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Mental Health Association of Greater St.
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Street Talk |
A MENTAL HEALTH NEWSLETTER FOR
LAW ENFORCEMENT PROFESSIONALS
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Eastern Missouri July-September , 2007 |
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Mental Health Association of Greater St.
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In this issue . . .
Cover Story: Officers and Personal Grief
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By Paul Detrick, Ph.D., a licensed psychologist and the co-owner of Florissant Psychological Services, Inc. He serves as psychological consultant to numerous law enforcement agencies in the St. Louis area. |
This is the final installment of a three-part series on dealing with grief.
As noted in the initial article of this series, grief is a natural response to loss and is experienced by all of us at different times in our lives. Common causes for grief include the deaths of family members, divorce, estrangement from family members or friends, the loss of health due to natural aging or disease, and even the failure to achieve desired goals. While we all deal with grief in different ways, our expression of grief is shaped by our past experiences. Two primary sources of experience that teach us about grief and grieving are those we obtain informally as children through watching older family members grieve and those obtained more formally through our professional education, training and experience. The focus of this brief article is on this second source of experience - the impact of work in law enforcement on personal experiences with grief.
Law enforcement is well recognized as being a stressful profession. Some stressors frequently experienced by law enforcement professionals include rotating shifts, periods of boredom alternating with brief periods of intense excitement, ongoing exposure to both perpetrators and victims of violence, public hostility and perceived organizational insensitivity. While few of us are given formal training in managing stress or dealing with grief, police officers, beginning with their training in the academy, are taught the importance of developing a command presence, i.e., to take charge, be wary of others and be guarded in the expression of emotion. Learning to assume this command presence role is very important to the police officer as a means of promoting the safety of both the officer and the public. Sometimes, however, the role is over-learned and is utilized as a means of dealing with problems for which it was never intended.
Grief intensifies pre-existing levels of stress. We are all inclined to deal with stress by assuming the roles that have worked best for us in the past. All too often for the police officer, this means dealing with grief and intensified stress by assuming a command presence - trying to take charge of the situation directly, being wary or withdrawing from others and suppressing uncomfortable feelings of sadness. While this approach may temporarily reduce some of the uncomfortable feelings of sadness, it also tends to make more likely unexpected outbursts of anger with resultant conflict with others, and it prolongs and complicates the overall grief process.
Further contributing to complications police officers may experience with grief is the officer's comfort with helping others, but relative unfamiliarity with asking for or being the recipient of help. To be placed in a role in which he/she is the one grieving and in need of support can be very stressful. Ironically, those of us, including police officers, most comfortable with helping others are often among those most reluctant to seek the support of others.
We all experience grief as being uncomfortable and stressful. It is important to recognize, however, that unlike many problems, this is not one that can be avoided or overwhelmed by disciplined force. It must be allowed to be experienced a little at a time, be accommodated, and most importantly, be shared with friends and family. This approach may not come naturally or easily for many police officers, but it is one that eventually can lead to a fuller more satisfying life.
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What would you like to know? Our goal is to make Street Talk as useful as possible for you, so we’d like to hear your ideas about articles you’d like to read in the newsletter. Do you want information on specific disorders such as Attention Deficit Disorder, Schizophrenia, etc.? Are you interested in mental health topics specifically related to the professional and personal life of an officer, such as our series on Aspects of Grief? Do you want more information on dealing with suicidal individuals? Call LaDonna at 314-773-1399 with your ideas of how to make Street Talk work for you. |
2007 McAtee Police Recognition Awards
“It is through the work of trained and courageous police officers who encounter these people on the street that a potentially tragic event is turned into a story of hope, treatment and an eventual life of success.”
Judge Robert G. Dowd
Keynote Speaker
2007 McAtee Police Recognition Award Luncheon
Judge Dowd’s words aptly summarized the courage, care and compassion exemplified by this year’s recipients of the John J. McAtee Award. The 21st annual award luncheon honored 17 officers representing Creve Coeur, DeSoto, City of St. Louis, Edmundson, Olivette, Chesterfield, Sullivan, Jefferson County Sheriff’s office and the Eastern District Court of U.S. Probation. Sgt. Michael Jones, Chesterfield Police Department, was also named Officer of the Year. (See “In the Limelight” article.)
