Category: Plan Your Health

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Quiet Your Mind

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soundwavebyjbaerSm Can You Quiet Your Mind? For law enforcement professionals the importance of being able to quiet your mind is critical as the thoughts, ideas, plans and excessive noise in our heads can become overwhelming. Even in their more mild expressions these thoughts can keep us from being focused, attentive, alert and might disturb our sleep. The profession of law enforcement can be quite toxic and contributes many direct threats to your mental and emotional well-being, not to mention your spiritual health. Things like poverty, tragedy, trauma, death and destruction can be overwhelming and thoughts about these things blend with your everyday thoughts to contribute lots of noise in your mind. Your ability to control and “quiet” that noise might become a very valuable tool in the challenge for you to be able to stay alive or to even survive a full career. Those in police work need to learn to calm and quiet their minds in order to stay focused, mentally alert, and safe. We are attaching a written procedure for quieting your mind as well as a 10 minute audio recording to guide you… Continue reading

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Consider a Proactive Annual Check In

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Start the New Year with a Proactive Annual Check In

Police work is tough business and it will eat you up if you don’t care for your “self” physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Taking care of yourself mentally and emotionally in law enforcement is usually NOT something you can do alone. Proper care requires Proactive Peer Support, Psychological Services and Chaplains Programs and other support services to be effective.

Police psychologist Jack Digliani has just produced the 5th Edition of his Police and Sheriff’s Peer Support Team Training Manual which he has always made available for free here on CopsAlive.com. He is also recommending that police officers agencies, and other law enforcement professionals consider doing an Annual Proactive Check-In.

What is a Proactive Annual Check In?

The Proactive Annual Check-In (PAC) provides police officers… Continue reading

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PTSD – WHAT IS IT?

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EDITORS NOTE: the following is a guest post from Robert Rabe a Vietnam Veteran who also has 39 Years of Law Enforcement Experience.

PTSD- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a new name for an old story and there are many complexities to its definition. The name, recognizing a medical condition, was coined several years after the onset of the Vietnam War. Similar symptoms demonstrated by soldiers following the Civil War were called nostalgia. GIs during WWI were said to have shell shock. Military personnel from WWII and the Korean Conflict were suffering combat fatigue. No matter what term is used, the symptoms are the same.

There are many descriptions of PTSD:
PTSD – a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma.
PTSD – is a set of symptoms that surface following a dangerous, frightening and uncontrollable event including: sleep disturbance, flashbacks, anxiety, tiredness and depression.
PTSD – is a condition recognized by the prevalence of one or more symptoms affecting people who have
experienced severe emotional trauma such as combat, crime or natural disaster.
PTSD – a person may demonstrate symptomatic behavior after seeing or experiencing a traumatizing event where grave injury or death is involved.

You can find the most recent clinical definition… Continue reading

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We Need To Get Serious About Dealing With Addictions in Law Enforcement

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Operational readiness and our ability to be “fit for duty” is critical on a daily basis in law enforcement and yet we don’t always do the preparatory and preventative things necessary to do to make that a reality.

We know that physical fitness is critical in law enforcement, that’s why we test for it when we hire new cops, and why some agencies still test for it annually.

We talk about understanding that mental fitness is important for law enforcement officers because we screen for it when we hire them but after that initial assessment we seem to go astray and never talk about mental fitness again until someone’s mental fitness is in question.

There is another component of fitness that we never deal with in law enforcement and that has to do with someone who isn’t considered fit for duty and may need to assistance. Continue reading

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PTSD Awareness Day 2013

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PTSDaware2013-200x200Today is PTSD Awareness Day and its time for those of us in law enforcement to learn more about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and take a stance on how we will preserve and maintain our mental health and resilience in the face of a very toxic career.

Today’s the day and June is PTSD Awareness Month and we encourage you to learn more about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) not only to help yourself but your peers and the family members who need you by visiting the website for the National Center for PTSD which is run by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

What are you doing to raise awareness about PTSD in your agency?

They invite you to “Take the STEP and Raise Awareness about PTSD“

  • Learn about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Challenge Beliefs
  • Explore Options
  • Reach Out

Isn’t it time that we in law enforcement take our own step toward understanding this issue and openly talking about it in our roll-calls and other agency meetings. You can download our CopsAlive Roll-Call training guide on PTSD byCLICKING HERE or keep reading to learn about the many resources being made available by the National Center for PTSD.

