Occupational Awareness Training©

Bring Your Expertise to Uniformed Service Personnel

We work in collaboration with a variety of public safety personnel stakeholder groups and subject matter experts to bring healthcare professionals sector-specific training.

Through our training, healthcare professionals have access to customized online course content delivered by seasoned uniformed service personnel and established subject matter experts.

Once completed, eligible healthcare professionals can be listed on our exclusive Directory of Occupationally Aware Healthcare Providers, bringing culturally competent services closer to uniformed service personnel and their loved ones.

Our mission is to build a national network of Occupationally Aware Healthcare Professionals to best serve the unique needs of uniformed service members and their families.

Benefits to taking our courses:

  • Occupational
    Awareness Training

    Through our unique courses, healthcare professionals will learn about uniformed service personnel culture thereby enhancing their effectiveness in providing culturally competent services for uniformed service personnel.

  • Meet Our
    Incredible Partners

    Our courses have been developed in partnership with:

    • First Responder Health

    • Wayfound Group

    • Wounded Warriors

    • Circadian Rhythms and Sleep

  • Uniformed Service
    Personnel Resources

    We have partnered with uniformed service personnel stakeholder groups and subject matter experts to develop courses designed specifically for you.

    Our courses are designed specifically to support uniformed service personnel.

Meet Our Instructors

Matt Johnston

Senior Instructor

Matt Johnston is the co-founder of First Responder Health, an organization dedicated to enhancing the behavioural health and well-being of first responders through online counselling, training for healthcare professionals and organizational support services. He also serves as the Clinical Director for Wounded Warriors Canada.


A registered mental health professional and full-time firefighter, Matt has mastered the art of closing the gap between service providers and first responders. Matt’s skill set is grounded by twenty years of study in the field of psychology and over ten years in clinical practice. His unique approach to conceptualizing trauma is an introspective blend of academic training, clinical practice and direct experience of attending over 3,000 emergency calls as a firefighter in Metro Vancouver. Through his proactive, strengths-based approach, Matt’s ultimate goal is to alleviate the mental health crisis gripping public safety personnel across North America.

Dr. Megan McElheran

Wayfound CEO & Registered Psychologist

My name is Dr. Megan McElheran and I am a clinical psychologist and CEO of Wayfound. For the past 16 years, I have had the privilege to work almost exclusively with uniformed service personnel and have witnessed the devastating psychological effects operational stress can have on those who serve our communities. I was motivated several years ago to develop the Before Operational Stress (BOS) program out of a desire to provide public safety personnel with an intervention that could support greater psychological protection relative to their occupational roles. I am steadfast in my commitment to finding proactive ways to support public safety personnel and will continue to disseminate and evaluate BOS to ensure its effectiveness and utility for the members it serves.

Rick Hanson, Ph.D.

Registered Psychologist

Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a psychologist, Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and New York Times best-selling author. His books have been published in 29 languages and include Neurodharma, Resilient, Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, and Mother Nurture – with 900,000 copies in English alone.


His free weekly newsletter has 150,000 subscribers and his online programs have scholarships available for those with financial need. He’s lectured at NASA, Google, Oxford, and Harvard, and taught in meditation centers worldwide. An expert on positive neuroplasticity, his work has been featured on the BBC, CBS, NPR, and other major media. He began meditating in 1974 and is the founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom. He loves wilderness and taking a break from emails.