Each year, the Mental Health Association, its Board of Directors, and representatives from the mental health community honor officers who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to show compassion, concern and understanding when dealing with persons experiencing a mental health crisis. The McAtee award, initiated in 1987, has honored more than 400 officers.
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This year’s awardees used these qualities in conjunction with their professional skills to assist persons in a variety of crises: adolescents trying to find their way in the world while dealing with psychological problems or psychiatric illness, persons actively engaging in suicidal behavior because they felt it was their only option, severely distraught individuals armed with weapons, and persons experiencing psychotic symptoms due to lack of medication.
Judge Robert G. Dowd, who has co-chaired the awards ceremony since it began, delivered the keynote address. He was also recognized and thanked for his 20 years of service to the annual event. Long-time co-chair Judge James R. Dowd and newly designated co-chair Judge David L. Dowd recounted the excellent work of the officers as awards were presented. Assisting in the presentation of awards were Steve and Jim McAtee, sons of Judge John J. McAtee, for whom the award is named.
Judge McAtee, a long-time advocate for improving the quality of life for persons with mental illness, served the St. Louis community in numerous capacities, including 18 years as a board member at the Mental Health Association.
The Mental Health Association hosts the annual event and accepts nominations from police departments, mental health agencies, hospital emergency rooms and emergency shelters.
“Police officers are charged with protecting citizens from ‘cradle to grave.’ They represent the ‘thin blue line’ between order and chaos.”
Judge Robert G. Dowd
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In addition to receiving the John J. McAtee award, Sgt. Michael Jones of the Chesterfield Police Department was also named as Officer of the Year. Here’s a synopsis of the situation for which Sgt. Jones was nominated. On November 26, 2006, several Chesterfield police officers, with Sgt. Jones commanding, responded to a residence for an attempted suicide. Once on the scene, officers learned that the subject, a 53-year-old male, suffered from depression and was now missing. An empty medication bottle was found in the bathroom. Outside, temperatures were freezing, conditions were slippery, and darkness had settled in. During the exterior search, the subject was found lying in a fetal position near the apex of the roof of the two-story house, and approximately three feet from the edge. As officers repositioned themselves for a better view of the situation, they realized Sgt. Jones had already climbed onto the roof and was straddled across the apex, cradling the nearly unconscious subject. Knowing the treacherous conditions on the roof could prove dangerous for additional officers, Sgt. Jones ordered the others to remain on the ground. He maintained his position and kept the subject alert but calm for approximately 25 minutes while waiting for a fire truck and bucket to arrive. The subject was successfully rescued and conveyed to St. John’s for appropriate treatment. |
Not only did this year’s Officer of the Year act in an exemplary fashion as indicated in his nomination, this officer, who was Watch Commander on the day of the incident recognized the urgency of the situation and need for immediate intervention. As all good officers do, he responded to the need for help during a crisis. This year, the Mental Health Association, its Board of Directors, and the McAtee family are proud to name Sgt. Michael Jones of the Chesterfield Police Department as its Officer of the Year.
CIT Corner: Tactical Communications
| By Sgt. Barry Armfield, St. Louis County Police Dept., CIT Coordinator, St. Louis Region. |
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CIT Corner appears regularly in Street Talk.
Police Officers are generally called to a scene involving a mental crisis when it reaches a point beyond the control of family or support persons. Through education about the CIT program, we are asking families and support persons to call us before the situation gets out of hand so a CIT Officer can make an evaluation about imminent harm without having to use some type of force. Tactical Communications or Verbal De-Escalation is a tool that responding officers can use before a crisis reaches the point where force has to be used.
Communication has three major components: sender, message and receiver. This is a very simple process of communication that often fails. Why? What happens in the process that makes your communication so often misunderstood by the receiver? Some things that affect the communication process are:
Active listening is the most important communication skill officers can develop. Active listening requires you to “listen” with both your eyes and ears to receive the “total” message being communicated, since most of what is communicated is non-verbal. Being an active listener is hard; it takes a lot of energy, especially when dealing with a person in a mental health crisis. Some helpful techniques when practicing active listening include:
Some common barriers to active listening include:
There are also some verbal and non-verbal skills that will assist in interrupting the cycle of dangerous behavior. These are things that help get the message understood by the receiver.
