101 www.rnca.ca Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Association RNC partners with Wounded Warriors Canada to help offset mental health issues among first responders Take off your uniforms and dress in your everyday attire. This applies to all police, firefighters, paramedics and military. Ask all of those people to go with their families to a food court at any mall and sit and mingle with the crowds. Anyone looking at the crowd would have trouble determining who among that group suffers from any level of mental health issues based on the trials, tribulations and, in some case, horrors of what they have experienced in their workplace. Getting help for those people when they need it is paramount, so a number of organizations have worked diligently nationwide to ensure those in need get the support and treatment they require to overcome all levels of mental health stress. Wounded Warriors Canada (WWC), the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) and Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Association (RNCA) have established a partnership that will help members of Canada’s oldest police service to reap the benefits of the vast knowledge base and professionals amassed by the WWC who deal with those issues every day. The trio of groups signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday with the aim of making the RNC and RNCA aware of available mental health programs and services in an effort to provide an additional layer of mental health service support for RNC and RNCA members and their families. “Policing is a very tight community and in order for us to be successful, it has to be. When we see one officer here that suffers significantly because of the work that we do, yes, it has significant impact on us as an organization,” RNC Chief Joe Boland said Friday. “We’re proud to partner up with you. It brings another option, another opportunity for us to get a better understanding of the stresses of the occupations.” After more than 30 years in police services, Boland thought he had seen it all. Boy was he wrong … and expanded on that, describing an interaction he had with one of his officers. “I didn’t dream that I would sit across the table from a young member (and) the conversation wasn’t even really about trying to save a career, it was rather you are actually talking to a person (and) you are trying to save their life,” Boland said. “You can only imagine the kind of impact that has on coworkers. I’m not going to get into how many people are off because of it, but I will talk about this, if you are going to be a police officer and be successful, there is a few things you have to know.” From left, RNC Deputy Chief Shawn O’Reilly, Wounded Warriors Canada executive director Scott Maxwell, RNC Chief Joe Boland and Const. Nick Cashin, vice-president of the RNCA, celebrate the partnership between the organizations and the signing of a memorandum of understanding on Friday. Sam McNeish (samuel.mcneish@thetelegram.com) Published April 13, 2018 continued
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