NS FIRE CISM - Key Persons
John was an active member of the Liverpool volunteer fire department for over 25 years before retiring in January 2022. John is a First Aid trainer, providing courses to both his workplace teams and local first responder organizations. He utilizes this knowledge in his role of medical trainer with the Junior B Privateer hockey team.
John has been a member of CISM for over 10 years and is currently serving as treasurer. His introduction to the CISM team was through the fire department after several traumatic calls the fire team responded to. The support of the CISM group made a dramatic difference for the fire team and resonated with John. John felt his experience with mental health and his desire to help others would be a good fit with the CISM team.
Mary began her membership with the Provincial Fire Service Team CISM team shortly after its inception 30 years ago. Her interest was sparked in this work from a master's thesis research paper titled "An evaluation of Critical Incident Stress Debriefings as perceived by Volunteer Firefighters in Nova Scotia ". Mary is employed with the Annapolis Valley Regional Centre for Education as trained as School Counsellor and recently as a Vice Principal. She is also the Chairperson of the AVRCE Crisis Team. Mary is a ICISF Instructor for the Managing School & Community Crisis: From Theory to Application Course. Currently Mary is serving as the Clinical Director for the FSANS CISM Team
Peter Winship joined the fire service in 2000 as a volunteer firefighter. During this time he has worked up the ranks and was hired by the Yarmouth Fire Department in 2005. He is currently the Platoon Chief of Bravo Platoon and has furthered his studies with Dalhousie University obtaining certificates in Fire Service Leadership and Fire Service Administration specializing in human resources management. He joined the NS CISM team in 2020 to help give back to his fellow colleagues and has participated in training from mental health first aid, assisting individuals in crisis and group crisis intervention, as well as R2MR train the trainer certification.
Scott Penner joined our CISM team over 15 years ago and is coordinator of our central zone. He is a part of the Onslow/Belmont Fire Brigade serving as chaplain. He also is a member of the Nova Scotia First Responder steering committee with Worksafe Nova Scotia. Scott brings his people-experience as a pastor, his fire-experience as chaplain, and his educational-experience (Master's Degree in counseling) to his role on the CISM team. He often can be heard saying, "It is an honor being invited into people's trauma, helping strong people remain strong and active in our communities. We need them."
Scott is happily married to Jeanette. They are enjoying this season of life with 4 children, 3 daughters-in-law and 9 grandchildren.
Stanley Beaton is a retired 33-year veteran Fire Fighter with the Mabou and District Volunteer Fire Department where he served 6 years as Fire Chief. He has been a member of the FSANS CISM team since 1997. He is the Zone Co-ordinator for the North-East zone and has served on the executive committee since 2021 as Secretary.
Warren Clement has served with the Nova Scotia Fire Service in two departments, the Middle Musquodoboit Volunteer Fire Department and the Wolfville Volunteer Fire Department for a total of 26 years and retiring at the rank of Captain. Volunteer service continued with the Nova Scotia Fire Service C.I.S.M. team currently serving as an Executive Board member and recently was recognized for 30 + years of service with the team.
Wendy Rafuse is the current chairperson of the FSANS CISM team. She is a retired nurse with over 30 years crisis intervention experience working with all classifications of first responders. She is a certified CISM instructor with the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF) training many first responders throughout NS. She led the establishment of a CISM team for Bridgewater Police Services and a few other municipal forces have utilized the guidelines / policies she established for Bridgewater police. Wendy has been involved with her local fire department in Chester Basin since its inception in 1982 having served as their longest secretary from 1995 until 2017. She is currently serving her 4th term as a Commissioner for the Fire Protection Commission for Chester Basin.