We believe meaningful change will only happen when we stop working in silos and start bringing people together.
The New Hope Community is about creating a network where first responders, frontline workers, families, people with lived experience, healthcare and mental-health professionals, peer supporters, researchers, educators, legal professionals, organizations, government, decision-makers and other stakeholders can come together, share their experiences and work toward a common purpose.
Our goal is not to promote one program, one organization or one approach.
Our goal is to bring people together, listen to different experiences and perspectives, identify what is working, challenge what is not, and explore better ways to prevent, understand and address operational stress injuries.
We don't have all the answers—and neither does any one person or organization.
But there is an enormous amount of knowledge, experience, research and resources already available. By bringing people together, sharing what we have learned and creating connections between what is already being done, we can begin identifying, strengthening and developing more comprehensive solutions for first responders, frontline workers and their families.
That also means being willing to look upstream—to better understand the organizational, workplace and systemic factors that may contribute to operational stress injuries and explore opportunities to improve practices, policies and systems.
Ultimately, we want to help reduce stigma, strengthen families, improve prevention and support, reduce the risk of operational stress injuries becoming life-altering or life-threatening, prevent suicide and create safer, healthier communities across Ontario and Canada.
The mission comes first. The people come first.
First responders and frontline workers experience things that most people will never have to face.
Police officers. Firefighters. Paramedics. Corrections officers. Dispatchers. Healthcare workers. Military personnel. Search and rescue. Transit workers. Hospital security. And the many civilian and support personnel who work alongside them.
Operational stress injuries don't affect everyone in the same way. The impact can extend beyond the individual and into families, relationships, workplaces and communities.
The New Hope Community is intended to bring people from these different frontline services together so we can learn from one another, share experiences and explore better ways to prevent, understand and address operational stress injuries.
Their experiences can also help us better understand the realities of frontline work, identify organizational, workplace and systemic factors that may contribute to these injuries, and explore what could be done differently.
Serving, retired, volunteer and civilian personnel all have something valuable to contribute.
Lived experience matters. Every perspective matters.
People who have experienced operational stress injuries firsthand bring knowledge that cannot always be learned in a classroom or clinical setting.
Their experiences can help us understand what happens before someone asks for help, what prevents people from reaching out, what happens when they do reach out, what treatment and support approaches have helped, and where systems may have fallen short.
The New Hope Community welcomes people with lived experience who are willing to share their perspectives and help us understand what is working, what needs to change and what may help prevent others from experiencing similar challenges.
We believe people should not simply be recipients of services.
They should have a voice in shaping prevention, services, workplace practices, policies and the solutions that are created.
Operational stress injuries do not affect only the person experiencing them.
Families often experience the impact alongside their loved ones—sometimes without understanding what is happening or knowing where to turn for help.
Partners, spouses, children, parents and other family members can experience their own challenges and may need support, education and resources in their own right, not only in their role supporting someone who is struggling.
The New Hope Community recognizes families as an essential part of prevention, healing and long-term recovery, while also recognizing that family members may have their own needs and their own healing journey.
Families also bring valuable lived experience. Their perspectives can help us understand how operational stress injuries affect relationships and family life, where gaps exist, and what could be done differently.
Our goal is to explore solutions that support not only the individual, but the entire family—and to ensure families have a voice in shaping those solutions.
Supporting the person means supporting the family too.
Healthcare and mental-health professionals bring essential clinical knowledge and expertise to the conversation.
The New Hope Community is not about replacing existing healthcare systems or dismissing clinical treatment.
It is about bringing clinical expertise together with lived experience, family perspectives, peer support, research and other evidence-informed approaches to better understand and support the whole person and family.
By working together, we can explore more comprehensive and individualized approaches to prevention, early intervention, treatment, healing and long-term recovery.
Healthcare and mental-health professionals can also help us better understand the factors that contribute to operational stress injuries, identify opportunities for earlier intervention and prevention, and evaluate what approaches are producing meaningful outcomes.
