The Police Benevolent Foundation (PBF) has partnered with
LEAPS Training LLC, and Marshall University to offer a 4-day training course on
peer support. This training will be provided only to Law Enforcement Officers
and is limited to 30 participants. This training will be free to all participants.
Law enforcement is one of the most stressful occupations that exist. Each day, a
law enforcement officer is faced with more stress than an average person faces in
five years. The daily threat of death, the succession of one high stress event after
another, the in-depth scrutiny of our actions by others, and the culture of denial
we have created causes us to have issues no other occupation has. Our life
expectancy is much shorter than average, our rate of alcohol and drug abuse is
high, our suicide rate is high, and we have done very little to address these issues.
Peer Support is the best mechanism to remedy our failures in addressing the
elephant in the room. Who knows more about a law enforcement officer's life
than another officer? This thirty-two-hour course will train each attendee to
"coach" fellow officers through the emotional and psychological issues they face daily.
Topics include:
- responding to officer involved shootings and other high stress events
- general job stress
- suicide recognition and prevention
- the recognition of mental disorders
- family issues
- line of duty deaths
- and one-on-one 'coaching' of other officers
Protocols for creating or improving peer support teams will be
discussed as well as policy and confidentiality/privilege.
Attendees must be law enforcement officers, dispatchers, chaplains, or behavioral
health professionals who work with law enforcement. This is a very unique class
developed by law enforcement for law enforcement. The personal benefits of this
course and using it to help other officers is life-changing.