MENTAL health in policing must be treated as seriously as physical safety.<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire Police Federation is supporting a campaign by the PFEW that asks officers to be on the lookout for signs that colleagues might be struggling with their mental health.<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire Police Federation Chairman Steve Kent said: \u201cWe as a Federation support our officers with mental health issues as much as possible. I saw a Facebook post that said: \u2018Police are great at dealing with other people\u2019s problems and talking to other people, we\u2019re just not great at talking to each other\u2019. We need to start doing that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that, thankfully, the macho culture is dying down, so officers are more happy to talk. The force is buckling in terms of dealing with officers with mental health, and we as a Federation are trying to help out as much as possible. We refer several officers a month to counselling that we provide ourselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough it\u2019s not nice to hear these officers are going through it, they are at least coming forward and asking for help, whereas five years ago they probably wouldn\u2019t have. I think that\u2019s indicative of this shift in terms of attitude out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve said he thought they were only seeing the tip of the iceberg with this issue.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cOur Assistant Chief Constable, David Hartley, is a massive advocate of helping officers with mental health welfare. We just need to try to turn this ship around. Our force is hampered by its finances, but it\u2019s genuinely passionate about mental health; we\u2019re working together on this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve said if officers were struggling then they should talk to their colleagues or the Federation.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThey can speak to us, they can email us, we\u2019ll get back in touch with them. Everything will be treated in confidence. If they don\u2019t feel they want to speak to their line manager because they\u2019re worried about being restricted, then come and speak to us about it. We\u2019ve got services at the Federation, nationally and locally, so just get in touch.\u201d<\/p>\n
In South Yorkshire, all supervisors have been offered training in mental health support, awareness and recognition.<\/p>\n
Steve said: \u201cWe encourage supervisors to have that chat every so often. To say: \u2018Look, is everything alright?\u2019. It might be alright then, but then if something does start going wrong they\u2019ll remember they\u2019ve been asked, they\u2019ll remember how approachable the supervisor was, and then they\u2019ll come back. The whole message here is that it\u2019s good to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n