Dr. Michael Bizzarro( left) and Ken Burkert presented a peer assistance seminar to state corrections officers recruits at the State Corrections Academy in Sea Girt on June 1.
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sources in all state corrections facilities that will help members deal with what Dr. Bizzarro warns as the consequence of untreated mental health issues.
“ It’ s only a matter of time before it makes your life unmanageable; that’ s how I got in trouble,” Sprich confided.“ We are investing time, training, money, any of the stuff that matters to give our members the chance to look around and see who has issues and to be able to concentrate on these troubled people walking around among us.”
To create such awareness, the May 19 training with the IVPs and volunteers began with Dr. B and Burkert reviewing how to look for cues of officers struggling, and how to reach out for assistance from the PBA Peer Assistance Response Team( PART), Princeton House, Florida House – which also provides inpatient treatment services – and Cop 2 Cop, the New Jersey suicide prevention and mental health support hotline. In applying the support model the PBA uses, Dr. B pinpointed how numbing the pain that corrections officers face on a daily basis can lead to the secondary dangers of depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug abuse, gambling and sexual behav-
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40 NEW JERSEY COPS ■ JULY 2017