What we've been up to
Thanks for taking our survey
This year's national police wellbeing survey has now closed with over 41,000 responses received! A huge thank you to every single one of you who took part.
Your views are absolutely crucial so we can prioritise both national and local issues which matter the most and make sure we're developing the right interventions and support to make policing a better place to work.
We'll now work with with Leapwise to analyse the results. We'll be issuing an initial national highlights report in early July. Participating forces will receive their local reports by the end of July and the full in depth national report will be published mid-August.
Thank you once again to every force that took part, to everyone involved in promoting the survey, and of course to every single person who filled it in. By contributing to this survey, you've made a real difference.
Family sleep videos
We have been working with Nicole Ratcliffe the founder of Baby2sleep to provide additional support for families with very young children.
From the significant amount of work we have done on sleep, fatigue and recovery, we know how crucial sleep is to mental and physical health.
Often for new parents sleep can be in very short supply, making it a real challenge to cope, especially when returning to work. Working with Nicole we have produced a number of short videos which we hope will make life a little easier for families with young children. We are delighted to tell you that videos are now available on our website.
National police wellbeing awards: have you entered yet?
The national police wellbeing awards are your opportunity to recognise work that’s made a real difference to the wellbeing of officers, staff and volunteers across policing. If your team, force or service has delivered something that’s had a clear impact—however big or small—we want to hear about it.
This year, we've taken a fresh approach to our awards categories. We have done this based on feedback from forces and with the aim of making it easier to shout about the work you're doing and connecting it to national approaches.
The new categories:
- Peer support
- OK9 wellbeing dogs
- Operation Hampshire
- Healthy living (sleep and fatigue, physical fitness, nutrition)
- Occupational health
- Trauma support and suicide prevention
- Support for police families or police leavers
- Staff engagement
What we’re looking for
We’re not asking for long or polished submissions. We want short, clear entries that show, what was delivered, how it was done and what changed as a result
We’re particularly interested in how local initiatives have used national tools and resources, or contributed to wider good practice. You don’t need a comms team to write this. We just want to understand what you did and how it helped.
How to enter
You'll find all the entry criteria for each of the categories and a downloadable application form on our 'How to enter' page. The closing date is 31 July 2025 and the winners will be announced at our Annual Conference in November.
My journey through stem cell donation
What's been happening in our workstreams:
Peer support update
Peer support has been very busy over the past couple of months. We have trained over 150 extra peer supporters nationally, with another 150+ booked onto courses.
We still have a few spaces left for the following dates if you have anyone looking at being trained in peer support. These spaces will be allocated on a first come basis.
- 10th July initial training
- 16th July initial training
- 6th August initial training
We are in the process of developing an online information package around 'lived experience and resilience' - this will be useful for peer supporters to refer too when they are supporting colleagues.
Op Hampshire/peer support update
We have more forces interested in undertaking our new Op Hampshire peer supporter training. The course:
- Supports the introduction and development a local Op Hampshire champions network
- Provides targeted post-assault interaction and peer support
- Quality assures the initial Op Hampshire response for recorded incidents
- Provides an avenue for and extending local peer support offer through Op Hampshire
Dave Brewster, Operation Hampshire lead met with Chief Inspector Pete Spratt from South Yorkshire Police for an update on the development and deployment of the new Oscar Kilo Op Hampshire peer support champions, who received their training in March. The aim is for every police assault victim in South Yorkshire to be contacted by a member of the champions network, to follow up on the initial Op Hampshire response and to offer support for any other concerns they may have.
We now have a number of bookings up and down the country for this training. Our next session will be with Sussex Police in early July. If your force is interested in learning more, please get in touch.
Occupational health update
Our occupational health network continues to grow with over 250 members. The network is open to anyone working in police occupational health, with access to the practitioners’ pages for clinicians. If you are not a member and feel you should be, please get in touch.
We would like to encourage colleagues in occupational health to consider entering the Oscar Kilo awards. There is lots of great work taking place in occupational health teams and this is your chance to shout about it and get the recognition you deserve. Entering is easy, use the link in the 'Awards' article above to access the entry criteria and application form.
Clinical governance update
New guidance for the referral of police officers to an SMP for consideration of permanent medical unfitness will be considered by the NPCC Health, Safety and Wellbeing Board at the end of June. One approved this will then be circulated to all forces.
In June we have provided CPD training around mental health to firearms licensing officers at a College of Policing event.
