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NEW JERSEY COPS ■ MAY 2016
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35 have two options when conducted by certified professionals like those at Cop 2 Cop.
There is“ defusing,” which can take place over the phone or face-to-face, is an immediate response, takes about 30 minutes and is utilized for those leaving the scene at the end of the shift to transition from the“ awful” to the“ routine.” Defusing assesses the well-being of personnel following the incident, provides stressmanagement and assesses the need for other services and / or debriefing. This is the psychological first-aid that includes participation from peers and mental health professionals.
Debriefing is a seven-step process that is typically a full day with large-group and small-group sessions. It is structured, not like a tactical debriefing; there is no risk of compromising the officers. It is conducted by a licensed clinician and two peers, who are likely former cops at Cop 2 Cop.
“ In the debriefing, we ask officers only to speak about their roles and thoughts about the incident,” Castellano details.“ By the end of the group teaching phase, we are thinking about normal reaction to abnormal events by normalizing their experiences. As the group becomes more cohesive, we talk about the strengths and the people who may or may not need treatment. We actually find they are willing to go for the treatment if they need it after the group.”
The capstone on the debriefing comes from the Cop 2 Cop peers who follow up weekly with the officers that went through the CMB. That follow-up can go on for months.“ If it does, that’ s how we know the whole thing is working,” Castellano says.
Critical Acclaim
In addition to traumatic and critical incidents, another tumultuous stressor for cops has become increased and intense scrutiny that now comes with doing the job. The community, the media and the department all contribute, not to mention the advent of on-body video recording every move, is enough to lead a member to, well, let’ s not go there.
To keep members from going there, the State PBA and the Peer Assistance Committee is continuing with the intense QPR training from Cop 2 Cop that provides the tools for members to be their sisters’ and brothers’ keepers. Castellano brought her certified expertise to do the training on April 27 at the PBA Headquarters in Woodbridge.
“ By the end of the training, the members wanted more situations about what happens when a call goes into the call center,” Pellegrino notes.“ That’ s what we were trying to stress: that Cop 2 Cop is a 24-hour call center and it’ s important we utilize that because it’ s one of the best resources we have in addition to our doctors.”
The QPR training is so effective and so important that Pellegrino is working to get Castellano and Cop 2 Cop to accompany him on a road show to bring it to various counties around the state the way 1st Vice-President Pete Andreyev has done with the PBA’ s Pension Benefits seminar. Pellegrino is also planning for a training following the PBA State Meeting in June at Caesar’ s in Atlantic City.
Another co-op between the Peer Assistance Committee and Cop 2 Cop is an effort to find clergy across the state who can assist with critical incident response and counseling members. At the next three state meetings, Pellegrino will be asking State Delegates to submit names of clergy members in their areas to add to the team, and if that endeavor is successful, he hopes to have a QPR training for clergy in October.
“ Cop 2 Cop has given us so much help and leadership, so now we have to build on that,” Pellegrino recognizes.“ Imagine all the help we can bring our members if they know they have somebody to talk to.” d