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THE BADGE OF LIFE POLICE SUICIDE PREVENTION POLICE MENTAL HEALTH FIRST--BACKED UP BY SUICIDE PREVENTION!
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 OUR MISSION The Badge of Life mission is to increase awareness of police suicide issues and reduce them by providing free training and educational programs that enhance the emotional well-being of police officers in the United States and Canada. We promote programs to protect and assist survivors of law enforcement suicide and honor all officers who have given their lives in the line of duty. BOL honors and supports the forgotten police retirees who carry the burden of emotional scars of their careers.  IT'S NOT "JUST" ABOUT SUICIDE  We’ve all been fighting the wrong problem—suicides. Yes, we’ll say what everyone's afraid to say. 143 police suicides in 2009, tragic as they were, are a drop in the bucket when you are looking at 884,000 officers working in one of the world’s most toxic environments.Take a moment and think about it. Studies have shown that for each police suicide there are at least a thousand officers still out there, working, either with undiagnosed PTSD or just suffering from anxiety, depression, alcoholism and stress disorders that have resulted from their traumatic experiences in law enforcement.
When you get done, you have at least 160,000 police officers out there needing emotional help—most not even knowing it or afraid to get it. And you’re all over there, standing over at the cliff waiting for the 143?
Our free Emotional Self-Care Training program is custom made to show you the easy steps by which individual officers, squads and academies can begin to transform their personnel from ships floundering against the rocks to confident, well adjusted teams that work together as a team and as individuals to face crisis and trauma before--not after--they happen.
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IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT STRESS, EITHER
We get the words "stress" and "trauma" confused. We use them interchangeably. They aren't the same thing. Stress "happens." It happens in any career field, to baseball players, bus drivers, our children. While police work is subject to "ups and downs" of stress, it can be managed through healthy habits and adjustments in lifestyle.
But where stress "happens," trauma happens "TO" you. Posttraumatic stress disorder is a medically diagnosable injury brought upon by an external event that overwhelms an individual's ability to cope with it, emotionally. A good breakfast and running a mile in the morning will not insulate you from the impacts of a major trauma.
There are two types of trauma: critical and cumulative. Sadly, while everyone notices the "headliner" critical incident and comes flying in with Critical Incident Debriefings, the cumulative PTSD incidents tend to be the secrets, the quiet "soul wounds" that eat at an officer year after year, decade after decade, finally "taking them down."
 INNOCULATION against trauma, is what we call it. The vaccination comes before the disease, not during or after. We teach all officers the value of annual, voluntary "mental health checks" with a therapist of their choice, out of reach of their department, to review the past year, learn from it and prepare for the next. We want officers to develop their strengths, understand what tools they can borrow on, especially in times of trouble.
The "vaccine" we give is knowledge and self awareness--mental health and emotional well-being. When crisis or trauma strikes, officers aren't floundering and scared to ask for help--they will understand what's happening, know how to ask, and probably already have a therapist! To learn how our training works, read about our Emotional Self-Care (ESC) Training. The Top 12 Urban Legends in
Law Enforcement
Warning to firefighters and EMS personnel: Our information is of value to you as well!
If you, or someone you know, is in suicidal crisis or emotional distress, please call now: 1-800-273-8255. |
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The Badge of Life is an IRS Approved 501(c)(3) Charitable Organization and all donations are tax deductible. All services and materials provided by the Badge of Life are free of charge. The entire content of this website is copyrighted. All photographs are copyrighted to the photographers noted. For permissions on the written content of this website, contact us at Badge of Life. HOME | ABOUT US | SUICIDES | PROGRAMS | FAQS | LINKS | CONTACT ___________________________________________________
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