OSI-CAN Town Hall Meeting

Good Day,
I want to take a few minutes to invite you or a representative from your organization to join us
for an informative session about OSI-CAN Alberta, a program of the Canadian Mental Health
Association. OSI-CAN is a simple concept for providing community-based mental health support
for our veterans, first responders, and front-line staff.
What: Town Hall Meeting.
Where – 258 Gregoire Dr
When – 14 April 2022 1900hrs – 2030 hrs

Refreshments and snacks will be provided.

OSI-CAN is a peer-led initiative of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), developed
in 2016 in Saskatchewan in response to several OSI/PTS-related events amongst first
responders. In 2020, OSI-CAN was introduced in Alberta as a named project of the CMHA
Alberta Division through a formal partnership. This initiative was built, developed, and led by
lived experience veterans and first responders like myself, who realized a need to create a
community-based support system that could integrate with the many layers needed to support
one’s mental health or that of their family.
OSI-CAN groups are carefully developed to create “wrap-around” support, develop better
mental health literacy, and promote recovery by offering accessible, consistent environments
where participants feel validated, empowered and supported. A big part of our groups is helping
participants build their confidence to seek more help, whether through their clinician,
organization, or self-directed recovery. We have trained trauma-informed facilitators who utilize
psychologically safe environments to host consistent group meetings in communities around
Alberta, including here in Fort McMurray.
Each group facilitator is a lived-experience peer, not a therapist, but a friendly, experienced
peer. OSI-CAN groups are designed to positively model recovery and navigate mental health
challenges, such as OSI and PTS. Where a need exists outside our purview, our organization
and facilitators are expected to make a referral or advocate for a participant of our program to
seek organizational or clinical support. The idea is that if we hold space for people to give them
a consistent spot to be heard, we are there to help them overcome many of the deeply
engrained barriers that exist for us as veterans and first responders and front-line staff.

OSI-CAN provides environments where we don’t ruminate in trauma; we don’t trauma bond;
instead, we use our collective experiences to understand how trauma has affected us, where
our mental health is, and seek out the best resources to support participants regardless of what
organization provides it.
We also offer what I will call value-added services, access to accredited service dogs,
practitioner-led equine programs, evidence-based resiliency training (Resilient Minds for Fire
Fighters), access to first responder-specific research projects (through the University of Alberta:
HiMARC), and options for re-employment (through WCB and Prospect) should work as a
military member or first responder no longer be a viable option.
The idea of the town hall is to invite you and anyone else that you think might find value in
hearing about us so that we can discuss the program, how we may integrate with your
organizational supports, allow Q&A and hear your feedback about what your organization may
need to support and promote a program such as ours.
I hope you find value in this, and we would be grateful to see you or someone from your
organization attend this event to learn more.
If you are interested in attending, RSVP directly to osicanask.ftmcmurray@gmail.com
If you or your team have additional questions, please feel free to reach out to me directly.

Stay well,
Mike Skinner, BappBus: ES, ACP
Provincial Coordinator
OSI-CAN Peer Initiative
780-722-2902
MSkinner@osi-can-ab.ca