World Mental Health Day: Deputy chair launches mental health initiative

10 October 2023

West Midlands Police Federation deputy chair Jase Dooley says he’s had a brilliant response to a new initiative aimed at supporting members’ mental health.

Jase has launched ‘Coffee With a Cop’ to encourage officers to talk about their issues and look after their wellbeing.

Jase said: “Mental health is at the forefront of everything, and rightly so.

“We’ve had a lot of young officers join the job recently and they’re seeing things they would probably have never seen before.

“In the lifetime of a normal member of the public, they’ll see some terrible things like someone being knocked over, a bad car crash or someone dying on average between six and eight times.

“For police officers, it’s something like 600 to 900 times in a 30-year career, so it’s bound to have an impact on them and they need to be able to deal with it or switch off from it.”

Jase said he’s looking to establish a meeting room away from the Police stations for officers to talk to someone about their issues or even just to have a cuppa and switch off from things.

He said: “Many years ago the force used to have leisure facilities within the stations where after a shift we’d go and have a debrief.

“You could chat with people who have been through similar situations but now, because it’s so busy, there’s no place for officers to have a sit down after a shift.

“They’re going straight home and it’s festering on them. It’s going through their heads and a lot of people don’t talk about or find it difficult to talk about it.

“The idea is that we’ll have somewhere to have a sit down with a cup of tea or a coffee and biscuits, and it’s a chance to talk.

“It’s a chance to sit with a stranger and talk about it.

“And even if they don’t want to talk, it doesn’t matter.

“It’s somewhere to go with like-minded people who are going through similar problems.

“And you just never know that talking about it might help them.”

Jase spoke about how talking helped him when he experienced his own mental health issues.

“Talking helped me out massively,” he said. “When I was a Federation rep a student officer was telling me about their problems when, all of a sudden, I just started to open up about my situation and I thought where has this come from?

“If you don’t do anything about mental health, like I didn’t at first, it can spiral. But you start talking about it and it can help.”

The initiative is still in its infancy but Jase has been pleasantly surprised by the offers of support he’s received.

“The response has been brilliant,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of interest from people on social media who are outside of the job and are trained in mental health and are willing to help out.

“I’ve got an ex-police officer who has offered to do the leaflets for me to put around the stations.

“I’ve had individuals and organisations reach out, which has been great. Hopefully we can really make a difference.”