When former Hartford Police Chief James Rovella was appointed commissioner of the state’s Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection in 2019, he made it a point to look out for the well-being of the agency’s employees, including state troopers.
The results have been a growing peer support program for Soldiers, more avenues for employees to seek help with mental health and family stressors, exercise equipment to allow people to exercise in a safe environment during the pandemic and soon, two emotional support dogs visiting state police troops and interacting with communities across the state.
“It’s about, how do you maintain your highest-cost assets?” Rovella said of employees in six divisions within DESPP, including just over 900 state police officers.
For Private First Class Rodney Valdes and Sgt. Christine Jeltema, the answer to that question lies in providing a “holistic” approach to wellness. A key element is a robust State Troopers program that offers peer support, known as STOPS, that is confidential and ready to discuss issues with employees at an offsite location.
It’s about looking out for the well-being of all DESPP employees, whether emotional, financial or physical, said Jeltema, who is the agency’s wellness coordinator. “We make sure that the employees are complete,” Jeltema said Thursday. “If someone has some kind of stressor, we want them to help.”
That help includes an active awareness and intervention program for employees that allows them to seek six free counseling sessions with a mental health doctor for every problem that arises in a year. Supervisors can also refer employees who seem to be struggling with issues that may affect their job performance.
Rovella handed over money from the forfeiture of assets seized during drug raids and other crimes to pay for gym equipment upgrades at all state police headquarters, allowing employees to continue exercising in a safe place during the pandemic .
Two emotional support dogs were also purchased with asset forfeiture money, Rovella said. The dogs will respond to “anything and everything,” Valdes said. “We will go to critical incidents, roll calls and do outreach programs that will allow the community to pet dogs and allow dogs to interact with people.”
Jeltema and Valdés maintain an office on a separate site, allowing employees to privately seek help for issues that are not necessarily work-related, from dealing with advancing parents to problems within families.
“It’s for anything that might cause employees some kind of stress outside of work,” Jeltema said. “We try to see the big picture and be proactive,” she said. “If they have a problem with alcohol or anger management, we want you to help them.”
Valdés oversees the STOPS program, which began in 2008, and the interfaith chaplaincy program, which focuses on spirituality with 17 chaplains and another six under investigation. He also expanded the STOPS program to 74 Soldiers trained in peer counseling with another dozen in training.
STOPS volunteers are not social workers, Valdés told members of the Public Safety Committee during a mental health and law enforcement briefing last week. They are fellow soldiers with whom you can feel comfortable discussing your problems at work.
The number of police officers seeking support from their peers in the past two years has skyrocketed, Valdés said, in part due to the lessening of the stigma attached to officers seeking help. “It’s because of the agency’s aggressive and holistic approach,” Valdes said. “It was one of Commissioner Rovella’s priorities.”
Jeltema is in the process of modernizing the “Surgeons” program, an outdated name for a program that began in 1903 as a way to allow surgeons and other physicians to volunteer their time to assist state police. She envisions a program that would allow volunteer physicians of all kinds, including internal medicine, to help employees and their families with medical and mental health issues, including providing second opinions.
“It’s like taking an old show and putting new wheels on it,” Rovella said.
Early in his tenure as commissioner, Rovella sought and received a $64,000 federal Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant from the federal Department of Justice to expand training in peer support, wellness, and mental health for law enforcement throughout the state. The program was delayed due to the pandemic, but it is expected to roll out this summer and every police department in the state will be able to submit a link to receive peer support training, Rovella said.
When he initially set out to improve employee well-being, members of his staff “looked at me like I had two heads,” Rovella said.
Now it has become second nature, especially for younger soldiers who are more open to seeking help than their older peers who were often hesitant to admit they were struggling with work-related trauma, Jeltema said.
“This is an investment in Soldiers, their families and DESPP employees,” Rovella said.
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