Exploring Police Officer Experiences and Help-Seeking Behaviors

The purpose of this research was to gain a better understanding of the factors that make coping easier for police officers while gaining a clearer picture regarding how to maximize the factors that increase police participation in mental health treatment. This is important because the public counts on police officers to uphold its safety. This study used a qualitative approach to explore 10 police officers' experiences and help-seeking behaviors. The researcher interviewed 7 male and 3 female police officers currently employed by San Diego Police Department (SDPD). The questions asked explored how they seek services for occupational stress as well as what factors, encouraging and discouraging, influence their decision to seek mental health treatment. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using grounded theory. There were 4 categories and 12 themes. The categories were alternatives to perceived need to seek services, barriers to seeking services, motivating factors to seek services, and systemic changes needed to encourage help-seeking. Overall, participants reported they do not seek services to manage occupational stress but rely on social support and connection. Participants discussed how symptoms following exposure to aversive events resulted in functional impairment and influenced help-seeking behaviors. The specific encouraging and discouraging factors identified included police culture, personality characteristics, suggested professional services, familial/social impact, benefits/resources of therapy, and functional impairment. Participants identified systemic changes needed to improve connections between police officers and mental health professionals. The present study highlighted the importance of developing a clear understanding of police officers' experiences and help-seeking behaviors. Given the results, recommendations to increase police participation in mental health services include: (1) capitalize on characteristics of police officers receptive to therapy and motivating factors to seek services. This includes suggesting mental health services, familial/social impact, and management of negative effects related to functional impairment; (2) support mental health professionals in finding the balance between becoming a familiar face and immersing themselves in police culture while maintaining ethical boundaries. This can be accomplished by going on ride-alongs, attending line-up meetings, and spending time in police substations; (3) offer brief and solution focused therapy to tailor the therapeutic services to a police officer's mindset.