CFSMI has been committed to incorporating Health Promotion programming into their demanding training schedule because it is an operational priority.
Ms. Twila Letain is the Training Coord/Coord Instr at CFSMI. We thank Ms. Letain for sharing her perspective and experience incorporating prevention education into career courses.
Why is prevention education incorporated into your training schedule?
We have incorporated R2MR (Road to Mental Readiness) and AODGGA to our Intelligence Operator – DP 1.2 and our Intelligence Officer – Basic Intelligence Officer Course, to ensure our students have as many resources possible as they embark on their first career course. As much as it is our responsibility to ensure they have been taught the foundations of their profession, it is equally important that they have mental strategies to cope with the stresses they will encounter, throughout their career.
What outcomes do you see as a result of providing this information to members?
After speaking with the course staff, they informed me that these briefings often help open dialogue between students, especially between newly enrolled students, and those who have occupationally transferred from other CAF trades. The information provided, is particularly impactful to our newly enrolled students, as many of them are learning to manage their life without the immediate support of their families for the very first time.
What else would you like to share with other training or leadership teams? We have scheduled these briefings during the first week of our courses so that the skills & awareness they garner from this training can be drawn from throughout the course, especially given that our courses are structured to significantly increase in complexity and get more difficult as the weeks progress. The PSP staff have always made themselves available to our school whenever we’ve asked for their support, it is as easy as filling out a form and hitting the submit button.