Bulletproof Spirit by Captain Dan Willis

Author:Captain Dan Willis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New World Library

Other BeSTOW Efforts

Other agencies using the BeSTOW philosophy have continued to develop new efforts. Consider adopting any of the following ideas:

•Produce a brochure for family members that discusses emotional- and spiritual-survival issues; ways to support first responders; spousal-support-group information; and chaplain, peer-support, and counseling services offered by the agency, along with contact information.

•Encourage voluntary annual check-ins with a peer-support team member at the time of annual evaluations. This provides an opportunity for employees to talk about any issues they desire to discuss and to receive updated emotional- and spiritual-survival and wellness information.

•Develop officer-death and serious-injury protocols pertaining to a peer-support response to assist the injured employee and the family.

•Adopt a policy of giving employees ten hours of time off in exchange for seeing a qualified therapist trained in trauma for an annual emotional-survival and wellness checkup. This would be completely voluntary and confidential, but encouraged by the first-responder agency.

•Develop a one- or two-day Family Academy, in which family members are introduced to the functions and culture of your agency and ways to support their first-responder spouse or parent. They can also be informed about services available.

•Have the agency psychologist teach all staff members the signs of PTSD, ways to approach officers who may be suffering symptoms, and how to talk to officers about getting help or referrals when needed.

•Have the police psychologist teach employees how to prepare for and mitigate the effects of acute stress and PTSD that they may develop.

•Have a registered dietician provide training on proper nutrition, energy drinks and other caffeinated beverages, and overall health and wellness issues.

•Have a financial planner provide training on financial wellness and sound financial practices.

•Develop some type of emotional-survival closed-network connection through social media, possibly through Face-book or Twitter or both. This would provide an easy way to disseminate information about available training and resources.

•Have former retirees and a retirement planner supply information on how to plan and prepare for retirement.

•Coordinate a countywide, three-day emotional-survival/wellness conference for emergency first responders.

•Develop a website on wellness that can only be accessed by first responders in the county. The site can include information about resources and training contributed by other agencies, best practices, peer-support and wellness teams, agency instructions and general orders related to peer-support teams and functions, wellness newsletters, and other wellness information.

•Have the agency’s health insurance providers come to the agency to provide free health appraisals, training, and information.

A wellness program incorporating the BeSTOW philosophy can be anything that addresses the ongoing emotional- and spiritual-survival needs and well-being of any particular first-responder agency. The essential component is the support of top management and the employee union, as well as buy-in from various units throughout the agency on the line level. Most of the concepts developed in the program should come from the line-level employees, based on their particular needs. The BeSTOW team should meet regularly to develop new ideas and to sustain the program. Developing the BeSTOW philosophy into proactive training and effective resources is a long-term process and must be a continuous effort in order to be most effective.

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