ARLINGTON (WBAP/KLIF)- The Arlington Police Department was awarded a $125,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to fund the department’s employee wellness and mental health programs.
This will go toward funding the department’s “Blue Chip” program, which generates awareness and serves as a symbol for employees to take care of themselves. This initiative complements the department’s internal peer support program. The chip represents access to fully anonymous mental health services at no cost to employees. Essentially, an employee can obtain confidential counseling and mental health services for free. Service providers are selected based on their understanding of the unique challenges police officers face serving the community. The department participates in anonymous billing with each provider, so employee records are never shared with the department. On each chip, there is a resource website that can be utilized by employees. This program expands services beyond the supportive services the city of Arlington provides to all employees to promote overall wellness.
The Peer Support Team focuses on responding to critical incidents and providing overall wellness initiatives to the department as a whole. The unit is made up of 35 team members, four of which are mental health professionals. Each team member serves in an ancillary role and has other primary duties within the department. The idea of creating “blue chips” came from employees who wanted a symbolic token to serve as a reminder on how employees can access help when they need it most.
“Within the course of their job, police officers see and experience a lot of things that overtime can really weigh on you emotionally and mentally and we want to make sure officers are taking care of themselves and their own wellness,” said Tim Ciesco with the Arlington Police Department.
Ciesco said in order for officers to take care of others, they need to make sure they are taking care of themselves first.
“There’s a stigma that if an officer says they are dealing with something, they think they might get put on light duty or they might get their gun taken or lose their job. No. We want to make it very clear to our officers that we want them to get the help they need and it’s ok not to be ok,” said Ciesco.
The Arlington City Council approved that the funds from the United States Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented
Policing Services (COPS Office) will be allocated to the Arlington Police Department over a two-year period.
“The mental and psychological health of law enforcement officers is as critical as their physical health in order to be effective in keeping our communities safe from crime and violence. The Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (LEMHWA) program supports the efforts of aw enforcement agencies to protect the mental health and well-being of officers. Unfortunately, the stress of officers’ work and stigma associated with seeking assistance for
emotional and mental health support has led to negative consequences such as divorce, alcoholism, injury, and even an increase in suicides for officers across the country. The Arlington Police Department (APD) currently provides assistance for officers during, and immediately after, critical incidents as well as assistance with life stressors through the Peer Support team. The LEMHWA program will assist the department with improving the delivery of and access to mental health and wellness services for law enforcement officers through the implementation of peer support, training, family resources, suicide prevention, and other promising practices for wellness programs,” stated the Official Staff Report Analysis.