The Dallas Police Department is seeing success with its Wellness Unit, but getting officers to seek help with mental health remains an uphill battle.
The Dallas Police Department's Wellness Unit consists of one lieutenant, one sergeant and five officers.The human psyche is not meant to handle the things police officers see on a daily basis. As a result, it often becomes difficult for officers to carry on with life as easily as perhaps most others do. That's how Mike Mata, president of the Dallas Police Association, sees it.
Referring to Bacon, an 18-year veteran of the department, Mata said, “You’re trying to make sense out of the senseless.” Some come into the department already needing mental health assistance. Just over half of the department’s academy classes are coming from the military, and many have post traumatic stress disorder “but they don’t know it yet until they witness something here in the department and it triggers that,” Mata said.
According to the department, the Wellness Unit can direct officers to the help they need, including city psychologists, therapists and the Employee Assistance Program, which provides access to counseling, coaching and self-care services. The Wellness Unit has exceeded Ramirez's initial expectations, but one of the biggest challenges the unit faces is normalizing the idea of seeking help for mental health.Nonetheless, the unit is off to a good start. It was created some 14 months ago and completed about 800 checkpoints through the end of last year. About 11% of officers either asked for or agreed to hear more about some of the services the department provides.
Hopkins said things are different today, but the department still doesn’t see enough officers seeking help with their mental health.
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