Page 39 - June2020 FOP Magazine

Mental Health Spotlight
A forecast for after the storm
n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
Civil unrest swirling inside the continuing pressure of re- sponding amid the pandemic has spawned what many Chica- go Police Officers feel is a perfect storm of stress. The thunder and lightning of worrying about a new contract and bullying from City Hall has made that storm a tornado wrapped in a hurricane surrounded by a monsoon stuffed into a tsunami.
But weathering the storm has never really been a weakness for police officers. In fact, studies show that after responding to catastrophic events like 9/11, suicide rates for first respond- ers actually decrease. They unite in the face of the stressors and forge a joint effort that is pretty remarkable.
It’s after the storm that creates the concern. That’s a reason why critical incident stress management debriefings have become more prevalent. Chicago Police Officers should be thinking about what happens when the storm clouds pass, or at least dissipate. And they should keep an eye on whether that dark cloud lingers.
“My concern, and what I think we should put out there when we get past this, as we have pretty much everything else, is to make sure you have your emotional survival book,” re- quests Dan DeGryse, a Chicago firefighter for 28 years who co- ordinated CFD Local 2’s employee assistance program for 14 years. DeGryse is now the director of the Rosecrance Florian Program for Uniformed Service Personnel in Rockford, where
first responders come for unique drug and alcohol addiction treatment.
“Think about the dump from work when you get home,” he continues. “In a stressful environment, when you are dealing with crisis all the time, your threshold is higher than the aver- age person. The average person has a threshold of about two or a three. Yours is six or seven on any given day. But then you get home and dump down to below zero. You have a further fall when your system is not in crisis.”
Sure, organizational stress is present all the time for Chica- go Police Officers, but there is a heightened awareness these days that makes finding a balance all but impossible. Because you’re at that heightened level, you come home from work and you can’t disengage. You don’t feel safe. You feel depressed.
And guess where the exhaustion of constantly having to be aware leads?
“I hear this from first responders: ‘I risked my life today. I deserve a drink.’ You have a drink and, after seven of them, maybe you’ve had too many.’ But then they think, ‘Screw it. I deserve this.’ That becomes a pattern, a justification for that excessive or continued use.”
Weathering the storm every day might justify that excessive use because of how much you did at work today. That’s where the trouble starts, and that’s when you need to get help. If you feel the need to get help, call Rosecrance at 815-391-1000 for a free remote assessment.
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