Tag: police stress

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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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Fitness Monday – The Power of Connection

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connectionbyjazbeck

One of the most powerful tools a law enforcement officer can use to maintain their fitness is the power of connection.  Before I elaborate let’s make some distinctions.

First what does the concept of fitness mean to you?  To us at the Law Enforcement Survival Institute fitness means your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual fitness for duty and overall wellness for life’s challenges and joys.

Secondly, connection in this case means to us your ability to maintain connections to family, people, support networks, resources, some higher power and other areas that can strengthen and support you in your life and your work in law enforcement.

So what does the concept of connection have to do with your fitness in police work?

If you look at our over-riding definition of fitness listed above you will recognize that our concept of fitness impacts your whole being or “self” and that in order to strengthen and maintain your peak levels of fitness you must be conditioning your “self” in four areas: physically, mentally, emotionally as well as spiritually.  Many police officers and other law enforcement professionals only train themselves physically to survive the rigors of this profession.  If that’s all you do, then we are concerned about the threats to you from what we call the hidden dangers of law enforcement like police officer suicide, heart disease, cumulative stress, PTSD, various forms of cancer and other things that will take your life.  If you take your personal threat assessment further to the things that don’t kill you but can make your life miserable then we include threats like fatigue, divorce, financial ruin, alcoholism…, Continue reading

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Fitness Monday – The Power of Proper Equipment

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In law enforcement and police work we have a lot of tools to get the job done properly. One area where we might be falling down is our selection of the proper fitness equipment for both our sports and job fitness training. Choosing the proper fitness training equipment like running or cycling shoes, clothing, exercise equipment, cycles etc. can make all the difference between success and failure. For policing professionals our fitness tools are just as important as the tools we use on the job.

In his article this week you will see that Scott wore out his favorite cycling shoes so this YouTube video from LiveStrong.com entitled: “How to Choose Proper Cycling Shoes” is for him

Hi everyone, good to be back after a week in North Dakota. No exercise, unless you call reading highway safety reports and eating hotel food all week exercise.

Did you know that it’s hot and humid in south Louisiana? You’d think I would know that too, but it didn’t stop me from overdoing it this weekend. But don’t “I told you so” too quickly. I was inspired by the wonderful folks I’ve rejoined in our Bayou Country Cyclists team, and our MS 150 training ride was an event I had to participate in. Even though I was still under hydrated and over-stuffed with Bismarck’s best cuisine.

Today’s ride brought a little sadness though. Ever get attached to something… Continue reading

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Fitness Monday – The Power of Reclaiming Your Health

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2013-07-13-09-06-13How to you benchmark 20 weeks of concerted efforts for reclaiming health?  Just show up!

I’ve been chipping away with daily runs, yoga and cycling. Most after work rides allow about 25 – 30 mile rides through beautiful bayous and endless acres of sweeping sugarcane fields. My cycling club, Bayou Country Cyclists held the regular Saturday ride. The club president, Christy J. e-mailed me Friday and said just show up.

75 miles and 4 hours later, I had completed a distance I used to bike regularly enroute to completing century rides. After 2 years, 45 pounds gained, dangerously high BP, and begrudgingly sedentary lifestyle, I had reclaimed the healthy habits I practiced for an entire life.

It was a perfect day for celebrating 20 weeks as a long-time friend showed up for the ride, and for those of you who are fans of the History channels’ Swamp People, the alligator hunter

“ZZ” was kind enough to offer us much needed… Continue reading

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Fitness Monday – The Power of Inspiration

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tour-de-france-logoWhat inspires you to achieve more in your life, your career or with your level of fitness?

This 4th of July holiday provided great opportunities for family, fun, food and showing my siblings who’s boss. OK, actually I overate at a family BBQ, chased kiddo down at a Veteran’s celebration in the park, and blamed the mysterious disappearance of about 6 homemade brownies on my youngest niece. Yes, I was out of character but we all need a break sometimes.

