CPKN’s Network Webinar Series introduces a new learning series to help organizations build stronger, safer teams.
By Natalie Fournier
The Canadian Police Knowledge Network (CPKN) commemorated Mental Health Awareness Month by hosting its latest Network Webinar Series, Resilient First Responders: Protecting Members Through Prevention, on Tuesday, May 5, 2026.
The webinar presented the importance of individual and organizational commitment to trauma awareness, psychological safety, education, and resilience, providing a connection of these concepts to real-world operational realities through facilitated discussion.
The session was led by Lieutenant Colonel Steven Boychyn, Director of Training at Wounded Warriors Canada, and Dr. Yasmeen Krameddine, a national expert in de-escalation and resilience. Participants were guided through key concepts related to proactive approaches to member protection, with a focus on preventing risk before incidents, complaints, or investigations occur.
“Misconduct and excessive force rarely come from people who set out to cause harm. They come from good officers who were maybe running on empty …or maybe from a culture where asking for help still kind of feels like a risk,” says Dr. Krameddine. “This is not a people problem. It’s really a systems problem, and systems can be fixed. The real question isn’t how to punish failure; it’s how to prevent it. And that starts with understanding the human system underneath the badge.”
The webinar also introduced CPKN’s new learning series, Resilient First Responders. The five-part series explores building personal coping skills, fostering psychologically safe and informed workplaces, reinforcing organizational wellness goals, and equipping teams to handle stress before it becomes critical.
“Having exposure to traumatic events in police, fire, EMS, and other security roles is inevitable. It is part of the job—it’s foundational. It’s why we exist; we respond,” says LCol Boychyn. ”However, we also want to recognize that given the right sets of information and the right context, an injury resulting from that exposure is not a foregone conclusion.”
The Resilient First Responder Learning Series blends live and recorded online learning, allowing participants to access session materials at their own pace. This makes it ideal for members balancing personal and professional commitments.
Content in the series includes Core Trauma Concepts, led by Wounded Warriors Canada; Psychological Safety and Resilience for Police Organizations, which introduces the 7 Pillars of Resilience; and The Resilience Scale: A Tool for Change, which incorporates a practical framework from the Alberta Family Wellness Initiative. The series concludes with a discussion session where participants can reflect, share insights, and translate learning into action.
“We hear a lot of organizations frame mental health as a special or sort of non-essential, as-needed type thing,” says LCol Boychyn. “It is not. It really needs to be that standard essential for all.”
For more information on the Resilient First Responder Learning Series and how to register your organization for it, visit the CPKN website here. A limited time offer of a 20 per cent discount on the series is available until June 30, 2026.
The CPKN Network Webinar Series is hosted approximately six times per year and is an opportunity for police and public safety services across the country to learn about new, emerging, and topical trends in the community. The webinar collaborates with subject matter experts, police and public safety services, not-for-profit organizations, and groups to form the topics on this series.
