Former Winnipeg firefighter calls for easier access to mental health care

The flag flies at half mast at Fire Station 1, where Preston Hein Bigner worked. The firefighter’s death by suicide has sparked calls for more mental health supports. Help is available, but accessing it can be difficult, according to former firefighter Josh Clawson. He was a peer support coordinator for the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service and still teaches a mental health readiness program. There is hope, but the the pathway to find it isn’t always as clear as I would like it to be, close friends and colleagues told CBC News. Hein Bigner was living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder before his death. Clawson was also diagnosed and treated for PTSD just before leaving firefighting in 2020. He says he didn’t know he was unhealthy until seeing a psychologist and speaking about a suicide call early in his career. What I thought was normal was not healthy, and I think that’s that’s the similar story for a lot of firefighters and paramedics and 1st responders, Clawson says. It’s not necessarily the fires, but the nature and repetition of helping other people in crisis. That takes a toll. The WFPS says those calls have been increasing. The number of total psychological claims made through the Workers Compensation Board for paramedics and fire paramedics rose to climbing to 236 in 2021, before falling in 2022 to 214 and 201 claims last year, according to data from the department. The WFPS has a behavioral health unit made-up of a nurse and clinical psychologist. One of the factors it says that may be behind the recent drop in psychological claims. United Firefighters of Winnipeg president Tom Bilis says the addition in 2021 of a behavioral health unit for the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service is a positive step. But Bilis says the unit needs to be expanded to make sure its members can access care in a timely fashion. They’re struggling in some dark we’re learning in some dark places, troubled minds behind the scene. So by the time they reach out, they may not have three weeks or a month or or six weeks or what not to see a psychiatrist or psychologist. Carlton is a clinical psychology professor at University of Regina who specializes in research and treatment for first responders. He says they’re exposed to hundreds if not thousands of traumatic events over their careers. You’re seeing an increase in the challenges that they’re facing. And so as a result of that, we have every reason to believe that if you increase the demand and increase the risk, that’s going to increase the the propensity for injury, which means we’re going to need to provide more supports. Clawson says his former employer is moving in the right direction, but he knows people are still struggling and more needs to be done. The behavior health unit is a good thing if you can make sure that you have very clear paths that when people recognize they have an issue that they can get treatment quickly, the cost is not a barrier, that the pathways are obvious. The WFPS says once someone goes to the unit, they may be referred to its lead clinical psychologist or an outside clinician for an assessment, treatment or therapy. Josh Crabb, CBC News, Winnipeg.