Welcome to BOTG!
I want to welcome you to Boots On The Ground and thank you for choosing our organization to
volunteer your time to help out your fellow First Responders. We appreciate your commitment
and do not take it lightly.
BOTG was started in 2016. A Steering committee of 23 PRP officers and two people from PSHSA
started meeting monthly to form a program that would help First Responders with PTSD and
other stress related issues. We spoke with psychologists, social workers, experienced peer
supporters and most importantly, the voice of our customer, First Responders with PTSD.
The overwhelming consensus was that if they had a confidential place to talk to someone early
on in their journey, it would have made the world of difference. This is what we base our
service delivery model on. We provide 24/7 peer support to all First Responders across Ontario
including Police, Fire, EMS, Corrections and Nurses. This includes retired and serving, front line
and civilian.
Since our launch we have answered over We are now over 1700 calls with 29 interventions
with suicidal callers. It has proven invaluable to provide anonymous 24/7 live peer support and
that is what we are becoming known for. We are the only organization in Ontario that offers
these services in these ways. We also offer in person visits in the GTA and other areas in the
province.
Once you are trained and answering the phone lines you don’t have to sit in a call center, you
use your cell phone from your home. Prior to answering the phones, you will receive 2 days
Peer Support Training, 2 day of Asist Suicide prevention and our on-line in-house training.
You will also be provided a handbook for easy reference.
We will be with you every step of the way to make sure you are successful. We have people
available all the time to provide advice and support. We are a team here and everyone helps
each other out.
At BOTG we are always striving for excellence and improvement. We offer a number of
continuous learning courses for you including the original courses plus, mental health first aid,
bereavement, FBI Resiliency and compassion fatigue.
We also offer weekly wellness debrief calls, biannual group wellness debriefs, monthly drop in
calls with our clinical advisor Dr. Vivien Lee and check in calls with managers.
We have different events for our volunteers including an appreciation dinner, BBQs, monthly
gift card giveaways and more.
You are going to change the lives of First Responders with the work you do at BOTG. We know
from experience that you are going to make a huge impact on their lives and be able to help
your fellow First Responders in their times of need and sometimes in their darkest hours.
This will be some of the most rewarding and meaningful volunteer work you will ever do.
Knowing that you have helped the life of a First Responder will make you feel great and you will
be doing volunteer work with great purpose.
We are here to provide anonymous, caring and compassionate peer support to people.
With empathy, understanding and shared experiences, we can help callers though the most
difficult times.
We have a culture of caring for people at BOTG, both our BOTG family and all First Responders
across Ontario. As you answer more calls you will start to feel more comfortable and get into
your own rhythm and style. We will continue to offer you cutting-edge training and webinars to
help you become the best peer supporters you can be.
We ask that you please fulfill your commitment of two shifts per month and completing your
training and mandatory wellness initiatives. We put mandatory wellness in place to keep all of
you safe and healthy. You are already in high stress jobs and you are now taking on a high stress
volunteer position. We are committed to looking after all BOTG volunteers. We are a family
here and we help each other to succeed on calls and when providing peer support. We look out
for each other first.
We have picked you through our recruiting process because we believe you are the best of the
best. You have the skills, dedication and compassion needed and you are here for the right
reason, a strong desire to help people, your fellow First Responders. We ask that when you
commit to two shifts per month and commit to attending training, you make sure that you fulfil
these commitments. We provide all of these courses at no cost to you. BOTG pays a significant
amount of money to provide you with this training. We have to prepay for your spots on these
courses and when people do not show up for training, it needlessly costs the organization
money that has been hard earned through fundraising. We also ask that when you are emailed
by our trainers, you respond in a timely fashion as they are volunteers as well and they are
organizing courses for you in their spare time.
At BOTG we strive for continual improvement. We have gone from a small number of
volunteers to 165 volunteers across the province. We started with peer support and have now
added the psychologist funding program and the PTSD service dog program. With you, we will
continue to grow and improve.
We try to communicate with all of our volunteers on a regular basis with emails and
newsletters. This is a two-way street and our managers are always open to talk as we are open
to feedback and ways to improve our programming.
If you ever have any questions, problems or concerns please let us know.
Thank you once again for joining our team and welcome!
Dave McLennan
President / CEO
Boots On The Ground – Peer Support For First Responders
PO Box 2183
Augus, On
L0M1B0