Mental health conference to focus on first-responders, doctors, transit employees

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The provincial government announced last week that it will host a conference next year on job-related traumatic mental stress that will bring together first-responders, nurses, emergency physicians and transit employees to share their experiences.

The Ministry of Labour says the conference will build on the findings from a roundtable that looked at high-risk workplaces and were released last week.

The Roundtable on Traumatic Mental Stress was launched by the Ontario government in 2012 to help alleviate mental stress in workplaces.

“We know that certain occupations have more occurrences of traumatic mental stress than others, and that some sectors have developed best practices,” said Labour Minister Kevin Flynn. “Our goal is for this conference to engage various sectors to find effective methods to prepare workers and employers for potential stress, and to provide tools to help respond to potentially traumatic situations and re-integrate workers who have suffered from traumatic mental stress back into meaningful work.”

“It is essential that, together, we end stigma, break down barriers and ensure our first responders, and all workers, get the mental health care and accommodation at work — with the proper tools in place to identify and respond effectively to issues of operational stress injuries,” said Ottawa-Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi, minister of community safety and correctional services.