The effects of vicarious trauma

Living Blue has the power to change lives by offering a more complete understanding of the effects that vicarious trauma has on law enforcement personnel and their families. The book is based on evidence founded on both firsthand experience and cutting-edge research and addresses symptoms of moral injury, burnout, secondary trauma, chronic stress, and compassion fatigue. Living Blue dives into police wellness research and strategies for helping law enforcement officers who have experienced vicarious trauma.

For anyone involved in police safety and wellness, including law enforcement officers, their families, and mental health specialists who assist them, Living Blue is a vital resource. The content is adaptable enough for new, seasoned, and retired officers. Living Blue is written for educational purposes for anyone interested in first responder mental health, and in particular, law enforcement officer well-being.

About the authors

Jason Palamara, a retired Cold Case Homicide detective, and Barbara Rubel, daughter of two police officers and a renowned Thanatologist, walk you through the obstacles to well-being. Thanatologists are specialists who focus on managing traumatic death. They use science and applied practice to educate first responders on ways to manage loss and prolonged grief. Palamara and Rubel share proven techniques to increase officer health and wellness, which also makes this book a valuable tool for mental health professionals who counsel police officers. The book combines stories, research, and introspective prompts, inviting LEOs and their families to discover insight into cultivating a positive mindset to build their resilience. What’s more, over 70 law enforcement professionals and experts on wellness share their insights.

First hand experiences

Throughout Living Blue, LEOs, both on the job and retired, share their experiences and suggestions on law enforcement wellness. You will read what a police commissioner, chief of police, assistant chief of police, deputy chief, commander, captain, lieutenant, sergeant, detective, police officer, K9 Handler and trainer, and police dispatcher have to say about police stress. Learn about first responder mental health from those who were in the military, FBI, and firefighting. A retired colonel, a fire lieutenant, a former FBI and police hostage negotiation trainer, and a former United States Secret Service Agent share ways to build resilience. Pick up tips to mitigate burnout from police wellness authors, police and public safety trainers, and law enforcement instructors.

Gain valuable insight on first responder wellness from a LEO life coach, a transition specialist, a recovery coach, and a transformational life coach. Increase your knowledge about well-being from a psychiatrist, licensed clinical psychologist, suicidologist, family therapist, psychotherapist, grief and trauma specialist, a research professor, and a director of wellness services. To improve overall health, a nutrition specialist and a fitness specialist offer their suggestions.

Here is a breakdown of the content by chapter.

Chapter 1: Law Enforcement Stress

• Identify acute and chronic stressors in policing.
• Describe the benefits of stress inoculation.

 Chapter 2: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Wellness

• Identify Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) as a possible predictor of a health risk for adults.
• Describe the polyvagal theory in relation to policing.

 Chapter 3: Law Enforcement Burnout 

• Examine contributors to empathic distress.
• Explain burnout and secondary traumatic stress.
• Identify effective strategies to manage compassion fatigue.

Chapter 4: What is Maladaptive Coping?

• Explain how maladaptive coping strategies increase occupational stress.
• Identify how culture, stigma, shame, and confidentiality prevent law enforcement professionals from getting help.

 Chapter 5. Moral Injury in Law Enforcement

• Reflect on contributors to moral injury in policing.
• Recognize eight protective factors against moral injury.

 Chapter 6: Vicarious Trauma-Responsive Approach in Policing

• Examine a vicarious trauma-informed approach to policing.
• Describe the significance of internal police peer support programs.

Chapter 7: Law Enforcement Family Support: Spouses, Partners, Parents, and Children

• Examine ways to build family resilience.
• Select ways to go from work-family conflict to work-family synergy.

Chapter 8: Women in Policing

• Describe stressors policewomen encounter throughout their career.
• Examine practices to alleviate some of the stress experienced by policewomen.

Chapter 9: End of Watch

• Explain eight characteristics of a death notification after a LODD.
• Review ways to support bereaved individuals.

 Chapter 10: Law Enforcement Officer Suicide

• Review how thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and hopelessness, are warning signs of suicide.
• Discuss how an officer’s beliefs and attitudes are barriers to their getting help for suicidal thoughts.