The CIT program includes Tactical Communications for CIT Officers, which are ways for officers to talk to persons instead of resorting to force. By all means, officer safety is stressed. If I can be of any assistance, please contact me at barmfield@stlouisco.com or call at 314-628-5509. For information on CIT in St. Louis, you can visit the CIT Website at www.stlouisco.com/police/cit/index.html. The website includes participating agencies, a General Order for CIT, and a description of what CIT is all about.
Law in Action: Recent CIT Graduates
April, 2007 St. Louis City Graduates
In April 2007, an additional 29 officers from
the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department completed the 40-hour CIT
(Crisis Intervention Team) program. Congratulations to the following officers.
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Marla Arinze |
Julie Lanasa |
Kelly Tippett |
At Your Service: Post Traumatic What?
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By J. C. Peters, DO, FACN, Senior Psychiatrist, Department of Mental Health and Colonel, United States Army Medical Corps, Missouri Army National Guard |
“You say I got what?” said the patrol officer to his Sergeant.
“Yes, you heard right, it’s what they call PTSD, like soldiers get, but now I’m telling you they say you got it too, from that road incident.”
Law enforcement today is faced with the possibility of escalating danger at a level never before seen in our American society. Terrorists, smart bombs, violent antisocial illegal aliens, unprecedented teenage violence, campus unrest, growing numbers of persons whose mental illness is untreated, and violent offenders who are aggressive toward authority figures, namely the police. Additionally, you may know fellow officers in National Guard and Reserve units who have also endured the dangers of military duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.
So, it should come as no surprise that law enforcement today has to face the same challenges the military does…dealing with officers subjected to traumatic emotional events outside the realm of everyday routine police work.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that knows no friend or enemy. There is no predictor as to which officer is potentially capable of experiencing this disorder or the degree of intensity. It is often subtle in how it arises, occurring months to years after a traumatic event, such as a shooting, fatal motor vehicle chase, a violent exchange of gunfire or even after a serious injury incurred in the line of duty.
The symptoms of PTSD are not always clear-cut or defined. First, there must have been an emotionally traumatic event, either witnessed or experienced, where personal safety, serious injury or death could have occurred to self or others. Your immediate response to this event was horror, fear or a feeling of helplessness.
Subsequently, you begin to have recurrent dreams or nightmares of the event, emotional distress, fear or apprehension when exposed to similar events. “First stop syndrome” is a classic symptom of police who have experienced a fear-invoking routine road stop, and subsequently fail to make routine road stops due to apprehension of reliving the previous event. This behavior is symbolic of avoidance behaviors, i.e., trying to avoid feelings, activities or recollections of the event in order to lessen recollections of the traumatic incident.
Additionally, a feeling of being alone or detached can occur as a safety valve against being emotionally hurt or aroused. Loved ones often cite how their spouses or parents “just started to be distant, unloving.”
And finally, the symptoms which often get officers to see their family doctor are restlessness, irritability, anxiety or nervousness, guilt, hyper-vigilance (or the need to be on guard all the time), exaggerated startle reflex, or outbursts of extreme anger towards family or fellow officers.
So what should you do? First, get over the belief that if you go see the mental health professional you’re nuts. This is entirely wrong and may even lead to loss of professional respect by fellow officers and even higher-ranking officers. The reason you are having symptoms is because you are having a normal response to a severely abnormal situation.
PTSD is a way in which the emotions of our bodies react to a severe life-threatening event. It is a normal reaction and requires understanding, treatment and individual or group therapy. The emotions being experienced are usually out of the ordinary for most officers, and thus become all the more intolerable and infringe on the daily lives of yourself, your family and your friends. They could jeopardize your ability to execute your duties as a public servant to those you are to protect.
Treatment often involves nothing more than talking about the incident, reliving the emotions to understand what has happened and to realize you are not the only person experiencing such symptoms. Medication, ideally prescribed by a psychiatrist, can lessen the problems of anxiety, poor sleep, decreased concentration and episodes of irritability.
PTSD is not to be feared, nor should it be pushed away and forgotten. It is a treatable disturbance of emotions, that left untreated, becomes a hindrance to your profession as protector. First, you must protect yourself to protect others.
