HEALTH & WELLNESS
BUILDING RESILIENCE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 77
Nevertheless, year after year, ranking near the top of the nation’ s most stressful jobs is that of law enforcement officers.“ Research suggests that police work is among the most stressful occupations in the world and officers typically suffer a variety of physiological, psychological and behavioral effects and symptoms,” the researchers at HeartMath noted in a study.“ Officers operating under severe or chronic stress are likely to be at greater risk of error, accidents and overreactions that can compromise their performance, jeopardize public safety and pose significant liability costs to the organization.”
Participants were tasked with practicing stress resilience performance enhancement techniques to show they could utilize and recoup their energy more intelligently, and effectively shift into physiological coherence. This is an optimal state in which the body’ s mental, emotional and physical systems function harmoniously.
Twelve of the officers participated in the“ scenarios” that were simulations responding to a domestic violence call, going on a high-speed chase and conducting a building search. The officers first would go through a portion of their training, and then participate in a scenario. Physiological and psychological measurements taken before their training were compared with measurements taken after they participated in the scenarios.
What the researchers found was:“ Officers who practiced the self-regulation skills experienced marked reductions in negative emotions, fatigue and physical stress symptoms as well as increased peacefulness, physical vitality and improved work performance.
“ The greatest and, in our view, most important effect of the self-management training was seen in the participants’ increased ability to manage their moods and emotions, which is a fundamental key to sustaining resilience. For the law enforcement officer, the abilities to think rationally under stress, concentrate, plan ahead, remember and organize crucial information, make effective decisions and control inappropriate emotion-triggered reactions are critically important and, in some cases, can determine the difference between life and death for the officer and other parties.”
A recent independent study at Police University College of Finland, examined the potential benefits of providing resilience training to SWAT team personnel. The SWAT personnel would go through a 60-minute resilience training session and then imagine themselves engaged in a specific, highly stressful incident. One of these was a hostage situation. They had to decide what actions they would take in the incident.
“ The purpose of listening and imagining oneself in a critical incident while in a controlled, non stressful environment,” according to the published study,“ is to instill confidence and familiarity into the( law enforcement) officer, so that when they encounter such a stressor in the line of duty the incident is more predictable, controllable and thus less threatening.”
The key benefits to resilience training may include the following: increased awareness and self-management of stress reactions, reduced distress, anger, sadness and fatigue, reduced sleeplessness and physical stress symptoms, increased peacefulness and vitality, reduced competition, improved communication and greater cooperation within work teams, improved work performance, greater confidence, balance and clarity under acute stress, quicker recalibration following acute stress and improved listening and relationships with family.
“ Post Traumatic Growth”( Calhoun) is the concept that some people are predisposed to thrive rather than survive after a traumatic event, based on their sense of themselves, spirituality and strong family support. At Cop2Cop, we see those officers daily who inherently have the variables to rise amidst any crisis. Cop2Cop resilience training seems to be needed as part of our work, and we will roll out our first pilot class in the upcoming year! Building law enforcement officer resilience is the foundation of the strength in our communities and our country. Let’ s work together to be a foundation built on rock, with heart and service driving your resilience. God bless you. d
78 NEW JERSEY COPS ■ SEPTEMBER 2016