Repeat trauma explosion is impacting mental health

7 October 2024

Derbyshire Police Federation’s wellbeing lead Helen Gallear says frontline officers are repeatedly being exposed to trauma which is having a detrimental effect on their mental health.

Helen said more officers than ever were contacting the branch for support with their emotional and mental wellbeing.

And she said that repeated exposure to trauma was a key reason.

Helen said: “I’m seeing more members now with poor mental health than I ever thought possible.

“Is that because people are more aware and better at discussing it? Possibly, but I’m not so sure because there still is stigma around it and the fear you could be judged for poor mental health.

 

Derbyshire Police Federation’s wellbeing lead Helen Gallear.

 

“The repeat trauma we see is incredible. Officers are first on the scene where someone has been seriously assaulted, they’re attending serious injury road collisions, and they’re dealing with the deaths of children.

"It’s horrible, and I’m sure it wasn’t like that 10, 20 years ago.

“We’ve all been to fights and to nasty assaults, but there wasn’t the trauma that we’re seeing now.”

Helen's comments follow the publication of figures which showed that 252 Derbyshire Police officers were signed off work in the 2023-24 financial year due to poor mental health.

Anxiety

It was down from 278 on the previous year, but a rise of 88 per cent compared to five years ago when 134 officers were signed off.

The figures have been revealed by Police Oracle via a Freedom of Information Act request.

They show that across the UK, 14,508 officers were signed off in the 2023-24 financial year with stress, anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The national figure is nine per cent up on last year and 130 per cent higher than when Police Oracle first ran its survey 11 years ago, when 6,294 officers were signed off for poor mental health.

“It’s a massive concern,” said Helen, who feels that a lack of support from the public, from the Government, and from the police service itself, had also had an impact on officers.

“We’re seeing increasing numbers of violent assaults on officers just for doing their jobs.

"During the riots, which were in the summer holidays, Derbyshire officers had all their rest days cancelled, which impacts them and their family life.

Low morale

“Our Pay and Morale Survey found that 93 per cent of Derbyshire Police officers do not feel respected by the Government and 96 per cent of officers who reported low morale said the way the Government treat the police was behind that.

“In some cases, they also don’t feel supported in-house, as well as not supported by the Government and the public, and yet we’re the first port of call if someone is in trouble.”

Helen said Kate Smith, the Force’s health and wellbeing manager, was working tirelessly to support officers with the introduction of initiatives such as the wellbeing board, the wellbeing café, and guest speakers.

But she said frontline officers who are on shifts were not always able to attend and access the support.

“Frontline cops are seeing difficult jobs, day after day, but they haven’t got time to dial in, and they are the ones that are suffering,” she said.

Helen highlighted the Employee Assistance Programme, which provides free and confidential counselling.

“It’s good up to a point,” she said. “But they don’t give counselling to anyone under investigation.

“We’re finding people are making a mistake at work because of poor mental health, to the point where they are served papers, but there isn’t any counselling for them because they are under investigation.

Vulnerable

“Also you only get six sessions. We’ve had to fight for some officers to get another block of six sessions because they are making progress with their therapist.

“They’re opening up but then it stops after six sessions leaving them vulnerable, so we’ve had to push for more.”

PFEW recently launched its #AskTwice campaign, which aims to encourage officers to speak to their workmates to spot the early signs of mental ill-health and intervene if necessary.

And Helen called for officers to be more ‘aware of each other’.

She said: “We are still human under all this.

“We all have traumas in our personal lives as well as what we deal with at work, and a some managers don’t get that.

“They look at figures, they look at statistics and not the person and we need to change that.”