 Chapter 11: Prolonged Grief in Police Work is Griefwork

• Describe Palette of Grief® reactions after a loss.
• Review 25 risk factors that complicate the grief process.
• Compare contemporary mourning models for coping with loss.

 Chapter 12: Resilience and Posttraumatic Growth

• Describe posttraumatic growth after a psychological struggle.
• Select eight character strengths to build psychological resilience.

Chapter 13: Life Beyond Law Enforcement

• Plan for retirement with a long-term wellness strategy.
• Recognize eight elements of resilience that enhance the ability to take action to secure a healthy retirement.

Living Blue is a must-have resource for everyone involved in the law enforcement community to work to promote wellness of LEO and their families.

Law enforcement officers (LEOs) face common mental health issues and often believe that treatment is effective, but professionally risky. They may fear a fitness for duty evaluation (FFDE) if they self-disclose that they need the help of a mental health professional. They may feel anxious about the possibility of losing their job. Masculinity within police culture can get in the way of their getting help. Let’s work on changing that!

Work-Related Stress

There are many issues that influence a law enforcement officer’s stress including organizational practices, a supervisor’s discipline style, and workplace discrimination. They may be second guessed, experience frequent criticism, and be sexually harassed. They may lack recognition and be denied requested days off. Work schedules such as long work hours, shiftwork, night shift, and excessive overtime impact their wellness. LEOs are stressed out by co-worker relations such as lack of peer support, and fellow police officers may not be doing their job.

Potential dangers include threatening job risks, violent confrontations with the public, and the possibility of being injured. Moreover, trauma is extremely stressful on their body. Take for example, the body’s experience after a critical incident, a serious accident, exposure to suffering, a failed attempt at a civilian’s resuscitation, or seeing abused children or dead children. Not being able to manage their stress response can be deadly and bring about a mental health crisis. Let’s work on changing that!

When Work-related Stress Gets Personal

Financial problems, unhealthy coping, sleep issues are just piled on. LEOs may have had an Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) that was not managed that is impacting their personal and professional life. It is stressful to have be fearful of the worst happening. It is stressful to intensely feel life fragility, as though they are always on the job. They may feel inadequate outside of police work and may face work-family conflict, have marital difficulties. It is stressful to often be absent from family functions or have many last minute plan cancellations. If the job is not stressful enough, they may even work a second job or be a single parent. Furthermore, they may be dealing with the stressful impact of negative public practices and negative media coverage. Let’s work on changing that!

What Can Police Departments Do to Lessen Stigma and Shame?

Law enforcement agencies realize that when a LEO has social networks for self-disclosure, their stress can be mitigated. Therefore, supervisors are attempting to establish an organizational culture of peer support and that it is okay to seek out psychological help and other mental health services. Police departments are adopting organizational wellness policies, are offering training on managing secondary traumatic stress, and are creating a vicarious trauma-informed workplace. Cultural taboos bring about discrimination which reduces help-seeking behaviors.

Based on a national study of U.S. law enforcement, over 90% of officers perceive stigma as negatively influencing help-seeking behavior, and when they access mental health resources and find them effective, levels of stigma are extremely high (Drew & Martin, 2021). As a rule, they are negatively impacted by perceptions of stigma when contacting support services (Acquadro Maran et al., 2022). Let’s work on changing that!

LEOs may believe that if they shared their feelings, their brothers and sisters would judge them. If they feel embarrassed by something that happened, it can feel demeaning. They may feel as if fellow officers are sneering, or supervisors are being condescending. Shame can cause them to cope in unhealthy ways. Being that shame is a deeply engrained emotion, avoidance strategies don’t work. If a law enforcement officer experiences shame and fears rejection, they may act in ways that bring about more feelings of shame. When LEOs feel shame, they may constantly worry about being rejected. What if their partner found out? Would they want to continue working with them? Let’s work on changing that!

