Fear: And the perceived hidden danger around every corner

A little stress keeps us focused, but too much can become overwhelming. I have been working on a new and updated website for my expanded role in supporting Massachusetts first responders, their agencies, and their families. It reflects my new role at the Police Psychology Program here in Westborough. The balance between fight/flight arousal and parasympathetic response can be learned. An understanding of the body’s innate capacity to adapt and the application of stress mitigation takes work.

The information I am trying to provide in these pages is for everyone, not just law enforcement and first responders. According to John Violente, a former NY State Trooper, when you put someone in a position like law enforcement for 25 years they are going to have some traumatic exposure and be effected by it all.

Stress management and officer wellness are essential across the full arc of a law enforcement career, from academy training through retirement. The nature of policing involves repeated exposure to human suffering, threat, and moral complexity, often under conditions that require immediate operational control rather than emotional processing. Over time, this accumulation of exposure can contribute to physiological and psychological strain, particularly when adaptive coping strategies, peer support, and organizational resources are limited or inconsistently used.

It is my hope that by understanding the body’s response to stress, as soon as it starts to ramp up, you become physically healthier and emotionally resilient.

“Learned resilience can be taught and leads to reduced stress and psychological hardiness rather than psychological weariness.” according to Leo Polizoti, Ph.D., my colleague at the Direct Decision Institute Inc. Dr Polizoti studies the result of high stress of job functioning among many police agencies and understands the impact of chronic stress on job satisfaction. Psychological weariness is a drain on personal coping and adaptation to situational stress. “

It is something of a labor of love, these pages – that has been in the works for some time. I have seen marvelous transformation of people who get on the stress recovery bandwagon and work toward healthier living. It is very gratifying.

Currently, I am working toward offering first responder agencies an annual stress assessment tool usable on a cell phone. It takes just minutes to finish, and will be stored and correlated with high lethality/high acuity calls for service. It is private and HIPPA compliant. Together this stress analysis will give hard data about level of perceived stress and its relationship to officer functioning and exposure. It can be used to develop stress reduction programs and targeted debriefing programs which are being espoused across the country. This too, will offer an early warning to the LE members to slow down and get support to lower the temperature and take the burden off the body.

This program will intervene before something outwardly might cause a problem in the community or at home. It can assist in a healthier lifestyle and hardiness for a long career.

• Breaking Barriers: Mental Health Support for Law Enforcement
  Exposure to trauma and its effect – It must become a bridge to care rather than a gateway to discipline.
• Critical Risk Factors for Intimate Partner Homicide Explained
  Early stopping and intervention strategies may include enhanced monitoring of high-risk offenders, stricter enforcement of protective orders, coordinated responses among law enforcement and victim services, and when necessary, legal containment measures designed to reduce the immediate threat posed by the abuser. Once an abusive partner perceives that control over the victim is being challenged, the risk of retaliatory violence frequently escalates. Victims may suddenly become the focus of threats of death, stalking, obsessive monitoring of their whereabouts and social media, pathological jealousy, forced sexual activity, strangulation, destruction of property, threats involving children or pets, and increasingly erratic or desperate behavior.
• Evolving Strategies Against Domestic Violence
  “Restraining orders do not stop violence; they change the circumstances under which violence may occur. Their effectiveness depends upon recognizing escalating risk, enforcing judicial orders, coordinating interagency responses, and intervening before coercive control progresses to lethal violence.”
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  Transforming Help-Seeking Behavior in Police Agencies:
  Among the most significant barriers to officer well-being is the pervasive stigma associated with mental health within police culture. Officers often worry that admitting to anxiety, depression, traumatic stress, or emotional exhaustion will be interpreted as weakness or an inability to perform the job.
• Mastering symptoms of Stress with Biofeedback Techniques
  “Resilience is not a trait that people either have or do not have. It involves behaviors, thoughts and actions that can be learned and developed by anyone” according to the APA. The biofeedback I offer helps patients reduce autonomic overload by calming their body while… Read more: Mastering symptoms of Stress with Biofeedback Techniques