Mental health training a boon for transit peace officers
All 75 members of the squad are expected to complete the program
Transit peace officer Dee Sran recently responded to a call for a man being disruptive on a bus, yelling at the driver and other passengers for no apparent reason.
“When I got there, it was obvious he was suffering from some form of mental health problem,” Sran said. She helped him off the bus, listened as he continued to yell, calmed him and made sure he got to where he needed to go.
“That is something I’ve learned throughout the job. You just need to give (people) some time to talk. I listened. I empathized,” she said.
Such interactions are common for Sran and the other transit peace officers who patrol Edmonton’s bus and LRT system, which is why officers recently received extra training in mental health first aid.
The two-day course was developed in Australia. It has been offered under the Mental Health Commission of Canada since 2010.
John Dowds, chaplain for City of Edmonton employees, estimated 500 city staff have taken the course.
Training was offered four years ago to supervisors with Edmonton Transit, said Jennifer Laraway, spokeswoman for Edmonton Transit Service. It was extended this year to the 75-member transit peace-officer team.
Laraway said 85 per cent of the team has completed training. Several members who are away and missed training are expected to take it upon their return.
Just like physical first aid, mental health first aid is intended to be given to a person until appropriate treatment is found.
The training course teaches people to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental illness, provide initial assistance, and guide a person toward appropriate professional help.
“Part of the whole program is to try to de-stigmatize mental illness, in the sense that it’s not a weakness. It’s not something we need to cover up,” said Dowds, who became a mental health first aid trainer in 2012.
While City of Edmonton employees in a range of jobs have been trained, Dowds said it makes sense to offer the course to front-line staff, such as transit peace officers.
“The greater the understanding they have around those issues, the better they can manage when it comes up,” he said.
Sometimes it’s obvious when a person is experiencing a mental health problem, such as the man Sran responded to yelling on the bus. Other times, it’s more hidden.
Sgt. Jason Svekla, a transit peace officer since 1999, said the training course gave him a better understanding of various mental health issues.
“One thing I learned from the course is it is a lot more common. A lot more people are dealing with mental health problems than what I thought initially,” he said.
Sran, who has been on the job for 14 years, estimated she deals with one or two people every day who have a mental health problem.
For her, being around people and talking with them is what she enjoys most about the job.
She was patrolling an LRT platform when a teenager approached her and told her how he was bullied in school.
“It was obvious he just needed someone to listen,” she said.
Before the conversation finished, she provided him with phone numbers for resources available if he needed to again to speak to someone.
Transit Peace officers are there to help people, Svekla said, whether that means getting passengers from point A to B safely, or connecting them to resources they need.