61_How Many Officers Struggle with Mental Health Challenges with Dr. Nick Carleton

Dr. Nick Carleton is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Regina whose work focuses on supporting first responders and other public safety personnel. 

Links:

• Website: http://www.rcmpstudy.ca/

Dr. Carleton works to build evidence-based solutions that can help mitigate the impact of the numbers and varied stressors on the mental health and wellbeing of first responders and other public safety personnel.

This episode resonated with me. I appreciated the extensive data provided in the study and admired the proactive approach to mental health. Normalizing it from the outset, like any other skill—starting with the basics and gradually advancing—reminded me of my early days in my EOD career. Just as I didn’t begin by learning about IEDs but first had to grasp the fundamentals like explosives, switches, and triggers, there’s a necessary progression in understanding and addressing mental health.

The episode presented numerous striking statistics, one of which stood out: while an average civilian might experience five or fewer potentially traumatic events in their lifetime, police officers and other first responders may encounter hundreds, even thousands, of such events throughout their careers.

Resources Mentioned:

• https://www.ptsd.va.gov/
• https://div12.org/psychological-treatments/disorders/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/
• https://www.cipsrt-icrtsp.ca/
• Approaching mental health is like learning a new skill. (crawl, walk, run)
• Evidence based coping skills
• Practice skills before you need them
• Mindfulness 
• Cognitive challenging 
• Go to a mental health professional like you would a physician. Don’t wait until there is a problem, be proactive.
• Exercise
• Meditation or stop and take a 60 second break
• Stopping internal dialogue and challenge if there’s truth to it. 
• Identify if you are using avoidance coping strategies (alcohol abuse, denying an emotional response, behavior avoidance)

We’re incredibly grateful for the support of this community and would love your help in growing our reach. A like and share on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter would mean the world to us. I’m always looking to connect with veterans and first responders with PTSD who have found ways to improve their quality of life—your story could help shorten that journey for others. If you support, provide services for these groups, or have extensive knowledge of available benefits, I’d love to chat and share your insights with the community. Let’s work together to make a difference.

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