Tom Walker, MSW, RSW
Tom has over twenty-five years of experience in the field of mental health and addictions within the social service sector and in private practice. His background includes working in front line, management and senior leadership roles. In addition to training with CTRI, Tom is a Human Factors Specialist with Ornge where he provides trauma support and therapeutic interventions for paramedics and staff. His responsibilities with Ornge also include therapeutic interventions, debriefing staff and the development and implementation of a peer support program. Tom believes that real change happens through relationship, authenticity and empowerment. He is a gifted facilitator who integrates real world experiences into practical examples in the workshops he facilitates.
October 2020
People who struggle to regulate their intense emotional experiences often feel like they are at the mercy of reactive coping patterns. It can seem like these emotional storms hijack their behaviour, take control of their thinking, and hurt their relationships with other people and themselves. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) provides concepts and skills to help people have more choices, become more emotionally calm, and be more present in their lives.
Learn more...November 2020
Many people who struggle with mental illness also struggle with an addiction. Recovery from both of these issues is complicated because they affect each other and are intertwined. Helpers may often be at a loss for where to start – did the addiction cause the mental illness, did the mental illness cause the addiction, or is there something else leading to both? This workshop provides a framework for working systemically with both issues at the same time.
Harm reduction is an approach to help people explore their relationship with substances and behaviours. It works to reduce and mitigate damage and pain, and offers strategies to increase and promote safety, choice, and control. Harm reduction moves away from traditional understandings of “addiction” as a disease, and responses that are based on assumed morality and abstinence, or fear and punishment.
Learn more...December 2020
Critical incidents are situations that occur outside of our normal frame of reference and challenge us to understand and cope with what has happened. Critical Incident Group Debriefing (CIGD) is a short-term group intervention process that focuses on an immediate event. CIGD is one of several methods that may be utilized to lessen the likelihood of people experiencing symptoms of trauma and stress after a critical incident.
