Police work is anything but gentle. All cops are familiar with the physical toll, to say nothing of the mental and emotional effects. And it’s not just you. Your family and friends can’t help but feel the effects of your long nights or administrative stressors.
You know what you’re supposed to do to take care of your body, but do you know what you need to take care of the metaphysical bumps and bruises that come with the territory? How do you deal with emotional stress?
The Officer
PoliceOne columnist and Street Survival Seminar instructor Betsy Brantner Smith learned early on the emotional challenges of being in law enforcement. Raised on a farm in a small Lanark, Illinios town, Smith was unprepared for the police culture when she joined the force in 1980.
“I had never seen (such) things… and never experienced sexual harassment or discrimination, seeing what people do to each other,” she said. “It was shocking.”
But despite the initial culture shock, Brantner-Smith stayed on the job. “I never envisioned myself being anything other than a police officer,” she said. In his book, Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement, nationally recognized psychologist and pioneering law enforcement trainer Kevin Gillmartin explores the tendency of officers who have left the force to ultimately return.
Gilmartin argues that extreme experiences such as Brantner-Smith’s are exactly what keep officers in the line of duty. The adrenaline and the stress, which some may view as negatives, can be addictive to many.
But the high can’t last forever. So what happens when it disappears?
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