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.

Here is a AI generated graphic of the stress response system.

The information I am trying to provide in these pages is for everyone, not just law enforcement and first responders. Think of it as early intervention, where on each page there is a redundancy of information in the area of stress, personal strategies for management of traumatic exposure and what things can happen when stress is ignored or when trauma lies dormant in our body.

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.

• Searching for Balance …
  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… Read more: Searching for Balance …
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