Advisor
Sylvio (Syd) Gravel, M.O.M.
the story
About me
I am a former staff sergeant with thirty-one years of experience with the Ottawa Police Service. I am one of the founding fathers of Robin’s Blue Circle, a post-shooting trauma team of peers, established in 1988. I am a more than thirty-three-year PTSD survivor and have been a peer supporter since 1988. In 2007, I was nominated by my peers and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, and inducted by the Governor General of Canada for the Order of Merit in Policing, Canada and in 2020 I was invested into the Order of Ottawa.
Overview And Experience
Honored to be part of Badge of Life Canada
Since my retirement, I have devoted all my time and energy to speaking on developing resilience and resistance to trauma, trauma management and peer support systems. I have written and published “56 Seconds” and “How to Survive PTSD and Build Peer Support.” And now co-authored the book “Walk the Talk” with Staff Sergeant (ret’d) Brad McKay.
In 2014, I developed a trail-blazing curriculum for the training of peers in Canada, based on the guidelines and practices for the selection and training of peers developed by the Mental Health Commission of Canada. I am currently co-leading the Peer and Trauma Support Systems (P.A.T.S.S.) Team for the Mood Disorders Society of Canada. I am also a volunteer peer facilitator for Soldiers Helping Soldiers in Ottawa. I have developed the content for the three-day peer training project – Transition to Communities for the Mood Disorders Society of Canada and am developing the content for a twenty-hour on-line trauma management course through Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. I also proudly served as a senior police advisor for Badge of Life Canada from 2012 to now. In 2016, I was nominated by the Mental Health Commission of Canada as a Canadian Champion of Mental Health.
