Essex Police Federation reminds officers to look after themselves and their mental health

22 February 2021

Essex Police Federation is urging members look after themselves during the pandemic which has placed ‘enormous’ pressure on them and their families.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge hosted a video interview with a number of police officers and other frontline key workers recently many of whom say they are just too busy to think about their own mental health.

The Duke said that was ‘worrying to hear’ and that he was worried the pandemic may leave many critical workers ‘broken’.

Essex Police Federation Chair Laura Heggie said COVID had added another layer of stress on top of what is already an extremely challenging job.

“I think it’s been recognised that there’s enormous pressure on officers all the time and COVID has just compounded that,” she said.

“The pressure also comes from worrying about their home lives, family lives and there’s extra restrictions on people during their own downtime, which again is adding to people’s stress levels, and mental health, because they’re not necessarily able to escape in the ways that they normally would.

“They’re not able to go down the gym and take part in other activities they normally would, these are coping mechinisams.

“So absolutely, there has been a rise and within Essex, there’s been a push for officers to recognise it and a push towards our occupational health facilities.”

It’s vital officers reach out and don’t just try and keep on going when they really can’t Laura added.

“Services are advertised a lot more that they were, but it still takes that officer to reach out, we have to remember it’s ok to not be ok” she said.

“Supervisors are trying to look after staff but as police officers, we are very good at hiding our emotions and just trying to carry on.”

A key way to try and get that all-important downtime is for officers to still take their annual leave even if holidays abroad and in the UK are off the agenda right now.

“Rest days are there for a reason, they’re there to rest. It’s in the title,” Laura said.

“People have PPE fatigue, there’s COVID fatigue, people are even starting to have overtime fatigue.

“It has started to drop off and we are starting to struggle a little bit more to fill those overtime spaces that we weren’t at the beginning.

“People are getting tired and just tired of the situation.”