Polfed News

There are two dedicated centres across the country providing physical rehabilitation and mental health support to police officers and staff, and they have been operational for more than 100 years. 

Today they enable our officers to get access to bespoke treatments for physical and mental health to help them get back to work a lot quicker. 

“I cannot reiterate enough how life changing and life supporting these treatment centres are.” 

Charlie Child from Flint House spoke on the importance of donations and how they are funded by donations from police officers and sometimes fundraisers.  

“We provide physical rehabilitation for serving and retired police officers, police community support officers, detention/custody officers, special constables, and police staff investigators (including CSIs and civilian investigators). We also have mental health support including a mental health programme,” added Charlie.  

“We have a conditioning programme as well, so if you are about to do a fitness test or if you failed your fitness test, we could support you with that.”  

Many officers shared stories about the help they have received and the importance of donating as this will help many people and their loved ones. 

Zoe Myatt from the Police Treatment Centre and The Police Children’s Charity talked about the services they provide and who is eligible for those services. 

There is a PTC in Harrogate and in Scotland which offers physiotherapy and a Psychological Wellbeing Programme and is also available to serving and retired police officers and staff. 

In both PTCs and Flint House, residential stays are available with access to private en-suite accommodation, catering and fitness classes within their rehab gyms as well as hydrotherapy pools.  

“In order to get that support you need to be donating to the charity and it's £7.80 per month paid by direct debit,” explained Zoe. 

Speaking more on its residential Psychological Wellbeing Programme, Zoe continued “In the second week of the programme we offer group workshops and support groups to take the sessions to help you deal with mild to moderate anxiety and depression.  

“We are not a crisis centre, so we're trying to get to you before you reach that point. We also offer three to five sessions of counselling which includes therapy.” 

Edith Price from North Wales Police who received help from the PTC shared her experience on the support she received from them. 

“I went on the wellbeing program, and I was there for two weeks residentially because I was traveling from far,” she said. “For us as special constables, we are not constantly on duty, are we? We might do a shift, something might happen, and then we are back in our day jobs. There was advice on how to deal with that kind of situation. 

“During your time there, you are encouraged to really devote that time to focus on your wellbeing and future, rather than just spending time scrolling through Facebook, because these are steps that you can take away with you and make some changes.

“Going to the treatment centre has helped me evaluate how I spend my time and helps balance my time and helps balance my day-to-day because as special constables, we are natural doers and can find it difficult striking a work/life balance. You meet people who are going through the same thing, and you might be lucky enough to receive ongoing support from people you meet there,” explained Edith. 

As someone who received life changing help and learnt how to balance day to day activities, Edith talked about how the experience was for her.

“One of the top benefits was time. It was two weeks to really reflect on how much I was doing,” she said. “My pace of life was just so intense. It's a reality check by impartial people who take the time to sit you down and get to know about you, what issues you have and what injuries you have. 

“I had many breakthroughs and light bulb moments, which I'm still working on in some respects. It was a brilliant starting point for me with making some changes in life. And another thing was it's all kind of gently enforced and they will check on you to make sure you're not stressed and not doing work while you're there as well.  

“It's an investment in your wellbeing and your future. I actually knew halfway through that I would want to be an ambassador after this because it was just so brilliant from day one. It was a faultless experience.” 

For more information, please visit their websites or contact your local Federation branch. 

Flint house - Home - Flint House Police Rehabilitation 

The Police Treatment Centres  The Police Treatment Centres 

Visit here for more details on our future wellbeing webinars for specials. 

Rewatch the webinar below.