RM of PRINCE ALBERT — It was by coincidental providence that the “Boots, Badges and Fiddlers” fundraiser for the River Valley Resilience Retreat, located in the RM of Prince Albert, fell on the weekend following the return home of local firefighters who had answered the call for assistance in battling the wildfires which threatened northern communities.
Volunteer firefighters from the Wakaw/Hoodoo Fire and Rescue, Cudworth/Hoodoo Fire and Rescue, and St. Louis Fire and Rescue joined firefighters from Buckland Fire and Rescue, Prince Albert Fire Department, North Battleford firefighters, Melfort Fire and Rescue, Humboldt Fire Department, Dalmeny Fire and Rescue, Redvers Volunteer Fire Department, Carlyle Fire and Rescue, Martensville Fire Department, Yorkton Fire Protective Services and volunteers from Oregon and Arizona in assisting the La Ronge Regional Fire Department.
Wakaw and Cudworth volunteers were initially tasked with assisting at the Hamlet of Weyakwin, providing structural protection and extinguishing flare-ups along Highway 2.
On June 2, the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency redeployed the members to La Ronge to help hold back the massive Pisew Fire threatening that community. Chief Ray Bauman said Wakaw and Cudworth members worked shifts of anywhere from two to five days, depending on personal availability, before returning home and being replaced by someone else to maintain a crew of six. In a like manner, firefighters from St. Louis Fire Department maintained a crew of five members and worked with fellow firefighters in La Ronge and in Sucker River First Nation.
Chief James Brake said the St. Louis Fire Department members were honoured to be able to help the citizens of northern Saskatchewan and work beside departments from all over the province. He also expressed gratitude to Wakaw/Hoodoo Fire and Rescue for its support in assisting with fire calls while members were deployed in the north.
River Valley Resilience Retreat is a volunteer-run organization committed to all public safety personnel, veterans and their families, through offering seasonal retreats and weekly peer-support sessions. Public safety personnel, veterans and their families often face unique challenges that can lead to stress, anxiety, and other mental health issues.
“The cumulative stress of the environment our peers work in,” RVRR states in their promotional material, “and the trauma they are exposed to on a daily basis, often result in operational stress injuries, and the resources required when something goes wrong are often hard to find. With access to professional peer support, we provide our peers the opportunity to acquire the necessary skills and tools to overcome the stresses that bring them to us and create opportunities for their healing and growth.”
Prince Albert firefighter, Jeff Reeder, co-founded the RVRR with social worker and corrections officer Michelle McKeaveney, to create a permanent, year-round, safe and secluded space for public safety personnel (PSP) and veterans to rest, relax and heal from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Operational Stress Injury (OSI).
Founded in 2019, RVRR did not open its current home south of Prince Albert until 2022. Sitting in the RM of Prince Albert, RVRR offers first responders and public safety personnel a safe place to rest and rejuvenate among their peers.
“We’re a safe place for any public safety personnel, whether it be veterans, police, fire, EMS, corrections, health-care workers or tow truck operators,” Reeder said. “Everybody that’s on the front lines.”
Nobody plans to suffer from PPTSD injuries and not everyone who goes through a traumatic event develops PTSD. Many people who witness or are involved in a traumatic event will initially feel uneasy or uncomfortable. These responses are normal, and individuals will usually recover and return to normal within a few days. Most people in North America (about 50-90 per cent) will face one or more traumatic events in their lifetime. Only a small number (around five to 10 per cent), however, will develop PTSD. Likewise, not all public safety personnel, whose jobs often expose them to trauma, will develop PTSD. However, the incidence PTS in this group is significantly higher than in the general public, possibly as high as 23 per cent. ().
“The impacts of post-traumatic stress extend beyond the individual, and can be long-lasting, affecting families, workplaces and entire communities. PTS is best understood for its prevalence among military personnel and veterans, though it has also been recognized as a significant burden among public safety personnel (PSP).” ()
Through providing peer support training, RVRR strives to promote mental wellness through education, lived experience and custom consultation. They adhere to the five fundamental beliefs of peer support work: everyone can learn and grow; people’s beliefs influence their behaviour; people think their way through life; whatever people focus on, they give power to; and life’s experiences are the most powerful teacher.
Peer support workers are uniquely suited to give insight into the experience of internalized stigma and can address the “you don’t know what it is like” response and thereby develop a relationship of trust with peers. They offer the lived experience proof of moving from hopelessness to hope and can identify the stages of recovery and offer helpful responses. Peer support workers model positive strategies to help their peer manage their own mental health concerns and share insight and methods to promote whole-life wellness.
Alongside peer support, RVRR offers Equine Assisted Learning (EAL). EAL has been academically researched and validated to improve participants’ overall well-being. It is designed to provide participants with opportunities to engage with horses in interactive sessions to foster emotional growth, wellness, and physical health by facilitating development in areas such as emotion regulation, mindfulness, cognitive restructuring, relaxation, and other behavioural changes. It is not a substitute for conventional mental health treatments for post-traumatic stress injuries and operational stress injuries.
Daniel Sundahl is a retired paramedic/firefighter who worked as an emergency worker for over 20 years. He is committed and dedicated to helping first responders navigate their profession’s unique stressors. It can be challenging to find the right therapist who understands emergency services' complexities and can “talk the lingo.” He is passionate about reducing the stigma of PTSD for first responders and uses his art to raise awareness of occupational stress injuries worldwide.
Art was part of his therapy when he was first diagnosed with PTSD. While his artwork is personal and therapeutic for him, many other people in the first responder community identify with it. Sundahl held a workshop at RVRR on post-traumatic growth before the fundraising dinner and provided some of his art books for the silent auction, saying it was nice to be part of it and be associated with the organization. He was also appreciative of the local media coverage, saying that people who may need the support may not even be aware that it is available.
Local firefighters have never experienced fighting a fire of the magnitude encountered in the north. Grassland and structural fires are completely different fires to fight. Sundahl is familiar with the physical and emotional demands of battling large forest fires, having responded to the 2016 Fort McMurray fire, nicknamed “the beast.”
“When a fire is that big … a wall of fire that is five stories high, the water is just going to evaporate and there’s not much you can do. You just have to hope for rain …. It doesn’t matter how good your fire department is, you’ll never match Mother Nature.”
RVRR has seen an increase in demand for its services. While the organization does have support from the province and donors such as the Legion Sask Command, several local Legions, including Duck Lake, firefighters’ associations and charities, they could use more financial support and awareness.
River Valley Resilience Retreat Incorporated is a registered charitable organization. Find them at and on Facebook.
