CSPD making mental health resources a priority for their employees
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)- The Colorado Springs Police Department says it's making programs centered around the care of emotional and mental health a priority for their employees, with the hope of also setting an example for departments nationwide.
Across the country, there is a mental health crisis, and with officers responding to more calls, CSPD wants officers to be prepared and know how to take care of themselves.
CSPD says over the last five years, especially in the last two, they've seen an increased need for mental health resources for their offices. CSPD offers a number of proactive programming, including three psychological service providers. The department says they have a large budget to pay for those services, so employees don't have to pay out of pocket.
Their goal is to break the stigma about being in law enforcement and needed help.
"We’re trying to break that mold and say everyone has issues, everyone goes through crisis, everybody sees trauma," said Eric Frederic, the Wellness Sergeant for CSPD. "But back in the day if that was something that came up, they would take your gun away and you couldn’t work, so now we’re saying no this is normal, it doesn’t mean that you’re broken, it just means you need help like anybody else," added Frederic.
The department says having their officers understand mental health for themselves also helps them serve the community better.
"One of the things we’ve done is really focus on crisis intervention training. Let our officers understand what somebody's dealing with in a mental health crisis and how we can better serve them, and so when you’re dealing with that everyone in the field of mental health knows it’s really challenging, it takes a toll on you so we want to make sure our officers are okay with going to that call," said Sgt. Jason Newton with CSPD.
Newton started teaching a mindfulness course six years ago. He teaches simple techniques like breathing and meditation to help officers out.
Newton and one other officer will present that mindfulness course at the International Chiefs of Police and Wellness Symposium in March. It's a chance to teach other stations around the country how they're dealing with mental health in Colorado Springs.
