Tag: stress management training for police officers

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Police Officer Health and the “Type D” Personality

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There has been a lot of discussion in the media lately about the increased heart attack risk of people with “Type -D” personalities.  An article about a recent study (actually a compilation of 19 studies) was published in the September 2010 issue of the journal “Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes” published by the American Heart Association.

Type D stands for “Distressed” and from what I have found it is characterized by traits like: “a tendency to experience negative emotions,’ including depressed mood, anxiety, anger, and hostile feelings.” which sounds to me like most cops.

“Type D patients tend to experience increased levels of anxiety, irritation, and depressed mood across situations and time, while not sharing these emotions with others because of fear of disapproval,” researcher Viola Spek, PhD, of Tilburg University in the Netherlands, said in a news release.

“The analysis revealed that heart patients with a Type D personality had a three-fold increased risk for future cardiovascular problems, such as peripheral artery disease, angioplasty or bypass procedures, heart failure, heart transplantation, heart attack or death.”

Does that sound like you?  It does sound like me and most of the cops I know.

Reported By Jennifer Warner and Reviewed by Elizabeth Klodas, MD, FACC of WebMD Health News found”
“Although the reasons for higher risk among Type D patients are not clear, the researchers note that Type D personalities appear to respond differently to stress. This may increase levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the blood  and may be related to higher levels of inflammation. Type D personalities may also be less likely to get regular checkups or communicate well with their doctors.”

Again, does that sound like you?  Type D or not cops are at a higher risk of heart attack than the general population and we need to start doing something about it.

You may have heard about the research that John D. Violanti, PhD reported on last year while working with the Officers of the Buffalo, New York, Police Department.

Dr. Violanti is… Continue reading

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Wellness Advice From A 30 Year Veteran of Law Enforcement

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I met Chuck Wright at the Springbrook Law Enforcement Wellness Summit a couple of months back and was very impressed by the vast amount of wisdom and experience he had accumulated in a law enforcement career that spanned over 30 years and is continuing today as he works with the first responder hotline “Safe Call Now“. I wanted you to share in some of that wisdom so I conducted a telephone interview with Chuck and was completely impressed with the quality of the stress management tips he had to offer other law enforcement officers.

In our interview Chuck, a 30 year veteran of law enforcement who served as both a parole and probation officer for the State of Washington and who is also a licensed mental health professional, told me about his background and also the challenges he faced during his career. He started as a probation/parole officer and early in his career became a licensed mental health professional. He began working with sexual and violent offenders and eventually worked with over 10,000 of them. He has also become an expert in working with law enforcement officers who have to cope with the stress of working with the worst of the worst offenders. Because of his expertise in this and other areas of mental health, he was chosen to work on the Task Force to find the Green River Serial Killer Gary Ridgeway. After Ridgeway’s arrest in 2001, nearly 20 years after the first murder, he confessed to 48 murders, more confirmed murders than any other serial killer in American history.

Because of this work Chuck was asked to address the FBI Academy about issues surrounding the stress effects to investigators working… Continue reading

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As a Police Officer How Would You Handle PTSD, or a Disability, or Both?

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Chris Dobratz has had to deal with both.  In our CopsAlive interview with former Police Detective Sergeant Christian Dobratz, an 18 year veteran of law enforcement, who was forced to retire on a disability we discuss how he successfully navigated a severe case of PTSD and then went on to a forced disability retirement because of an old back injury.  He is now an Assistant Professor of Law Enforcement, Department of Government at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

I met Chris when he traveled to my home state of Colorado to be part of a Stress Management for Law Enforcement Seminar that was being presented by CopsAlive Contributor Lisa Wimberger of Trance Personnel Consulting Group (TPCG).

Chris and a very diverse career with work at both the county sheriff level and within a municipal police department.  In his career he worked as a deputy sheriff,  a patrol officer, detective, worked on a drug task force, and medically retired as a police sergeant.  During his career he battled a severe case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder… Continue reading

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Excellent Webcast on “Survivor’s Guilt” from C.O.P.S.

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Earlier today I sat in on an excellent webcast put on by the National Concerns of Police Survivors organization on “Survivor Guilt and It’s Effect on Coworkers”.  The presenters: Kirk Clark and Linda Moon Gregory did an excellent job with a very difficult subject.  I encourage you to page down in this article to find a link to the replay of their broadcast.

Kirk Clark retired from the Jacksonville (Fla.) Police Department after an undercover drug operation left his partner dead and him with multiple gunshot wounds. Clark returned from the brink with the help of COPS, for which he now serves as president for the northeast Florida chapter. He is the recipient of the Purple Heart from… Continue reading

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CopsAlive Named in “Top 50 Criminal Justice Blogs”

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CopsAlive has received another honor by being added to the list of Top 50 Criminal Justice Blogs.

The list is maintained by the Criminal Justice Degree Schools and can be found at:
http://www.criminaljusticedegreeschools.com/criminal-justice-resources/top-50-criminal-justice-blogs

Thank you all for your continued support!

