THUNDER BAY – A picnic was held on Sept. 11 for the staff of the Thunder Bay District Jail, the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre, and the Thunder Bay Probation and Parole Divisions as well as their families.
"The premise of the event is we wanted to get everybody together to have fun,” said Bryan Tucker, a sergeant with the Thunder Bay District Jail. “But more importantly, we wanted to get the Community support boosts, which you'll see behind us, together on site to deliver information and get that discussion going on operational stress, injuries in the workplace.”
Sunday’s event, which was organized by the Thunder Bay District Jail’s Health and Wellness Committee, was the first in what Tucker hopes to be an annual event.
“The mental health of the officers and the people who work in these areas is so important,” he said. “And knowing what those services are available to them and getting that information to them is sort of what we're looking at doing today.”
The event featured food vendors, demonstrations from the tactical team and support information booths and live music.
“We have our correctional officer cover band Venom on stage right now and, yeah, we're having fun today,” said Tucker.
Tucker says that beyond providing support information for staff and families, the purpose of the event is to give staff who often work in a stressful environment, a chance to relax.
"It was really important to get us out of the institution and get our families together just to interact and do these positive things, far too often, you know, we're stuck into the stressful environments of work,” he said.
“So today our focus is on the positives and getting some information out for family support, officers support, and all that front-line support.”
