‘There’s a huge need’: Calgary-area firefighter recognized as mental health champion
Global News
An Alberta firefighter is being recognized as a mental health champion for creating a mental health peer support program for first responders.
A firefighter in the Calgary area is getting some Canada-wide recognition for his efforts to promote mental health among first responders.
Gregg Schaalje, a firefighter with Rocky View County, has been named a mental health champion by the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment.
Schaalje was recognized for creating a mental health peer support program for firefighters and all other first responders in Rocky View County.
“It’s been unbelievable to be able to work with individuals, to cry with individuals, to be able to talk with them through a situation,” Schaalje said.
One of Schaalje’s fellow firefighters says mental health support is crucial for first responders.
“We see a lot of emergency service providers in North America committing suicide, having life-altering injuries because of situations that are created by these mental health injuries,” firefighter Devin Teal said.
Schaalje says he realized the toll of being a first responder during his first weeks as a young firefighter after he arrived at his first serious motor vehicle accident.
“It was a double fatality, with three people that were thrown from the vehicle,” Schaalje said, “and me being 21 years old, the chief decided we need to get some help in here, so he brought a psychologist in and doing that proved to be absolutely huge.