Page 42 - October 2019 FOP

Mental Health and Wellness Support
A resource guide for Chicago Lodge 7 members
It’s OK
Chicago Police Officers should be able to talk about their mental wellbeing as the most important way to prevent suicide
n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
During one of his weekly 24-hour tours checking on Chicago Police Officers working their beats, Chicago Police Chaplains Ministry Director Father Dan Brandt found a clue about how to respond to the question of how better to support the wom- en and men struggling with their mental health. A message on wristbands he saw many people wearing stopped Father Dan.
“It’s OK to not be OK,” he related about the watchwords that seemed to be so timely. “It reminds people to try to end the stig- ma of reaching out for mental healthcare.”
The message reads even more powerfully in the wake of an- other Chicago Police Officer taking his own life in September. So many questions arise from this tragedy that took “one of the more positive officers you would ever meet,” said Father Dan.
Chicago Lodge 7 leaders ask what more the department can do to provide support that addresses what’s causing officers to struggle with their mental health.
A more disturbing question is why would this officer, who was described as the strongest member of his team and who was the recipient of more than 120 awards during his 17 years on the job, take his own life.
Father Dan noted that right after the incident, it was more ac- cessible to get officers to drop the stigma and talk about men- tal health. The reaction was that they had all heard about it and that many knew him.
But his question is really how to turn it from being reactive to proactive in addressing the matter of Chicago Police Officers’ mental health and wellness. He, of course, is not alone.
Dr. Robert Sobo, director of the Professional Counseling Di- vision of the department’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP), advocates that one of the ways to be proactive is making well- ness part of a daily check. He has been quoted many times in these pages that, like checking their duty belt to make sure all their gear is in working order, officers need to check their men- tal wellbeing before going out on the beat.
But Dr. Sobo adds that one of the most proactive measures the department can take in getting help for members who might be on the verge of taking their own lives is to give supervisors a greater responsibility and accountability. EAP has worked hard through its Peer Support Team to train all officers to be on the lookout for brothers and sisters who might be exhibiting behav- ior that indicates struggling with mental health. This has been a tool to make officer wellness a daily practice.
Professional Counseling is now working on equipping super- visors via a four-hour training that educates the bosses about drug and alcohol addiction, trauma and emotional well-being. The training features tabletop exercises, role playing and pro- cessing of different experiences that police officers go through personally and professionally.
“It’s about how supervisors can be more aware of what people are going through emotionally on the job and in life to encour- age them to go for help when appropriate,” Dr. Sobo explains. “We try to give them a script to say, ‘Hey, I’m concerned about you and I care about you. I want to help you go for some help. Let me set up an appointment at the EAP because I want you to be well. They’re trying to give you help, not take your job away.’”
Professional Counseling is trying to help supervisors mod- el wellbeing that makes officers feel supported and safe going for help. Supervisors have the opportunity to create a proactive environment where officers can talk about their problems and have unconditional support.
“It’s about creating an environment that is safe and trusting,” Dr. Sobo adds. “It’s reasonable for them to demand that. They have a right to work in an environment where their supervisors say, ‘I see you, I hear you and I’m not going to let you down.’”
The police chaplains have been hearing officers’ comments about what’s impacting their mental wellbeing. According to Fa- ther Dan, the voices get louder after an incident like a sister or brother taking her or his own life.
But will they stay loud when an officer sees a sister or brother showing some signs of behavior that indicates a mental health problem? Can they tell each other it’s OK to not be OK?
“Some think their partners will get mad at them for airing dirty laundry,” Father Dan reasons. “But wouldn’t you rather have a pissed-off friend than a dead friend?”
Suicide awareness and prevention seminars could be anoth- er proactive approach to providing the support officers need. Some think this might be preaching to the choir. But some think seminars could create a trickle-down effect that could enable officers to learn something that could prompt them to act on somebody’s behalf.
But Father Dan suggests that the best medicine might just be to make the call. Or to ask him to make the call. He went with a group to a football game at Notre Dame recently and met an officer on the bus who remembered Father Dan reaching out five years earlier.
“The officer remembered that I called and told me that it
Professional Counseling Division CPD Employee Assistance Program
312-743-0378
Widely trained clinicians and addiction counselors available 24/7/365
Peer Support Team
312-743-0378
The peer support team includes 300 officers who have taken a 40-hour training
Call for help
42 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ OCTOBER 2019