Background

The Scottish Police Authority made a commitment in December 2022, during an event on mental health, vulnerability and policing, to convene a stakeholder event on policing and trauma specific to our workforce. This builds on discussions and evidence sessions throughout 2022 and 2023 on the issue of mental health both in relation to demand and also specific to our own workforce.

The safety and wellbeing of our people is at the heart of our commitments. A career in policing is rewarding, but can also be incredibly challenging. Our Joint Strategy for Policing states:

“The emotional wellbeing of our people is as equally important as ensuring their physical wellbeing. We want our people to feel supported and empowered to seek help from colleagues and support services no matter the situation. There is a range of support available to our officers and staff. We will ensure that these support channels are easily accessible and available to all in their time of need”.

In order to demonstrate our commitment to understanding and addressing issues regarding the impact of trauma we must listen to lived experience and discuss our current practices, this, coupled with expert research and insight will ensure that any new approaches to support and advice for our officers and staff are evidence-led.

This trauma focused event, chaired by Fiona McQueen on behalf of the Authority, aimed to:

Bring together research, insights and knowledge on approaches to prevent, manage and minimise the impact of work based trauma on individuals’ physical and mental wellbeing;

Recognise that, while the removal of traumatic experiences completely is not possible and that each individual is effected in a different way, there are steps that can be taken to prepare officers and staff for those inevitable events;

Describe the work being taken forward by Police Scotland and SPA Forensic Services in this area, exploring case studies and the lessons learned, and invite discussion on the effectiveness of the current approaches from across different agencies and jurisdictions;

Recognise this issue in the context of a growing challenge, not only to policing but to other emergency services, first line responders and the parallels to the roles performed by our armed forces;

Share current and best practice and identify successful innovation in dealing with the challenges which could enhance the current approaches taken in the policing system; and

Provide an opportunity to network and learn more about current providers used across the policing system.