Fleming College

Peterborough ON – (March 7, 2014) – Fleming College’s Police Foundations program is leading the way in Ontario in providing specialized mental health training for its students through a new, innovative course.

Developed by faculty member Ralph Ashford along with Police Foundations program coordinator Joseph Hays, Mental Health Strategies in Policing addresses the issue of officers on duty responding frequently to mental health calls for service as well the fact that on-the-job duties involve incidents that result in mental health issues for the officer, commonly post-traumatic stress disorder. The curriculum also examines the relationship between mental health and the student, as both a member of the community and as a candidate for policing.

“The idea for the course came from a realization that mental health issues are very problematic for the police, and it wasn’t receiving enough attention in the curriculum in the existing Conflict Management course,” says Ashford. This led him to further research police training and mental health issues for a master’s thesis.

“That spurred me on even more when I learned how inconsistent and minimal that training was across Canada,” Ashford says. “To the best of our knowledge, no other college is offering a similar course. Fleming is leading the way on this type of learning experience.”

The course is 45 hours and will be offered in the third semester of the program. For more information on the course and Fleming’s Police Foundations program, visit www.flemingcollege.ca/programs/police-foundations.

The Mental Health Strategies in Policing course was officially launched as part of an event hosted by the Canadian Mental Health Association Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge at Fleming College’s Sutherland Campus today, March 7.

The event was held to raise awareness of Clara’s Big Ride for Bell Let’s Talk, which begins March 14, spans 110 days and will cover 12,000 kilometres through every province and territory.  Clara’s Big Ride will visit 95 communities, connecting Canadians to the cause of mental health and other supports available. CMHA HKPR was chosen as a community champion and Peterborough is one of these 95 communities.

For more information on Clara’s Big Ride coming to Peterborough, please visit: http://www.cmhahkpr.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Claras-Big-Bike-Ride-CMHA-HKPR-Press-Release.pdf.

Located in the heart of Central Ontario, Fleming College has campus locations in Peterborough, Lindsay, Cobourg and Haliburton. Named for famous Canadian inventor and engineer Sir Sandford Fleming, the college features more than 100 full-time programs in Arts and Heritage, Community Development and Health, Continuing Education, Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, General Arts and Science, Justice and Business, and Skilled Trades and Technology. Fleming College has more than 5,900 full-time and 10,000 part-time students, and more than 65,000 alumni.

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For more information
Laura Copeland
Communications Officer
laura.copeland@flemingcollege.ca
705.749.5530 x 1370