First responders not immune
Const. Jeremy Shaw knows first-hand the grim reality of suicide after witnessing it as a first responder and losing three of his Calgary police colleagues who took their own lives.
Shaw said the police force is struggling with suicide within its ranks and, after 16 years on the job, he believes there needs to be greater awareness for officers struggling with mental-health issues.
“If we’re broken ourselves there’s no way we are going to be able to help other people in similar situations,” Shaw said. “First and foremost, we have to keep care of ourselves and each other to make sure we provide the best service to Calgarians.”
The Calgary officer, and others, are speaking out ahead of World Suicide Prevention Day on Tuesday in an effort to crush stigma and raise awareness.
Shaw said one of the challenges officers face is drawing a strict separation between their personal and professional lives, which inhibits them from sharing personal experiences that might be negatively affecting their mental health.
“As a police officer, if you’re working with a partner in a car for 12 hours a day but you never asked about their personal life, you have no idea what’s going on that might be affecting them,” he said. “We have to bridge that gap between work and personal life because, obviously, we are all one person.”
He said the Calgary police have a range of mental-health services available, including peer support groups and counselling, but the struggle is getting officers to reach out.
According to new research by Movember, a national organization dedicated to tackling the crisis in men’s mental health, one in four Canadian men fear their job could be at risk if they discussed their mental health at work.
It also concluded 33 per cent of Canadian men worry they will be passed up for a promotion if they were open about their mental-health struggles, 42 per cent of Canadian men are concerned their colleagues would make negative comments about them if they shared their vulnerabilities and just over half of those surveyed were unaware of the ability to take mentalhealth days. The new study was conducted by Ipsos MORI and surveyed 1,000 Canadian men aged 18 to 75.
Movember spokesman Evan Connor said the statistics might startle some people but were unsurprising to him considering the nature of his work.
“Work really does have a huge impact on a man’s day-to-day operations, so if things aren’t going well and they don’t feel comfortable talking about it, they do tend to get progressively worse,” said Connor.
According to Movember, three out of every four suicides are men, and it is the biggest cause of death for men under the age of 44. The group said risk factors that increase a man’s vulnerability to mental-health struggles and suicide include relationship breakdown, acute stress, persistent low mood and social isolation.
“The people we speak with definitely express that men and boys are often raised to get up and move on when things aren’t going too well,” Connor said. “Just starting that conversation and talking more is really important.”
To coincide with World Suicide Prevention Day, the Movember Foundation is launching the Man of More Words campaign to encourage men to normalize the oncetaboo topic of mental health and integrate it into everyday conversations at home and at work.
Both Connor and Shaw recommend people not only encourage their friends and colleagues to reach out if they need help but to actively check in with peers. “When you are the friend that reaches out, you’d be surprised at some of the conversations that can come from it,” said Connor.
If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, call 1-833-456-4566. Suicide is preventable.