Policing can be stressful for the men and women who wear the uniform, so a recent conference aimed to build within them resiliency and courage to ask for help.
The Moose Jaw Police Association and Saskatchewan Federation of Police Officers hosted a wellness conference at the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa on Sept. 19 and 20, which attracted hundreds of officers from across Saskatchewan.
The event featured several speakers, including Jason Schechterle, Brian Casey, Darci Lang and Dr. Jody Burnett, and comedian Kelly Taylor.
Schechterle — a former police officer who was severely burned in a collision — spoke about overcoming adversity and Casey discussed mental health, including peer support fundamentals and the basic principles, knowledge and essential skills to support co-workers in mental or emotional distress.
Meanwhile, Lang discussed personal development and “focusing on the 90 per cent,” while Burnett talked about the importance of self-care and how a website called Public Safety Personnel (PSP) Net can help officers.
The Moose Jaw Police Association created this conference in 2014 and hosted the first event — a sell-out — in The Friendly City that year, Police Chief Rick Bourassa explained during the Board of Police Commissioners’ Sept. 28 meeting. The Saskatchewan Federation of Police Officers took over the event and annually holds it in municipalities across the province.
This year’s conference was again well-attended and featured many good speakers, he continued. Holding this event is important because it’s part of a strategy that police services everywhere have to support the health — physical and mental — and well-being of their members.
“Our psychologist, Jody Burnett … was one of the presenters at the conference and (she) continues to provide services — not only to us but across the province and across the country,” Bourassa added.
Commissioner Darrell Markin thought the conference — including the motivational speakers — was “first class,” while he saw officers from all over Saskatchewan. He thought the board should consider providing financial support in the future because of how important the conference is.
“Not to make it mandatory, but to have — from a wellness perspective — that education for our people … ,” he added. “(Staff Sgt.) Taylor Elder and his staff … did just a fantastic job. So good.”
Technically, the board does fund the conference since the Moose Jaw Police Service pays its members’ entry fees out of the subscriptions expense category, said Bourassa. However, the provincial police federation pursues sponsorship funding for the conference since it oversees the event.
The wellness conference will be held somewhere in Saskatchewan next year, most likely in a municipality with its own police force, he added. However, it could be held in smaller communities with RCMP detachments since that force has become more involved in the event.
The next Board of Police Commissioners’ meeting is Thursday, Oct. 19.
In response to some providers blocking access to Canadian news on their platforms, our website, MooseJawToday.com will continue to be your source for hyper-local Moose Jaw news. Bookmark MooseJawToday.com and sign up for our free online newsletter to read the latest local developments.
