Learn about resources available from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and BJA’s VALOR Officer Safety and Wellness Initiative partners related to mitigating the impact of stress on law enforcement officers and their families:

Programs

• Law Enforcement Agency and Officer Resilience Program: This program delivers in-person and virtual resiliency concepts trainings to law enforcement with the goal of building resilient officers and agencies.
• VALOR Officer Safety and Wellness Program: This program is dedicated to preventing injuries to and deaths of law enforcement officers and the people they serve and improving the health and resilience of officers.
• Innovative Approaches to Strengthening Officer Wellness Program: This program delivers in-person and online trainings, tools, and resources on officer health, wellness, and safety.
• Field-Driven Officer Safety and Wellness Program: This training program delivers in-person and online training and resources to address wellness and safety topics not currently addressed through other VALOR initiative programs.

Surge Resources

• 9 Ways to Build Strength in Law Enforcement Family Relationships: This digital infographic is designed to help you and your family come up with ways to build strength and resiliency in your relationships.
• Enhancing Officer Wellness and Resiliency in Policing: This resource highlights skills useful in enhancing resilience, decreasing anxiety, and remaining connected. These strategies will help officers deal with stressors of the job to help improve their professional and personal lives.
• Frontlines Together Series: Learn how to best protect yourself from invisible threats to your health. This series provides you with practical law enforcement-specific tips to keep yourself and your family safe from viruses.
• The Impact of Retirement on Law Enforcement Families: Families play a vital role in supporting officers throughout their career. This resource focuses on how the role of support changes as an officer transitions into retirement.
• Mastering Work-Life Balance: Work-life balance focuses on managing time and energy while on and off duty. Having a healthy work-life balance ensures that officers perform effectively.
• Resilience Strategies for Your Role: These postcards highlight specific stressors and corresponding resilience strategies for:
  • Executive Leaders
  • Public Information Officers
  • Public Safety Telecommunicators
• Stress Reduction Foundational Series: This video and poster series discusses the core concepts of stress reduction and ways law enforcement can reduce stress from the inside-out.
• Supporting Officers after the Badge: Considerations for Officer Retirement: The transition into retirement comes with many changes and questions. Planning for retirement throughout an officer’s career can help navigate changes in finances, family wellness, and social identity.

Visit the VALOR Initiative's program's websites for additional resources.

Additional Resource

• Mitigating the Emotional Impact of Stress on Law Enforcement Personnel (April 2018): This article examines the emotional impact of stress and trauma on law enforcement officers. When stress compromises an officer's ability to effectively serve and protect, learning to mitigate these effects helps both the officers and the community.  

Presentations

Through BJA's Innovative Approaches to Strengthening Officer Wellness Program, the International Association of Chiefs of Police hosted a Mindfulness Strategies for Law Enforcement Webinar Series to help officers discover strategies to stay safe, healthy, and emotionally regulated. Recordings of the webinars are available to view at the following locations: 

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4