No one is more important to
a good ongoing mental health program for a department than the peer support officer. Police chiefs and managers, however,
must provide the leadership and example for the peer support officer to succeed.. No
longer can they snicker and slip out the door with, “I don’t need any of this.” Seven police chiefs killed themselves in 2009. Their officers
need them standing in front, talking about their visits to a therapist and some of the problems they’re wrestling with—and not simply pablum. If they
wish to be true role models, this is their true test.
After academy training, officers
should have annual training, informally, with a peer support officer and, ideally, a therapist, that includes:
·
The differences between stress and trauma
·
The myths behind mental illness and suicide
·
The value and development of "resilience"
·
Critical and cumulative trauma
·
The "dirty little secrets" of law enforcement
·
The importance of annual, confidential therapy visits.
Resiliency is not a new concept,
but it is crucial to officers and their ability to handle the challenges of their work.
Finding an awareness of one’s own resiliency and then developing it with each year is not a “classroom
exercise—it’s an individual one best accomplished with a therapist.
The following are some “resiliency
characteristics” developed by the American Psychiatric Association. To
them, we have added “self reliance” (an ability to stand apart from the “pack,”) and “spirituality”
(a realization that one is neither alone nor at the center of the universe).
The key to this kingdom is
held by the therapist, who can work with the officer as incidents are experienced, reviewed and lessons learned. Instead
of merely saying, "I made it," the past year's experiences are an opportunity to build and grow--and enhance one's resiliency.
There is no better way of ensuring a solid defense against PTSD, or providing an officer the means of recognizing instantly
when he is facing its potential. We have identified the following seven elements as crucial to the development of one's
resilience:
·
Commitment to finding meaningful purpose in life
·
A belief in one’s ability to affect the outcome
·
A belief one can learn and grow as a result
·
Acceptance (particularly the acceptance of what one does not like)
·
Self-reliance
·
Spirituality (which need not be religious)
Finally, the interpretation of resilience should be up to the individual.
This is the seventh and most important step--when the officer makes the determination himself, whether from the above or adding
his/her own from the process of growth and self-understanding.
Focusing on resiliency and
the ability to both learn and nurture gives a crucial element of hope in a world that officers find threatening and, often
secretly, confusing. It also provides them an excellent opportunity to develop this wonderful skill in therapy.
As a tool for the law enforcement
officer, resiliency and its ongoing development is as valuable as one’s ability to pump iron and prowess on the range.
In summary, we believe that, for every police suicide, there are a thousand other
officers who continue working while suffering from the inner trauma of years of death, misery and hostility.
We need to broaden our sights from focusing on a very limited number of police suicides and a greater but still limited number
of “officers in crisis” and begin developing an emotionally healthy police force that’s ready to face crisis
and trauma long before it happens. Only then will we truly address the police suicide
problem with finality.
We
have shown we can do half the job well. Let’s add the rest of the formula
and finish our work.