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The Florida Sheriffs Association (FSA) and Florida State University’s Institute for Justice Research and Development (IJRD), alongside Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls (R-Palm Harbor) and Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson, Jr., today announced a collaborative new training program, “Resiliency Behind the Badge,” aimed at identifying and addressing post-traumatic stress in law enforcement officers across the state. 

“Every day our law enforcement officers report for duty, they are unsure of what lies ahead. They are prepared to bravely run toward danger, witness painful and traumatic events, and risk their own lives to save others at a moment’s notice,” said Speaker Sprowls. “That unique work environment can take its toll, both physically and mentally. It is important that we take care of our law enforcement officers and provide them the support they need.”

The Florida Sheriffs Association (FSA) and Florida State University’s Institute for Justice Research and Development (IJRD), alongside Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls (R-Palm Harbor) and Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson, Jr., today announced a collaborative new training program, “Resiliency Behind the Badge,” aimed at identifying and addressing post-traumatic stress in law enforcement officers across the state.

Florida law enforcement officers have a new tool to help them spot post-traumatic stress disorder in themselves and coworkers.

The goal of the online delivery program developed at Florida State University is to help officers understand why and when they are feeling abnormal stress and how to manage what they are feeling.

Few of us go to work and the first assignment is dealing with a dead body. But for officers, dead bodies, physical threats and constant danger are the job.

This story was also picked up by WJHG-TV NBC Panama City, Newsbreak, WBBH-TV NBC Ft. Myers, and WFLA-TV NBC Tampa.

Law enforcement leaders and researchers hope to combat post-traumatic stress in the force with a collaborative new training program in Florida.

Florida State University’s Institute for Justice Research and Development created the “Resiliency Behind the Badge” program, available across the state beginning Thursday through the Florida Sheriffs Association.

Through the program, law enforcement officers can learn to recognize traumatic stress’ physical and mental indicators and practice managing and responding to that stress both on and off the job. Officers also learn to identify potential symptoms in their peers and direct them to help if necessary.

This was also featured in FLAPOL's Sunburn.

Unveiled Thursday, the three-hour course seeks to help officers recognize PTSD in themselves and fellow cops. Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson believes the program will save taxpayers.

“You want to mitigate use of force and you want better customer service for the citizens that we serve. The thing you have to do is provide healthier officers,” said Adkinson.

A new training program, “Resiliency Behind the Badge,” aimed at identifying and addressing post-traumatic stress will soon be available to law enforcement officers across the state.

“While departments routinely focus on maintaining an officer’s physical health, it is equally important to address their mental health as well, including the effects of exposure to extremely stressful or traumatic events. Healthy officers are better equipped to safely serve their community,” said Carrie Pettus-Davis, PhD, MSW, founder and executive director of IJRD. “Law enforcement officers experience an extraordinary amount of stress on the job. Providing them with specific techniques to understand and manage that stress can help improve their overall well-being and response to future events.”

Individuals leaving incarceration and returning home deserve much more than the right to vote. They need the opportunities to enable them to successfully rejoin society.

We can implement proven solutions and offer help to those newly released. We need to start with better preparation within prison prior to release, including better job training. We also need to fund post-release mental health and substance-abuse counseling and help identifying suitable housing. We need to listen to the experts like Dr. Pettus-Davis and start treating these issues with knowledge-based solutions and stop ignoring the existing results that negatively impact us all.

Prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide unrest of the summer months, local, state, and federal authorities are taking a fresh look at significant reforms to how the criminal justice system engages with those in its charge. One important area is the need to address how to maintain and increase access to mental health and rehabilitation programs for those who have contact with the criminal justice system and whose release back into the community is imminent.

A recent study from the Institute for Justice Research and Development focused on people returning home after a period of incarceration, and the myriad challenges they face, reveals just how much this population’s mental health is affected by trauma of a nature that is much less common in the broader society. The study found that over the course of the first eight months following release from incarceration, 47% had experienced at least one traumatic event, with one in five of those actually losing a loved one to homicide. 

News of the dangerous conditions inside correctional facilities have flooded the headlines throughout the pandemic, but now that many incarcerated individuals have been released to slow the spread behind bars, some are finding reentry “overwhelming,” according to Florida State University’s Institute for Justice Research and Development (IJRD). The researchers set out to empirically document the prisoners’ experiences and perspectives, while also highlighting how prisons attempted to contain the spread of COVID-19.

People likely don’t want to read about PTSD among cops, but it exists and it’s creating a lot of our problems if it is untreated. In his April 8, 2019 article in the National Institutes of Justice Journal, Jim Dawson notes that up to 27% of police officers suffer from PTSD. Dr. Carrie Pettus-Davis of Florida State University studies the psychological issues of police officers. She states that “Untreated PTSD can lead officers to a misappraisal of cues in certain situations.”