BOISE, Idaho — During National First Responder Wellness Week, the Ada County Sheriff's Office is acknowledging the mental health challenges that come with law enforcement. The department added a new wellness coordinator to help staff on and off duty to cope with the trauma involved in their day-to-day work.
WATCH: Ada County Sheriff adds wellness coordinator for mental health
Ada County Sheriff Matt Clifford said repeated trauma can take a serious toll on mental health.
"An average, normal person in their life will experience anywhere from one to four traumatic events in their lifetime. Law enforcement officers may have hundreds of events just in their career that are considered major crisis events," Clifford said. "That can fester into a lot of things, whether it's substance abuse, whether it's PTSD, or I mean, you name it, it can.”
These effects can also show up in how someone performs at work.
"Maybe they're snippy with the public. They're snippy with their coworkers. Maybe they freeze on the job. A multitude of things can happen. There may be something else going on here, and a lot of it comes out of trauma," explained Clifford.
To address this, the sheriff's office added the wellness coordinator position. Lisa Johnson stepped into the role to help employees stay healthy, both mentally and physically.
"That helps in all different kinds of areas, absenteeism, it helps with retention, it helps with recruitment, and really it helps to increase operational readiness," Johnson said.
The office is rolling out new wellness programs during National First Responder Wellness Week and in the weeks ahead.
"So we're in the process of offering some financial programs, and we have just finished wrapping up one. Yoga, breathing exercises, and physical fitness. We are also looking at offering resources around sleep to help people improve their sleep," Johnson said.
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Before creating the new position, the sheriff's office already offered peer support groups. Clifford said three groups are currently active, following incidents in previous weeks.
"It is not as much of a hey, just rub some dirt on it and get back in the game. We don't do that anymore. If we do, it's definitely inadvertent, and we're not paying attention,” Clifford said. “Now we have a better culture of even coworkers saying we need to check on my buddy here and ask him if he's doing OK.”