Resources for PTSDAs indicated in Dr. Peters’ article and the Overview of symptoms, PTSD can occur from a wide range of circumstances. As a first responder, you may encounter an individual who experiences symptoms of PTSD, or who may become at risk for PTSD because of the nature of the call, e.g., horrific car accident, assault, witness to a shooting or robbery. You may be concerned about a fellow officer, friend or family member. What are some of the resources available for persons with or at-risk for PTSD? Whether you are in the role of a first responder to a crisis or as a concerned friend or family member, you may need to direct individuals to the following resources:
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Overview and Examples of PTSD Symptoms
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Open Mind is a column produced by the Mental Health Association, which appears weekly in many Suburban Journals. Click here for the reprint above and access to the entire Open Mind Archive on this website.
We have archived past issues of Street Talk on this website. All back issues also include a Mental Health Directory and a link to a relevant Open Mind column.
McAtee Award recipients
Stress Relief (Sgt. Dan Fitzgerald)
Management Looks at Officer Burnout (Lt. Mike Laws)
A Look at Mental Health Courts (Officer Jim Rudden)
Signs of Officer Burnout
In the Limelight: Sgt. Paul Ferber
At Your Service: Self-Help Groups as a Resource
Crisis Intervention Training (CIT)
Q&A: What is Schizophrenia
In Their Own Words
Following is a dated index of previous articles that have appeared in Street Talk. To get a copy of any article or a previous issue, please call LaDonna Haley at 314-773-1399.
January 2001
"It Worked for Me" (Officer Gorman)
Holiday blues vs. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
What should I know about Bipolar Disorder?
"When it finally hit home – part 1" (FBI agent Burt Jensen)
Public policy, mental health, your work
Liability issues for officers and departments
In the Limelight: Hazelwood PD
At Your Service: St. Patrick Center
April 2001
I’d like you to know (helpful hints)
Dealing with frequent callers
"When it finally hit home – part 2" (FBI agent Burt Jensen)
July 2001
Officer and Department of the year awards
At Your Service: Provident Counseling
Q&A: All about EAP’s
Know your mental health options
What does confidentiality really mean?
October 2001
Rethinking our strategies (John Bozarth)
Anger management
Helping peers in distress
In the Limelight: Ballwin and Hazelwood PD’s
January 2002
Who Can You Trust?
Staying in the Cooktent
Top 10 Myths & Facts about Mental Illness
The Terrorist: Sane or Mentally Ill?
At Your Service: American Red Cross
Department of Mental Health Administrative Agents
| BJC Behavioral Health (St. Louis County and South St. Louis City) | 314-729-4004 |
| Comtrea (Jefferson County) | 636-931-2700 |
| Crider Center for Mental Health (Franklin, Lincoln, St. Chas, Warren Co.) | 636-332-6000 |
| Hopewell Center (north St. Louis City) | 314-531-1770 |
| Community Mental Health Resources | |
| BHR (Behavioral Health Response) 24-Hour Crisis Hotline | 1-800-811-4760 |
| Life Crisis Services, Inc. 24-Hour crisis Hotline | 314-647-HELP |
| Mental Health Association (Education, Information, Referral) | 314-773-1399 |
| NAMI-St. Louis (Education and Support for Families) | 314-966-4670 |
Visit These Websites For FACT SHEETS & Other Mental Health Resource Information:
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Advisory Board Chair Vice Chair Sgt. Barry Armfield Cindy Daugherty Officer Karl Streckfuss Sgt. Perri Johnson Marcia Perry
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Street Talk Editor Print Version Graphic Layout/Design Web Version Layout/Design Publishers Published quarterly by Behavioral Health Response and Mental Health Association of Greater St. Louis, a United Way Agency, to provide mental health and mental illness information to law enforcement professionals. Contents copyright © 2007 Behavioral Health Response and Mental Health Association of Greater St. Louis, a United Way Agency. All rights reserved. Written permission must be obtained from Mental Health Association of Greater St. Louis for reprints and duplication in any form. For Further Information Contact: Mental Health Association
of Greater St. Louis Behavioral Health Response,
Inc. Articles and comments from law enforcement professionals are welcomed and encouraged. |
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