The speaker for this session is Alicia Romero, the founder of Beyond the Badge. Alicia will discuss the reasoning behind creating a family wellness non-profit, as well as the benefits and challenges, and how other agencies can replicate her efforts.

The Family Wellness Speaker Series are virtual presentation on the topic of family support by experts in the fields. These monthly sessions are free and will take place from May 2024 to September 2024. The topic for this session is suicide prevention. The session will include a discussion on how agencies can integrate officer families into prevention, intervention, and postvention efforts. The speaker for this session is Dr. Edward Keane, a police psychologist with the Danbury (CT) Police Department) and the co-chair of the Suicide Prevention working group for the IACP Officer Safety and Organization Wellness Section.

Target Audience: Law Enforcement-Based Victim Services Personnel, Victim Services Supervisors, and Sworn Leadership

Overall Objective: This project seeks to establish or enhance victim services programs in criminal justice agencies in order to couple law enforcement-based services with community-based program partnerships to serve the broader needs and rights of all crime victims.

Project Funding Provided by: The Office for Victims of Crime

Includes: A series of webinars discussing foundational elements of law enforcement-based victim services program development. Sample topics include but are not limited to: victims’ rights, program development, documentation standards, developing partnerships, and program sustainability.

Please direct any specific questions or comments to LEVproject@theiacp.org

For more information on Law Enforcement-Based Victim Services click here.

Matt Langer, IACP Global Policing Director, provides thought provoking comments and inspiration for enforcement officers and agents tasked with road policing and traffic safety. He highlights personal experience from his policing career with emphasis on the vital role of roadside enforcement in a safe systems approach to reducing traffic fatalities. Lastly, he underscores the need for professionalism, accountability, and a focus on the mission of making roads safer, encouraging the traffic agents to use resources from the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

The topic for this session is suicide prevention. The session will include a discussion on how agencies can integrate officer families into prevention, intervention, and postvention efforts. The speaker for this session is Dr. Edward Keane, a police psychologist with the Danbury (CT) Police Department) and the co-chair of the Suicide Prevention working group for the IACP Officer Safety and Organization Wellness Section.

The Officer Safety and Wellness Virtual Conference is for public safety professionals to learn from experts in the field about resources and best practices when developing comprehensive officer safety and wellness strategies. Virtual registration for the 2024 Officer Safety and Wellness will give you access to three live-streamed general sessions (March 1-3, 2024) and dozens of pre-recorded workshops only available through IACPlearn. All workshops listed in the educational program will be available virtually, unless indicated otherwise, and will be accessible on-demand to view at your leisure. Virtual attendees will learn about building resilience, financial wellness, injury prevention, peer support programs, physical fitness, proper nutrition, sleep deprivation, stress, mindfulness, suicide prevention, and more. 

If you encounter any issues, please contact us at: 

learn@theiacp.org

800-THE-IACP

Elevate Blue is a virtual training suite designed to address contemporary issues law enforcement faces today. In collaboration with six partner agencies, Elevate Blue virtual training modules deliver best-in-class training rooted in an evidence-based design process and delivered using adult-learning principles.

Courses are designed for learners of all law enforcement ranks and professional civilian staff affiliated with all types of law enforcement agencies, including local, county, state, federal, territorial, and tribal jurisdictions.

Elevate Blue is funded through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance.

Presentation Description: In life and work, the challenges will keep coming. This session explores the growth that can come from difficult times and challenging situations. Presenters will introduce the concept of post-traumatic growth and how finding meaning from experiences can be protective and strengthening for resilience and overall mental health and wellness.

• Upon completion, participants will be able to understand what happens to your neurological, physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual health when you listen to traumatic stories day after day by exploring the characteristics of post-traumatic growth and vicarious trauma.
• Upon completion, participants will be able to safeguard well-being by examining how meaning-making can be used as a powerful protective factor.
• Upon completion, participants will be able to recognize the characteristics of growth including greater appreciation of life, sense of increased personal strength, and the sense for greater possibilities.

Presentation Description: This presentation will focus on what a suicidal person thinks and feels, to allow for a peer to emotionally validate them. Most importantly, this presentation will tell attendees how to identify suicidal ideations, intents, and plans and, regardless of your role, how to convey to the suicidal individual that they should be addressing these thoughts. Furthermore, discussing what the suicidal individual should do and what a peer should tell the suicidal individual to do. The presenter will model what to say and how to say it.

• to articulate how suicidal persons should view their suicidal thoughts, and how you should tell them to view their suicidal thoughts
• to identify 3 immediate and evidenced-based skills that a suicidal person can implement when acute distress spikes
• to identify 3 things you can say to emotionally validate the suicidal person

Presentation Description: Suicide is a significant public health problem and eliminating veteran suicide is a top Veterans Affairs (VA) priority. The VA has many initiatives that target veterans who are in high-risk populations, to include law enforcement. Many officers who are military veterans are at higher risk for suicide due to multiple identities and other factors. The VA Suicide Prevention Office has partnered with the VA Police Service to address officer health and wellness. Improving officer safety and wellness starts with leadership and organizational culture change, as well as encouragement to seek out and receive help. With this focus, law enforcement can improve outcomes in their approaches to responding to those who are having a mental health crisis.

• Upon completion, participants will describe what the VA is currently doing to identify suicide prevention as a public health crisis and eliminating suicide among Veterans, many who are in law enforcement positions.
• Upon completion, participants will understand what and how the VA is working to improve outcomes when responding to Veterans having a mental health crisis.
• Upon completion, participants will learn strategies for improving organizational culture to better address officer safety and wellness.