Virtual wellbeing course for assaulted officers now available

19 July 2023

A new online course covering a wide range of wellbeing topics has been developed for police officers.

The course has been produced by training specialists Me Learning for the National Police Wellbeing Service, Oscar Kilo (OK).

It supports the highly-acclaimed Operation Hampshire programme and provides tools and techniques to help officers and staff to manage their wellbeing following assaults. 

Derbyshire Police Federation members are being urged to sign up for the online training.

Branch secretary Kirsty Bunn said: “Support for officers has improved over the years and this is an important addition to the wellbeing resources that are now available.

“The aftermath of an assault is traumatic for the officer and members of their family and knowing the techniques to deal with that can be very beneficial.

“We would encourage our members to take advantage of this online training programme.

The course is available online to anyone working in policing in England and Wales via College Learn, the College of Policing’s online training portal.

It covers stress and trauma, fatigue risk management, occupational health, and the Blue Light Wellbeing Framework. 

The Op Hampshire training course has been developed for Oscar Kilo

The tutorials have been designed to encourage greater awareness of wellbeing, highlight ways to spot signs of stress and trauma and provide practical help and guidance through effective signposting to support services.

Shirley Berry from Me Learning said: “We work with lots of police services and so understand how operational demands, the current scale and pace of change and greater use of technology in policing, combined with the increased pressures of day-to-day life, can all have a profound effect on how well individuals manage their own wellbeing. 

“We are delighted to have been chosen to work with the National Police Wellbeing Service on this exciting project which we feel will make a tangible and significant difference to the health and wellbeing of all those working in policing.”

Service Director for the National Police Wellbeing Service, Andy Rhodes said; “The courses that we’re making available draw on the latest research into police mental health and wellbeing combined with the findings of our annual workforce survey which influences where we focus our efforts.

“Because Oscar Kilo supports a system of over 200,000 people, we are determined to make our training and guidance as accessible as possible using experts with a proven track record.”

For more information contact: Rachel Joint at enquiries@melearning.co.uk / 01273 499 100. Or contact the Oscar Kilo team at contact@oscarkilo.org.uk.