The BC Occupational Awareness Training online program is being expanded to wildfire staff after it was first made available to municipal firefighters last year.
To date, 67 hundred firefighters have enrolled in the program including all 127 members of the Prince George Fire Department.
PG Fire Chief Cliff Warner told MyPGNow.com that the issue of mental health has come a long way in their line of work and glad to see the program expanded to more first responders.
“It’s progressed for many, many years. I was a part of what was called a critical incident response team, which we still have. It was more of a reactive process where there was training that members had in order to go and sit down with members after they experienced a traumatic event.”
“It’s becoming a much more open item and a lot more proactive (mental health). This program that we have been doing that is available for the wildfire folks now is more proactive. It’s intended to open up the discussion and provide some education. It’s built to build a person’s resilience.”
Warner added local firefighters previously had another resource similar to this to tap into.
“We have another program that the same group that organized this did something a few years ago called a resilient minds program and is along the same lines – it was a proactive approach to provide education and training to the members before events happened.”
The first year of the program focuses on helping firefighters understand mental health and how to manage stress as well as develop self-care strategies.
“This program has been opened up to first responders. It’s been opened up to firefighters, ambulance, and police and I am glad to see the wildfire folks that have been impacted over the last few years that this is now available to them.”
Warner stated the Fire Department is getting good feedback from its members on the program after enrolling in 2023.
Phase 2 of the program, similar to the initial offering, includes 12 training modules, which will launch in the summer.
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