About Mental Health in Policing

I am a member of a Police Force in the United Kingdom. I am a Mind Blue Light (Emergency Services) and Time to Change Mental Health Champion.






I, alongside, many others have been working tirelessly to try and remove the stigma, shame and obstacles that members of the police can experience in asking for help with our mental illnesses.



None of us should suffer in silence or should ever have to suffer alone - because we are worried peoples perceptions of us will change, because we are worried others at work will whisper about us or think we are "incompetent". Noone in the police should suffer in silence because we worry about whether we will lose our jobs, because we worry about removed from doing jobs we love or because we worry that we will be ostracized.







As a mental health champion, I have had many colleagues in the police - Police Officers, Special Constables and Police Staff - contact me and met up with me to discuss their mental illnesses in private because they are too scared to ask for help via conventional routes.







This is my latest project to try and tackle this.







I am asking all members of police forces - of any rank, of any role - to share their experiences of mental illnesses anonymously - to eliminate any fear or shame - to be able to express their innermost thoughts and feelings. I ask this with a view to helping us understand better what our Blue Light Family are truly experiencing and going through when they are mentally ill in the police.





I also hope that those who in distress who come across reading others experiences here - will find some comfort knowing that they are not alone and there is a quiet army of people just like them - rooting for them.






I would like thank each and every person who has shared their innermost thoughts and feelings in their wish to help others. It takes a lot of bravery.







Thank you for coming to the website.




Stories will be released on the blog - periodically. Follow the blog or blog Twitter to see when new posts are added.







Please remember that wherever you are at in your life at the moment - that there is support there for you and that there is always someone to help you. You are not alone.






Let's make a sea of voices to come that bit closer each day to knocking down the stigma's that hold people back from living. There is no shame in being mentally ill. There is a huge shame in a cloud of shame existing that stops people from asking for help.