The Psychological PPE Program
Expert Advice. Practical Skills. Optimized Health.
Psychological PPE is a comprehensive, online program that provides evidence-based strategies and tools
to protect your emotional and mental wellbeing during exposure to high-stress, high-pressure situations.
$99 CAD
One Year Access
Created by Experts in the Field of Psychological Health

Dr. Jennifer Russel
Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist
TEND Associate
MD, FRCPC(C), MSW
Dr. Jennifer Russel is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. She graduated from McMaster Medical School in 2005, and completed her Psychiatry Residency at the University of Toronto in 2010.
Dr. Russel is the co-chair for the Trauma Informed Steering Committee at BC Children’s Hospital. She is currently the Clinical Director of the Compass Program at BCCH, the first provider support program in Canada, as well as the Consulting Psychiatrist for the Physician Health Program in BC. Dr. Russel works at the Physician Health Program in Vancouver, and maintains a small consulting practice.

Françoise Mathieu
Executive Director of TEND
Translational Speaker & Educator
M.Ed., RP., CCC.
Françoise Mathieu, M.Ed, CCC., RP, is the Executive Director of TEND, an organization that offers training and education for workplaces experiencing high-stress, burnout, compassion fatigue, trauma and secondary trauma. She is the author of The Compassion Fatigue Workbook and a founding member of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Consortium.
Her experience stems from over 20+ years as a mental health professional, working as a crisis counsellor and trauma specialist in university counselling, military, law enforcement and other community mental health environments.

Diana Tikasz
Social Worker
TEND Associate
MSW, RSW
Diana Tikasz has worked in the teaching and health care sector for the past 29 years. Her helping work began as an early childhood educator, nurturing children and their families to reach their fullest potential. This work developed into a desire to do trauma-focused work.
She sits on numerous community and provincial committees focused on violence against women and children. She has spearheaded numerous educational initiatives such as a rape drug campaign, a dating violence awareness video/manual, unfounded sexual assault case reviews and frequently consults in hospital based domestic violence research studies.
We know how important it is to protect our physical wellbeing – but what are we doing to protect our psychological wellbeing?
As helping professionals, we are diligent about our use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when it comes to protecting ourselves and others from harmful exposure.
However, we are not always as conscientious about protecting our emotional and mental health.
What is Psychological PPE?
Psychological PPE is a collection of protective strategies with a multi-disciplinary focus that can be used before, during and after exposure to difficult and stressful events.
For an overview of Psychological PPE, watch the Psychological PPE: Exploring Compassion Fatigue and Burnout during COVID webinar with Dr. Jennifer Russel, Diana Tikasz & Françoise Mathieu.

Video Content
Listen in as the experts discuss the most relevant issues facing helping professionals today

Expert Curated Content
Find the most current and evidence-based resources, books, articles and more

