New outpatient program puts trauma help for first responders front and centre

Paramedic Natalie Harris was among the first responders called to a Barrie hotel in May 2012where two women were found brutally killed. The murderer, she says, was her patient.

For years,Harris had been using alcohol along with prescription and over the counter drugs to self medicate. But after that night, she saysthings got worse.

"Things really sort of came crashing down in 2012," she told CBC News. After the incident, she says sheended up in the hospital for an overdose and even tried to commit suicide.

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She didn't know it then but says she laterlearnedshe'd been suffering frompost-traumatic stress disorder.

Increase in first responders seeking help

Two years aftervisiting the murder scene, Harris saysshe got help at theHomewoodHealth Centre for mental illness and addiction inGuelph.

That wasbefore the Ontario government passed legislation that recognizedPTSDas a work-related illness for police, firefighters and paramedics.Since it passed this past April, specialists atHomewoodHealth Centre say they've seen an increase in first responders seeking help.

They say it's partially due to the fact that first responders don't have to prove that theirPTSDis related to their job.In the past, injured first responders needed to prove their diagnosesstemmed froma workplace injury in order to access benefits from the Workplace Safety andInsurance Board (WSIB).

The higher demand for treatment has prompted the organizationto open a new outpatient program inMississaugathat primarily caters to first responders.

The program offers access tospecialists from psychologists to occupational therapists, isgroup based and treatment is multiple hours per day.

'I wasn't taught about what PTSD is'

Psychologist AnnMalain, the company's executive vice-president,says the approachis a good option for those who don't want or need to stay in a facility for long periods of time.

"PSTD really disrupts a person's sense of self and ability to trust anything around them," says Malain.

"People kind of say in general society, 'Oh, I'm depressed' and people kind of understand what that means. There's not thekind of language in general society [to say]I'm experiencing PTSD."

But even in the healthcare field itself,Harris says, that literacy is lacking.

"I do know that a lot of my colleagues, we use alcohol to help us cope just basically with the stresses of our career," said Harris. "I wasn't taught about whatPTSDis. We didn't talk about it."

MalainsayswaitlistsforPTSDprograms at the health centre can be as long as four to five months. Through thenew outpatient program, though,she says first responders can be assessed and start receivingtreatmentthe next day.

The new program isn't covered byOHIP. The clinic set to open in November.