Some thoughts about the recent Victoria Police Mental Health Review

As you probably know, last week marked the release of the Victoria Police Mental Health Review. The 90-page document incorporates 450 entries from current and retired Victoria Police officers and Victorian Public Service employees, as well as 39 recommendations.

Now that I've had some time to process it, I agree with so many of the points raised. Unsurprisingly, a call to change the culture featured strongly. I distinctly recall the "if you want to be (affected by this in some way), go be a social worker" mentality they talked about.

In an old-school male dominated environment which typically attracts black and white thinkers, the existence of such a culture doesn't surprise me.

What I found in my time at Victoria Police was that many of those who had been in the job for the longest time, experienced a gradual lack of faith in humanity and lack of patience for people who do the wrong thing over and over again. Professor Kevin Guilmartin, a behavioural scientist with 20 years of policing experience, refers to it as a special flavour of cop cynicism. This implies that people's offending behaviour is bullsh*t, the paperwork is bullsh*t, the work is bullsh*t, and mental health literacy and any kind of "softness" is bullsh*t. 

From my life learnings, I have come to realise that any outward lack of patience and compassion we feel towards others is simply a reflection of the lack of patience and compassion we feel towards ourselves. 

It saddens me that police officers aren't offered the same  compassion and emotional freedom as the rest of us. It seems like they aren't allowed the luxury of temporary phase of anxiety or depression due to the poor mental health literacy of certain managers and the organisation as a whole.

Of course, offending behaviour would seem like bullsh*t when you have seen it for the 10,000th time. Of course, the amount of time you spend at your desk instead of doing the grunt work would seem like bullsh*t. Of course, some days going to some jobs would seem like bullsh*t because you can see the same patterns again and again. Of course, mental health training would seem like bullsh*t when the timing seems like a knee jerk reaction and only the best managers take the recommendations on board and yours won't.

We all feel like sh*t when we are unrecognised, we feel exhausted and actively discouraged from thinking outside the box, looking at an event with compassion and forgiving ourselves when the problems of the world aren't our responsibility.

Surely, if we just appreciate that those who choose this profession have a preexisting level of resilience and sense of justice, then we can offer some legitimate and un-condescending support to them out of respect.

This is why I'm offering the service that I do.  I don’t believe individuals who are going a completely normal phase of struggle and vulnerability should have to wait years to receive the support they need today.