Transition Stress and how it relates to the mental health of retired Police Officers.
What is transition stress? It is the process before, during and after when a person leaves the police service, and becomes an everyday member of the public. This can be “daunting and [the] impact on some can be profound”. The reasons for this stress are many fold, including financial worries, loss of social contact and networks, the wellbeing of family members and officers own wellbeing. For some, such is the intensity of emotion at facing and enduring this process that it can be a grief induced event of its own.
Officers facing or experiencing retirement face losing a part of their identity and their connectedness. For many, being a police officer is an expression of their own morality, ethics and how they construct their ideological frame of reference. The idea to Serve and Protect shapes who they seem themselves as, and dictates who they gravitate towards professionally and socially, who are often others who share the same ideals, such as other police and emergency service workers. It is the individual’s membership of a social group - the police - which forms the basis for their self-definition.
“Officers’ individual and collective experiences whilst serving, often negative and unpleasant, create and necessitate the development by the individual of an unconscious state of mind to allow them to simply function and survive. This may often be the repository for all the unpleasant things they’ve seen, done and had done to them, a bucket of trauma”
The loss of this, which if brought about prematurely by enforced medical retirement or through dismissal on disciplinary grounds can exacerbate trauma and emotional damage; the disorientation that this engenders can make them feel like “…a stranger in a strange land.” Whether transition stress is affected by gender does not appear in any research I have found. It seems likely that female officers may also have the additional strain of transiting through menopause and its side affects such as incontinence, which could make their experience more difficult and challenging. For many their identities remain fixed in their police role. But once you leave, you cannot take it with you.
Police officers are empowered by society to do things most people would be unable or unwilling to do, despite accepting that such action and behaviour are necessary in an orderly and civilised society. In taking these actions, officers believe that they are serving the greater good, as Orwell said, “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men [and women], stand ready to do violence on their behalf”. Officers’ individual and collective experiences whilst serving, often negative and unpleasant, create and necessitate the development by the individual of an unconscious state of mind to allow them to simply function and survive. This may often be the repository for all the unpleasant things they’ve seen, done and had done to them, a bucket of trauma, a place deep in the psyche to lock away the demons. This is what Jung meant when he said the Shadow, “…is the part of us where all the things that we either don’t want to know, or don’t like…the parts that we know don’t fit societal norms that we are expected to abide by.” This Shadow may cease to be as useful or acceptable upon departure from the police, and makes emotional relocation to the non-police world they are now forced to inhabit more challenging.
“Transition stress may also be aggravated by moral injury and institutional betrayal; this is when what they thought of as shared beliefs, values and ethics between them, their colleagues and employers are repeatedly shown to be false”
Transition stress can often be exacerbated by pre existing mental health concerns and issues, which the individual may or may not be consciously aware of. The state of mental health among a great many serving officers has already been damaged or effected by the stresses and strains of their daily work prior to retirement. A police officer can witness 400-600 traumatic episodes during their career, compared to the average citizen who may witness 3-4. Studies show that % of officers may have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and 12% have complex PTSD. Anxiety and depression levels are significantly higher among police officers than among the general public. Officers very often don’t have the opportunity to process a specific difficult experience before dealing with another, this can literally occur on the same shift, which is “…a significant precursor to impairment from trauma impact.” Added to this toxic mix are decades experiencing bureaucratic and unfair management, ever increasing workloads with diminishing resources, in adequate training, a criminal justice system in crisis and widespread public hostility. For example, no other public service workers are criticised - and possibly subject in internal investigation - for buying food whilst on duty.
For serving officers who have mental health issues, two cultural factors exist that can prevent access to treatment. The first is a distrust of Occupational Health units within police organisations, which I would suggest is deepening as more officers face professional investigation from their own employers. Secondly, the gender of serving officers and how they feel about accessing professional help may be important, in the police service in England and Wales as a whole. There is a residual, significant cultural barrier to individuals accessing psychological support; police culture has historically what are perceived as male characteristics, “which may result in internalizing feelings, not expressing emotion and not reaching out for support.” This I would suggest is gradually dissolving as attitudes change with new generations of recruits. 34.7% of all ranks are female, female officers are less likely to avoid seeking help and care before a crisis occurs.
“Unlike their military counterparts in the U.K., serving police officers have far fewer bespoke services at their disposal in terms of mental health; and police veterans are ever more poorly served"
Transition stress may also be aggravated by moral injury and institutional betrayal; this is when what they thought of as shared beliefs, values and ethics between them, their colleagues and employers are repeatedly shown to be false and irretrievably broken. Moral injury and institutional betrayal snaps the “glue that bonds social groups,” in this case between police officers and the police organisations they work for, and society as a whole.
Unlike their military counterparts in the U.K., serving police officers have far fewer bespoke services at their disposal in terms of mental health; and police veterans are ever more poorly served. At the moment there is no post service duty of care by police for retired officers. It appears that this has been recognised by the authorities and in July 2022 the British Government announced a Police Covenant, enshrined in law, which “aims to ensure that members or former members of the police workforce in England and Wales are not disadvantaged as a result of working in policing…help smooth the transition out of policing.” The 2023 report to the U.K. Parliament does discuss welcome work on developing training for National Health Service General Practitioners around the role of the Police for example, in terms of retired and retiring officers. This is intended to include “…training and advice to help cope with the culture shock of leaving and provide ongoing support for psychological issues which arise after they have left”.
What does exist is a mixture of access to formal NHS treatments, support and help via general practitioners. There are a number of police charities such as Oscar Kilo, Call4Backup, and Police Care can assist and provide treatment, care and assistance. Many of those who work and volunteer for these organisations are retired officers, whose innate understanding and shared experience are often more attractive and welcoming than the best intentions of the NHS. Trojan Assistance, for example, has WhatsApp groups that people can join as a safe space to vent, release and be heard by their own kind, serving and retired, in a non-judgemental atmosphere. A small number of police treatment centres such as Flint House also exist, which can provide respite and residential help.
For those who are faced with re-establishing themselves post a police career, the journey is a highly personal and subjective one, a new tribe, a new purpose, a new self identity and social esteem all need to be found in their new environment. If a person can display a flexible capacity to allow the adoption of a new identity during this period of social adjustment, this offers one of the best aids to alleviating transition stress and building a new life.
Scroll down to join the discussion
Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes only and is not a substitute for therapy, legal advice, or other professional opinion. Never disregard such advice because of this article or anything else you have read from the Centre for Male Psychology. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of, or are endorsed by, The Centre for Male Psychology, and we cannot be held responsible for these views. Read our full disclaimer here.
Like our articles?
Click here to subscribe to our FREE newsletter and be first
to hear about news, events, and publications.
Have you got something to say?
Check out our submissions page to find out how to write for us.
.
