Department of Psychology at Ryerson University – intervention for first responders with PTSD. – Ontario Municipal Fire Prevention Officer's Association

Department of Psychology at Ryerson University – intervention for first responders with PTSD.

Latest News

Landlords’ Responsibilities for Fire Safety in Ontario

April 15, 2025

Landlords’ Responsibilities for Fire Safety in Ontario: Who is Responsible for Fire Safety? According to the Fire Code, the owner of the property is responsible for carrying out its provisions. In the case of rental properties, this means the landlord is responsible for ensuring compliance with fire safety requirements. This includes installing and maintaining

Director Jason Benn’s blogpost

April 10, 2025

Making the Case for Rural Water Tank Implementation A Lifeline for Firefighting For rural properties, access to reliable water sources can make all the difference in an emergency. When wildfires or structure fires strike, having a dedicated water tank for firefighting can help protect homes, livestock, and land. Why Install a Firefighting

Upcoming Webinar: Ready, Set, Sprinkle: Activating Your Department for Home Fire Sprinklers

April 9, 2025

Be sure to join us for this insightful webinar featuring NFPA Regional Director Laura King. Learn how your department can receive funding, develop programs, participate in Home Fire Sprinkler Week, and encourage the use of home fire sprinklers in your community. The Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition Canada provides tools (and money!) for fire departments to

Submitted by Julianne Bushe, Department of Psychology at Ryerson University.

Dear OMFPOA Members,

My name is Julianne Bushe and I’m a research assistant in the Department of Psychology at Ryerson University. I’m writing because our research team has developed a free intervention for military members, veterans, first responders, and healthcare workers with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and their loved ones called Couple HOPES (www.couplehopes.com). Couples HOPES is an online, guided, self-help intervention for couples to improve PTSD and enhance relationship functioning at the same time.

Couple HOPES was developed by experts in PTSD and relationship therapies from the IMPACT Lab at Ryerson University and the TULiP Lab at York University. Both labs are committed to developing clinically relevant, original research aimed at decreasing individual PTSD symptoms, as well as improving relationships. We created this program to provide high-quality care that also overcomes the stigma associated with seeking mental health services and the logistical, economic, geographic, and social barriers to help.

Our current study testing involves freely providing our online intervention to military members, veterans, first responders, and healthcare workers with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and their romantic partners, if they are eligible.

We believe that Couple HOPES can help promote resistance, resilience, and recovery for all military members, veterans, first responders, and healthcare workers who are likely to encounter a serious traumatic event or critical incident.

Collaboration between our two groups can help promote Couple HOPES in order to get the intervention and help, to those who may need it in order to improve their quality of life.

Does this seem like something you may benefit from?

I’ve attached a flyer here that provides more information about the study, and people who are interested can also visit our website (www.couplehopes.com) or watch these 1-minute and 30-second video clips here to learn more.

Couple HOPES Frequently Asked Questions to share with anyone you believe may require more information on Couple HOPES

Best wishes,
Julianne Bushe
Research Assistant – Couple HOPES
IMPACT Lab, Department of Psychology, Ryerson University

| (e) jbushe@ryerson.ca | (w) IMPACT Lab Website | (w) Couple HOPES Website