First of its kind in North America community safety protocol established in the county
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It’s an all hands-on deck proactive approach to protecting the community well-being.
On Wednesday, March 16, council chambers was packed with representatives from 15 organizations all wanting to improve resident safety through the creation and signing of the Violence, Trauma and Suicide Prevention (VTSP) Protocol.
The VTSP Protocol is built on the understanding that violence and trauma affects people directly involved and can also ripple out, causing harm to families, schools or an entire community.
Through this new initiative — believed to be the first of its kind in North America — the protocol offers training and steps for the county, local police, schools and other local and provincial partners to take during a community crisis involving violence, trauma, or suicide. Instead of working in silos, the mission will be to collaboratively work together, share information, and support residents.
“Every resident deserves to feel safe and well. By signing the protocol, we can work with our partners in new ways to create that stronger, safer community,” stated Mayor Rod Frank. “We’re proud to lead the way across Canada in this work.”
County CAO Darrell Reid, who many know started his career as a firefighter in Strathcona County, noted rather than responding to fires and medical emergencies, he came across more tragedies of suicide, domestic violence, and children trauma, which surprised him. He noted that functionally and operationally, this action-oriented protocol will make a difference in many people’s lives.
“On a personal, as well as a professional level, thinking about all of the resources that could have been brought to bear and help all of those people in all of those situations that I saw, I can’t tell you how good it feels inside to know that odds are, there are going to be answers to questions that people might have of how to bring those resources to bear and how to help those people in those situations.”
The protocol was signed by a long list of groups; AHS – Children, Youth, and Families, Addiction and Mental Health, AHS – Intensive and Urgent Services, Alberta Children’s Services, both Elk Island Catholic and Public Schools, North American Centre for Threat Assessment and Trauma Response, Sherwood Park-Strathcona County Primary Care Network, Strathcona County, and local RCMP.
“This is an evolutionary shift,” stated local RCMP Superintendent Dale Kendall. “This is important work.”
Several community partners also signed on, and those included BGC Strathcona County, Heartland Alliance Church, New Horizons School, Parents Empowering Parents Society, Robin Hood Association, Saffron Centre, Strathcona County Library, and A Safe Place.
The county’s director of Family and Support Service, Bree Claude, noted it was a huge milestone for the community. Wednesday’s protocol signing was precede by two years of behind the scenes work by those organizations.
“You’re going to continue to bring together the community in the face of unease and trauma, in what we hope is the tail-end of the pandemic. We all feel the pressures that society is under, perhaps more divisiveness and division that we have ever experienced, and collectively, you’re going to help support our people — our friends, our neighbours, our families, and our residents, who need it the most. To accomplish that, we need each other,” added Reid.
J. Kevin Cameron, executive director with the North America Centre for Threat Assessment and Trauma Response, outlined many groups want to hide behind legislation because they don’t want to collaborate, but this takes a proactive approach and could predict when difficult times are ahead based on paying attention to human behaviour. He’s provided guidance in the traumatic aftermath of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash as well as the 2021 school stabbing in Leduc. He also advised the county how to respond and provide supports following the 2018 parkade explosions.
The therapist stated by using VTSP Protocol, a system which he helped create, with any tragedy that occurs, we can actually make sense of it.
“When we can connect the dots, we can work together,” Cameron outlined. “The community is your client.”
He added that nowhere on the continent has this kind of work taken place, so that speaks to the motivation of this particular community to bolster safety and to make it a priority.
lmorey@postmedia.com
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