convince them to reach out for help.
The agenda also included a presentation of the protocols to
follow when handling traumatic events and crisis intervention.
Burkert said he has seen dramatic improvement on the part of
members to get involved in these situations, and how that has really
enhanced the peer impact of Peer Assistance.
“It’s gone all the way up from the peers to the chiefs,” he added.
“The bosses are now involved with the union, and that has helped
us train thousands of members. We are truly being each other’s
keepers.”
NJ State PBA Executive Vice-President Marc Kovar dropped in to
tell his personal story of peer assistance about a colleague in Passaic
Local 80 that was lost to suicide. His words prompted attendees to
begin sharing their Local experiences, which continued for a while
and allowed the group to critique how the situations were handled
and use them as learning events.
“For the most part, we’ve really been able to thwart a number of
problems through our training,” Dr. Stefanelli observed. “Do we
need more work? No question. But we’re training more and more
people to be aware of the signs, and you can’t put a number of the
amount of lives we have saved because of the program and the people who are involved.”
But there is a number on the amount of phone calls coming in to
ask for help. Burkert indicated he gets one almost every day. Stefanelli said he and Dr. B often have days when multiple calls come
in. Tyminski added that he has days that go well into the night
because of calls to make to provide assistance for members.
“The way the times are, we have be prepared and be sharp to help
our members maintain their mental health,” Tyminski emphasized.
“That’s one of the reasons I came to this training for a second time.”
Dr. Stef pointed out that the tough times law enforcement officers
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