it's about mental health for

OUR MISSION

The primary mission of the Badge of Life Program is to assist law enforcement officers in the United States and Canada to maintain the highest possible quality of life in their careers. Our goal is to provide free assistance and materials from which officers can be trained to deal effectively with stress and emotional trauma long before reaching a crisis level. Our goals are also to encourage research into the causes of police suicide to determine the underlying causes and relationships to the abusive work environment faced by police officers.

Photo by Jim Epler

Critical Incidents are like Mack trucks--the big, catastrophic events that can cause posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among police officers and can lead to suicide.

Departments with programs spot them right away: the shootouts, the loss of a partner, the death of a child. All systems are “Go.” Debriefings are held. Referrals to professionals are made when appropriate.  Prompt action can greatly minimize, if not eliminate, the impacts of PTSD.

 
Cumulative PTSD,* however, is like one bumblebee sting after another.  These are the incidents that aren’t “headliners,” that are missed by everyone, even the officer.  They mulitply over the years. These bumblebee stings are the “dirty little secrets” of law enforcement:  the shames, the mistakes, the repeated "routine" horrors, the betrayals, abuses and the dark fears only the officer knows and shares with no one, not even peer officers.  We call them the "soul woundings" of law enforcement.  After years, it may take only a minor incident (or none) to trigger a breakdown or suicide. 

	Photo by Rob Gale

Make no mistake—cumulative PTSD is deadly. And for every police suicide, there are a thousand more officers still working and suffering from cumulative trauma.  Departments suffer from them as well--through increased sick leave, citizens’ complaints, lawsuits and personnel actions.

Some of these are happening on departments with good suicide prevention programs.  If everyone knows the standard list of "warning signs" to look for, why are they slipping under the radar?   Why were they really missed?  Was the officer that good at maintaining a facade? (now, think a moment--we train them to maintain facades!).

What do we mean by "Annual, voluntary mental health checks?" 

This is a total shift from the traditional focus used in recent years.  Therapy, for example, has been something to turn to when the officer is "in trouble."  There will always be a need for this kind of crisis intervention.

But why are we waiting until the officer is in crisis to act?  Why not begin long before, training recruits and and officers on how to find and maintain good mental health--and be ready for trauma long before it happens?

We believe our programs must be more than "just" about waiting until a "crisis" and suicide.  They must be about long-term mental health for all officers.  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. 

Questions You Should Ask Yourself

• You spend countless hours teaching your recruits and officers how to shoot others.  How many hours do you spend teaching them not to shoot themselves?

• You run your recruits around the track for hours and encourage them to continue after they graduate--200 to 300 hours per year.  How many hours do you encourage them to actively invest in their personal MENTAL health each year?  200 to 300?  Two or three?  None?

• When was the last time you told someone that law enforcement is a highly stressful career, filled with trauma?  Yesterday?  Last week? 

• Now, when was the last time you read about a police suicide and heard the department attribute it to the stresses and trauma of the job?  (Never, right?) 

• Are you willing to look "beyond the box?"  Are you going to limit yourself to "suicide prevention," or are your officers important enough to you that you're willing to invest in their their overall mental health?

• What is your real motive?  Is it merely to avoid the stigma and "shame" of a suicide, or is it to create in your department an atmosphere of good health and reilience that will not only "prevent" suicides, but save you countless dollars in civil suits, sick leave, alcoholism, depression and rebelliousness? 

Take the test.  Be honest.  If you are, we're here for you.  Free.  It's what we do.

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The Badge of Life is an IRS Approved 501(c)(3) Charitable Organization and all donations are tax deductible.  All services and materials provided by the Badge of Life are free of charge.