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TTC Peer Support Program Helps Workers Suicide in the Metro
Liam Casey, The Canadian Press | Posted Friday July 6th, 2018
Kevin Freeman was driving a train to Toronto's Bloor Station when a man dressed in black broke into the crowd and jumped on the tracks.
It was 9:45 am on June 26, 2008.
"There was" I could not stop the train, "says the 52-year-old man who witnessed two suicides during his Subway operator career of the Toronto Transit Commission.
He remembers ringing the bell at the back of the train to keep the doors closed, then pick up the radio and say to his colleague, "We just had a jumper."
The first three weeks after The incident was bad, says Freeman in an interview. He slept little and could not calm his anxiety.
"I tried to do grocery shopping and I had to run outside the store because I had a panic attack," remembers there.
When he finally saw a therapist, he was told his feelings. were normal after a traumatic experience.
"It was then that it would have been nice to hear someone who lived it," he says
Two years later, when the TTC has launched a call to start a peer experiment. support group to help workers who witnessed suicide on the tracks, Freeman signed. The program has since expanded to help anyone in the business struggle after traumatic experiences.
"Something good came out of something terrible," says Freeman. "I help others heal."
The idea is simple. It allows anyone to contact a list of volunteers like Freeman to speak freely, with confidentiality being a key element. And after a suicide, volunteers try to reach within 24 hours to check on their colleagues.
The program works, says TTC spokesman Stuart Green. "This allows us to make our employees connect at a much deeper level than with an advisor or someone from the outside."
Leave after such incidents have reduced by 45 percent, says Green. bridging the gap between the counseling services offered by the TTC's Employee Assistance Program and the professional badistance of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Commission of the TTC. province
. The problem came back on the scene last month after a 73-year-old man was pushed past a subway, which caused the TTC to reiterate its desire for barriers to the platform, which would cost more $ 1 billion
Until that happens, suicides on the tracks will remain a reality for the subway operators.
Now, there are 73 TTC employees, including supervisors and management, who support their colleagues across the organization. anise for any traumatic experience. They undergo three days of training, paid for by the company, for stress support related to critical incidents, ethics and guidelines.
Jason Banfield, 47, is a streetcar driver and a peer helper. He can not forget his shift on November 23, 2003. It was a gray and rainy day when he was driving his tramway south along Spadina Avenue, near the bus station. Richmond Avenue West
. another way. She never saw the Banfield streetcar when he hit her and killed her.
"This has changed me as an individual," Banfield says.
He returned to work the next day, saying that it was a mistake. He struggled with anxiety, sleepless nights and vivid nightmares that tormented him for months.
"This has forced me to reevaluate life and understand how precious it is and how long can be short. He spoke to his doctor and some colleagues at work, but it was not formal as it is now. He says he was leaning on his father, who had been operating a subway for 32 years and had himself been involved in three suicides.
He therefore thought he could pay for it by joining the program
. to someone who is in the trenches with you, someone who understands subtle nuances, jargon and how things work at TTC, "he says.
"This is the kind of program that could be applied to just about any occupation on Earth. "
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