Evidence matters. Clinical expertise matters. Lived experience matters.
All need a place at the table.
People experiencing operational stress injuries may benefit from a range of evidence-informed approaches alongside appropriate medical and mental-health care.
The New Hope Community is open to exploring complementary and holistic approaches that may support physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing, connection, healing and recovery.
These may include areas such as:
We recognize that people are different, and what helps one person may not help another.
Our focus is not on promoting a particular treatment, program or philosophy.
We want to understand what works, for whom, and under what circumstances.
Peer support can provide something that is difficult to replicate in a traditional clinical setting—the opportunity to speak with someone who genuinely understands the experience.
Across Ontario and Canada, there are already organizations, peer-support networks and community groups doing valuable work.
The goal of the New Hope Community is not to replace these organizations.
It is to create connections between them, learn from their experiences, identify gaps and barriers, understand what is working, improve awareness of available resources, and explore opportunities to collaborate.
We don't need to reinvent the wheel.
Where good work already exists, we should learn from it, support it and build connections around it.
By connecting what is already working, we can make it easier for people and families to find the support they need.
Prevention should begin before someone enters the frontline profession.
We want to explore partnerships with colleges, universities, training institutions and frontline organizations to provide future frontline workers and new recruits with a realistic understanding of operational stress, PTSD, mental health, family impact and the realities of frontline work.
Students and recruits preparing for frontline careers could have opportunities to learn from people with lived experience, understand potential risks, develop healthy coping strategies and learn to recognize warning signs and seek support.
Education should also encourage self-awareness.
People entering frontline careers may carry previous life experiences, stressors or unresolved trauma that could interact with or be intensified by the demands of the work. This is not about judging or excluding anyone. It is about helping people understand themselves, prepare for the realities of the profession and know when to seek support.
We also want to build strong relationships with local colleges, universities and other post-secondary institutions and involve students, faculty and programs in the planning, design, development, building and eventual operation of New Hope Field of Dreams.
This collaboration has already begun. Durham College students have contributed to the development of the New Hope website, and Fleming College has assisted with the preparation of an Environmental Constraints Report for the property.
These are examples of how post-secondary institutions and their students can contribute practical knowledge and skills while gaining meaningful real-world learning experience.
Post-secondary institutions could contribute through:
The goal is to create relationships that extend beyond a single project. As New Hope develops, students and faculty from different disciplines could have opportunities to contribute their expertise while helping design, build, study, evaluate and eventually support the operation of New Hope Field of Dreams.
Research can help us establish a clearer understanding of the scope of operational stress injuries, identify contributing factors, evaluate prevention and treatment approaches, measure long-term outcomes and determine where gaps may exist.
Independent research can also provide evidence that helps frontline organizations, healthcare systems, insurers and decision-makers understand what is working, what is not, and where change may be needed.
If we want to change outcomes, we need to better understand what is contributing to them—and what actually works to improve them.
By bringing together education, research, lived experience and hands-on learning, we can help prepare the next generation of frontline professionals while also creating opportunities for students and educators from many disciplines to help build something that could make a meaningful difference.
Better education. Better evidence. Better prevention. Better outcomes.
There are many organizations across Ontario and Canada working to support first responders, veterans, healthcare workers and their families.
Many have developed valuable programs, resources, services, knowledge and experience.
The New Hope Community is not intended to compete with these organizations or duplicate work that is already being done effectively.
Instead, we want to create connections, share knowledge, learn from one another and explore opportunities to work together.
By bringing organizations to the same table, we can better understand what is already available, identify approaches that are producing meaningful results, recognize gaps that still need to be addressed and explore opportunities to connect, strengthen, share or expand what is working.
We don't need to recreate good work. We need to connect it.
Collaboration is stronger than competition when the mission is helping people.
Government agencies, public institutions and elected representatives have an important role to play in creating sustainable solutions for operational stress injuries.
