So as you heard, the trauma that children experience can negatively impact their future, and if not treated or addressed it can lead to serious emotional and mental health problems, maybe that was the case with PC Edward Gonzalez ? He killed himself in front of the Queen Street Police Station last month. But no one knows for sure what Gonzalez's story was but Central Health Region Counselor Juliet Simmons discussed the impact of untreated stress and depression especially when it comes to police officers. Simmons also highlighted the importance of community support.
Juliet Simmons, Counselor - General Health Region
"Regarding PC Gonzalez, we don't know his story unfortunately. But being a police officer, we are aware of the difficult situation they faced daily. They deal with a lot of challenges, they see a lot of crimes and from what I am aware of, I am not sure of the support system that they have. Yes there is the employee assistance program, but that's available when you seek help. So what happens to the people who are not seeking help? How do we know that our police officers are talking about what they are dealing with on a daily basis? They see a lot of violence. They deal with criminals. Are they personalizing these things? Are they taking these stress home? Are they dealing with these stress at work? I don't think our culture also encourage people to talk much about work stress. Until we are all sensitize about stress and mental health and how it affects the way we work, the way we communicate, the way we feel, when we will see a major improvement."
As you heard, Simmons believes more needs to be done to help and support police officers.
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