Creating a behavioral wellness “buzz” at the start of the new year by Kent Higgins

Creating a behavioral wellness “buzz” at the start of the new year.

Kent Higgins, Lone Tree PD Chaplain

As a new chaplain for Lone Tree Police Department (LTPD), I have attempted ways to compassionately connect with officers and staff personally.  The primary chaplain role task I’ve focused on is to provide spiritual, emotional, and practical care.  As a chaplain, I personally identify my spiritual role as: 

14-19 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19, The Message

Most interactions with groups have resulted in a nonspecific impression of the chaplain – rather than personal.   Plus, to genuinely achieve a personal one-on-one level takes time, trust, and authenticity to attain trusting relationships.  

The routine and expected role of a chaplain is maintain a department-wide spiritual presence.  In my role, I’ve provided routine blessings at ceremonies and briefings, shift changes, ridden with officers, plus  provided healthy foods and snacks for the shifts – i.e., the Christmas eve graveyard shift & Christmas day.  

Recently, I discovered “23 Things to let go in 2023, Epoch Times, January 3, 2023, by Barbara Danza” suggesting people need to let go of daily habits.  The article listed 23 with limited narrative. 

An example of 1 of the 23 listed behaviors in the handout:

EXPECTATIONS – 

Do you find yourself disappointed in other people?  Psychologist Carl Rogers said, “In my relationships with people I have found that it does not help, in the long run, to act as though I were something that I am not.”  Audit your expectations of others.  Generously give of yourself without expecting a return – celebrate the inner peace & happiness it brings.

At the start of any new year, the opportunity for an individual’s personal assessment and change is in the news and many conversations.  By revising a few of the named habits to fit first responders (from “fear,” “complaint” and “lies” to “anxiety,” “fault-finding” and “falsehoods”, respectively) gave me a list to work with at the LTPD.  Additionally, I added power drinks to the processed foods habit and clearly defined screens as digital screens.  Next, I modified and expanded the narrative for each habit, plus included a fitting quote, from an author, poet, statesmen, educator, industrialist; or a biblical quote from Proverbs, Psalms, or Matthew.

By personally placing this handout in the hands of all officers and staff at LTPD, the challenge was to pick a few habits to address and at mid-year review and evaluate improvement.  I led with my own identified habits to work on.  Within a few days, officers and staff were talking to each other about the 23 habits, others noted they had shared with their spouse, with their own list modified.  What has transpired is a “buzz” and realization that a simple handout has become a tool for humanizing an agency’s overall behavioral wellness. 

Attached is a pdf.doc “Resolutions – Stuff to Let Go Of!”

By printing on both sides of an 8 ½ by 11-inch sheet and folding – you have a behavioral wellness tool to stimulate discussions and conversations through a non-threating approach.

RMPFC/RMPFC Resolutions – stuff to let go of