Resiliency is the ability to promptly and effectively handle stressful situations and having the ability to come back from these situations with minimal emotional consequences. To obtain a higher level of resiliency, police officers should draw upon personal, cumulative, or organizational resources and support strong, healthy, and adaptive coping abilities to handle the job stressors (Port, 2016). According to Port (2016):
researchers found that positive factors such as resiliency, satisfaction with life, overall gratitude, and self-awareness assisted in mitigating some of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and generalized anxiety, resulting in post-traumatic growth, or the positive development of internal resources following a traumatic event” (p.33).
Another study showed that law enforcement officers with higher levels of resilience had lower stress levels, as resilience reduces police stress and stress-related outcomes (Fucigna, 2019).
Adding brief interventions that identify potential barriers coming from the police organizational culture will increase officers’ increased help-seeking behavior. Officer resiliency should be promoted from when employees are hired, then continued throughout their career and into retirement (Fucigna, 2019). Non-resilient police forces tend to see their officers battling cynicism, substance abuse, relationship issues, and suicide (Kaye et al., 2020). Law enforcement agencies who shift their focus to a proactive, prevention-based health and wellness model can have an immediate impact on operational readiness instead of agencies with a reactive, disease-based health care model (Matthews, 2014).
Most federal government agencies take a holistic approach to police officer resiliency, including incidents in the officer’s personal life as a potential stressor rather than only focusing on work-related stress and traumatic incidents (Gibson, 2020). Officers must identify the scope of meaning in their lives when learning resiliency, as a limited focus can lead to workaholism (Kaye et al., 2020). Numerous studies findings show when officers have high levels of social support, they will improve resiliency, reduce morbidity and mortality, and protect against behavioral health disorders from multiple traumatic incidents (Jenkins et al., 2019). This social support can come from within the police officer’s department or personal life. Officers who feel they are a part of a supportive and tight group show more resilience. Resilient police departments support each other, and the officers have confidence that their leadership cares about their wellbeing (Usher et al., 2013). Emotional literacy strengthens a police officer’s resilience at home. Officers with supportive family and friends are shown to have healthy coping mechanisms when dealing with stress, including taking time off to take a break from work (Usher et al., 2013).