Force urged to invest in mental health first aid training

17 February 2020

All supervisors and line managers should attend a mental health first aid course to help them identify signs that officers and staff are struggling, says West Midlands Police Federation secretary Steve Grange.

Steve has recently attended a three-day Federation course covering mental health first aid and says it would be valuable for anyone in a front-line supervisory role to put themselves forward for similar training.

All new Federation workplace representatives have a half-day input on mental health as part of their initial reps’ course and Steve is encouraging other reps to attend the three-day course but he also wants the Force to provide similar training for officers and staff.

“I believe it would be worth the Force investing in this training; mental health is just as important as physical health. It really would be an investment in officers and staff but could actually lead to cost-savings in the longer-term,” says Steve.

“Current sickness levels mean we have 600 people off on any given day, with 30 per cent of those reporting stress or mental ill-health compared to 17 per cent five years ago. In cash terms, the Force is paying out around £3 million a month in wages to people who are not actually at work. If more could be done to train supervisors to see the signs of stress and mental ill-health, then rather than people having no alternative but to take time out, we could put support in place at an earlier stage and prevent them reaching that breaking point.”

Steve says the demands of policing, coupled with the effects of the Government’s cuts programme leaving forces trying to do more with less, have certainly had an impact on officers’ mental health and general wellbeing.

But he says reduced funding has also led to increased use of single-crewing with officers who are double-crewed having been able to discuss traumatic incidents and support each other, for example. He also cites the closure of canteens and police bars and an inability to take refs together as factors that have limited officers’ opportunities to get together, talk about the demands of their shift and de-stress.

Steve has become increasingly concerned about sickness levels. The Force has a target of 97 per cent attendance but this is currently at 94 per cent. This concern led to him attending the mental health first aid course led by former Federation reps Tony Barton, who served with Merseyside Police, and Martin Lally, an officer with Greater Manchester Police.

“It was clearly focussed on prevention rather than cure,” says Steve, “The emphasis was on identifying when someone might be showing signs of mental ill-health in the very early stages and then intervening rather than allowing the situation to develop into a long-drawn-out process resulting in someone being off work for months.

“At the last half pay review panel, 5o per cent of the cases being considered were mental ill-health related which gives a shocking indication of just how big a problem we have.

“The organisation has suffered from an inability to address this in an effective way. There has been a certain stigma around talking about mental health, not just within the Force but generally, and it has been something of a taboo. I think supervisors have been scared to talk to the people they manage about it.

“But the first thing this course teaches you is that you should approach a colleague if you feel they are showing signs of stress or mental ill-health and you should encourage them to speak about it or seek support. As a supervisor, it’s critical that you listen effectively and communicate but in a non-judgemental way.

“If a colleague triggers a gut feeling that something is not quite right then you should act on it.”

The course helps identify specific mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders, psychosis, self-harm and eating disorders.

Clearly, the course does not train officers to become mental health professionals but it does aim to help people identify the signs that someone is struggling and then point them towards appropriate support – through a GP in the first instance but also through the charity sector.

The Force has also stepped up the support it offers with BeWell giving access to a wide range of resources. Care First is also available 24/7 to offer support, advice and counselling on any workplace or personal issue with all its counsellors being professionally qualified and accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

It also reinvigorated trauma risk management (TRiM) support last year. TRiM is used to identify the need for management support, encourage a self-referral to the 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme or trigger a de-brief session based around normalisation which, in turn, will allow individuals to understand if their feelings fit within the ‘normal’ range given the circumstances.

There are a number of TRiM managers across the Force area backed up by a larger team of TRiM practitioners.

The Federation can also refer officers, via full-time rep and conduct lead Dave Hadley, to the Welfare Support Programme which can help when officers are under stress due to conduct proceedings, suspended or at risk of self-harm.