Opt-in Versus Opt-out: Mental Health Resources for Police Officers
Police officers encounter trauma on a daily basis at work. Unlike civilians, police officers have to continue to perform their job as first responders until the situation is finished. In a shooting, police officers do not have the option to get in their car and drive away to safety or to call loved ones. They are expected to protect the public and to pursue the threat until it is under control. This opens the door of opportunity to trauma in many ways for police officers. While a police department may provide officers with resources to discuss their acquired trauma and to obtain treatment, there are many barriers that prevent officers from following up on this resource even if they may need it.
Four main barriers reported by police officers to report their trauma on and request treatment are 1) losing their job 2) having their license to carry a firearm taken away 3) reassignment within the department to a less stressful position and 4) ridicule and humiliation (being seen as weak) (Rousseau, 2025).
The number one cause of death in police officers is suicide (Rousseau, 2025). Officers who fail to maintain stable mental health may become a liability as an officer and if that is the case, they may be let go by their department. When an officer reports concerns of mental health and possible PTSD, their license to carry (LTC), and patrol weapon may be confiscated until their mental health returns to stable. Additionally, a department may reassign an officer to a less stressful position while they take care of their mental health and as a result this may be more de-stabilizing and disorienting, and the fear of being reassigned may prevent officers from expressing their struggles. Finally, they can suffer ridicule or humiliation socially and internally. Internally, an officer who seeks out resources and mental health treatment may feel weak when they do not see their coworkers doing the same. They may feel alone and confused about why they need help and their co-workers do not. Socially, a team of officers could ridicule an officer who seeks out help when the whole team is exposed to the same traumas and deems them not traumatizing enough to need help. One person may struggle while the others are fine, and they may be outcast and ridiculed for not being able to handle the work. As a result of this hesitation to obtain help, many officers hide their struggles and this only makes the stress and trauma harder to deal with.
One of the possible contributors to the fears of officers to obtain resources when needed is that the mental health resources a department provides operate on an opt-in basis. For an officer to obtain mental health resources, they would need to admit that they need help to their HR or their supervisor. This alone may be a barrier to entry as they may already fear repercussions for merely wanting to talk to someone. Additionally, an officer may have never been to therapy or received mental health treatment before and this may be too intimidating especially when they are already emotionally vulnerable. An Opt-in model for mental health resources presents a barrier to entry that will prevent officers from obtaining the help they need, further contributing to the reasons they don’t seek out help in the first place.
Switching to an opt-out model for mental health resources could trump barriers to entry and could help provide proactive resources to officers instead of just reactive resources. If the mental health resources were opt-out, and officers had to make an effort to not receive help rather than to receive help, they may be more inclined to reach out.
One workplace that has already tested implementation of this opt-out model is one hospital residency program. Within a hospital, medical students studied for seven months. One group of students was given resources to opt-in to therapy if they wanted it and the other group was scheduled for therapy and could opt-out, or cancel, their session (Guldner Et. al. 2024).. At the end of the study, the data showed that only 6% of residents opted-in to therapy (Guldner Et. al. 2024). However, in the opt-out group 55% of residents kept their appointments and 39% opted-in for additional sessions than was required (Guldner Et. al. 2024).. This study shows that individuals may want therapy and could enjoy the benefits of therapy, but the barrier to entry, even if it is just to call and schedule an appointment, may be a barrier enough to prevent the use of services.
An opt-out system for mental health resources or counselling could be very beneficial and effective for a police department. For example, officers could have mandatory meetings with a mental health professional once a month or bi-weekly for the first two years of employment as a first responder, and then after that have the option to opt-out of services if they want to. This way, the stigma of being in counseling evaporates because everyone has been in it, and officers do not have to worry about asking where the resources are because they are already required to engage with them. Additionally, if an officer recognizes that they may be struggling, the barrier to re-enter into therapy services will be minimized because they already have rapport with the mental health professional working for their department, and they already know what to expect, and can rest-assured that their job, assignment, social standing, and license to carry will not be threatened by reaching out for help.
An opt-out model of mental health resources for police officers has tremendous potential and could be a great tool to improve officer wellness, employee retention, and to mitigate officer liability.
References
Davis, Joseph A. (1998). Providing Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) to Individuals and Communities. Chapter 4. The American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress, Inc. https://nzsar.govt.nz/assets/Downloadable-Files/Critical-Incident-Stress-Debriefing.pdf
Guldner, G., Siegel, J. T., Broadbent, C., Ayutyanont, N., Streletz, D., Popa, A., Fuller, J., & Sisemore, T. (2024). Use of an Opt-Out vs Opt-In Strategy Increases Use of Residency Mental Health Services. Journal of graduate medical education, 16(2), 195–201. https://doi.org/10.4300/JGME-D-23-00460.1
Rousseau, D. (2025). Trauma and Policing. Boston University.