Page 42 - January 2020 FOP Magazine

Mental Health and Wellness Support
A resource guide for Chicago Lodge 7 members
A message from EAP
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
The state of employee assistance
Each month, the Professional Counseling Division of the Department’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provides a mes- sage to promote better mental health for officers. This month, Dr. Robert Sobo, director of the Professional Counseling Divi-
sion, discusses the state of mental health and wellness support for Chicago Police
Officers.
a commitment to the district about how to be an asset. There will be places they can go if an officer wants to speak to a clinician. They will also do ride-alongs as part of their onboarding. The whole idea to create a familiar and trusted person being readily available and present with- in the districts.
There are now 10 clinicians working in districts and more will be hired in the coming months. Some clinicians will handle two districts, depending on the size. It’s part of the reality of employee assistance in the Department: the more help professional counseling provides, the more it’s going to need to provide.
Officers can make appointments to talk to the clinicians assigned to their districts. They can talk to them formally or informally. Sometimes, it will be just a check-in or a casual chat. It will also be an opportunity for an officer to tell a clinician, “My partner is dealing with a trauma.” You can look out for a sister or a brother who you think might be hav- ing some trouble dealing with stress or trauma by merely mentioning it to a cli- nician, who can then have a casual con- versation with that officer to check.
And so going forward, the mission for 2020 is to be well, stay well and thrive. The fact is that going for mental health services is safe, courageous and the re- sponsible thing to do for oneself. It is protected by HIPAA, the rules of evi- dence and general orders. Do this not because something is wrong. Do this because you want to stay well and grow. The extreme trauma of the job creates a different normal than most people have. Recognize that it is not a weakness and make use of the resources.
EAP has generated significant mo- mentum coming into 2020 to address the mental health of Chicago Police Officers. The Professional Counseling Division has grown in terms of the number of li- censed clinicians and other professional staff available to assist the women and men of the Department and their fami- lies.
All Department supervisors have completed training programs related to helping members access EAP and how to recognize the impact of trauma on their officers. They have been trained to
take on the responsibil- ity of making sure the women and men they supervise get the help
they need when it is war- ranted. They have been trained to make sure officers who are doing well stay well by practicing mental health and wellness every day and by taking care of them-
selves every day.
One of the major initiatives going into
2020 is to understand that counseling shouldn’t just be for those who are ex- periencing stress or other mental health difficulties. It’s also for those who are do- ing well, to make sure they maintain that.
Further, the supervisors’ training was designed to help them understand that the only way to shape their officers’ well- ness where it needs to go is to be a team. Supervisors must be a crucial compo- nent of officer wellness. And they need to communicate that going to talk to some- body for support, going to somebody for counseling is a courageous, healthy and safe practice for everybody in the Depart- ment and their families. It’s up to them to help create an environment of safety to
talk about the natural consequences of the job that Chicago Police Officers per- form so respectfully every day.
One important upgrade the Profes- sional Counseling Division has made is to not only expand its professional staff, but that expansion has created a more culturally diverse staff. Being able to connect with the diversity of officers in the Department is a very important com- ponent to having a robust counseling program that reflects those who serve every day.
The state of mental health in the De- partment has been bolstered by the majority of officers who are coming in self-referred. That number has increased every year, and that’s a good sign. Offi- cers are starting to realize that not only should they make sure they are well, but that their well-being can impact others, especially their family members and their peers. Not only are they taking care of themselves, but they are making sure they are also helping each other to be well.
One of the biggest upgrades in EAP’s ability to provide the requested mental health and wellness support has been as- signing clinicians to work in the districts. Having counselors on site enables them to become part of the district’s culture. They can go to meetings, join in and con- duct roll calls and just spend time there so officers have greater access. They become a familiar face and get a better understanding of what the needs of that district are at any given time.
They will rotate their schedules to cover all hours, and it goes hand in hand with open communication. Really, though, it’s about the clinicians making
42 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JANUARY 2020