Counsellors and psychologists update
Zoe Davenport our psychological risk management lead attended the INVICTM Forum in Lisbon to discuss the importance of including psychological support in the planning and preparation for mass fatality events, how psychological staff can assist with planning but also to remember that those providing psychological and therapeutic services require support too.
The Therapists working group were joined by Dave Brewster to discuss the work of Op Hampshire and the close connections between his work and the work of counsellors and therapists in forces.
Following this years psychological health monitoring programme, we are working with a number of national groups to use the information gained to inform wellbeing practices and improve officer and staff health.
Events we've been at:
Blue Light Show: 18-19 June
Some of the team and OK9 dog Poppy have been at the Blue Light Show last week. This event focuses on bringing together the emergency services community, showcasing how they learn from each other, operate together, and protect our communities more effectively.
It was great to be there to speak to so many people from right across the blue light sector about what we do.
Our service director Andy Rhodes took part in a seminar exploring the key challenges affecting individuals and teams, providing insights into risk factors, prevention strategies, and support systems. The topics covered included:
- Anxiety, PTSD, and trauma risk management – understanding triggers, coping mechanisms, and workplace strategies for resilience.
- Suicide and mental health crisis – identifying warning signs, intervention techniques, and resources for support.
- Bullying, undermining communication, and workplace culture – addressing toxic behaviors, fostering respect, and building a healthier work environment.
Light the Lakes: 20 June
The Light The Lakes event sees teams of police officers, staff, retired officers and police friends light up the famous Wainwright fells of Cumbria in memory of police officers and staff that have died. Each year hundreds of participants take part, raising funds to support police families, by climbing one of the 214 'Wainwright fells' lighting flares at each peak at 3am just before sunrise.
The Oscar Kilo team were on hand to chat about the work we do and offer advice and support to the participants. If you are interested in taking part in 2026 check out their website.
Neighbourhood policing week of action
This week 23-27 June is neighbourhood policing week of action.
The College of Policing are joining police forces up and down the country to celebrate the achievements of neighbourhood policing and provide opportunities and support for officers and staff throughout the 2025 week, they will highlight the vital work that neighbourhood officers, police community support officers (PCSOs) and volunteers do to protect the public and keep people safe.
Our wellbeing vans will be out in forces across the country including Lancashire, Cleveland, Merseyside, Nottingham and Greater Manchester to highlight the work being done to support wellbeing of NHP officers nationally and locally.
What's coming soon
Updated major incident guidance
We are due to publish an update to our major incident guidance in the next few weeks. The updated guidance does not replace the existing ‘Police wellbeing and major incidents’ guidance. It seeks to add to it, to provide a more practical and accessible prioritisation list for leaders operating at gold, silver and bronze levels.
Our Service Director Andy Rhodes has briefed the Gold Public Order Public Safety POPS course on these updates which will be fed into NPOCC for future major incidents.
Oscar Kilo conference and awards 2025
Our 2024 Oscar Kilo Conference and awards ceremony is being planned for 17-19 November and will take place at Crewe Hall Hotel and Spa, Crewe, Cheshire.
As last year we will be combining the conference with announcement of our Oscar Kilo awards. From feedback gather from attendees last year we will be moving the announcement of the Awards and celebratory gala dinner to the late afternoon/early evening of day one (Monday 17 November) to enable more time for the sharing of ideas and making those important connections with your peers.
We are currently emailing invitations with full details, if you have not received an invite and think you should be on the list please get in touch.
New children's book 'Darcy at the allotment'
We've been working with PC Cathy Veale, from Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, to develop and publish a brand new children's' book 'Darcy at the allotment'. Cathy is a wellbeing practitioner, misconduct peer support co-ordinator and OK9 wellbeing dog handler and SPOC, she has written and designed this book based on her own allotment and her OK9 dog Darcy. The book investigates the importance of connections, making time for our families, and the importance of care for ourselves and others.
The book will be available through our OK9 dog handlers in the summer and we'll be publishing an e-book on our website in the autumn.
Workforce prioritisation guidance
We are due to publish our updated workforce prioritisation guidance and self- assessment toolkit. We will be sharing this with forces over the summer.
Events
Over the coming months we will be at the following events, if you are attending, please come and say hello.
- WeCops national conference - 27 June - Andy Rhodes and Dave Brewster will be guest panelists discussing 'wellbeing for the future.
- Emergency Services Show - 17-18 September, NEC Birmingham - You can now register for tickets