| NCJ Number: |
184521  |
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| Title: |
Organizational Consultant Program Takes Aim at Officers' Stress |
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| Journal: |
Police Chief Volume:67 Issue:8 Dated:August 2000 Pages:104-106 |
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| Author(s): |
Michael Yachnik Ph.D.; Audrey L. Honig Ph.D. |
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| Editor(s): |
Charles E. Higginbotham |
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| Date Published: |
August 2000 |
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| Page Count: |
3 |
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| Publisher: |
http://www.theiacp.org |
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| Type: |
Program/Project Description |
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| Format: |
Article |
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| Language: |
English |
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| Country: |
United States of America |
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| Annotation: |
In 1997, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department developed and implemented an organizational consultant program designed to provide police supervisors with the tools needed to recognize and remedy police officer stress. |
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| Abstract: |
The program takes a proactive approach to solving stress-related problems, can be used at both individual and organizational levels, and is easily transferable to other police agencies. The program alleviates police officer stress by training supervisors in prevention and early intervention. The two components of the program, education and mentoring, are designed as proactive interventions. Police supervisors are taught how to recognize and intervene with police officers who are beginning to exhibit stress-related problems. The intervention is intended as an early warning system that supplements the counseling already available to police officers with stress-related issues. Police supervisors are also taught how to deal with difficult people, how to manage police officer stress, and how to counsel police officers. The mentoring component supplements the educational component by allowing psychologists to provide on-going support to police supervisors. All psychologists participating in the program have backgrounds in organizational and clinical psychology, are on call 24 hours a day, and strive for specific knowledge of the police department's culture and work to gain the confidence of staff. The psychologists conduct a 360-degree evaluation that requires each rank to anonymously evaluate and be evaluated by the ranks above and below. Feedback is given to each rank so that productive discussions may result. Issues raised by the evaluation are addressed during consultations or specific training and through a quarterly newsletter. Psychologists also review critical issues to monitor organizational trends and to identify areas that need improvement. |
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| Main Term(s): |
Police occupational stress |
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| Index Term(s): |
California; Counseling; Mentoring programs; Municipal police; Occupational safety and health; Police management; Police psychologists; Police supervision; Psychological evaluation; Psychologists role in policing; Stress management; Supervisory training |
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To cite this abstract, use the following link:
http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/abstract.aspx?ID=184521 |
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