Treating police stress

This overview of the organization and work of police peer counselors presents their history, describes their strategies and tactics, and identifies the obstacles they face in their work. In an effort to understand the experiences of the police stress unit responder (peer counselor), the authors conducted interviews with all of the officers of the Worcester Police Department (Massachusetts) who had served as "stress responders" since the inception of the unit 20 years ago. In addition, nearly all of the officers who currently serve as stress responders for the Massachusetts State Police, as well as two from the early days of the unit, were interviewed, along with the agency's commander. A total of 13 persons participated in this study. Four chapters provide an overview of the world in which peer counselors operate.^ The chapters include a synopsis of the underlying theory of what makes policing stressful; an insider's view of the history of modern stress units and peer support in central Massachusetts; a 1983 investigative newspaper report on police stress; and police peer work in traumatic incident response. In the second major section of the book, three chapters contain police off