PSPNET Families is excited to offer an online wellbeing hub designed to support the specific yet diverse challenges faced by loved ones of public safety personnel (PSP), including spouses or significant others, parents, close friends, siblings, and adult children.
PSPNET Families is a collaboration between PSPNET, the Families Matter Research Group at Queen’s University, and the Child Trauma Research Centre at the University of Regina, with funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada, that develops and shares evidence-based mental health resources for this unique audience.
“Families matter unequivocally in their own right with experiences, needs, and issues directly and indirectly related to the occupations of the family member,” notes Heidi Cramm, Co-principal investigator of PSPNET Families, and research lead for the Families Matter Research Group.
PSPNET Families launched in July 2022 with the Spouse or Significant Other (SSO) wellbeing course, designed as a self-guided internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) program that helps spouses with low mood, worry, anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder.
With the launch of www.pspnetfamilies.ca, PSPNET Families now offers new resources with ever-expanding content and strategies for navigating their own needs. The site also offers content and strategies for family members living with PSP work requirements such as shiftwork, disrupted sleep, missed celebrations, trauma exposure and their implications on communication, problem solving, and childcare.
“Often, knowing that other people are having the same experiences, concerns, and issues can be supportive of a person’s mental health as they can know they are not alone in having the feelings they are having. One aspiration for this site is to offer visitors access to shared knowledge coming from experience, and also practical options of what they can try,” said Dr. Nathalie Reid, Co-principal investigator of PSPNET Families
“This new online wellbeing hub will help advance our goal of providing a wide range of information and strategies to help PSP loved ones in need in a free and accessible way,” said Dr. Heather Hadjistavropoulos, Co-principal investigator of PSPNET Families. “If your loved one is a PSP, you will find a wide array of materials that can help you navigate your unique life circumstances.”
To learn more about these resources and support available for PSP families, visit www.pspnetfamilies.ca
About PSPNET Families
The PSPNET Families Wellbeing Hub is developed through funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada. It provides an accessible online hub of evidence-based, trauma-informed mental health information and resources, created and delivered with a rich foundation and understanding of what it means to be “on the job” for the family members of PSP.
The PSPNET Families research team is led by Co-Principal Investigators Dr. Heidi Cramm, Dr. Heather Hadjistavropoulos and Dr. Nathalie Reid.
For more on PSPNET Families, please visit: www.pspnetfamilies.ca
About PSPNET
PSPNET is a clinical unit within the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT) based at the University of Regina and funded by the Government of Canada. PSPNET delivers services online and makes use of Internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (ICBT) programs initially developed at Macquarie University in Australia and tailored to public safety personnel (PSP). The PSPNET team includes diverse clinical staff with extensive experience specifically working with PSP.
PSPNET offers two programs: 1) the PSP Wellbeing Course for clients who have diverse mental health concerns (in self-guided and therapist-guided format); 2) the PSP PTSD Course, which is tailored to clients who are primarily concerned with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (In therapist-guided format).
The PSPNET team is led by Dr. Heather Hadjistavropoulos.
For more on PSPNET, please visit: https://www.pspnet.ca
About the Child Trauma Research Centre
The Child Trauma Research Centre (CTRC), works to actively shape the world in which we wish to live. Since its inception, it has functioned with a spirit of cooperation, working alongside stakeholder groups and across sectors to build the relationships necessary to create an innovative research program. Grounding ourselves in strength-based approaches, we continuously seek to mitigate the social and economic determinants of child trauma.
This team is led by Dr. Nathalie Reid.
For more on CTRC, please visit: www.childtraumaresearch.ca
About the Families Matter Research Group
The Families Matter Research Group (FMRG) is the primary pathway for leading research dedicated to improving the health and well-being of those connected to high-risk occupations, with a focus on the families of military, veteran, and PSP. These families are shaped by occupational risks and requirements of those jobs, and they face unique challenges related to logistics, exposure to risk, absence, and relating to the broader community. We are building a hub to engage with families and organizations to connect them to evidence-based supports and those who study, serve, and support them.
This team is led by Dr. Heidi Cramm.
For more on FMRG, please visit: http://www.fmrg.ca/
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