As for exercise, it was another great week to include running, walking and cycling. Despite a month-long pinched nerve I call “getting older,” I found relief in the regular yoga class.

This regular training is also helping tolerate the heat, as our traditional dark navy uniforms offer little respite from south Louisiana’s sun.

Most fun this week has been the long evening walks with my kiddo, and his inspiration to bike ride after an afternoon of watching the Tour de France. I encourage you to… Continue reading

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Fitness Monday – The Power of Motivation

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barefootcyclingThis week was about finding inspiration when totally not expecting it. I’ve been back on the bike steadily and enjoying the return in the saddle. Either alone or with the fantastic club members of our Bayou Country Cyclists, it’s great to be back.

Motivation came when I met 2 team members for a quick 20+. One of the ladies forgot her cycling shoes. Her friend offered to forgo the ride and head home. The shoeless rider refused to pack up. Despite needing clip-ins, she took off bare footed on the pegs.

After reaching a straight away, I picked up my pace and rode ahead. Reaching the turn-around I headed back and who did I see? Both cyclists and her still barefoot. She was at the +10 mile point for the out and back.

I was so proud to see her commitment that I must have smiled the whole way back. Great going!

My other motivation was seeing the… Continue reading

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Coping With On-The-Job Stress and Injuries

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How many current and former law enforcement officers are out there suffering with mental and physical injuries; and how do we help them? Listen to our interview with a former officer who talks about his battles with PTSD and the injuries that forced his retirement.

Recently I had a chance to have a very candid discussion with “M” a retired officer from a mid-sized police department in the eastern United States.. “M” asked that I not use his name to protect his privacy, but he had some interesting things to say about his struggle with PTSD and the injuries that forced him to leave the job he loved.

You can listen to our… Continue reading

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Wellness Advice From A 30 Year Veteran of Law Enforcement

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I met Chuck Wright at the Springbrook Law Enforcement Wellness Summit a couple of months back and was very impressed by the vast amount of wisdom and experience he had accumulated in a law enforcement career that spanned over 30 years and is continuing today as he works with the first responder hotline “Safe Call Now“. I wanted you to share in some of that wisdom so I conducted a telephone interview with Chuck and was completely impressed with the quality of the stress management tips he had to offer other law enforcement officers.

In our interview Chuck, a 30 year veteran of law enforcement who served as both a parole and probation officer for the State of Washington and who is also a licensed mental health professional, told me about his background and also the challenges he faced during his career. He started as a probation/parole officer and early in his career became a licensed mental health professional. He began working with sexual and violent offenders and eventually worked with over 10,000 of them. He has also become an expert in working with law enforcement officers who have to cope with the stress of working with the worst of the worst offenders. Because of his expertise in this and other areas of mental health, he was chosen to work on the Task Force to find the Green River Serial Killer Gary Ridgeway. After Ridgeway’s arrest in 2001, nearly 20 years after the first murder, he confessed to 48 murders, more confirmed murders than any other serial killer in American history.

Because of this work Chuck was asked to address the FBI Academy about issues surrounding the stress effects to investigators working… Continue reading

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As a Police Officer How Would You Handle PTSD, or a Disability, or Both?

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Chris Dobratz has had to deal with both.  In our CopsAlive interview with former Police Detective Sergeant Christian Dobratz, an 18 year veteran of law enforcement, who was forced to retire on a disability we discuss how he successfully navigated a severe case of PTSD and then went on to a forced disability retirement because of an old back injury.  He is now an Assistant Professor of Law Enforcement, Department of Government at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

I met Chris when he traveled to my home state of Colorado to be part of a Stress Management for Law Enforcement Seminar that was being presented by CopsAlive Contributor Lisa Wimberger of Trance Personnel Consulting Group (TPCG).

Chris and a very diverse career with work at both the county sheriff level and within a municipal police department.  In his career he worked as a deputy sheriff,  a patrol officer, detective, worked on a drug task force, and medically retired as a police sergeant.  During his career he battled a severe case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder… Continue reading