Join us for a full day of discussion and instruction about Law Enforcement Officer and First Responder Wellness. This course places emphasis on new police officers, how their nervous systems adjust to policing, and how to find balance and resilience in the mix. We will go in depth on how trauma and anxiety impact your life, including job performance, social connections, learning abilities, relationships, and physical and mental health. We’ll discuss how easy it is for individuals to get stuck in persistent fight, flight or freeze, and then we will explore techniques you can use to help bring yourself back to balance. Key topics include PTSD/trauma, anxiety, depression, suicide, nervous system regulation, how to help yourself, how to seek help from a professional and what kind of treatment to pursue, nutrition, fitness, and sleep.
Objectives:
- Understand the concept of mental wellness as a continuum
- Understand the autonomic nervous system and importance of regulation for health, resilience and survival
- Describe reactions and body responses of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems
- Describe the zones of resilience
- Describe healthy and unhealthy changes to the nervous system as a new officer
- Define and describe symptoms of trauma, anxiety, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder
- Understand acute symptoms vs. chronic symptoms
- Understand the nervous system derailment that occurs in trauma & anxiety
- Understand physical and mental changes that occur in response to unresolved trauma
- Describe how to intervene if you or someone you know is suicidal
- Understand how to cope if someone you know dies by suicide
- Describe when and how to seek help from a professional
- Identify and demonstrate self-help techniques of nervous system regulation
- Perform and understand self-assessments regarding multiple mental health domains
- Gain understanding of your current mental health and wellness
- Describe healthy and unhealthy changes to nutrition, fitness, sleep and life balance as a new officer
- Describe barriers as well as ways to improve these domains and find balance
