Project 459499

There are over 350,000 Public Safety Personnel (PSP) in Canada, including fire, police, RCMP, paramedic, corrections, search and rescue, among other PSP occupations. Urgent attention has been called to the mental health needs of PSP, given the stress related to their occupations, and the stigma many PSP face in seeking help. Preventing suicide is one priority area, especially services that can intervene to provide support during crisis or distress. There is a national crisis line for suicide prevention, the Canada Suicide Prevention Service (CSPS), but little is known about whether PSP seek support on the CSPS, or on other crisis lines, and about whether it is helpful to them. We are proposing to engage with PSP organizations and individuals living across Canada to understand what they need and want in a crisis line service. We will use town hall style meetings, interviews, and a national survey, to begin to ask those questions. In a later phase of the project we will review calls to the CSPS to hear what PSP needed, and how crisis line responders supported them. We will also interview PSP across many PSP occupations. In the final phase of the project we will work with PSP to create solutions that will make it more likely that PSP will reach out for support. Another important part of our project is to create a team and supports that will also help other researchers to ask additional questions about this important priority area. We are calling this the RESPond Hub for Research in Suicide Prevention for Public Safety Personnel. Through regular meetings, and by connecting with stakeholders, we will ensure that priority research is carried out, and that it can have a real-world impact as quickly as possible.