Supporting Mental Health in Law Enforcement
Police officers see and experience more trauma than most people can imagine. Despite the mental and physical toll that comes with the job, they don’t seek help when they most need it. Why, you might ask.
It’s because they’re afraid.
They’re afraid of being seen as weak, as incapable of doing their job. That they will be seen as unfit and get downgraded to a “safer” version of their position. Aside from the fear in terms of logistics, they’re worried they’ll be humiliated by colleagues in the same position as them who still view emotional pain as a character flaw.
What most do not realize is that not addressing trauma doesn’t make it go away; it only buries it deeper until it resurfaces more assertively and aggressively.
Daily Reality – Trauma Not Just a One-Time Thing
Most often, we associate PTSD in police officers who go through huge traumatic events such as shooting or hostage situations. Research shows that routine police work can be equally as traumatizing, and at times could be even more traumatizing (Maguen et al., 2009).
Every day issues, such as the lack of leadership support, poor communication, overwhelming workload, and unclear roles, can increase PTSD symptoms significantly. These stressors within the organization accumulate quietly in the background, creating an environment where officers constantly feel on edge.
Why?
Let’s delve a little deeper into the reason why officers don’t seek help. When we look at police culture, it’s a culture that rewards toughness. So the way the officer views it is they admit that they are struggling, then that equates to them being a failure. They feel that they entire reputation within the department lies on their toughness.
Research completed by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF) outlines several common fears among officers. These include concerns about losing their job, having their license to carry a firearm revoked, being reassigned to a less desirable position, or becoming the target of ridicule and social isolation within the department. These fears, though rarely spoken out loud, are deeply embedded in the culture of law enforcement and act as major deterrents to seeking help.
So although resources like Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) may be present, and accessible to officers, they may still avoid them, afraid that if they participate, it could label them as unstable or unreliable (ICISF, n.d.).
Let’s Reframe the Meaning of Strength
What we’ve done is normalize this type of culture, but it doesn’t have to be this. We can change the way law enforcement agencies handle mental health.
One critical change we can focus on is the strengthening of peer support programs, as well as Employee Assistance Programs also known as EAPs. The biggest emphasis that needs to be put on these programs is that they must fully and truly be confidential. Without that trust none of these programs will work, and it will only push officers away from using them.
Another equally important change is making sure to implement compassionate and clear policies, where officers feel reassured that accessing mental health support will not lead to any consequences. Seeking help should not automatically trigger reassignment, suspension, or removal of firearm privileges unless there is a clear and documented safety risk (Maguen et al., 2009).
And maybe for the most transformative role, leadership. When leadership, respected officer, and heads of departments share their own personal experiences and struggles it will encourage others to do the same. It will create a ripple effect due to them acknowledging their struggles. By modeling openness and self-care, they challenge the outdated notion that strength means silence.
Finally, emotional processing must be normalized. CISD and other debriefing programs should be routine following traumatic events, not as a sign of weakness, but as a standard part of officer care and team building (ICISF, n.d.).
A Take From Restorative Justice
The contemporary shift in police mental health aligns closely with principles articulated in restorative justice. Armour and Umbreit (n.d.) articulate forgiveness in The Paradox of Forgiveness as a process that involves facing pain, not avoiding it. This commitment is insufficiently captured by passivity; rather, it requires the courageous willingness to engage with the most difficult dimensions of our shared humanity.
The same applies to officers confronting trauma. When an officer turns toward mental health resources, it should be seen as a bold and transformative act of courage. I believe it allows officers to process the things they have experienced, gives them time to reframe their emotions, and to just sit in it for a bit. This will allow them to move forward with a renewed sense of purpose and clarity,
It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way
Law enforcement doesn’t have to be emotionally destructive. When the right support, leadership, and policies are implemented, a system where officers feel empowered to take care of themselves, and of their mental health will flourish.
References
Armour, M. P., & Umbreit, M. S. (n.d.). The paradox of forgiveness in restorative justice. In L. W. Everett (Ed.), Handbook of Forgiveness.
International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF). (n.d.). Critical Incident Stress Debriefing. In Training Manual, Chapter 4.
Maguen, S., Metzler, T., McCaslin, S., Inslicht, S., Henn-Haase, C., Neylan, T., & Marmar, C. (2009). Routine work environment stress and PTSD symptoms in police officers. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, 197(10), 754–760. https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0b013e3181b975f8