Federal government announces $28M for mental health initiatives for front-line workers

The Public Health Agency of Canada has announced money to improve mental health support systems for front-line and public safety workers that have suffered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

On Monday, federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Carolyn Bennett joined dignitaries and researchers at the University of Regina to announce $28.2 million for nine research initiatives. 

"This is applied research. So people are getting care while it's being studied," said Bennett. 

"This is an ongoing iterative process... of getting better and better and better." 

Bennett said front-line and essential workers have sacrificed a lot to keep Canadians healthy and safe throughout the pandemic.

Monday was designated as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Awareness Day. 

The $28 million will be split between nine different research projects, with five of them led by professors and researchers at the University of Regina. 

Those five projects will get $20 million of the funding, making it the largest one-time funding announcement in the school's history, U of R president Jeff Keshen said. 

Nicholas Carleton, scientific director of the Canadian Institute of Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT) at the University of Regina, said COVID-19 has had a dramatic effect on front-line workers. 

"Research that we've seen so far is demonstrating that there's actually vast numbers of them that are considering leaving their professions," Carleton said. "We're also seeing huge reductions in the number of people who are choosing already to sign up to join these professions."

He said he believes the new funding will help reverse both of those trends.

The projects receiving funding include:

• $2.8 million in funding for CIPSRT to to facilitate the creation of a knowledge development and exchange hub.
• $2.1 million in funding for CIPSRT to help create PSPNET Families, a virtual wellbeing hub for the families of public safety and front-line workers.
• $9 million for CIPSRT to help evaluate the Before Operational Stress program, which is meant to support 103,00 public safety personnel and health care workers who are regularly exposed to psychologically traumatic events.
• $3.7 million for CIPSRT to implement, scale-up and test the OnCall and OnCall Support apps, meant to facilitate peer support for public safety workers across Canada.
• $2.1 million for CIPSRT to expand access to enhanced training for front-line public safety personnel. 
• $2.9 million for McMaster University's healthcare salute service project.
• $1.5 million for McMaster University's Beyond Silence project, which will create, implement and evaluate a mobile mental health app.
• $1.1 million in funding to expand Canadian Mental Association's resilient minds program to Indigenous and Francophone firefighters.
• $2.8 million in funding to the Lawson Health Research Institute's adaptation of the Department of National Defence's road to mental readiness program for health care workers in Canada.