Please remember CopsAlive.com was founded to provide information and strategies to help police officers successfully survive their careers. We help law enforcement officers and their agencies prepare for the risks that threaten their existence.

We do this by Helping Law Enforcement professionals plan for happy, healthy and successful lives on the job and beyond. We think the best strategy is for each officer to create a tactical plan for their own life and career.

The Law Enforcement Survival Institute (LESI) works with individuals and organizations to help them create and sustain success in their lives and careers as law enforcement professionals. It is the primary goal of The Law Enforcement Survival Institute to become the preeminent source for training, resources and information about how to create and sustain a happy, healthy and successful life and career while providing superior law enforcement service to your community.

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CopsAlive Attends Police Wellness Summit

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I had a chance to travel to Portland Oregon last month where I was privileged to be part of a summit of experts on police wellness issues that was hosted by the Hazelden Springbrook Treatment Center.  Hazelden’s Springbrook campus, located 25 miles outside of Portland in Newberg, Oregon, provides adults ages 18 and over with a comprehensive range of clinical services to treat addiction.

Gathering for the summit were representatives from NYPD, Chicago PD, the San Diego Sheriff’s Office, and Seattle PD along with representatives from Safe Call Now, CopsAlive and former Police Commander… Continue reading

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The Pain Behind The Badge

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I recently had a chance to interview Sgt. Clarke Paris of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department about his work to reduce police suicides and help police officers deal with the stresses of their jobs.

Clarke is the creator of the website: www.ThePainBehindTheBadge.com and the one documentary film of that same name.

“The Pain Behind The Badge” is a one-hour documentary film about Police Suicide created and produced by Clarke Paris in conjunction with 100 Watt Productions.

The hour long film was the winner for Best Documentary Film in 2009 at the Las Vegas International Film Festival and won Honorable Mention at the 2008 Accolade Film Festival features three real police officers from different agencies who share with the viewers their battles with job-related stress, marriage, and PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). Two of these officers explain… Continue reading

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What Can Police Officers Do To Avoid Burnout?

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Hello everyone, it’s Lisa Wimberger from TPCG, and I wanted to share this post I read on a professional database, and found to be insightful, direct, and a much needed inside-perspective on the topic of stress management.  Jeff was gracious enough to give me permission to reprint his blog post with my readers and now I’m sharing it with you as the readers of CopsAlive.

“Let me begin with a disclaimer. Unlike many of my readers, I AM NOT a mental health professional, or for that matter uniquely qualified to provide specific advice regarding such matters. I AM a public safety professional with first hand experience dealing with individuals who were experiencing burnout.

Besides working as an advisor to private businesses, I work in a sworn capacity, for a police agency in Southern California. The agency I work for has just over 100 sworn employees. During the time I have worked there, my co-workers and I have experienced fellow employee suicides, on-duty deaths, deaths of officer’s children, deaths of officer’s spouses and other family members, several officer involved shootings, as well as a myriad of other stressors. Continue reading

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Total Wellness for Law Enforcement Professionals

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The CopsAlive Total Wellness Project is a community effort to ensure the wellness of police officers around the world by gathering tips, suggestions, stories, strategies and resources from law enforcement officers to help other cops survive this career.

We are planning on creating a special report on how to create total wellness for police officers and protect ourselves from all the threats that affect us in or following a law enforcement career.

CopsAlive.com was created to help law enforcement officers successfully navigate their careers and build happy, healthy lives.  We believe that law enforcement is the most noble of professions and acknowledge that many people working in law enforcement make sacrifices everyday to make our communities safer and happier.  We believe that those professionals in law enforcement also deserve to be happy, healthy and successful and we intend to help them plan for that by collecting and disseminating information that will help them have better careers and better lives.  We accomplish this by establishing a running commentary on the Internet through the use of a web log or Blog.  We create interactive discussions and stimulate action around the hidden dangers facing the police.  We use survey instruments online, and in person, to discover the beliefs of our industry and we tailor information strategies and tools for them from this information.  If you believe in this mission and have something to contribute we would welcome it.

We are looking for stories, examples and strategies that will re-enforce a sense of total wellness and protect us from all the threats that confront a policing professional in or following a career in law enforcement.

The final product a “Special Report” will be distributed free to police officers and other law enforcement professionals around the world.

Everyone who contributes to the report will automatically receive… Continue reading

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A Worldwide Discussion Must Be Started on Police Health Issues

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I recently had a chance to travel through Europe and Northern Africa and speak with police officers in eight different countries.  One thing that I encountered was a language barrier and some mistrust and perhaps misunderstanding that we are all connected by a profession that in one of the most challenging on earth.

Because of this we will be translating this short article into 11 other languages in order to gather more officers input from around the world.  Then in future articles we will attempt to address the issues you tell us are most important to you.

One thing we have learned is that Police officers themselves must discuss the health issues that challenge… Continue reading