in facilitated discussions and rate the risk of psychological harm relative to a set of 18 unique job factors. Organizations can then turn to the action planner to build solutions and inform risk mitigation strategies tailored to their needs to keep their workers safe.
Leverage PSHSA’s expertise and knowledge
Radius offers deep insights into the unique risks to worker mental health across jobs and sectors. PSHSA can work with paramedic services to make the most of Radius, offering support in utilizing the tool, risk mitigation, consulting, and more, to help navigate the complexities of psychological health and safety risk management and programming.
Learn more about Radius and access the tool on the PSHSA website.
Enabling Mental Illness Prevention in First Responder Workplaces project
Workplace priorities are realigning, and at the heart of this change lies a crucial mindset shift: our collective approach to mental health. PSHSA leads the Enabling Mental Illness Prevention in First Responders Workplaces project, uniting efforts to educate, empower organizations, and bridge system-level initiatives in a coordinated PTSD response through renewed knowledge and innovative solutions.
This project will span three critical categories:
- Build on our knowledge — PSHSA will delve into the current state of PTSD prevention, examine current research, and review organizational practices. The insights will enhance prevention planning and programming resources for the first responder community.
- Foster collective problem solving — PSHSA will seek to unite a coordinated PTSD response through actively engaging with government ministries, sector partners, academia, employers, workers, and other key interest groups.
- Create novel solutions — with our newfound knowledge and insight, combined with our collaborative unity of key interest groups, we will integrate novel solutions to enable organizations to enhance mental harm prevention outcomes.
This project aims to shift the balance in favour of mental health and wellbeing. The knowledge we gain, the strategic partnerships we form, and the innovative solutions we develop, lay the groundwork for progress to guide mental harm prevention efforts among those who bravely and selflessly serve their communities.
PSHSA's Annual Report
Learn more in PSHSA's 2023-24 Annual Report.
What’s next for first responders?
PSHSA has many resources and materials for first responders looking to explore mental health strategies and solutions.
Access Radius
Learn more about how Radius can enhance worker wellbeing and support mental health strategies. Learn more and access Radius
Free eLearning
Access innovative resilience and mental health training available from PSHSA for free. Access the eLearning course
Managing mental health
Arrange a private training session for your workplace to equip leaders with strategies to support healthy, safe, and successful stay-at-work and return-to-work following an absence due to a mental health condition. Learn more about private training
References
1. Carleton, R. N., Afifi, T. O., Turner, S., Taillieu, T., Duranceau, S., LeBouthillier, D. M., Sareen, J., Ricciardelli, R., MacPhee, R. S., Groll, D., Hozempa, K., Brunet, A., Weekes, J. R., Griffiths, C. T., Abrams, K. J., Jones, N. A., Beshai, S., Cramm, H. A., Dobson, K. S., … Asmundson, G. J. G. (2018). Mental Disorder Symptoms among Public Safety Personnel in Canada. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 63(1), 54–64
Paid Advertisement