This Saturday, hundreds of Canadians will hit the road for the Wounded Warriors National Ride for Mental Health.
The ride raises funds and awareness for several of the organization’s mental health programs for trauma-exposed professionals. That includes veterans and first responders, as well as others on the front lines and their families.
“The dispatchers, the call-takers, the file managers with the police, there are a number of people that serve the community,” Steven Boychyn from Wounded Warriors said. “We wanted to acknowledge that not all trauma-exposed professionals actually wear a uniform.”
One of the main programs that Wounded Warriors offers is its Trauma Resiliency Program.
“It is a two-part program that is clinically created to take traumatic injuries, operational stress injuries, PTSD, others as they get classified clinically, and they transform them from these traumatic injuries into memories,” Boychyn said.
“It’s not like we’re curing anything or we’re making events or things disappear,” he said, comparing it to if you broke your leg. “If a doctor took an X-ray of my leg, they would always see that there at one point was a fracture there, but I’ve healed from my broken leg in the same way.”
Wounded Warriors National Ride for Mental Health.
Courtesy: Wounded Warriors
One of the riders who will take on the challenge this weekend is Ian Norman, a first responder for nearly 25 years. His grandfathers were both active military members, and his dad was with military police. He lived on bases across Canada and has seen the impacts of operational stress injuries both personally and professionally.
“I saw some of the hardships that came with moving around, base life, deployment life,” Norman said.
He first got involved with Wounded Warriors when a friend invited him to take part in a cycle tour in Europe in support of the organization.
Ian Norman on a ride through Europe in support of Wounded Warriors Canada.
Courtesy: Ian Norman
“Integrating myself into that environment really struck home for me,” he said. “I was hooked.”
He calls Wounded Warriors a family and although he hasn’t used their programming himself, he knows several others who have, and said he’s grateful it will be there if or when he needs it.
“I have to respond to some of the worst-case scenarios for everybody,” Norman said. “I have put that aside to protect the public and protect you.”
Now he is a leader in the Leduc County Fire Services and wants to make sure that those who serve with him take their own mental health seriously. He said participating in this ride is one way he’s able to do that.
“I want them to understand that I’ll protect them as much as they’re willing to protect me,” he said. “We come to a lot of accidents and situations where families are being to get torn apart.”
He said the fire services family is similar to the relationships he’s built with Wounded Warriors.
“I get help them with their journey,” he said. “In turn, they also get to help me at any time where I feel that I might have a moment or two where I have to take a step back and re-evaluate who I am or what I am.”
The Wounded Warriors National Ride for Mental Health runs Saturday, Aug. 23. You can also ride on your own or organize a ride within your own community.