By Times Chronicle Staff
The Osoyoos Fire Rescue (OFR) thanked the community for supporting local firefighters this past month with “Movember”.
Movember is an annual event aimed at raising awareness of men’s health issues such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health, suicide and other struggles men face.
One of the projects being supported by the OFR is the BC First Responder Resiliency Program (FRRP), developed by the Canadian wellbeing organization, the UBC Blueprint at UBC’s Faculty of Medicine in partnership with the BC Professional Fire Fighters Association (BCPFFA), and the BC Professional Fire Fighters Burn Fund.
The peer-based program is aimed at assisting first responders to better help themselves and their fellow responders to protect or recover their resilience and well-being during routine exposure to operational stressors in their work.
The program is based on an evidence-based model developed over 15 years at UBC for military Veterans and RCMP members struggling with the residual effects of operational stress.
The member-helping-member model has been very well received by both of these groups and has helped over 600 Veterans make significant and sustained gains on measures of mental health and well-being.
It is designed to complement existing workplace and private mental health programs for First Responders.
The 3.5 day residential program brings together eight First Responder participants, with professional facilitators and two team lead First Responders who have completed the program for an intensive 34 hours of self-exploration and skill development for those looking to strengthen their operational stress competence and capacity at any stage of their career.
The program is administered by the BCPFFA and is currently a user-pay program. Participant costs are $3,000 per person for affiliate members of the BCPFFA and $5,300 for non-affiliate firefighters/out-of-town firefighters.
