Mental health in law enforcement is all the rage and while much of that is a good thing, there are plenty of agencies and leaders that are simply going through the motions. While there is an overall general appearance that agencies are doing whatever they can such as creating units, encouraging EAP use, and allowing and accommodating the paradigm shift in how people/society views mental health, are awe evaluating the effectiveness?
Much of the training is top notch; the curriculum is solid and put on by qualified people but what are most agencies doing with the training when they get back to the station?
Are officers sitting on those credits, or professional development hours, longingly and delaying the recommendations, or leaving to a small group of a “cadre” officers who are there to address things within the agency.
Agencies are short staffed right now, so they don’t have the actual ability to increase mental health awareness. Chief executives are addressing mental health by doing band aid, and micro management. Chief executives don’t have the ability or time to do real time and deal with mental health, because they are dealing with responding to calls for service, keeping the community safe, dealing with budgets, and other political pressure. Which continues puts the officers at near burn-out pace. On a trajectory where they will get disgruntled, frustrated, and work counter productive by not meeting the values of the agency.
Real or Fake
The reality is that there is just lip service. Agencies who are doing yearly check ups, and having contracts with mental health firms are more than likely doing this as a smoke screen. The lip service doesn’t mean that they are not done with good intentions. Executives are just poorly informed on the realities of mental health and how it is impacting their specific agency. Chief executives are professional police not mental health therapists, they are relying on professionals who may not know the true landscape of how healthy they agency really is. Executives are relying on therapists who are well trained, are professional, but those therapist do not themselves completely understand law enforcement officers nor the profession.
This creates a gap in the services, and a harsh reality for law enforcement.
Unfortunately, officers have an inherent distrust against anything that the agency puts forward as a “therapist”. Not because they are bad therapist, but because there is a lack of trust that the agency isn’t going to sell you down the river. Additionally, the contracts are generally with a therapist that the agency selects. As any good, honest and reputable therapist will tell you, a therapeutic alliance is paramount to help the client process, or deal with any issues they are presenting for therapy.
At the “yearly” check ups do you think officers are really telling the therapists the truth? The answer is no!, They are shading it, again because they don’t trust the therapists, and that they aren’t going back to the agency. For officers out there, where does the client/patient privilege ends and starts with?
The privilege lies with the client not the agency.
However anyone in law enforcement and any profession knows there are off the book conversations (sorry to pull back the curtain Dorothy). Agencies restricting officers to these firms who are providing therapy are creating problems. Again not because they are poor therapists, but because the officers are forced to have one option as a provider.
The Solution
Officers need to find their own therapist, someone they trust and can relate to. I am hear (wrong spelling intentionally done) to tell you that males sometimes do not like going to a female therapist. Sometimes females don’t like going to a male therapists (shocker). In couples therapy, males sometimes are concerned that the female therapist is going to side with the wife. Finally when a therapist doesn’t have law enforcement experience or related experience, there is the chance that they “just don’t get it.”
Chief executives, commanders, leaders, and officers need to find therapists that are law enforcement friendly. Friendly doesn’t mean on the same side but it means creating an alliance to help “heal” or work with the officers.
As a therapist, I am not a friend to my clients. That doesn’t mean I don’t care, and don’t have empathy. But I challenge assertions, thoughts, and notions, but more importantly I address the officers’ problems. The problems may range from anxiety, PTSD, depression, self harm or adjustment disorders or substance abuse. Anyone can go from mentally healthy to unhealthy in their own life in a matter of days, the reality is that mental health can change after just one shift.
If there is a critical incident that meets PTSD criteria under the DSM, there must be a 30+ day period without a natural recovery. Let me be clear that just because there is a traumatic event, doesn’t always mean that the officer(s) will suffer or deal with PTSD. The human body/brain can naturally recover. But the compounded events of a police officers career can certainly impact an officer.
Understanding mental health is complex. Mental health needs to be demystified, normalized, and demonstrated as a priority.
As commanders and executives, I implore everyone to listen to the officers in your agency.
