Mental Health Awareness – Let’s Start Talking About It!

 

A guest post by Public Safety Program Coordinator Lora Setter

The month of May was designated as Mental Health Awareness Month in 1949. Awareness begins with talking and listening…sounds simple, right? And yet, even though Mental Health Awareness Month has existed for 72 years, a stigma remains surrounding mental illness — a testament to just how difficult these discussions are for some.

From my experience, I know the public safety community to be particularly reluctant when it comes to talking about their own mental health issues, in part because of a strong cultural mindset that “there’s no crying in baseball.” However, we know that due to the nature of their job duties, public safety personnel may be at increased risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

LMCIT Public Safety Program
Coordinator Lora Setter

The good news is PTSD is treatable. To treat it, it’s important to create compassionate work environments where public safety personnel feel that “it’s OK to not be OK.” 

Four years ago, the incurred cost for public safety workers’ compensation PTSD claims was a little more than $2 million. Today, the incurred cost for public safety workers’ compensation PTSD claims are just over $29 million. Along with the financial costs, cities are losing needed public safety personnel with years of experience to a condition that is treatable. 

A Harvard Business Review article from November 2020, “Talking About Mental Health with Your Employees — Without Overstepping,” notes that, “Leaders at all levels need to put mental health ‘on the table’ — to talk about it, invite others to talk about it, and work actively to develop resources and plans for their employees.” 

Things you can do to spread the word:

• Share the importance of leaders talking about their own mental health struggles as an important first step in creating a supportive work environment. Remind employees that everyone struggles at times. 
• Talk openly and/or survey public safety personnel to find out what they think would be most helpful to them in managing their mental health. 
• Connect with your health care provider/employee assistance program (EAP) to determine if your employee group health plan includes mental health and telehealth services. Invite them to speak to your public safety employees about what services they provide. 
• Create plans to keep people working during recovery from PTSD and plans to get them back to work. 
• Review the League’s Public Safety Mental Health Toolkit designed to help city leaders gain information about public safety mental health concerns. 

Let’s take this opportunity to care about and talk about the mental wellness of our public safety teams — we can’t afford not to. 

Remember: Responder Safety = Public Safety

Up next: Move Over Laws and Responder Safety

In the meantime, stay safe and be careful -
Lora