On 13th March 2018, Police Dependants' Trust (www.pdtrust.org) A National Police Wellbeing update from the National Police Chief's Council national working group was outlined at the Upbeat! Conference today by Lancashire Constabulary Chief Constable Mr Andy Rhodes QPM, including the development of a National Police Wellbeing Service. at Upbeat! Conference, Emirates Stadium, London.
The conference, hosted by the charity Police Dependants' Trust and facilitated by journalist and broadcaster Alastair Stewart, saw keynote speeches from former Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent and Sunday Times Bestselling Author John Sutherland, neuropsychologist Dr. Jess Miller, and trauma expert Dr. Noreen Tehrani, who provided an insight into the psychological trauma of modern policing in the UK and the impact on frontline police officers and staff.
Upbeat! is the second annual conference hosted by UK police charity Police Dependants’ Trust as part of their commitment on delivering welfare that works, the first of which looked at Post-Traumatic Stress in frontline policing on 22nd March 2017, the day of the Westminster attack, which called for fundamental change on the support provided to police officers in frontline policing.
Speaking as part of an agenda focused on raising the game in police wellbeing, Mr Rhodes said, “We know from a wealth of research that wellbeing done badly is worse than not doing wellbeing at all – it wastes effort and can actually make people trust you less and feel less valued if the rhetoric is not backed up by reality.”
He went on to say, “We are excited about the groundbreaking and very exciting programme of work discussed at the Upbeat! Conference today which will see us creating a National Police Wellbeing Service to assist with police forces to build their capability for supporting the physical and mental wellbeing of their staff, working with police leaders, managers and occupational health services.”
Police Dependants' Trust Chief Executive Gill Scott-Moore said, “Wellbeing needs to be put at the heart of decision-making, and not considered as an afterthought. There are too many cases of people not getting the help and support they need, which has a long-term impact on their individual wellbeing as well as impacting on force capacity and capability. That’s why we are working closely with the NPCC to deliver this and will hold the service to account to ensure it delivers real welfare that works.”
Mr Rhodes added, “Annual events such as these held by the Police Dependants’ Trust, the NPCC national working group and Oscar Kilo, will help to inform and shape the wider wellbeing agenda so that everyone working for us feels the benefits – there’s no point us putting all of this effort in if it doesn’t filter through to those who need support and everyone else, every one of which deserves to feel like they are cared about by the organisation that they work for. We know we need to engage everyone in wellbeing from the frontline, to the office, to academia to provide a world-class wellbeing offer for everyone working for us.”
The Police Dependants' Trust is a leading UK police charity dedicated to supporting those who suffer harm as a result of their policing role. Founded after the murder of three police officers in Shepherds Bush in 1966, the charity has been actively campaigning for welfare that works for the 300,000 serving personnel across the UK. Caring for over 5,000 serving and former officers, and their loved ones, living with the effects of injury on duty, the Trust also supports the service by providing vital funding for wellbeing initiatives at a local and National level.