Diagnosed with PTSD after serving jury duty, Ontarian calls for national support services
Posted Jan 22, 2017 10:24 am.
Last Updated Jan 23, 2017 4:14 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Douglas Garland trial is scheduled to enter its second week in Calgary on Monday.
With jurors witnessing the disturbing details surrounding the deaths of a little boy and his grandparents, questions surrounding mental health are coming to the forefront.
Alberta is the only province in the country that offers a helpline and free counselling services for jurors.
Ontarian Mark Farrant is advocating for the same standard of mental health support for the whole country.
Farrant served jury duty back in 2014, in what he describes as a disturbing trial.
He says his mental health began to suffer severely, shortly after the case came to a close.
“It’s not just the graphic evidence, often times it’s just the testimony of somebody breaking down,” said Farrant.
“My wife and I were expecting our second child. She delivered a month after the verdict. I lost a lot of time with my son, I ignored him. It was awful.”
He was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and sought professional help, but had to pay for it out of pocket.
He began reaching out for support, calling the courthouse, victims’ services, and administration.
Farrant says, everyone he spoke to had either never heard of or had never dealt with jurors who experience post traumatic stress.
Since he started sharing his story, the Ontario government is moving forward with recommendations to establish more mental health support for jurors.
Farrant hopes mental health supports will become standard across the country.
