Preserving Police Officer Well-being

Well-being can be described as the experience of being happy, healthy and comfortable with oneself. Ultimately it is often what drives a lot of our personal life decisions. Well-being is something that is sought out by just about everyone because it can have so many positive influences in our personal and professional lives. It can provide us with a sense of purpose and help us effectively manage stress. Unfortunately, as our daily stress levels increase, people tend not to prioritize their well-being and other aspects of their lives can begin to suffer. Especially when you don’t make it a priority or understand the best ways to manage it.

During my time at Champlain College, I have learned many effective tools that can be incorporated into people’s lives to help manage stress levels and ultimately live a happier and healthier life. As a college student, this was extremely helpful to me. I was able to implement what I was learning into my daily life and apply it to my own personal experiences. I am fortunate that well-being was a focus of the curriculum as part of my education. Many people, not just students, have never had this opportunity and it is often something that is taken for granted.

After my first year at Champlain College I decided to incorporate criminal justice into my studies. I learned that people who pursue careers in law enforcement often struggle with well-being. Thriving in a high pressure environment is not easy. With mental illnesses among incarcerated adults on the rise — law enforcement officers are more likely to be affected by these stressful experiences as they are interacting with these unpredictable circumstances more and more. Well-being is what fuels our preservation in all aspects of our lives and why my capstone project is centered on providing police officers with the tools to manage those stress levels and ultimately live a happy and productive life.

As a result, my capstone project focused on creating a class that can be taught to law enforcement officers within our communities on how to increase their personal well-being.

In this class officers will understand how to enhance tools they may already be incorporating into their lives. The goal of this class is to strengthen these characteristics which long term can affect them in a positive way. Police officers face traumatic events on a day to day basis. Entering this profession it is crucial for these individuals to introduce these tools in order to preserve their happiness and connection with the community.

When building this capstone project I had the opportunity to present my project to the Chittenden County police chiefs. Chittenden County located in Vermont is the highest populated county in Vermont and it includes Burlington. Burlington is the biggest city by population in all of Vermont. Presenting this project gave me the opportunity to share this important topic with those who would benefit from this class the most.

In this presentation, officers were engaged and encouraged to reflect on how their experiences had affected them. One officer mentioned how having relationships outside of his career allowed him to escape from the role and destress with people who were removed from his daily intense work life. The well-being exercise I incorporated into this class was developed to help them understand their current stress levels and the best ways for them to cope. I introduced them to the concept of protective factors. Protective factors are things that we do that contribute to our mental health. They allow us to become resilient when facing challenges. During the class we take time to evaluate a person’s protective factor strengths and weaknesses during a 15-minute exercise. As a result of this exercise officers come away with a better understanding of how to personally manage their stress.

Having resources and the opportunity to learn more about how to manage stressful situations can be vital to one’s success and emotional regulation. In order to continue to protect our communities, it is crucial we incorporate this practice into police officer training. When an individual cannot help themselves they begin to lose the motivation to help others.

To learn more about myself and this course visit https://www.911wellbeing.com.