Bottom line

The problem is most police officers won’t get help because of confidentiality. Several studies on officer stress show that they will get help if they realize that other officers experience the same symptoms and issues (Queirós et al., 2020). Sadly, most LEOs don’t get help because they’re using the same maladaptive coping methods or are enabling each other. Police department leaders and officers and other law enforcement agencies can either choose a path toward wellness and physical health or a social attitude that continues the stigma. Would you feel humiliated if anyone found out that you were seeking out mental health care? Would you be branded as weak? Let’s work on changing that!

When a first responder eats healthily at home and gets eight hours sleep, and works on their physical health, their job is positively impacted.  By the same token, when they are satisfied with their job and feel supported in their role, their family life is positively impacted.

Whether you are a friend or family member, you can help them find synergy in their life and impact their well-being. Synergy is about a connection between work and family and the ability to communicate and collaborate about their well-being whether at work or at home.

Be a Good Listener

Where do you start if you have not learned about the impact of secondary traumatic stress, vicarious trauma or moral injury? What do you do when you don’t know what to do? Start with the basics.

• Make eye contact, especially when your first responder is sharing traumatic material.
• Don’t interrupt while they are speaking. Let the conversation take place as slowly as they need it to be.
• Don’t overreact or jump to conclusions. Ask questions to clarify what was just said.
• Don’t try to fix the problem or probe for details that you may not be able to handle. Leave that to trained peers, online peer support and mental health professionals. You don’t have to find a solution to their problem. Your role is to support them as best you can while they figure out what healthy coping strategies will work best.
• Recognize how their well-being has been impacted. There is no magic formula for them to survive and thrive in their job. But there is a powerful bond that takes place when first responders share their vulnerability, anxieties, and fears with a family member or friend who gets it.

Common Problems First Responders Face

Emergency personnel may feel as though they are always on the job and are inadequate outside of their role. Chronic stressors such as disturbed sleep and insomnia take a toll. Add to the mix unhealthy coping and thoughts of suicide. When you understand the mental health challenges they are dealing with, your awareness helps them see that they are not alone, and that help is available.

Community Stressors

While they support the community and deal with trauma, they deal with negative public practices that are sometimes violent confrontations. Law enforcement officers (LEOs), in particular, are dealing with calls for defunding the police and negative media coverage.

Workplace Stressors

First responders may have a supervisor who does not recognize their value, has a poor discipline style, or frequently criticizes or second guesses them. They may be dealing with denied requests for days off, have confidentiality issues, or are being sexually harassed. Their stress levels are influenced by bureaucracy, long work hours, shiftwork, night shift, excessive overtime, and work schedules.

Dangerous situations and the possibility of being injured can weigh heavily on their heart and mind. They may be dealing with traumatic events, critical incidents, serious accidents, and exposure to suffering or failed attempts at resuscitation, which can take a toll.

Family Problems

Family problems include finances, intimacy and sex, child rearing, not spending enough time together due to shift work and long hours, household tasks and communication. They may work on the holidays or have a second job. Long hours may leave little time for family events.

They may miss their child’s sports activities and feel guilty about their lack of presence. It is hard to set a goal to be there for a spouse, children and significant others when a first responder is not even present for themself. Although they show up, something is missing.

The problems at work may match in number the problems at home and can include marital difficulties, being a single parent, being absent from family functions, and last-minute plan cancellation. They may be fearful of the worst happening to them or their family, which causes emotional distress and intensely makes them see how the fragility of life is.

Recognize the impact of work-family conflict, which is the pressure between work and family life and how it conflicts and interferes in both their personal and professional space.

Useful Coping Strategies

Consider taking a yoga class together or some other physical activity, getting a couple’s massage, praying together, or volunteering on the same committees. It is a gentle process of moving into what a first responder needs without overwhelming them. Work as a team and check in with one another.

Many studies point to the value of mindfulness and peer support programs, so suggest that they reach out to a trained peer, as well. Although you can only do so much when they have anxiety issues, post-traumatic stress, suffer from clinical depression or have thoughts of suicide, you can be the beacon that shines a light on the value of calling 988. This confidential suicide lifeline is there for anyone needing emotional support, whether that is your first responder or yourself.