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Critical incidents and career-altering traumas are daily risks that law enforcement officers must face. But, too often, officers turn to maladaptive habits to cope. Is there a better way? In Body, Mind, and Badge: Strategies for Navigating Trauma and Resilience in Law Enforcement, Dr. Kathryn Hamel, PhD, answers that question with a resounding Yes!
The book focuses on two imperative components of law enforcement wellness: physical fitness and resiliency. Cultivating both enables personnel to mitigate the physical, mental, and emotional wear and tear that result from challenges of law enforcement.
Part One covers Dr. Hamel’s memories of shift work and her resulting personal journey to physical fitness. It also discusses research on the unique health issues of law enforcement personnel, the pervasiveness of stress in the field, and the importance of physical fitness as a mitigating factor.
Additionally in Part One is the cautionary story of an unexpected and devastating injury to a young, fit officer by Chief Mike Hamel (Ret.). He includes his assessment of the functional movement screen/predictive injury test and how he successfully brought it to the Irvine PD as part of an overall fitness program to help prevent the physical, emotional, and economic costs of injuries to law enforcement personnel.
In Part Two, Heather Williams, PsyD, discusses resiliency-what it is, why it’s important for countering critical incidents, and how law enforcement personnel can integrate it into their lives. She proposes that law enforcement management help personnel build resilience by incorporating support systems into their organizations and by teaching inoculation training, hardiness training, psychoeducation, and cognitive-behavioral techniques like mindfulness. She also offers methods for individuals to build their own resiliency.
In Part Three, retired and current police officers share their personal journeys to physical, mental, and emotional health and wellbeing. Officer John Darby (Ret.) and Chief Charles Celano (Ret.) relate how injury and illness, respectively, forced them into unexpected retirement. They share the methods they used to heal themselves physically and how they overcame the shock and resulting sorrow of careers cut short. And Officer Alex Mendoza, a nutritionist, Reiki II practitioner, health coach, and mindfulness teacher, shares numerous emotional and physical paths to wellness, a final reminder that physical fitness and resiliency will allow you to not just survive, but thrive, in your law enforcement career.
