Hope Award

During his 12 years as a Police Officer, Det. Senior Constable Evan Jackson from the Class of 2010 has experienced the unprecedented hardships that First Responders in the WA community face.

“I have served at country policy stations, in suburban detective offices, with the Child Abuse and Homicide squads, and experienced first-hand the horrors that first responders face on a daily basis,” he said.

For Evan, his attendance at the suicide of an 18-year-old boy, found by his mother on her 50th Birthday, in 2012, stuck with him.“For some reason, despite the many other desperately tragic scenes I attended since, this one really stuck with me,” he commented.

He decided to take a creative approach to his trauma and purchased a pack of pencils. “I sat down and drew my memory of the event,” Evan said. “I got it off my chest and onto the canvas, and as I did so, I felt the tension melt away. When I researched what ‘it’ was that I had just discovered, I found ‘it’ was called Creative Wellness.”

“Our first responders often find themselves in highly stressful situations which can lead to them being at high risk of mental health problems,” Evan commented. “Recent research has shown they experience rates of PTSD at twice the rate of the general adult population.”

“For many, finding ways of decompressing and relieving stress