5 Reasons why officers struggle to seek help with mental health issues

I had an eye-opening experience at work the other day that caused me to put things into perspective. A co-worker had a panic attack. He said he could not breathe, his hands were trembling as he mumbled a list of things he needed to get done. I stepped up and helped him through it by guiding him through a breathing exercise which seemed to help. However, as I focused on his well-being, he was focused on whether he was going to lose his job. He kept saying how he was embarrassed and how he shouldn’t have lost it like that.

Being a law enforcement officer is like riding a roller coaster. There are ups and downs. Lately, it has been feeling more like a rapid downward spiral, getting out of control with no light at the end of the tunnel.

We can all agree that EVERY four years, our job becomes a bit more stressful due to a deadly combination of politics and one shameful incident that sets our profession back years. However this year, a growing and deadly pandemic was added to the mix. This mix added not only more stress to the job of every first responder but to every citizen that we are sworn to protect. Many lost their jobs and were forced to stay home only to simmer in their anger while watching the news. Protests against police brutality, systemic racism, liberals, and conservatives grew nationwide and many became extremely violent.

In spite of all the hate, law enforcement officers were on the front lines attempting their best to keep the peace while their local elected officials turned their backs on them. A mass of law enforcement officers felt forced to resign and leave their careers behind out of fear of being criminally charged for doing their jobs.

Those are just a few of the factors that can cause stress for any person. However, the average person seeks help with mental health issues by taking actions such as seeing a therapist, exercising, practicing meditation, and any other way they may deem fit for themselves.

Law enforcement officers and any first responders are perceived as heroes. We are supposed to and are expected to handle our stuff. I don’t suspect that any of us even gave it a second thought as to how we were supposed to handle stress in our jobs. But honestly, I ask, Do we ever talk about our own mental stress? I know I talk about my day-to-day life to my co-workers but we hardly share our internal demon battles and even so, it is often seen as taboo.

According to Insider, in 2018, LAPD officers were surveyed and found that nearly 80% of them said they experienced critical stress on the job and that a whopping 90% said seeking therapy as a police officer was stigmatized.

Guys!! According to Blue H.E.L.P, a non-profit organization out of Massachusetts reported that in 2019 at least 228 police officers committed suicide. That is more than the number of officers killed in the line of duty.

So here are the top five reasons why police officers struggle to seek help with mental health issues.

1. We see it as a sign of weakness.  We are trained to be the heroes. We are the ones that are called upon when someone needs trouble. The ones that take you to the hospital when you are injured. The ones who operate on you to save your life. The ones that will pull you from a burning fire. I think you get the point. We are part of a culture that does not show any weakness and any sign of it means that you are not cut out for the job. I honestly believe it is time to accept our weaknesses because it humanizes us. We are also humans, after all.
2. We don’t trust that it will be confidential. While many first responders don’t like to discuss personal matters with their co-workers, they also don’t want any of them finding out that they reached out for help. Many feel that reaching out for help will cause discord at work and that they may be perceived as a risk to the community. Even in the case where they are mandated by their human resources department, it is probably the case that they would not be allowed to return to work until they do so. Which also means, EVERYONE will know about it. Let’s add to this that it is completely illegal to divulge information about ANY patient to anyone. There are exceptions to this rule but for the most part, if you seek treatment for anything, no one will know about it.
3. We seek help and automatically means (to us) that we are not “fit for duty”. That is what the word of mouth myth looks like among police departments throughout the country. Many first responders usually wait until the bottom has dropped from under them to actively seek help and tons of others, more than I’d like to count, wait until the last minute, when it may be too late. It is very difficult to accept when we need help. We counsel drug addicts, domestic violence victims, and even children on all sorts of issues but oftentimes we feel that we are the powerful, heroes wearing a cape and we do not need help. However, taking the first step in seeking help is more courageous than what we do on a normal day, which is putting our lives at risk.
4. When we do seek help, the counselor/doctor does no understand us?. The type of stress that first responders experience varies from a civilian’s. We are subjected to highly volatile environments that oftentimes are matters of life and death. We are constantly on the receiving end of constant verbal and physical insults from the public without much support from our administration. Our families do not understand our problems nor do we want to burden them with them. Many therapists are not aware of the common types of day-to-day challenges that we face. As a result, we think that we can solve the problem because no one will understand.
5. We have no time. As first responders, the normal business hours for us consist of 12-hour shifts and many overtime hours. As a single mom and a law enforcement officer, having to juggle both has been challenging and this resonates with me. In some cases, because our incomes are so low, we end up working “details” (off-duty work) on our days off to make ends meet.

This perception among us has to change because if we don’t accept ourselves as humans then we can’t expect citizens to do also. We do need to take care of ourselves mentally and physically because it is the only way to tend to our careers and our families. I’m just here to say that if you need help, say something and don’t be ashamed of it.

I don’t think this list covers nearly enough of the internal issues that many first responders deal with. It is based solely on my experience as a law enforcement officer for over 20 years. Feel free to comment and add your own. Thanks.