A new wellbeing room, part funded by the BTP Federation Lottery, has opened at Ebury Bridge in London.
The Detective Inspector’s office within the Cyber Digital Hub (CDH) has been repurposed to create a designated space where staff can take a break from work demands.
More than 90 percent of officers and staff who responded to the national The Job, The Life survey in 2018 reported trauma exposure in their everyday work but fewer than half felt they had the opportunity to make sense of what they had experienced.
By nature of the sexual and violent material the teams based at Ebury Bridge are working with, they are exposed to trauma on a daily basis.
Processing trauma
Dr Jess Miller, Director of Research at Police Care UK and fellow at Cambridge’s Department of Sociology, has looked extensively at trauma processing techniques. She highlights that ‘making sense of difficult or traumatic incidents is arguably an essential component of contemporary policing.’
DI Dean Percival from MSOC, who is also a Federation rep, applied for a Federation lottery grant to turn his office into a wellbeing room. The funding was used to purchase furniture and lamps as well as a prayer mat and plants.
Dean said: “There is a lot of evidence on the benefits of wellbeing rooms and how simple things like listening to music during a short break can lower your heart rate.
“My teams are handling some of the most traumatic material any member of staff could ever be exposed to and it’s important they can step away and reset in this way when they need to”.
The wellbeing room cost just under £1000 to set up. A grant of £500 was awarded from the lottery with the remainder provided by BTPs cyber digital hub (CDH) and the CCTV department.
Lottery grants
The BTP Federation Lottery is a monthly draw costing from £1-£5 per week. Prizes range from £50 - £1,000 depending on the number of members taking part.
Participation is open to all serving members (via payroll deduction) and retired members (via Direct Debit). Prize draws are made monthly, with two draws in December, and the winning numbers are published regularly.
Half the Lottery proceeds are distributed as grants and donations. Lottery members can apply for a donation for charitable, sporting, or cultural purposes. The fund also supports several retired BTP groups and helps towards the cost of members' sporting endeavours. Contact BTP Federation for more information.