Mental Health & Wellness Services for Law Enforcement

Breaking the Stigma

Changing Tides began its collaborative work with law enforcement in 2022. With a passion for serving the local community, we collaborate with various first responder entities to provide a myriad of services, such as training, wellness assessments, and therapeutic support.

Testimonials

Through our partnership with the Elkton Police Department, we provide an array of supports to law enforcement officers, including the required mental wellness assessments. By facilitating trauma-informed law enforcement training, officers built relationships with therapists and learned about how they approach their work from a person-centered, non-pathologizing perspective.

As a Chief faced with an ambiguous mandate to have all my officers assessed for mental health resiliency, Changing Tides has been a godsend. Stigma, fear of loss of job, and fear of a mental health diagnosis were some of the obstacles we had to overcome in order to make the assessments meaningful and for any hope of getting our officers healthier... Officers who once were closed off and protective, have embraced therapy with Changing Tides independent of the assessments. It’s difficult for our officers to help others when they are suffering. Thank you Changing Tides for having our backs!"

I felt really comfortable talking to them. My clinician seemed receptive, interested and invested in who I was and how I was doing. I felt confident that if she saw something concerning, she would help me with the next steps in getting more help."

They weren't unrealistic in their expectations. I really appreciated the importance they put on full confidentiality."

Our Services

Trauma-Sensitive Interventions

Focus groups held prior to training development, to give a first-hand understanding of what officers experience in the workplace.

Content is based on feedback and tailored to the individual police department, its community, and its needs.

Training topics include the impact of lived experiences on brain and body development, trauma-informed care and policing, workplace resilience, and officer wellness.

Trauma-informed policing improves outcomes for victims, strengthens communities, reduces harm for law enforcement officers, and supports cultural shifts in the workplace.

Mental Wellness Assessments

The MD General Assembly passed House Bill 670 in 2021, requiring mental health assessments for law enforcement officers every 2 years.

Holistic assessments support health and wellness, integrating tools that focus on officer challenges, coping skills, self-care, and resilience.

Relationships are built by focusing on rapport building to develop trust through maintaining confidentiality and the belief that the participant is the expert of their own experiences.

Assessments include wellness plans tailored to the officer's individual experiences and needs.

Person-centered approach goes beyond mental health screenings, integrating personalized wellness plans for mind, body, emotional, relationship, and workplace wellness.

Therapeutic Support

Best-practice therapeutic support, facilitated by therapists trained in the impact of trauma and how this manifests in law enforcement.

Resources range from debriefings following critical incidents, to short-term interventions, onto long-term weekly therapy services.

Dismantling the stigma around mental health and first responders. We believe challenges faced by officers are about what’s happened to them—what they’ve seen, heard, and witnessed—not what’s "wrong" with them.

Benefits include normalizing and validating mental health challenges, a solution-focused approach to coping and resilience, and giving officers control over their therapeutic process so it is manageable and allows for a sense of trust and safety.