Reps encouraged to look after their wellbeing

18 July 2025

Federation representatives are being encouraged to look after their own emotional and mental wellbeing – the same as any other officer.

Dave Hadley, branch discipline lead, says reps can experience vicarious trauma supporting colleagues through conduct issues.

He said: “Being a full-time discipline representative means you spend your entire time dealing with other people’s problems.

“You carry the weight of all those problems, you absorb them in the process. It comes about because you worry about people. You wouldn’t do this job if you didn’t care about people.

“The cumulative effect of that can take its toll and, if you’re not careful, you can find it creeping up on you when you’re not paying it any attention.”

Impact

He said that misconduct proceedings have an enormous impact on everyone involved – the officer, their family and friends.

“For the officer concerned, it can be a huge weight to bear,” he said. “It’s a shock to the system as you find yourself being investigated.

“You will have been likely restricted or suspended for a lengthy period of time and the regular shift pattern you were once working is suddenly replaced with something else – and most likely from another parade station. Life gets tipped on its head in an instant.

“Just as they have settled into that new routine, it all gets thrown out of the window again, only to be replaced with uncertainty and worry as the hearing draws near.

“There’s uncertainty around their future. If they are going to lose their job, how will they be able to pay their bills? What will the future look like in terms of retirement plans? It can be incredibly unsettling and stressful.”

Mental health

He added: “It certainly feels as if there has been an increase in poor mental health among those investigated officers over the last few years, but whether poor mental health is a cause or contributor to the issues that have led to investigations or a symptom of the process itself is perhaps up for debate.”

Dave spoke of his own experience of how supporting officers can impact emotional wellbeing.

“Obviously, it’s not me that is the subject of the proceedings, I’m there representing the officer, sitting next to them as they have their matter forensically considered by the panel, but I live what they are going through with them,” he said.

“It can be an incredibly tense and emotional time.

“When it comes to the decision about whether the officer is going to lose their job, you live those moments of fear with them. You vicariously live their trauma. That has never changed in all the years I have done this job.”

Now he is encouraging reps – as well as officers – to take steps to support their own wellbeing.

Boundaries

“No one is going to react to things in the same way,” he said. “In terms of looking after your emotional and mental health, different things work for different people.

“Speaking to people is invariably a good idea. I think there is a lot of truth to the adage that a problem shared is a problem halved.

“If I were to say one thing specifically for Fed reps, it’s that I think you have to try to draw some healthy boundaries between your professional and home life.

“Part of that is making sure that you take time away from work, which is undisturbed by phone calls and emails.”

READ MORE: Retirement seminars: 2026 dates are announced.