Good morning people...
Welcome to the second blog post in the series. In this blog I aim to open up a safe place where discussions can be had for people working in Law enforcement, people interested in Law enforcement, people who don't like the Law enforcers or the people that just don't understand it and want to get more of an insight...
I am a Police Constable, I have been in my current role for just over 4 years now however I have almost 10 years of experience in the Police service as a whole, encompassing roles as a PC, Police staff and also volunteering as a Special Constable (same warranted powers as a PC however not paid and duties vary vastly from force to force. Some don't take statements, some do not get trained in response driving, some do not take on investigations.)
'The Thin Blue Line' Family Crest
In this post I want to talk about something that has been seen as a huge taboo in Policing (as well as a lot of other industries) for a long time. Mental Health... This is quite a controversial subject still within law enforcement. After all, we deal with people who suffer with poor mental health, we deal with the people in society who are going through issues, we deal with them, offer them help and move on to the next one...
Police officers have good lives, they are well paid, they have support networks and those with families and those in relationships have other people to rely on and fall back on if bad times befall them, right? Read on reader...
Below is a video that provides a swift snap-shot about what is fast becoming one of the biggest issues that is effecting Policing in my opinion. There are various reasons for poor mental health becoming such an issue however the upshot, in my opinion is, if we don't identify we have a problem and if we don't look after ourselves and each other it is going to get a hell of a lot worse...
Well, lets take some time to focus on those statistics. I think we can all accept that working in Policing is potentially a dangerous job. You work on the front line for a time and you can expect that you will eventually inevitably place yourself in harms way (they have even have come up with 'a principal' for that!)
In 2019 officers that have taken time off through 'physical ill-health' has risen by 4%...
In the same time period officers taking time off due to 'poor mental-health' has risen by 78%!
"Officers have cited excessive workload & witnessing trauma as reasons for this."
For years and years working within Policing has held a certain stigma, it has been an unwritten rule that if you come across things that upset you, anger, worry, or scare you then you just simply have to 'suck it up lad!'
For a long time policing has been an extremely testosterone-filled environment which, could be argued that the reason for this is due to it being a predominantly male dominated workspace. It had become somewhere that people would readily try and 'out masculine' their colleagues and refusing to show that certain situations had not effected them. This, it turn has resulted in a lot of officers and retired officers having to come to terms with some long-time bottled up trauma. People have had to learn not to talk about their issues. This, I understand is an ultra-simplification of the reasons and the issues officers have had to face up to and still do in the main.
It is safe to say that nowadays the majority of society have come to understand that to bottle up your issues and worries and to not talk about traumatic experiences you face is bad and effects your mental well-being. There has been some massive strides in terms of the general public coming to terms with looking after their mental well-being, this has been shown by a plethora of 'self-help' publications, blogs and videos highlighting the problem.
This is incredible and a majority reason for this is the utilization of the internet which has massively lowered the 'barrier to entry' in creating these things. A lot of people have used this method to showcase themselves, their problems and coping mechanisms for dealing with their mental health issues which has served to create many of theses people being held as 'influencers' in the field.
As usual Policing has taking a long time to draw level and to recognise this is as something that effects their workforce.
It is quite obvious if you take a step back and think about it, if you witness traumatic things, stressful things, violence, complex troubling things and have to walk toward the danger day in, day out and be expected to dust yourself off and walk straight back in to the next trauma it will eventually catch up with you. Police have always had a 'family' type attitude in terms of things like 'Them (criminals) vs. Us' which colleagues look out for each other. This is built through necessity after all policing is sometimes dangerous work. There is an informal 'de-brief' that occurs between officers where they talk about the situation, they laugh off their worries and poke fun at each other as a form of 'dark-humour' that exists within policing as well as other similar workplaces.
What happens then when an officer suffers from poor mental health? An officer who has been seen as solid officer, a rock, nothing fazes them, they are always up for a laugh and is always involving themselves when they are at work. Do you see it? Does the officer see it themselves? When someone notices it what do they do? Do they approach the subject with their colleague? Who do they tell? What are the avenues for help?
Police officers are themselves human just like anyone else, they suffer from the same afflictions as everybody else. Since I have worked in the Police service a lot has changed, it has, in my opinion gone from an environment whereby if an officer was to speak up about suffering from poor mental health it would more likely be laughed off to a place where most people are more clued up and more likely to offer assist. This is obviously a good thing.
I love Policing, I love the job I do and cannot see myself doing anything different.
If you are suffering - please don't do so in silence. There is always somewhere/someone to go to...
FOR THOSE LIVING IN THE UK:
Mind - www.mind.org.uk
0800 132 373 - (helpline)
81066 - (text HELP plus your message)
callhelpline.org.uk - Provides information and support for people experiencing a mental health problem in Wales.
Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM)
0800 58 58 58 (UK helpline)
0808 802 58 58 - (London helpline)thecalmzone.net - Provides listening services, information and support for men at risk of suicide, including web chat.
Hub of Hope
hubofhope.co.uk - A national database of mental health charities and organisations from across Britain who offer mental health advice and support.FOR THOSE LIVING IN THE US:
National Institute for Mental Health - US
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help/index.shtml
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