The New Hope Community intends to engage with provincial and federal governments, elected representatives, government agencies and other system partners to better understand existing programs, funding structures, policies, legislation, regulations and services that affect frontline personnel and their families.
Our goal is to create opportunities for lived experience, family perspectives, frontline knowledge, research, clinical expertise and measurable evidence to reach the people who have the ability to influence decisions and create meaningful change.
Together, we can identify gaps, improve collaboration, examine how resources are being used and explore opportunities to strengthen prevention, workplace practices, policies, legislation and systems.
This is not about assigning blame or attacking organizations or institutions. It is about creating constructive dialogue, asking difficult questions and identifying changes that may help prevent operational stress injuries and improve outcomes for people and families.
This requires open conversations, transparency, accountability and a willingness to examine what is working, what isn't, and what we can do differently.
Meaningful systemic change requires bringing the people affected by these systems together with the people who have the ability to change them.
Workplace systems and insurance providers play an important role in the prevention, treatment, recovery and long-term wellbeing of injured workers and their families.
Organizations such as WSIB, workplace insurers, employers and other system partners can have significant influence over prevention, access to treatment, rehabilitation, recovery, return-to-work supports and other resources.
The New Hope Community will seek to bring these stakeholders into the conversation alongside frontline personnel, families, healthcare professionals, researchers and people with lived experience so we can better understand what is working, where barriers or gaps may exist, and what could be improved.
We also want to explore how research, measurable outcomes, lived experience and family perspectives can help inform decisions about which treatments, programs, prevention strategies and supports receive funding and how existing resources can be used most effectively.
Where approaches demonstrate meaningful outcomes, we believe there should be opportunities to examine how they can be made more accessible to the people who may benefit from them.
These conversations should extend beyond what happens after someone becomes injured.
Workplace and insurance systems can also play an important role in prevention, early intervention and identifying opportunities to reduce the likelihood that operational stress injuries become life-altering or life-threatening.
Our goal is not simply to ask for more resources. It is to encourage better use of existing resources, evidence-informed decision-making, improved collaboration and investment in approaches that demonstrate meaningful value.
The people and families these systems are intended to serve should remain at the centre of the conversation.
The long-term vision of New Hope Field of Dreams is to create a holistic family sanctuary providing opportunities for prevention, healing, connection, peer support, education, recreation and family rebuilding.
But New Hope Field of Dreams is only one part of a much bigger vision.
The relationships, lived experience, research, ideas and partnerships developed through the New Hope Community can help turn conversation into meaningful action—improving prevention and education, strengthening existing resources, identifying gaps, supporting research and contributing to improvements in workplace practices, policies and systems.
Our hope is eventually to establish multiple New Hope locations and connected resources so frontline workers and families can find support closer to home.
While much of the initial work is focused in Ontario, we are already building connections across Canada as the New Hope Community continues to grow.
As these connections grow, a national network could allow communities across Canada to share knowledge, research, resources and successful approaches while recognizing the different needs and systems within each province and territory.
Local connections. Shared knowledge. Meaningful action. National collaboration.
The New Hope Community will remain grounded in several fundamental principles:
People before programs.
Families matter.
Prevention matters.
Lived experience matters.
Different perspectives matter.
Evidence matters.
Research matters.
Transparency matters.
Accountability matters.
Collaboration is stronger than competition.
Healthy disagreement, respectful dialogue and constructive discussion are part of meaningful collaboration.
We will be willing to ask difficult questions, examine what is working and what is not, and remain open to changing our approach when evidence, experience or measurable outcomes suggest there may be a better way.
We are not here to promote one person, organization, program or approach above all others.
Where good work exists, we want to recognize it and connect it.
Where gaps exist, we want to identify them.
Where change is needed, we want to have the conversation.
The mission comes first. The people come first.
If you believe we can do better and would like to contribute your experience, knowledge or perspective, we invite you to take a seat at the table and become part of the New Hope Community.
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