About
Colleen
Stevenson
MA, Registered Clinical Counsellor, British Columbia
Colleen specializes in PTSI treatment for first responders and has extensive clinical experience with police officers, firefighters, paramedics, dispatchers, corrections officers, and their families, including through WorkSafeBC.
She received her PTSI treatment training through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and has also worked as a counsellor in a maximum-security remand centre. Her understanding of policing culture, operational stress, and shift work, and her appreciation for first responders, inspired From Surviving to Thriving.
Colleen’s mission
After seeing so many good people suffer with PTSI, my goal is to provide first responders with as many tools as possible. I want them to build healthy personal lives that can buffer them against stress. I want them to recognize early indicators of stress injuries and I want them to understand the mechanisms of PTSI treatment so they get help immediately.
Experience
Relevant experience.
Years of listening to and working alongside people in policing, corrections, emergency communications and other demanding frontline roles.
First responders
Extensive experience working with police officers, firefighters, paramedics, dispatchers, corrections officers, and their intimate partners.
Insurance & workers’ compensation
Contracted with a workers’ compensation provider and worked with other insurers, giving an understanding of the challenges of injury claims and recovery.
Correctional experience
Worked as a counsellor addressing childhood trauma with inmates in a maximum-security remand centre.
Adult education & group facilitation
Extensive experience delivering structured education, large-group presentations, focus groups, therapy groups, and crisis intervention groups.
Credentials
Training & qualifications.
- RegistrationRegistered Clinical Counsellor (RCC), BC Association of Clinical Counsellors
- EducationMA, Counselling Psychology
BA, Philosophy - PTSI treatment trainingTrained through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
- Treatment approachesEvidence-based trauma treatment, including Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and Prolonged Exposure (PE)
- PublicationsContributor to Blue Line, Canada’s national law enforcement magazine
- BackgroundEducation and graphic facilitation, including work as a Montessori educator in Ghana and Mexico
As published in Blue Line
Articles by Colleen.
Written for Blue Line, Canada’s national law enforcement magazine.
Talking about trauma
Why the word “trauma” matters, and what it really means for people who live with it.
Read the articleNot meant to make it alone
How the body responds when we perceive a threat, and why no one is meant to face it alone.
Read the articleStress injuries, stigma and early warning signs
Part one of a two-part series on the stigma around stress injuries in law enforcement.
Read the articleEvidence-based treatment for stress injuries
An overview of the treatments shown to work for officers exposed to traumatic events.
Read the articleFrom Surviving to Thriving
Colleen’s online course for police officers and their partners.
- $149 CDN per person
- 3 modules
- Self-paced