Natalie Harris

Paramedic - Author - Educator - Speaker

Natalie is an Advanced Care Paramedic in Ontario, with over 13 years of experience. She possesses a Bachelor of Health Science in Paramedicine from Victoria University, for which she received the Outstanding Achievement Award in 2010. Along with being an educator with organizations such as Georgian College, the Sunnybrook Centre for Prehospital Medicine, and Simon Fraser University, Natalie is an avid writer and has published articles in the Canadian Paramedicine Magazine and the Journal of Emergency Medicine (JEMS), and is the authoer of Save-My-Life School; A First Responders Mental Health Journey.

Natalie was a member of the 1st Place Primary Care Paramedic Team at the Durham National Paramedic Competition in 2004, and is a trainer for the Road to Mental Readiness (R2MR) program with the Mental Health Commissioner of Canada, as well as the founder of Wings of Change - Peer Support.

Natalie is a passionate mental health advocate as a post-traumatic stress injury, addiction and suicide survivor. She endeavours to break down the barriers of mental health stigma by telling the story of her recovery at awareness events, and through this as well as by sharing her peer support model, 'Wings of Change', across the country.
 
Natalie is also extremely proud to have had a voice in the successful implementation of Ontario's PTSD Bill, Bill: 163 'Ontario's First Responders Act'. The Act creates the presumption that PTSD in first responders is work-related.