Volunteer emergency responders in Nova Scotia to receive more mental health support

A new pilot program provides Nova Scotia’s volunteer firefighters and volunteer search and rescue technicians in that province with access to mental health support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Nova Scotia Firefighter and Ground Search and Rescue Volunteer Assistance Program gives first responders and their families access to wellbeing and health services like family and personal counselling, stress management and dietary guidance.

“Over the last few years, Nova Scotians have called on our volunteer firefighters and ground search and rescue volunteers like never before,” said Brian Comer, the province’s minister of addictions and mental health. 

“They are there for us on our worst days,” he said. “This new program is one way we can be there for them when they need us.”

The province’s roughly 6,000 volunteer firefighters and 1,200 ground search and rescue volunteers can access the service anytime using a designated phone number.

The service will run as a two-year pilot program in partnership with Telus Health and is expected to cost $75,000.

Government officials hope it will lead to a better understanding of the mental health needs of volunteer first responders.

Greg Jones, president of the Fire Service Association of Nova Scotia, said firefighters in the province have experienced “a few very rough years” and welcomed the new support program.

The Maritime province saw its worst-ever wildfire season in 2023; firefighters responded to 220 fires, which destroyed more than 25,000 hectares and about 200 homes.

“Nova Scotians who volunteer to be firefighters do so because they want to help their neighbours, friends and family,” Jones said. 

“They do this often without thinking about the potential for physical and emotional injury.”

The services are similar to those offered through employee and family assistance programs for career first responders, said Comer.

Volunteer first responders in Nova Scotia can also access PSPNET, a free online service providing mental health and wellbeing support to public safety personnel experiencing challenges related to anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress.

More than 70 per cent of Canadian firefighters, about 90,000, are volunteers, according to a 2022 report from the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs. About 34 per cent of those volunteers will experience mental health symptoms, three times the rate of the general public.