What we've been up to
National police wellbeing survey 2023
Our fourth national police wellbeing survey is now live and we're inviting you to have your say.
Each year we run our national policing wellbeing survey with the policing research unit at Durham University. The aim of the survey is to give every member of the policing workforce the opportunity to tell us how they truly feel at work so we can build a really clear picture of what we need to work on.
Last year over 36k of you took part and the results have helped us to shape future wellbeing projects and initiatives.
The link to complete the survey is accessible from your own force intranet and it will be live till the end of June.
Samaritan webinars
Following on from the agreement of a suicide prevention consensus statement and the launch of our suicide postvention toolkit last year we are continuing our partnership with Samaritans to bring you a series of five new webinars.
These webinars investigate some challenging subjects including emotional wellbeing, self harm and suicide and are now available to book using the link below.
Some of these webinars have now taken place, if you missed them we have uploaded the recordings to the website.
Find out more, access the recordings and book your place
Operation Hampshire app update released
Assaults against police officers and staff continue to increase. Between April 21 and April 22 there were 41,221 assaults recorded under the assault on a constable classification.
Operation Hampshire, the national drive to improve the response to police assaults, has rightly been identified as a priority across UK policing.
Following the introduction of the original national police assaults reporting app in May 2022 we have collaborated with the Officer and Staff Safety Review team and listened to feedback from forces to identify requirements for development or improvement. These have now been incorporated into the new phase.
On Wednesday 3 May we launched the new app which now sits in the Police Digital Service Solutions Catalogue. It is readily deployable into any forces Office 365 environment and is free. The app remains simple to use and has been intelligently designed to encourage the reporting of incidents through a slick user experience.
We ran a webinar with the Police Digital Service to demonstrate the App functions you can watch it below:
OK9 wellbeing and trauma support dogs
The ever popular OK9 Wellbeing and Trauma Support Dogs have been busier than ever in April with over 3500 personal interactions with officers and staff and the public.
They are being used more than ever for post incident support and our OK9 handlers are actively referring people to a variety of different sources of support both within the organisations and outside.
In March at the OK9 wellbeing dog conference the leads of over 30 forces gathered to discuss how they could be even more effective in the workplace. The subject of standards for all OK9 dogs was discussed at length and it was agreed that all handlers will complete the Dogs Trust training modules which have been specially designed to ensure we are all operating safely and at the highest level when doing visits.
In addition, all handlers will undertake the Oscar Kilo peer support course to equip them with the skills to listen effectively and sign post colleagues to help if needed. The conference was all about consolidating the service and making it as inclusive and useful as we can so that we are able to provide effective support to colleagues. The enthusiasm of those present was only matched by the enthusiasm of the OK9 wellbeing dogs who were clearly loving the chance to meet each other!
Occupational health practitioner update
Our Occupational Health newsletter is currently being distributed to our OH practitioners, if you feel you should be receiving this please get in touch. Our OH team is currently doing a light review of forces OH submissions in the Blue Light Wellbeing Framework and are currently running a survey around access to talking therapies and EAPs.
Peer support training
During April 2023 we have delivered:
- 5 x Peer Support training courses online via MS Teams
- 1 x Face to face peer support training course
- Our first Peer Support Coordinators online meeting / webinar
During May 2023 we have delivered:
- 6 x Peer support training courses, 3 for Cheshire Police, one to the Police Superintendents Association, on to our OK9 dog handlers and one to staff from West Midlands Police.
- We have also introduced a new mentor/buddy scheme for new Peer Support Coordinators who will be buddied up with more experienced coordinators.
What's coming soon
Launch of 'Meaning' film and wraparound
We are excited to be rolling out the red carpet with a launch and premiere screening at the British Film Institute in London of 'Meaning' our second film and awareness package.
These films have been developed to create awareness, spark debate and self-reflection. 'Meaning' which is the second film, in the series (the first being 'Purpose'), follows 'Jake', a mid-service response officer as he navigates his career.
The film picks up on issues around the mental and physical demands of the job, hindrance stressors, and the impact on family life. It is accompanied by a wrap around from an experienced therapist who helps guide our thinking and breaks down what we see into some helpful themes and how we might think about and process them.
It is intended to help people watching think about what’s going on in their own lives and hopefully help them to spot any warning signs early, because quite often we will normalise these things and don’t see that cumulatively, they are starting to have an impact on us.
When this is launched, it will be supported by guidance from the National Police Wellbeing Service around how forces may wish to use it as a resource and how to help people get the most out of it. It is intended to act as a platform to encourage officers and staff not only to be more self-aware but also encourage thinking and discussion on how systems and processes could work better to support officers and staff and to provide an opportunity for signposting and support.
If you are interested in being part of this launch event which takes place on 20 June in the afternoon, please register your interest quickly as places are limited.
Register for the 'Meaning' film premiere
Peer Support members page being launched
In the next few weeks we will be launching our brand new peer support members page. If you are one of our trained peer supporters you will be automatically entitled to access to the page. On it there will be a welcome pack, lots of guidance, supporting materials and escalation procedure literature.
Dr Tony Parnell, NPWS Clinical Governance Lead, has created a mental health training video which you will be able to watch alongside some of the peer support training modules to refresh your knowledge and skills as a peer supporter.
We will be adding recordings of our peer support coordinator meetings and will continue to build on content over time.
To access the page you must create an account on this website then let us know and we'll make sure you have access.
Oscar Kilo new social media accounts
There's lots of exciting work and projects coming in 2023 and to ensure we reach as many people as possible we are launching two new social media accounts.
From June we will be actively engaging through Facebook @OscarKiloUK1 and Instagram @oscarkilo_UK to make sure our resources are seen and used widely. Connect with us now to be the first to receive these new updates.
Response policing week 2023
Response policing week of action begins on Monday 26 June – a week celebrating response policing, with opportunities to get involved. We are working closing with the College of Policing to support the event, our vans will be out and about and the OK9 dogs are making plans to visit response officers in their forces.
The College of Policing are hosting a series of events that are open to all who work in or have an interest in response policing, full details and booking links can be found below.
Response week events and registration links