{"id":296253,"date":"2022-09-05T12:58:12","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T12:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sypfcopperconnection.co.uk\/?p=296253"},"modified":"2022-09-05T12:58:12","modified_gmt":"2022-09-05T12:58:12","slug":"officers-struggling-with-mental-health-to-receive-fast-track-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sypfcopperconnection.co.uk\/?p=296253","title":{"rendered":"Officers Struggling With Mental Health To Receive Fast-Track Support"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOUTH Yorkshire Police officers who are struggling with their mental health can get fast-tracked support thanks to a dedicated counsellor – avoiding the wait times plaguing the NHS.<\/span>\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

Mental health referrals take an average of 18 weeks on the NHS, but South Yorkshire officers can access speedy care thanks to a mental health professional who is in the force every week.<\/span>\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

Steve Kent was speaking after national figures revealed that officers took a record-breaking 500,000 days off sick in a year because of mental ill health.<\/span>\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

South Yorkshire Police is seeing a worrying number of officers dealing with stress and presenteeism, Steve Kent, Police Federation Chair warned.<\/span>\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

He said:\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>There is a lot of people soldiering on when they probably could do with taking a bit of time out. But there is a real fear amongst officers that they don<\/span>\u2019<\/span>t want to leave their colleagues the workload, because if one officer is off sick someone else has got to inherit it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>So you<\/span>\u2019<\/span>ve got that feeling of misplaced presenteeism. And then it gets to the point where they<\/span>\u2019<\/span>re burnt out to such an extent that they<\/span>\u2019<\/span>re actually broken. I see and I hear and I speak to seasoned officers who you wouldn<\/span>\u2019<\/span>t think are likely to suffer from stress, suddenly go off with stress.<\/span>\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>There<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s got to be some real, massive fundamental changes in the way that we deal with officers. We have our own counsellor who comes in once a week. But there has to be a commitment from Government across the board, to massively increase funding into the mental health and health of police officers. If that means they get six-monthly check ups with a counsellor or an occupational therapist, then great. That<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s the only way we<\/span>\u2019<\/span>re going to start progressing this.<\/span>\u201d<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

Steve said the service had hit\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>rock bottom<\/span>\u201d\u00a0with mental health in recent years, but that there is\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>light at the end of the tunnel<\/span>\u201d, adding that when the newly-recruited officers are trained up and bedded in, the demand will lessen.<\/span>\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

He added:\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>I suppose then the spectre after that is, are police budgets going to be cut again? It needs to have that long-term investment. All we<\/span>\u2019<\/span>re doing is repairing the damage of the past 12 years. We<\/span>\u2019<\/span>ve got to move beyond it and progress.<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n