UFFW has always put an emphasis on mental health wellness. In 2015, after successful lobbying, Manitoba became the first province in the country to recognize PTSD as a job-related compensable injury through presumptive legislation. We also created and ran a series of information videos with our PTSD talk series on our website.
Secondly, in 2020 we successfully negotiated a provision in our Collective Agreement where our members can receive funding assistance to attend the IAFF Center of Excellence or other IAFF recognized affiliates. More recently, we created a UFFW Mental Health Committee. The goals and objectives of this committee are to identify, engage and collaborate with subject matter experts with the objective of increasing the availability of mental health resources for active and retired UFFW members. UFFW is committed to one day having the ability to ensure that any member struggling will be able to access the right resources and return to a state of wellness as quickly as possible. We continue to collaborate with politicians from all levels of government, mental health professionals, and our most valuable peer support program towards providing a multilayered “net” for any members who may find themselves in need. We also support our station fitness initiatives. We are involved in the selection and purchase of cardio and weights/resistance equipment, support healthy meal choices and encourage daily station exercise.
