Tag: tactical resilience

No comments

Wellness Focused Policing

  By

The world needs healthy cops!

The world EXPECTS healthy cops!

The Law Enforcement Survival Institute is proposing a new policing initiative we call Wellness Focused Policing.

Wellness Focused Policing is a people focused policing strategy to promote wellness within law-enforcement first, and then to spread that sense of care, and focus on well-being, outwardly to the people served by the police.

When we are appalled by police officers doing things that are abhorrent and we want to fix the entire profession with new legislative initiatives, I think our society is focusing on the wrong solutions and those solutions might actually hurt the first responders who are doing everything right.

First, I believe that in order to be effective, change in policing practices must come from within the policing profession itself, and secondly, I believe the solutions lie in leading the people working within the profession to be their best, then supporting and sustaining exceptional performance. We must challenge everyone within the profession… Continue reading

No comments

A Season of Giving

  By

A Season of Giving

Today is Giving Tuesday and in this season of giving, I would ask that you consider supporting some of the many organizations that support law enforcement. Here are some I recommend:

Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.)
Each year, between 140 and 160 officers die in the line of duty and their families and co-workers are left to cope. C.O.P.S. provides… Continue reading

No comments

NEW Armor Your Self Study & Discussion Guides

  By

Armor Your Self 5 book study package for small groups or book clubs.For those of you who loved the Armor Your Self book, but wanted to share that information with your peers, the Law Enforcement Survival Institute has just released several different Study & Discussion Guide Packages designed to assist individuals, small study groups and law enforcement book clubs.

The two study packages, built around the book Armor Your Self: How to Survive a Career in Law Enforcement, include either 5 or 10 copies of the Armor Your Self: How to Survive a Career in Law Enforcement resilience building textbooks. These collections are a Do-It-Yourself package for book clubs, small groups or academy classes that can’t afford more expensive training, but want to explore the Armor Your Self textbook more deeply. These two packages include… Continue reading

No comments

ATTACHED

  By

I recently signed up for an online, zoom-style writing course.

I am attempting to learn more about how to write with purpose and structure.

This past session, which was an hour long, focused on letting go of an outcome or agenda. I did not really understand what that meant in its entirety when applying it to writing.

As students, we heard the topic from the moderator and then began writing, without stopping, for 10 minutes. The goal is to listen to our minds, keep the pen moving and not focusing on perfection. We were instructed to focus only on what our mind was saying. Then, she reads a second topic, and we repeat the process. Just keep moving the pen and listen.

So, that is what I did or so I thought.

After the first ten minutes, we took a minute or two to finish our thoughts and get ready for the second topic.

This time, the moderator repeated the first topic, word for word, and then said, “Go.”

I sat there for at LEAST 2 minutes. Did she forget she already read this topic? Do I type her error in the chat to let her know? There are over three hundred people on this Zoom, didn’t anyone else catch that? What the heck is going on?

And then…the AHA moment.

I already had it in my head, we were doing this session the same way we had done it before.

I was attached to the outcome.

I expected a second topic.

The moderator ignored the chat comments (from all the participants) and continued forward. After the second ten-minute writing session, the moderator told us she repeated the first topic on purpose.

She gave us a live experience of what it is like to be attached to an outcome. Man, That. Was. Good!

Looking back, I recalled several ways I had been “attached!” I thought for sure I would be married at least five years before I had a child. I was pregnant within six months of my wedding. I thought for sure I would work in the medical field my entire life. I changed careers at age 34 to law enforcement. I thought for sure I would work in law enforcement for at least 20 years. I retired after 13.5 years.

The change and flow of my life… Continue reading

No comments

Researching Moral Injury in Law Enforcement

  By
EDITORS NOTE: The Law Enforcement Survival Institute was approached by The University of Colorado Colorado Springs School of Public Affairs about promoting a new research project investigating the concept of moral injury within law enforcement.  The findings from this project entitled: Advancing Officer Wellness: A Study of On-Duty Experiences and their Impacts among Law Enforcement Professionals, can be used to raise awareness of officer’s experiences and to develop programming that supports officer wellness. The Law Enforcement Survival Institute wholeheartedly supports this very interesting research and we encourage you to investigate further, join the project, and help us spread the word to others.
Here’s some information to get you started and you can connect with the links below:

Purpose Statement: In light of the stresses of police work, recent years have brought heightened attention to the tolls of the job on individual officers. These can include illness, mental and behavioral health challenges, and even suicide. There is thus a strong push for proactive efforts to advance health, wellness, and resilience among officers. This study seeks to support and advance those efforts.

Background: Policing professionals face traumatic and morally injurious events in the line of duty. the effects of trauma and moral injury can include posttraumatic stress, depression, anxiety, suicidality, substance misuse, spiritual and religious struggle, and more. This study is an important step in bolstering resilience among those working in the policing profession. Findings can be used to raise awareness of officer’s experiences and to develop programming that supports officer wellness…

Continue reading

No comments

LESI Wellness Panel Discussion

  By ,

The Law Enforcement Survival Institute (LESI) invites you to view our wellness panel discussion that was streamed live online on April 23, 2020.

