The Mental Health Crisis: An exploration into the current organisational culture and the support frontline police officers are receiving for their mental wellbeing.
Keywords:
Policing, Mental Health, Culture, Police Management, Organisational StressorsAbstract
Introduction: This research aims to highlight the current trends of police culture and the impact it has on the accessibility of support networks. Through media exposure, police culture and officer wellbeing has become an area of focus due to the impact it is having on the public served and the organisation, therefore making this a current issue needing to be tackled.
Method: A mixed-method survey was conducted within an unnamed United Kingdom (UK) Police Force focusing on Response Teams (RT) and Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NPT). 100 Officers agreed to participate. An analytical and thematic analysis then took place, to understand the current participant mental wellbeing, any organisational stressors, and any barriers around support networks.
Findings: The responses showed a higher proportion of organisational stressors for those working on RT placing them at a predisposition to poor mental wellbeing. It was felt there was enough wellbeing support networks available to officers, however, there is a reluctance to access them due to the fear of implications formed through the organisational culture.
Conclusion: Organisational disconnect was clear throughout the findings and is increasing the risk towards officers’ mental health. With mental health requiring a more proactive approach, compared to the common reactive approach at crisis point (Craddock and Telesco, 2021) it is crucial for an organisational change to prevent increasing mental health figures, further resignations, and sickness. A requirement was highlighted to reduce to fear of repercussions for accessing support networks and for further training to increase resilience and reduce poor culture, mental health misogyny and stigma.
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