Grant: Catalyst Grant: PTSI among PSP workers

Correctional officers (COs) are responsible for the care, custody and control of people in prison. The job is hard and can be traumatic. A recent study has found that COs have the highest rates of mental disorders of all public safety employees, more than police officers, firefighters and paramedics. Correctional Services Canada's new recruits go through a 13-week training course covering several different things that might happen on the job. However, nobody has ever looked at if the training effectively prepares the recruits for the job, and if recruits understand what the trainers tried to teach them. We plan to go through the 13-week training course with the recruits and work with the trainers - something that has never been done before. We will learn what the trainers aim to teach and whether recruits are actually learning these lessons from the training course. We will also see if people who have worked in prisons before learn things differently than people who are starting their jobs in prisons for the first time. Then, we want to see if the training needs to change to make sure recruits are ready for the job. To do this two researchers will take the 13-week training course to see what a recruit learns. Two other researchers will look at the training course materials to see what CSC wants the trainers to teach. We will talk to the trainers to see what they teach, and survey recruits to see what they've learned. When we are finished the course, we will all come together to see if the training is working and if not, what might be missing. We will also suggest future changes to the training. This whole project should take one year. When it is done, we will be able to help CSC know how well their training course is preparing new recruits for their new jobs. This is important because we hope this will help improve the mental health of the recruits. We need to understand how we can train new recruits so that they are ready for what might happen to them at work.