The Calgary Police Service is offering mental health support to its members after an officer took her own life early Saturday morning. The suicide was one of four within the ranks of CPS in the last 25 years, police said.
“Police officers are human beings and we come with all the frailties that human beings come with. We suffer stress in our family life and in our work life the same as every other citizen does,” Superintendent Nina Vaughan said Monday, who added CPS members are processing the tragedy in different ways.
“I think it’s sad anytime anybody feels such a lack of hope that this is the option they choose. …Some people get angry because we didn’t see it, or we didn’t know, or we weren’t able to do more to stop it. Some people are just incredibly saddened the loss of such a young life in such a way. It’s just incredibly tragic.”
Police said the “crisis” started at around 9 p.m. Friday night, when the woman was off duty.
“Commanders quickly responded to invoke all available resources, however, in the end the officer took her own life,” police said in a release.
READ MORE: Workplace insurance and John Wayne syndrome – tackling PTSD in first responders
The major crimes section is investigating, and the file will be reviewed by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) upon completion of the investigation.
“One life lost to suicide is too many. Although it is a rare occurrence in our service, it is important to recognize the impact such a loss will have on all of us.”
READ MORE: 8 deaths so far in 2016 – Canada’s first responder PTSD crisis
Calgary cognition and emotion specialist Dr. Jennifer Primmer treats individual members within the Calgary Police Service. She said many first responders feel they don’t have anywhere to turn after traumatic experiences on the job.
Primmer said CPS has a “world-renowned peer support program,” which is something she said is key in dealing with mental health issues like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“There’s only so much that clinicians can learn from a text book,” she said.
“There’s a lot of things that go into something like PTSD, especially among first responders. They can reach out and they can basically – it’s a brotherhood—they automatically have a trust with one another. They’ve been through the same things, seen the same things. So having the ability to talk with one another is extremely important.”
Calgary police are also all required to take the Road to Mental Readiness program, a Canadian Mental Health Commission program that deals with resiliency and mental health. Vaughan said it aims to normalize the conversation around mental health, and recognize how important it is for first responders.
“We have so many supports and such a wide range of supports at different levels for people to reach out, but people still have to reach out,” Vaughan said. “I had no idea I would see the things that I’ve seen when I joined.
“You can never unsee those things. And you can never unlearn them or unremember them. So they do have a cumulative effect. But we don’t know what happened in this situation, I don’t even know if it was work-related, it could’ve been personal.”
Primmer said the most important thing to keep in mind when dealing with mental health issues is that you’re not alone, and there is help. She suggested the following organizations to learn more on how to access emotional and financial help:
TEMA Conter
Badge of Life Canada
Military Minds
Involution Inc.
She said she’s noticed a shift in organization culture, but more needs to be done.
Internal support services including the psychological services branch, peer support team, victim’s assistance unit, and chaplaincy program have been engaged to support CPS members and their families.
Police said they won’t be releasing specific details in the case.
READ MORE: Is there enough mental health support for first responders?
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify that ASIRT will review the CPS investigation into the suicide, but is not completing its own investigation.
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