- Joined
- Jan 20, 2018
- Messages
- 884
Well, I've had a strange sort of week. I went on my first official search and rescue with my team a few days ago. We were sent up a mountain in the middle of the night for a missing person call. My team leader and I found the person.
To make a long story short, the gist of it was that the subject was having a mental health problem and he was being a bit difficult, which I completely understood as I have dealt with this kind thing in my occupation for the last 25 years. For many reasons, I was forced to leave this person alone on a mountain and I knew very well, the subject was not fit to be left alone and was a high risk.
Fortunately, the subject came out with other hikers the following night, but I was super distressed about how the call was handled. I'm still a member in training and I don't want to over step boundaries or command, but in this case, I was the only one with extensive experience dealing with this kind of issue. Anyway, I spoke with a senior member of my team and I was super impressed with how they are dealing with what happened. They have acknowledged a training gap with the members and are actively taking steps to address this and get mental health training. I was so relieved. I kept thinking that if that person hadn't made it out, I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself. All in all, it was a great experience and it initiated some positive changes. YAY.
I sometimes forget that there is still a lot of fear and stigma around mental health issues.
In other news, I was at an RCMP recruiting event and I've decided to apply. It's the first time I've felt excited about a new career, since I lost my job one year ago.
To make a long story short, the gist of it was that the subject was having a mental health problem and he was being a bit difficult, which I completely understood as I have dealt with this kind thing in my occupation for the last 25 years. For many reasons, I was forced to leave this person alone on a mountain and I knew very well, the subject was not fit to be left alone and was a high risk.
Fortunately, the subject came out with other hikers the following night, but I was super distressed about how the call was handled. I'm still a member in training and I don't want to over step boundaries or command, but in this case, I was the only one with extensive experience dealing with this kind of issue. Anyway, I spoke with a senior member of my team and I was super impressed with how they are dealing with what happened. They have acknowledged a training gap with the members and are actively taking steps to address this and get mental health training. I was so relieved. I kept thinking that if that person hadn't made it out, I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself. All in all, it was a great experience and it initiated some positive changes. YAY.
I sometimes forget that there is still a lot of fear and stigma around mental health issues.
In other news, I was at an RCMP recruiting event and I've decided to apply. It's the first time I've felt excited about a new career, since I lost my job one year ago.