William Woodstock, a former Durham Regional Police Service officer diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, says the service's mental-health support for officers falls short, and he officially left the service in 2026, DurhamRegion.com reports.
Woodstock, who trained as a peer supporter and responded to high-profile violence including mass shootings and fire scenes, went off work on WSIB compensation after a disturbing call in 2020 and was diagnosed with PTSD. He told the paper he reached a point while off work where he considered suicide, and that he reached out independently to Wounded Warriors, which connected him with a treatment program at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences in Whitby.
He told the paper there was "absolutely no support from the service," and said that after he told a supervisor in confidence about his mental-health struggles, it was shared with other senior leadership. He then felt watched, with supervisors tagging along on routine calls, suddenly poor reviews, and being held back from opportunities for which he was qualified. He said officers at risk are not monitored, that support services are "bare-bones," that the onus is on the officer to reach out, and that critical-incident debriefings were cancelled in 2024.
Durham police deny that officers who seek help are "disadvantaged in any way," saying that could amount to misconduct, and say the service offers more than 20 wellness programs reviewed by independent academic researchers, 24 trained peer supporters and two mental-health clinicians, according to the article.
Woodstock proposes training senior leadership in psychology, trauma and PTSD, proactively identifying at-risk officers, and funding positions solely for officer care. The article lists Distress Centre Durham at 905-430-2522, Durham Mental Health Services at 905-666-0483, and 9-8-8.
Behind the story
Sources & publication details
- Byline
- Daily Durham News
- Published
- Nov 9, 2026, 9:06 a.m.
- Source
- www.durhamregion.com
