LOG IN Mental Wellness Program
Caring for the mental health and wellbeing of our volunteers: Our Mental Wellness Program is a comprehensive and holistic crisis intervention program designed to reduce and mitigate the effects of traumatic events.
Click the link below to call for immediate crisis counseling.
SARVAC’s most valuable resource is the volunteers that it serves. Our priority is to ensure their physical and mental well-being, as providing emergency response services can be physically and mentally demanding. SARVAC’s Caring Approach is built on three pillars that promote physical and mental health.
Mental Wellness Program
SARVAC’s Mental Wellness Program is a comprehensive and holistic intervention program that involves pre-incident education, crisis intervention, and post-incident aid. The goal of our program is to mitigate any negative psychological effects of a critical incident, as well as prevent or mitigate the intensity of psychological distress caused by a critical incident. A well-developed mental wellness program should include the following components; pre-crisis education, mental health disengagement procedures, individual crisis intervention, group crisis intervention, family intervention techniques, and follow-up procedures/referrals to professional psychological treatment. SARVAC’s Mental Wellness program strives to be as comprehensive as possible to ensure our responders are healthy and safe.
For more information on our Mental Wellness Program, please watch the video below or email our Mental Wellness Coordinator.
Join our mental wellness team
Operational Guidance
Preparing for an operation should involve both mental and physical preparation. As a means of assisting you in preparing for the possibility of a critical incident, SARVAC has developed three operational guidance documents. The purpose of these three documents is to demonstrate how you as a HWF Responder should address critical incident stress before, during, or after a critical incident.
Crisis Support
Crisis lines and helplines offer immediate interventions for individuals who are experiencing mental health issues. This could include a situational crisis, depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts.
Anonymous peer support for First Responders, by First Responders. Some things aren’t just “part of the job.”.
While Boots on the Ground is an Ontario based organization, they will not turn away calls from First Responders in other Provinces/Territories.
This crisis line is available to anyone 24/7/365 who is in a crisis, struggling to understand or cope with suicidal thoughts, or worried about someone else.Hope for Wellness
This 24/7 helpline is available to all Indigenous people across Canada. Hope For Wellness services are provided by counselors who demonstrate cultural competence and have a diverse educational and professional background.
Both telephone and online chat services are available in English and French. Telephone support is also available upon request in: Cree, Ojibway (Anishinaabemowin), Inuktitut.
Counselling
If you’re looking for long-term help with your mental health, you might want to consider counseling. The goal of a counselor is to promote and optimize a person’s mental well-being, whether that be before, or after a critical incident.
PSPNET offers internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy specifically for public safety personnel, and their spouses/significant others.
PSPNET has both therapist-guided and self-guided courses for individuals to take. The therapist-guided courses are only offered in specific province at the time (NB, NS, PEI, QC, and SK).
This organization offers weekly peer support meetings for Canadian public safety personnel. The meetings are held on Zoom and led by mental health professionals and trained peer supporters.
They also have a list of counsellors who specialize in First Responder mental health.
Peer Support, Resiliency Building, and Tools
These resources can help you find ways to cope with mental health issues, or build your resiliency to critical incident stress.
Helping Canada’s Veterans, First Responders and their families feel: Safe, Supported and Understood.
Trauma Resiliancy Training and One-On-One Counselling is available.
How is your health today?
Please click on the link below to view a list of anonymous online screening tools provided to help identify symptoms of mood disorders, anxiety disorders, or post-traumatic stress disorder.