Police Mental Wellness
Behind the Badge
You protect others.
You deserve support too.
Behind the Badge was created to help. The book and the LCH-Behind the Badge app give police officers tools for stress, trauma, recovery, and daily mental wellness.
The Job Takes a Toll
Police officers help people every day. But the job can take a toll.
Some calls are hard to forget. Some stay with you long after your shift ends.
Stress can build over time. Sleep can suffer. You may feel angry, tired, sad, or on edge. You may even feel different at home.
The Book
Behind the Badge Book
Behind the Badge: A Police Officer’s Guide to Trauma, Stress, Resilience, and Life Beyond the Uniform focuses on the person behind the badge.
Police officers see things that most people never see. One hard call can leave a mark. Years of hard calls can also add up. You may have trouble sleeping. You may replay a call in your mind. You may feel angry or numb. You may pull away from people you love.
These reactions matter. The book helps officers understand what may happen after stress or trauma. It also gives them ways to cope and heal. It covers police stress, trauma, grief, sleep, anger, family life, peer support, and more.
It also looks at hard parts of the job. These include shootings, child deaths, suicide calls, violence, and the loss of a fellow officer. There are also sections about life away from work.
The goal is not to tell officers how to feel. The goal is to help them understand what they feel and what they can do next.
The App
LCH-Behind the Badge App
Sometimes you need help right now. You may have just finished a hard call. You may be sitting in your patrol car. You may be home but still thinking about work.
That is where the LCH-Behind the Badge app can help. The app gives officers simple tools they can use when they need them for stress, grounding, coping, burnout, trauma, relationships, help seeking, and crisis resources. You can use it to learn about stress and trauma, and to find ways to calm your body and clear your mind.
The app can help you:
- Deal with stress after a hard call
- Use calming and grounding tools
- Learn healthy ways to cope
- Watch for signs of burnout
- Better understand trauma
- Build mental strength
- Take care of your relationships
- Know when it may be time to ask for help
- Find support and crisis resources
One Book. One App. One Support System.
The book and app work together to create a larger support system.
The book helps you understand.
The Behind the Badge book helps you understand the impact of police work. You may read about trauma, burnout, and family stress and see it clearly in yourself.
The app helps you act.
The LCH-Behind the Badge app gives you tools you can use in daily life. Use a calming tool after a hard call. Watch for the signs of burnout. Work on ways to reconnect at home.
Mental Wellness
Mental Wellness Is Part of the Job
Police culture often teaches officers to push through. That can help during a crisis. But it can become a problem when you never stop.
You do not have to ignore stress to be strong. It is not necessary to hide pain. There is no need to handle every hard call alone.
Talking to someone can help. So can rest, exercise, sleep, time with family, peer support, and mental health care.
Asking for help is not giving up. It is one more way to take care of yourself.
