Critical Incidents: Seminar Responds to First Responders’ Need for Healing

ALEX EVANS Guest Columnist Police officers.

When we drive past them on the street, we quickly check our speed and hope that we are not violating the speed limit. When we see them with their crisp uniforms and heavy belts with guns and other gear, we appreciate their presence and commitment but tend to pass them with minimal notice. We know they are not paid enough for the work they do. We acknowledge the danger in their daily life: They run toward trouble when we instinctively run away. We clearly affirm their importance for civility and safety in the community. We appreciate their devotion.

But do we think about them and their humanity?

The newspaper headlines remind us of the trauma of police work:

"Police Officer Shoots Suspect."

"Car Crash Kills Local Teen."

"Drug Bust Leads to Shoot-Out."

"Trooper Dragged Down Highway."

"Escapee Kills Deputy."

Police officers find themselves on the front line, first responders to turmoil, violence, and gore.

How do police officers cope after shooting someone, even a criminal in self-defense? How does a police officer sleep after seeing the gory results of a violent crime or a nasty crash? Who cares for them beyond the tight circle of law enforcement? Who even knows the depth of their pain?

In recent years, an effective model has emerged for the care and support of law enforcement personnel who have experienced major trauma in police work. This model, entitled Post Critical Incident Seminar (PCIS), holds a proven record of helping police officers deal with their critical incidents and return to work and life with more health and commitment.

This model involves a combination of peer team support and learning about the effects of trauma on the body and spirit. The model includes therapy, small group conversations with other affected police officers, and a retreat setting that builds trust for healing. The real success of this seminar lies in police officers helping police officers with the challenges and trauma that only police officers understand.

THE COMMONWEALTH of Virginia recently held its first PCIS for police officers at Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond. The seminar built upon the success of similar efforts in North and South Carolina. Funding emerged from churches and community agencies hoping for healing for traumatized cops. The seminar was also endorsed by and coordinated with the Virginia State Police, Blacksburg Police, and Fairfax County Police departments.

Every police officer comes to the PCIS with a story -- the specific details of a traumatic event that turned quickly dangerous, even deadly. Each of these stories began with the routine work of police, like a random call to a domestic dispute . . . but then the shooting started; or a traffic stop that led to some major violence; or a car crash that proved to be particularly grotesque; or any number of traumatic events involving images and intensity that sear themselves in the psyche of police officers.

At the PCIS, everyone gets to tell his/her story in a confidential setting surrounded only by law enforcement officials and others with skills and credibility to offer help and healing. The common stories and the setting breed a close community unlike anything else. Police officers remain notoriously suspicious of psychologists and chaplains -- but they will share deeply with one another. The mutual respect and sharing of pains and loss, and the peer support, provide a fertile ground for healing and movement beyond the trauma.

Another central component of PCIS involves psychotherapy -- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) -- which helps people who have been exposed to extreme trauma. In moments of real intensity, when the body is on high alert, as with a shooting or an accident, the visual images of those moments gain overwhelming prominence in the memory and on the brain. This psychotherapy works to re-process those moments so these horrific images can move along in the memory -- not dominate, not flash back -- and lose their prominence.

EMDR therapy has proven effective in facilitating help and healing for traumatized officers.

"I have been given my life back," commented one officer who had been overcome by a critical incident. Another officer reflected: "I did not want to come to this seminar. But I feel like I have lost 100 pounds of burden and doubt." One more officer opined: "EMDR seems crazy. But it has changed my life. I feel like I can be myself again with no more flashbacks. No more haunting thoughts in the night."

WE ALL KNOW police officers are human beings. Human beings need help with trauma.

Is it the church's role to provide funds and a seminar for traumatized police officers?

It is the church's role to be the church -- to embody light and love, peace and purpose in the world, to tend to the needy, to bind up the broken. It is the church's role to extend itself with Christ's devotion, for healing and hope for all people, including police officers.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance provided the major funds (approximately $14,500) for the police seminar held at Second Presbyterian (total cost of the seminar was about $25,000). Other funds were also secured from nonprofit and caring agencies. Undoubtedly, local and state agencies should step up with increased care and support for men and women in law enforcement. But undoubtedly, God calls us as the church to serve with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love in all our work. That calling demands that we partner with helping agencies and anyone else in the care and support of traumatized people in law enforcement.

What I know for sure: Those who are called to serve as first responders call forth from our community the very best care and support that we can offer. We respond to the first responders with compassion and commitment, affirmation and help so that police officers and others can continue to live and serve with effectiveness and purpose.

Alex Evans, pastor of Second Presbyterian Church, also served in Blacksburg and as chaplain with the Blacksburg Police during the shootings at Virginia Tech. Contact him at (804) 649-9148 or .