On-Demand Access
Access content as soon as it’s released – on your own time
$99 CAD
One Year Access
What’s Included?
Each component of the Psychological PPE program will include:
- Monthly Topic: video discussion on the topic of the month
- Skill Review: video outlining a new skill each month
- Question of the Month: video discussion with our three experts
- Resources: articles and exercises intended for further learning
- What’s New?: recommendations from the experts on the best books, apps and podcasts
November 2020: How am I doing? Taking stock, pausing and reflecting
Like Physical PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), Psychological PPE is designed to protect us during exposure to high stress situations. This requires us to actively take steps throughout our day to protect our health and wellbeing.
The first step in developing an arsenal of effective tools is taking stock: assessing our exposure to risk, moment by moment, in order to use the most effective strategies to pause and reset.
This month, we will offer tools for taking stock and taking pause including:
• Moment by moment personal risk assessment
• Helpful practices to be utilized in the flow of work
UNLOCKS NOVEMBER 13, 2020
December 2020: Am I allowed to feel run down? Addressing stigma and the stiff upper lip
Times of sustained crisis and stress can have lingering and complex reverberations – even as we settle into the new routines of the pandemic. To further complicate these pressures is a culture that maintains that helping professionals must stoically “carry on” or be perpetual heroes.
Recent research from the University of British Columbia indicates that while the public might be banging pots for some of us at 7pm, they might not want to be hanging out with us! The topics of this month’s discussion are often not openly discussed, leading to a lot of needless suffering, resentment and isolation.
- Addressing internal dilemmas and conflict: “the stories we tell ourselves”
- Learning when to recognize stigma (even within ourselves) and approaches to manage it
- Self-compassion
UNLOCKS DECEMBER 11, 2020
January 2020: Why are you texting me a picture of your rash? Understanding boundaries and setting limits
Many of us work in the community that we also live in. How do you set boundaries with your neighbours, friends and loved ones while still being kind? What if you don’t want to set boundaries, what’s that about?
We will discuss:
- Boundaries: a multidisciplinary perspective
- How do we manage difficult clinical situations while staying human and grounded? Case examples
- Creating your community of practice: How do you create that space?
UNLOCKS JANUARY 15, 2021
February 2021
Description: Coming Soon
UNLOCKS FEBRUARY 12, 2021
March 2021
Description: Coming Soon
UNLOCKS MARCH 12, 2021
April 2021
Description: Coming Soon
UNLOCKS APRIL 9, 2021
A personal note from Jen:
“As a psychiatrist juggling work in a tertiary care hospital while homeschooling my two primary school children during this pandemic, I quickly realized that I needed to develop tools to keep myself physically and emotionally healthy — I needed to grab my Psychological PPE!
As the pandemic has evolved, and the stress and uncertainty have continued, previous self care strategies have not always been sufficient.
Learning to manage the stress over time, rather than just managing the acute crisis, has been a significant challenge – a challenge which I continue to work with and learn from.”


A personal note from Françoise:
“Recent worldwide events have been extremely challenging for many of us – both professionally and personally. When the pandemic erupted in our communities, it became clear that we all needed simple and effective strategies to stay grounded and maintain our psychological and physical well-being.
In times of stress, I have frequently turned to Diana and Jen as members of my community of practice for their sage advice, guidance and practical strategies. They helped remind me that Psychological PPE is right within our reach – and that we need to make a daily commitment to practice these strategies in order to stay well.”
A personal note from Diana:
“Working in a large hospital as a Resilience Integration Specialist, particularly during the time of COVID, I have supported many individual staff, leaders and teams facing various levels of elevated stress and trauma exposure. I look forward to working alongside Françoise and Jen, two highly skillful and wise practitioners, as we walk you through our lessons learned and tips about what helps during challenging times.
By continuously employing Psychological PPE throughout our workday, we have more time and energy at the end of our shifts. This gives us space to reflect on the fulfilling and rewarding aspects of our work, – throughout the span of our careers. The most generous act we can do is to care for ourselves as we care for others.”

FAQ
The Psychological PPE program is a subscription-based program that is designed to give you tools and strategies to manage stress and protect your wellbeing. New content is created and delivered each month. This program was created by experts in the fields of psychological health Françoise Mathieu, Dr. Jen Russel, and Diana Tikasz with the aim of providing quick and easy micro-skills that all of us can incorporate into our work and personal lives. The program is owned and administered by TEND Academy Ltd.
When you purchase a one-year subscription, you will have access to all of the content on the Psychological PPE learning portal including access to videos, audio files, resources and recommended books, blog posts, podcasts and more. New content will be added on the second Friday of each month related to that month’s theme. Members of the Psychological PPE community will also be able to submit questions for the monthly Q&A and our panel of experts will choose 3 questions to be discussed related to that month’s theme.
You can register for the Psychological PPE Program by clicking here.
The Psychological PPE program can be accessed by clicking here.
We can happily accommodate large group purchases for an organization. Please contact us at info@tendacademy.ca.
Yes! New content will be made available on the second Friday of each month and you can access the material on your own schedule. Content will also be provided in both video and audio formats so you can learn in the way that works best for you.