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NATALIE HARRIS Health Sciences category "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an invisible injury," says Natalie Harris, an advanced care paramedic, author, teacher, mental health advocate and proud Bell Let's Talk ambassador. "I want to remove the stigma around talking about it." For more than 13 years, Natalie worked as an emergency first responder and attended thousands of calls, resuscitated six patients who were clinically dead and delivered two healthy babies. Sadly, not every call had a positive outcome, and one particular call involving the brutal murder of two women haunted her for years until she could no longer control her thoughts. "We were trained to look at PTSD in patients, not ourselves," says Natalie, who fell into a deep depression and an addiction to prescription drugs and alcohol; a story that she shared in the CBC documentary After the Sirens. She eventually found her way into treatment and rehabilitation, and has found a new purpose – as a mental health advocate. Natalie helped lobby for the creation of Bill 163 and Bill C-211, which created a provincial and national strategy around PTSD. While lobbying for the legislation, she met Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and testified before the Standing Committee on Health. In 2016, Natalie founded an organization called Wings of Change, which brings emergency first responders together to talk about mental health. The organization now has more than 20 chapters across Canada and is supporting hundreds of emergency first responders every year. She produces and hosts Brainstorm, a podcast that discusses mental health issues, is a contributor to Huffington Post and the Canadian Paramedicine Magazine, and works as a reviewer for paramedicine textbooks. In addition to this, she wrote a book detailing her experience called Save-My-Life School, which reached number two on the Amazon Hot New Memoir list in 2017, and included a foreword written by six-time Olympic medalist Clara Hughes. Natalie has also helped train the next generation of paramedics, teaching at Georgian College and Sunnybrook Centre for Prehospital Medicine, and worked as the training coordinator for the County of Simcoe Paramedic Services. In 2018, Natalie officially retired from her paramedic career. She shared the news in an August podcast, where she spoke about one of the most important things she learned along her journey...that "It's OK to ask for help," and "It's OK to receive help." She closed her podcast by reminiscing about her stethoscope, and the countless lives that it had touched over her career, and there is no doubt that her next chapter promises to be just as impactful. ADVANCED CARE PARAMEDIC, 2011 PARAMEDIC, AUTHOR, TEACHER AND MENTAL HEALTH ADvOCATE 19 GEORGIANVIEW 2018 PREMIER'S AWARDS