Sgt. Monique Baker of the Sault OPP detachment is moving on from her past responsibilities and taking on new ones.
Baker, who has served as the Sault OPP detachment’s community service officer (dealing with the public and media inquiries) for the past 10 years, was promoted to Sergeant from Constable Oct. 30, and is now the OPP’s Northeast Region Critical Incident Stress Response/Peer Support Team lead.
“It’s part of our Wellness Unit out of Orillia. The role involves dealing with a lot of mental health awareness, dealing internally with police officers and mental health,” Baker explained Thursday at the Sault OPP detachment headquarters at 742 Great Northern Road.
“We are not counsellors,” Baker said.
“We just completed a training program called The Road to Mental Readiness which is a program aimed at assisting officers in recognizing their own mental health.”
“We keep our officers healthy, so they’re ready to go out and help people in our community,” Baker said.
The program has been in existence since 2014, consisting of both one-on-one chats and group seminars with officers.
Baker will still be officially stationed at the Sault OPP detachment, but will be working with OPP officers across a large swath of territory, from Hornepayne and Timmins down to Parry Sound.
Baker, a northerner raised in Elliot Lake, has served with the OPP in northern Ontario for 27 years.
She was posted to the Sault OPP detachment in 1995.
Though her duties as community service officer, and with Sault Ste. Marie Crime Stoppers, have been passed on to OPP Cst. Terry Chitaroni, Baker said she will continue with community projects that are dear to her heart, such as ‘Operation All Dressed Up!’
In that program, Baker and Sault Ste. Marie Police Service Cst. Alison Kirkpatrick look to collect gently used and/or new formal dresses, to assist Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma District Grade 8 and Grade 12 girls prepare for graduation ceremonies.
‘Operation All Dressed Up!’ aims to address an identified need for formal attire for graduation and prom for many girls within the community, and seeks to eliminate some of the anxiety girls experience when preparing for these ceremonies and ease the financial strain on families that accompany graduation and prom events.
Baker will also be media coordinator for the 2019 Special Olympics Ontario Provincial Winter Games, which will be held in Sault Ste. Marie from Jan. 31 to Feb. 3, 2019.
Cst. Terry Chitaroni has taken over as the Sault OPP detachment’s new community service officer but his official contact information is still being finalized and will be formally announced soon, OPP officers said.
Chitaroni, who hails from the New Liskeard area, was most recently posted in Marathon, Ontario before being posted to the Sault OPP detachment.