COPS MINDS BACKGROUND!
Ending the stigma
of mental health within policing
aboutus
COPS Minds was founded by Trevor Sherwood, to support and enrich the lives of police officers, police staff & retired police officers to support to help reduce the impact of mental health arising from and associated with their policing duty.
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Trevor believes that supportive and collaborative approaches which brings people together while putting those people that need support first are the most effective.
He knows not every approach works for everyone, so charities and organization need to work together to find the best approach.
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Trevor has developed & lead a number of successful projects within the charity sector around loneliness, anxiety and depression creating an innovative coffee shop community hub the first of it's kind in the UK to connect with and support members of the local community each year supporting over 1000 people reaching out for support.
Trevor plays a key role within the NHS and Community transformation project which is redesigning the way those who are facing a mental health crisis are supported. Along with key roles within Health and Wellbeing boards, as well as developing the UK's first prescribed coffee which is offered by mental health nurses, nurse practitioner, GP's and social prescribers.
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COPS Minds was inspired by the insights of a personal friend who is serving a police officer who is suffering from mental health which is associated with the job, there is a great level of support out there but it was felt more could be done to support officers.
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Trevor Sherwood Chair of COPS Minds “We have launched the charity after we identified that Police Officers were generally only allowed access to 6 support sessions covered for by the job.
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“More shockingly we discovered that officers who are off work with mental health issues which were associated with the job who had been off for so long were worried as they face half pay and then face the risk of being medically discharged if the limited sessions provided do not work.
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“We want to be able to police officers access more support sessions to truly support good mental health and wellbeing to ensure our officers who have dedicated their lives supporting others can support themselves and return back to work
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“A Police Officer who is currently suffering from mental health associated with the job inspired the creation of COPS Minds, through listening to and understanding, I quickly learned that more support was needed for police officers
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“What I learned very quickly was the support for police officers in crisis is slow, nothing feels instant and it can take a lot of time from officers going off on the sick to a supervisor filling in the support forms or for welfare to be contacted
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“What I learned very quickly was the support for police officers in crisis is slow, nothing feels instant and it can take a lot of time from officers going off on the sick to a supervisor filling in the support forms or for welfare to be contacted
“The level of counseling is good, but the support to get this is slow and it can take 6 weeks, but the system can lose you especially if the right information isn’t given at the right time.
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“The support police officers are offered is good and the police treatment center can support officers a great deal with injuries which are physical or for wellbeing. But this is not there for every officer as it’s a private subscription that has to be opted into.
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“The police treatment centers are brilliant but not all officers pay into this cover because they simply think they’ll never suffer physical or mental injuries during the line of duty.
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“One of the biggest challenges officers face who are suffering mental health-related issues is once they reach 6 months of being off they’ll receive a letter informing them that they’ll be dropped to half-pay, and then after 12 months this is dropped to zero.
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“For a job such as policing which comes with extreme stress from child deaths, suicides, fatal RTC’s and stabbings which can trigger and cause mental health-related issues for those officers to be dropped to half-pay while suffering only adds to the stress and mental health they are suffering.
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“This is why COPS Minds will be offering officers access to extra treatment and extended sessions to help get them back to work and fit for duty to increase wellbeing and offer more support alongside the current support in place
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“When officers are reduced to half pay or zero pay this is really when the financial barrier becomes an issue for accessing such services the aim is to help support officers to reduce the extra stress they face during one of the most stressful and confusing times of their lives because they are not only suffering from their mind they are then suffering financially and placed under greater pressure.
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By providing access to counseling and treatment programs through the provision of small grants enabling officers to access private treatment and support.
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With the aim of improving the wellbeing and wellness of serving police officers, police staff, and retired police officers.
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