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Police agencies increasingly implement training programs to protect mental health. The Road to Mental Readiness (R2MR) program was designed by the Canadian military to increase mental health resilience. A version of R2MR was adapted for municipal police by the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC). The current research was designed to assess the R2MR program, as adapted and delivered by the MHCC, in a municipal police sample. Participants were 147 Canadian police agency employees (57% women) who received a single R2MR training session. Participants completed pre- and post-training self-report questionnaires, and follow-ups at 6 and 12 months. The questionnaires assessed mental health symptoms, work engagement, resiliency, mental health knowledge, and stigma. Multilevel modeling analyses assessed for within-participant changes over time. The results were consistent with other single session interventions; specifically, there were no significant changes in mental health symptoms, resilience, or work engagement (p > .05). There were small, but significant (p < .05), reductions in stigma at post-training that may facilitate help-seeking among police; relatedly, in open-ended response fields, participants commonly described the training as helpful for changing attitudes and improving communication. More engagement with the material may produce larger, sustained gains, but more published research is critically needed.

To-date, there has been no international review of mental health resilience training during Basic Training nor an assessment of what service members perceive as useful from their perspective. In response to this knowledge gap, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Human Factors & Medicine Research & Technology Task Group "Mental Health Training" initiated a survey and interview with seven to twenty recruits from nine nations to inform the development of such training (N = 121). All nations provided data from soldiers joining the military as volunteers, whereas two nations also provided data from conscripts. Results from the volunteer data showed relatively consistent ranking in terms of perceived demands, coping strategies, and preferences for resilience skill training across the nations. Analysis of data from conscripts identified a select number of differences compared to volunteers. Subjects also provided examples of coping with stress during Basic Training that can be used in future training; themes are presented here. Results are designed to show the kinds of demands facing new recruits and coping methods used to overcome these demands to develop relevant resilience training for NATO nations., (Reprint & Copyright © 2013 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.)

Introduction: Battlemind training, which improves postdeployment well-being, has been part of Canada's postdeployment Third-location Decompression (TLD) program since 2006. In 2010, a new educational program drawing on Battlemind was implemented to make it more consistent with Canada's current mental health training strategy., Methods: Subjects consisted of 22,113 Canadian personnel returning from Afghanistan via TLD in Cyprus; 3,024 (14%) received the new program. Pre-/post-training attitude and self-efficacy questionnaires assessed the impact of the training. In addition, a quasi-experimental approach used questionnaires administered at the end of TLD to compare the satisfaction, attitudes, and self-efficacy under the old vs. new program., Results: Pre-/post-training questionnaires showed medium to large positive effects of the training on targeted attitudes and self-efficacy (Cohen's d = 0.44-1.02). Participants completing the new program were more satisfied with the educational program (adjusted odds ratio = 3.2), perceived the TLD to be more valuable (odds ratio = 1.7), and had at least certain more favorable post-TLD attitudes and self-efficacy (d ranging from 0.00 to 0.29)., Conclusion: All of these findings point to the superiority of the new program. However, quasi-experimental approaches are bias-prone, and it is unknown whether these advantages will translate into meaningful improvements in well-being.

The article offers insights on upgrading the workplace support for health workers in 2024. Topics covered include the need to shift to organizational-level resilience, to move towards a dual continuum of mental health to destigmatize the issue, and to initiate engagement with health workers on matters that concern them. Also noted is the prompt recognition of health worker burnout as a systemic and universal issue.

The U.S. Defense Department partnered with the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership on effective leadership and operational practices for delivery of mental health (MH) as well as addiction services throughout the world for Service Members (SM) and beneficiaries. A Military Issues Work Group (MIWG) was established in 2011 to focus on challenges experienced by military SM and beneficiaries among countries. The MIWG found common concerns related to MH care delivery to rural and remote beneficiaries. Gaps in access to care were identified and prioritized to explore. This led to better collaboration and understanding of telemental health (TMH) practices and technology applications (apps) which increase access to care for rural and remote SMs and beneficiaries. An assessment of the number of SMs and dependents distant from MH care services in the USA was conducted, as well as an environmental scan for psychological health-focused mobile apps and TMH services geared toward SM, veterans, and beneficiaries. The MIWG is developing a compendium of existing military TMH programs and apps that address MH concerns and extant literature on use of technology to extend global access to care for military members and their families across the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]