Wellbeing and support

What your force provides

Every force runs occupational health, and most provide an employee assistance programme with counselling sessions that you can access without going through a line manager. Referrals to occupational health can be made by a supervisor or by you. A self referral is usually faster and keeps the reason for the referral between you and the clinician.

Many forces also run peer support schemes, including Trauma Risk Management, where trained colleagues make contact after a defined traumatic incident. TRiM is a screening and signposting process rather than treatment, and taking part does not create a medical record.

Ask your force intranet for the current provider names. They change on procurement cycles, and out of date numbers are one of the most common reasons officers give up on getting help.

National services

National Police Wellbeing Service

Run through Oscar Kilo and funded to support forces across England and Wales. It publishes practical guidance on shift work, fatigue, trauma exposure and psychological risk management, and runs the wellbeing vans and outreach services that visit forces. Much of the material is open to individual officers, not just to force wellbeing leads.

Police Care UK

Police Care UK supports serving and veteran officers and staff, and their families, who are affected by harm caused through policing. It funds treatment for trauma related conditions, provides practical and financial support, and administers the St George's Police Children Trust for children of officers who have died or been permanently disabled.

Blue Light Together

Blue Light Together, from Mind, collects mental health resources written specifically for emergency services staff and their families, including guidance on talking to a manager and on returning to work.

Treatment and rehabilitation centres

Two charities run residential rehabilitation for officers who contribute through a small weekly deduction. Membership is voluntary and is usually set up when you join, so check your payslip if you are not sure whether you contribute.

• The Police Treatment Centres, with sites at Harrogate and Auchterarder, provide intensive physiotherapy and psychological wellbeing programmes for serving and retired officers from subscribing forces.
• Flint House in Goring-on-Thames provides rehabilitation for officers from subscribing forces, mainly in the south of England, covering injury recovery and psychological wellbeing.

Both accept self referral. You do not need your force's permission to apply, although you will need occupational health or medical information to support the referral.

Trauma and repeated exposure

Post traumatic stress in policing is rarely the result of a single incident. Cumulative exposure, particularly in roles handling child abuse imagery, serious sexual offences, road death or repeated first contact with the deceased, carries a recognised occupational risk. Forces are expected to manage that risk through psychological screening for high exposure roles, and Oscar Kilo publishes the standard they work to.

Treatment that works for trauma is specific. Trauma focused cognitive behavioural therapy and EMDR are the approaches recommended by NICE. General counselling through an assistance programme is a reasonable first step, but if symptoms persist, ask to be referred to someone who treats trauma specifically.

Money, family and legal worries

Financial pressure and welfare problems are handled separately from clinical support:

• Your federation branch holds a welfare fund and can advise on hardship, benevolent grants and legal representation.
• Police Mutual offers financial guidance and support services to the police community.
• Most forces have a benevolent fund of their own, usually administered by the federation branch or a force charity.

Shift work and sleep

Rotating shifts disrupt circadian rhythm, and the effects show up as fatigue, weight gain, poor recovery and, over long periods, raised cardiovascular risk. The practical measures that hold up in research are unglamorous: consistent sleep timing on rest days, controlled light exposure at the end of a night shift, limiting caffeine in the second half of a shift, and treating the commute home after nights as a genuine risk rather than an inconvenience. Oscar Kilo publishes force level guidance on fatigue and shift design if your roster is the problem.

Services listed here are independent organisations. Eligibility, contribution requirements and referral routes are set by each one and can change, so confirm the current position on their own website before applying. This page is information, not medical advice.