5/6/2025
11:30 AM - 2:00 PM ATL


Location: The Hollis Halifax, 1649 Hollis St, Halifax, NS B3J 1V8


Registration ends on 5/2/2025
There are currently 57 spots remaining out of 60

The DRI Canada Board of Directors is pleased to host a free professional development lunch in Halifax, May 6, 2025 for certified professionals. Non-certified professionals welcome for a small registration fee.

"Health, Leaders, and Action: Working in Public Safety" features Dr. Rose Ricciardelli as she shares her research on the critical connection between leadership and mental health in public safety. 

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Presentation Description:

In this session, I’ll begin by exploring the evolving understanding of posttraumatic stress injuries (PTSI) as reflected in Public Safety Canada's original “Action Plan” and its recent renewal. From there, we’ll shift focus to an often-overlooked area: the mental health of leaders within public safety sectors.

I’ll share insights from a unique collaborative leadership initiative where public safety leaders came together to chart a path forward in supporting healthier leadership. Our goal was to conduct a systematic review on the mental health and wellness of public safety service leaders—but we quickly discovered a gap. Most existing research focuses on what leaders do, not what they need.

In response, we synthesized the available literature and highlighted emerging patterns. We found that leadership research tends to frame leaders as responsible for creating and sustaining a culture of mental health—yet rarely recognizes them as individuals who also need support. Drawing on the lived experience of our working group, we shed light on the unique challenges public safety leaders face: professional isolation, high-stakes decision-making, political pressure, and emotional strain.

Ultimately, we argue that to lead effectively and support the wellness of their teams, leaders must first have their own health needs acknowledged and addressed through tailored interventions.

I’ll close the session by sharing accessible and meaningful strategies for self-care—practical ways leaders can reconnect with their own sense of wholeness and well-being.

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Dr. Rosemary Ricciardelli is Professor (PhD) in the School of Maritime Studies and Research Chair in Safety, Security and Wellness at Memorial University's Fisheries and Marine Institute. The winner of the 2023 International Corrections and Prison Association’s Research Excellence Award, the Canadian Sociological Association’s Angus Reid Applied Researcher Award, and the President’s Award for the International Community Justice Association in 2024. Ricciardelli was also elected to the Royal Society of Canada and is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Her research centers on evolving understandings of gender, vulnerabilities, risk, and experiences and issues within different facets of the criminal justice system and among mariners. She has published 18 books, 310+ journal articles and 75+ chapters all in the areas of police, firefighting, correctional workers, public safety communicators, and criminalized persons, and wellness – broadly defined. As a sex and gender researcher, her interests lay in the social health, identity construction, and lived experiences of individuals. She leads a longitudinal study on the mental health and well-being experiences of correctional officers employed by Correctional Services Canada and has participated in correctional officer training with Correctional Services Canada. 
 

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