Rates of PTSD in law enforcement officers vary but… Continue reading

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Glorious Grains Can Improve Your Health

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brownricebydanoAccording to the US Department of Agriculture “Eating grains, especially whole grains, provides health benefits. People who eat whole grains as part of a healthy diet have a reduced risk of some chronic diseases. Grains provide many nutrients that are vital for the health and maintenance of our bodies”.

Things like wheat, rice, oats, cornmeal, barley or another cereal grains are all included in the grains category. For the purposes of this article we are going to focus on one of the more beneficial grains: brown rice.

I want you to consider adding brown rice to your diet to improve… Continue reading

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Fitness Monday – The Power of Proper Nutrition

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soccer-kiddoI’m Shaping Up; Week 12

What happened to Week 11 you may be asking? Well, more travel equals less time to write, but well needed rest from most activities.

I have also decided to stop obsessing over the scale for a few weeks. My low-end weigh-in of 208 was so welcomed, but it made the slight bounce during travel too stressful.

It’s funny that after monitoring your caloric intake and physical output, you can tell where your body falls along the numeric tell-all.

Week 12

Here’s to holding each other accountable when the couch looks inviting and the snacks endless. Continue reading

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Train Like a U.S. Navy SEAL

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Mentally Prepare Yourself Like a U.S. Navy SEAL

Navy SEAL photo downloadsThe United States Navy SEALs are arguably one of the most highly trained and competent military forces in the world. Do you think that as a police officer or other law enforcement professional you could learn something from how they prepare themselves for the stresses and rigors of their duties?

I had a chance to interview Commander Eric Potterat, Ph.D. of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command. Dr. Potterat is the Force Psychologist for the U.S. Navy SEALs. In our interview he describes the 7 primary techniques he uses to train the SEALs for Mental Toughness and to improve their Operational Readiness.

Dr. Potterat suggested that many of the techniques used to train the U.S. Navy SEALs have been adapted from the specialized training given to elite athletes to enhance their performance and allow them to successfully compete in the most competitive international events.

He said that he feels that law enforcement and military training can be very similar and that both can learn many things from the advanced psychological conditioning used by Olympic, and other elite, athletes.

The goals of this kind of Mental Preparedness training can be… Continue reading

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Is it Time to Check Under Your Hood?

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Recently, I had my biennial physical check up with my primary care physician. For me, it is like the scheduled maintenance on our vehicles. It something we should look forward to doing every year or as my HMO offers: every other year. The check-up is to ensure our bodies are running smoothly.

As I admitted in previous articles, I reached the Golden anniversary of my birth recently so my physician was very thorough with his check list of my body parts, equipment and the engine (my heart). Everything appears in order and we always have a great conversation about diets, exercise and my job performance as a law enforcement officer. I’ve been very… Continue reading

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1st Responder Treatment

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Our law enforcement profession is very slow to embrace the need for early intervention and support of those who need help before they turn to self-medication with alcohol and prescription medications. There is a new treatment program available that is geared specifically for Police, Fire and EMS first responders and it’s called 1st Responder Treatment.

I had a chance to interview Mark Lamplugh the Founder and Program Coordinator of 1st Responder Treatment a partner with Transformations Treatment Center in Delray Beach Florida.

Mark founded 1st Responder Treatment to help first responders get drug and alcohol treatment nationwide. First Responders have special needs when it comes to treatment. Mark was a fire captain who struggled with addiction himself, so he understands the needs that must be met.

The mission of 1st Responder Treatment is to assist every first responder to get the help they need for their addiction issues while also protecting their privacy.

Contact 1st Responder Treatment at:
1-855-350-2405
http://www.1strespondertreatment.com/

In our interview we discussed the challenges in getting police officers or any first responders to ask for help when they have a problem with alcohol, drugs or stress.

Our discussion was directed at two audiences. One audience includes the first responders that have an alcohol or drug problem and the other audience was the peer, friend or family member of the police officer or other first responder that knows someone who needs help.

In our interview… Continue reading