Unburdened by false humility, postmodern trauma activists claim to have understood for the first time what drives all of human suffering
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CATEGORY: CONTROL OF LANGUAGE AND IDEAS  Megan McElheran, Psy.D., psychologist, founder of Before Operational Stress Source: Newswires EIN press release Read time: 2.0 minutes This Happened A press release on June 24, 2024 announced that the leadership of a Los Angeles-based emergency medical ambulance service had been trained in the Trauma Informed Leadership Program, hailing it as a milestone as the first EMS company in southern California to complete such a program. Who Did This? Before Operational Stress (BOS) provided the Trauma Informed Leadership Program training. Founded by psychologist Megan McElheran, they are a private company based in Calgary, Canada. Believing the world is in the midst of a mental health epidemic, BOS tailors their training products to public safety personnel and first responders. BOS provides pre-recorded videos, live presentations, and support programs for employees. The Trauma Informed Leadership Program costs $500 per person. The Premise The premise of the BOS business model is that the stress encountered by first responders and law enforcement causes mental disorders. Their website asserts that 23% of public safety personnel suffer from PTSD and 50% screen positive for at least one mental disorder. The leadership program content is divided into four modules:
Analysis The Canadian government has adopted the phrase “operational stress injury” as a non-medical term for psychological problems caused by trauma exposure for military or first responders. The national Operational Stress Injury Social Support program was created in 2001. The word 'injury' was selected because it was believed a shift in language away from mental disorders— posttraumatic stress disorder, major depression, and anxiety—would persuade individuals to seek help more readily. The company’s assertion on their home page that 50% of public safety personnel have mental health conditions from workplace stress is wildly higher than the normal population. This misinformation comes from a single survey with major flaws [1]. Survey respondents were a self-selected sample of less than four percent of Canada’s public safety personnel. The participants knew they were selected for being public safety personnel and they may have been motivated to register their perceptions of workplace stress. This finding contrasts with most other literature that has found first responders to be an especially resilient population. For example, a literature review of police officers exposed to trauma events found rates of probable PTSD closer to 7% [2]. An analysis of their year-long program for public safety personnel was unconvincing. Only 19 participants completed measures six months after the program out of a possible 203. Small, statistically significant improvements were found in PTSD, quality of life, stigma, and perceived social support. They failed to find improvements in depression, anxiety, stress, alcohol use, emotional regulation, and resilience [3]. Why Is This Happening? While the Before Operational Stress group has adopted some of the trauma-informed movements' branding language, they seem to have embraced a lite-version of the ideology: Their website is not filled with the trauma-informed misinformation that toxic stress and ACEs damages brains. It is a concern, however, that they promote the theory that humans are highly malleable to life stress. Evidence continues to mount that programs built on that notion are not very helpful for people who need help the most. REFERENCES [1] Carleton RN, Afifi TO, Turner S, Taillieu T, Duranceau S, LeBouthillier DM, et al. (2018). Mental disorder symptoms among public safety personnel in Canada. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 63:54–64. doi: 10.1177/0706743717723825 [2] Regehr C, Carey MG, Wagner S, Alden LE, Buys N, Corneil W, et al. (2021). A systematic review of mental health symptoms in police officers following extreme traumatic exposures. Police Practice and Research 22(1):225-239 doi: 10.1080/15614263.2019.1689129 [3] Stelnicki AM, Jamshidi L, Fletcher AJ, Carleton RN (2021). Evaluation of Before Operational Stress: A program to support mental health and proactive psychological protection in public safety personnel. Frontiers in Psychology 12:511755. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.511755 Like Trauma Dispatch? You can subscribe to our email notices of new posts on this page. Comments are closed.
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