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Suicide Prevention Training
 Whether for your academy or squad, finding the right balance of time for an effective presentation is always difficult. Length doesn't necessarily mean quality, nor does brevity necessarily mean impact.
While this training has great value to veteran officers, we're convinced that the greatest long-term impact will be in the training we give cadets and how well we can implant in each of them the importance of "prevention" through annual therapy visits. For a department, this training should be "cradle to the grave."
LONG RANGE IMPACT: We remain convinced that, if enough departments were to implement this idea into their programs we would, as the result of new officers coming into the job, see a major decrease in police suicides in the next ten years. Not only have we found that this new generation of cadets is responsive to the suggestion and can be expected to follow up on it, we believe the "immune system" they will be building up will have an indirect impact on their fellow officers as well. It's an "inoculation"--pure and simple. It's prevention.
Recently, an academy instructor who did suicide prevention with cadet classes admitted that it was very difficult for him to speak from a truly personal level. It was "safe" to talk about gruesome accidents, shootings and other events everyone readily accepts as "traumatic." He found it impossible, however, to disclose the kinds of incidents that are behind many of our suicides--the "cumulative" events. These include mistakes that affected other lives, guilt at having fallen short, shame, suppressed anger, resentment of police administrators, etc. The instructor feared talking about these out of fear that he might, some day, be working with someone in the class.
The same holds true for trainers speaking to veteran squads. For many, there's a limit they dare not pass, not wanting it heard by their peers or, certainly, by management.
Stories of trauma are not always "heroic," the ones that evoke immediate sympathy from the public, that are easy to "admit to." You know the stories to which we refer--these are the stories of mistakes that may have harmed others, of fears, of self- perceived "cowardice" or failure, of letting down the uniform. These are what they call the "dirty little secrets," and they begin the first day of the uniform.
If you find yourself having difficulty sharing of yourself in this way, we encourage you to seek out and bring in a retiree (they are out there) who has known trauma and dealt with it. Channel him/her properly so that their presentation is effective and supports this program, and include them for this crucial part.
Should you choose to present this program to veteran officers (and we have the materials and support for you to do so), you will find retirees far better accepted because they are "outside the power structure" and invariably garner greater respect from the squad.
INCLUDE A THERAPIST: We highly recommend including a therapist in your presentations. There's much to be said for letting your audience "see the real thing" and ask questions about that "first visit." Common questions we encounter are
1. How do I introduce myself if I don't think there's anything wrong?
2. Should I insist on a therapist who is highly knowledgeable about police work?
3. Is the meeting really confidential?
4. What kinds of therapists are there?
5. How does a therapist work?
6. What if I don't like the therapist?
However you choose to do it, we highly recommend you include our "annual mental health prescription" in your training, both at the academy level and the squad level. For those of you who have active retiree programs, we urge you to consider offering a presentation to that group as well.
A NOTE ABOUT TODAY’S CADET CLASSES
One of the things we already have seen as an advantage is that today’s cadets are far ahead of past generations when it comes to recognizing the validity and value of therapy.
They have seen family members attend.
They have attended themselves, perhaps during school or with family.
They know people who have suffered a variety of mental illnesses, such as depression, and they attach no stigma to it.
They are, as we have seen in class after class, receptive to the idea of the Mental Health Prescription. They’re ready.
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