Are Chaplains Under-utilized?
Police Chaplains in Canada seem to always be asking for assistance from management, to be recognized as more than some "religious footnote" in the care of police and their families. The other challenge that can't be overlooked, is that many police chaplains are quite happy being a "religious footnote". They are often happy to be called upon to say a prayer at some social function or graduation ceremony. Both of these issues need to be looked at with a critical eye for the sake of our men and women in uniform.
Something that I have tried to introduce to our Wellness Unit and chaplains in Ontario, is the idea of playing a greater role in the mental health discussion. I keep writing about this and talking about it because as my teachers taught me: sometimes you need to hear something 10 times before it sinks in. My suggestion, in my mind, is a match made in heaven. In the end, it helps minimizing the greatest hindrance to cops seeking out help: STIGMA.
I am not pointing accusatory fingers at anyone with this blog. There simply seems to be very little appetite to welcome in spiritual guidance, even when it is coming from chaplains who have years of combined experience helping hurting people. The most obvious being our involvement when a cop or family member is critically ill or devastated by an event in their lives. Even the idea of supporting cops doing a sudden death notification, is on very few radars in large police services in our province. Across Canada this is common practice and even part of our training within the Canadian Police Chaplain Association.
There is one other very important role which I believe chaplains could play that revolves around the thing called STIGMA. When an officer struggles with Operational Stress, PTSD or addiction issues, the idea of going to a police psychologist is not a comfortable one. Management will tell you that things are getting better but the fear of losing: your job; your chance of promotion; the respect and trust of your colleagues, will never go away. Here is where a police chaplain could be available as a conduit between the cop and the mental health professional. This won't just happen. It needs to be part of the policy within police services where management clearly identifies chaplains as the "safe go-to" first contact when cops are seeking out help for themselves or a family member. Chaplains are already sworn to confidentiality so there would be an understanding that what is said between the officer and the chaplain, stays between them.
The next steps would be up to the officer with guidance from the chaplain. There may be times when the chaplain is able to give counsel and that would be sufficient. However, the more likely scenario would be that the chaplain would recommend a known resource within the mental health field. As most services are aware, organizations have been established for just this purpose. They include Boots on the Ground, Beyond the Blue, Badge of Life Canada & Wounded Warriors. The option of meeting with the service's own Wellness Unit will always be presented first.
For this to work there needs to be complete support from management. There also needs to be an openness to allow chaplains to be on ride alongs as often as possible. A key element that would allow officers to approach chaplains, is their willingness to be on the road witnessing what the rank and file see each day. This is important and a sharp contrast from the psychologist who sits in their office waiting for the cops to come to them. Again, the idea of trust is built in this way and being that conduit would make it easier to bypass the Stigma.
This idea has been floated out there for a couple of years but I am now sending this to both our TPS Wellness Unit and the TPA. I am hoping that TPS can be a type of "pilot project" of introducing this to other services in this province. My hope is that this will gain some acceptance and that at least a discussion can be started.
Chaplain Hillar Alkok
Comments
Post a Comment