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HomeNewsPeer support resources available for search and rescue workers in Northern BC

Peer support resources available for search and rescue workers in Northern BC

Having a clear mind in any line of work is a key to success, especially for responders who put their lives on the line on a regular basis.

Recently, all the first responders from the Humboldt Broncos bus crash received a mental-health break to get away from the tragedy this spring killing 16 people where they ended up doing therapeutic activities like golf and horseback riding.

More locally, members from Prince George Search and Rescue go through the same issues when a person they are looking for is unable to be found.

The 2017 BC wildfires affected several of its members.

“More recent times, one that I know challenged a lot of our responders as well as others from across the province were the evacuations in the Cariboo, a lot of the members struggled with seeing the impact of the wildfires and seeing houses being burned or impacts to animals,” says Dale Bull, Search Manager.

Becoming emotionally drained and not being able to let go of certain incidents on the job is very a common occurrence for people in a number of occupations like police officers, firefighters and emergency workers.

Search and rescue workers are classified as responders and while they are strictly volunteers, the experience can be equally as draining.

“We spend a lot of time in the bush looking for missing people and one of the hardest things to do is when we are not able to bring someone home and not every search ends in success – sometimes we are unable to find people and those are the ones that weigh the most heavily on people.”

“It’s usually a collection of incidents that occur over time, sometimes in many years or even decades that result in people taking a step back and taking care of their well being.”

Luckily, any struggling with their mental health can access a Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Peer who is available 24/7 and consists of fellow search and rescue members from across the province.

“Critical incident stress management has become a lot more prominent in the work we do and we’ve become a lot more aware of it in recent years. Search and rescue calls have gone up significantly in numbers as well as the complexity and with it, the stress load has increased as well,” added Bull.

This method is considered a form of psychological first-aid.

To learn more about CISM services can click here.

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