By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – Law enforcement officers and their families have a new tool that will provide anonymous on-demand access to mental health and wellness resources.
It’s a mobile-based app they can download to their phones. The Washington state legislature allocated $1 million to fund the program, which was handpicked by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) and is available for free to active and retired law enforcement, corrections, dispatch professionals and their family/household members.
Port Angeles Police Chief Brian Smith is a big fan of the app, and spoke to us about why he thinks it’s needed.
“What this has done is, given our staff a very robust tool to access services and information when they need it and when they’re ready for it. And we know these challenges exist. Statistics are pretty stark in terms of what happens to people at the end of their careers. And we know a lot of things about what we have to look out for. So, this is a way for us to address that stuff in a proactive and very compassionate and sort of holistic way.”
According to the Washington Law Enforcement Officer Mental Health Task Force Report, exposure to trauma, substance misuse, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression can be related and also increase risk of suicide.
Smith says by having such sweeping access to services in one place and because it’s anonymous, it’s more likely to be used.
“Some of the things we think will happen is, people will increasingly use wellness resources. Some of those things, to get, you would normally have to go talk to Human Resources. You have to talk to somebody in a bureaucracy to get to those resources. And, it’s like anything. If you have a barrier to getting to it, you may or may not do it when you’re ready.”
The fact that the state legislature saw the value and is funding the program was a game-changer for local agencies to be able to implement it.
“And when we were at WASPC training two years ago, (Police Chief) Sheri Crane and I looked at it, and both of us concluded this was something we wanted for our staff. But then we looked at what it would cost us to resource it for our agencies, and it was beyond our ability to financially afford it. So I’m very excited about it. I’m looking forward to hearing from our staff and our team about how it’s being used and what people think of it.”
Active and retired law enforcement, corrections, dispatch professionals and their family/household members are encouraged to visit waspc.org/law-enforcement-wellness-app for additional information on accessing the CORDICO App.