This wellness and resilience information is suitable for all first responders and your family members. We will have a live audience and will record it for others to watch, later for free, on the CopsAlive.com YouTube channel.

With all that is happening in the world today maintaining your health and wellness is of paramount importance. Law enforcement professionals, other first responders and members of the military are normally faced with the most challenging situations in the world and now with a new global pandemic to face your personal wellness is mission critical.

OUR PANELISTS
John Marx, CPP
Law Enforcement Chaplain Cary Friedman
NYPD Detective First Grade (Ret.) Mordecai Z. Dzikansky
Sgt. Clarke Paris, LVMPD (ret.)
Tracie Paris, RN, BSN
Lois James, Ph.D.
Stephen James, Ph.D.

OUR MODERATOR
Christie Ward, CSP


Time: Duration 129 minutes

Who: All First Responders and Your Family Members

What: Online discussion of everyday wellness challenges and resilience strategies

INFORMATION ABOUT OUR PANELISTS:… Continue reading

No comments

Prevent Law Enforcement Suicides!

  By

It is National Suicide Prevention Week and Month. There are lots of resources out there to help you. Now is a time to act!

Last year was the first year that the number of reported law enforcement suicides exceeded the number of Line of Duty Deaths. It’s happening again this year.

As of September 9, 2019 Blue H.E.L.P. has verified 142 suicides while the NLEOMF has only reported 83 Line of Duty Deaths.

So what are you willing to do to stop this problem from happening at your agency?

Do you have a suicide prevention program in your agency?

Well, you no longer have an excuse for not having a program. With a video produced by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the Working Minds Program and the Carson J Spencer Foundation, and our CopsAlive.com roll call discussion guide you can create a ready made program the moment you finish reading this page.

Create your own police suicide prevention training… Continue reading

No comments

Resilience in Law Enforcement

  By

One of your peers is suffering; maybe you are too! They want to be good at their job and actually make the world a better place. However, one too many dead baby calls, and too many months on the night shift with all the drunks and people shoving their cell phones in your face and your partner has had enough. Of course all of this comes on top of the increased violence in your area and the unending tide of gang members plying their drug trade in your neighborhood and your peers are telling you to “suck it up” and “shake it off” — but you can’t. It’s bad enough that work is unending trauma and tragedy, but your spouse is nagging you about not being able to cover the bills this month and why you can’t make your kids recital tomorrow afternoon. Maybe you have experienced some of this too? So what do you tell your partner about why it’s important to take care of yourself? How do you endure this job until retirement and not eat your gun first?

The recent surge of police officer suicides should be a red flag to what is happening within our profession. We need to deal with law enforcement suicide as a symptom of something much more complex and insidious that is eroding our people from within. We spend lots and lots of money on technology to improve policing while at the same time forgetting that law enforcement is a people business. If we don’t take care of our people, they won’t be able to take care of THE PEOPLE!

Police resilience is about making sure… Continue reading

2 Comments

Armor Your Self™ 2019 Workshops

  By

Have you read the 458 page softcover resilience textbook: Armor Your Self: How To Survive A Career In Law Enforcement and want to learn more?

We are bringing our Armor Your Self™ workshops to a city near you:

Armor Your Self™ 2019 Preliminary Spring Workshop Calendar includes workshops in Daytona Beach, Florida; Columbus, Ohio; Lansing, Michigan; Omaha, Nebraska; Pueblo, Colorado; Glendale, Arizona and one hosted by the Louisiana State Police.

To learn more or register for one of these workshops visit: https://armoryourself.com/register/

The Armor Your Self™ project is a powerful concept that will begin building the foundations of law enforcement health and wellness for your personnel, your families and for your organization.

The program is taught as a Resilience Research Learning Laboratory with all the participants researching, discussing and learning information that is specific, and important to them.

Each participant receives a copy of the 458 page softcover resilience textbook: Armor Your Self: How To Survive A Career In Law Enforcement by John Marx (a $24.95 value).

Participants will find the tools they need to recognize the symptoms of the toxic effects… Continue reading

No comments

CopsAlive Hosts 2019 TREPP Webcasts

  By

John Marx and Chaplain Cary A. Friedman invite you to join us for a new online discussion LIVE webcast series about modern policing as part of our Tactical Resilience™ & Ethical Policing Project.

We want to ignite a thoughtful, and regular, discussion about issues critical to the success of modern policing and we want to involve you!

To that end we are planning regular LIVE webcasts that will last about an hour. They will involve a little discussion, a little training and a few guests along the way.

Please watch our welcome video:

Our sessions will be held regularly, approximately once a month, usually on a Wednesday at Noon Eastern Time.

Space will be limited to the first 100 people who register in advance.

Register here: https://tacticalresilience.org/online-training/

Each session will be recorded and posted on our CopsAlive YouTube Channel after the event

Please reach out by email or online and send us your thoughts before the webinar and we will incorporate them into the discussion… Continue reading