This session is currently scheduled for Tu20 (Day 2, Tuesday 23 March at 4:00 PM – 4:50 PM EST)
Presentation description:
Law enforcement officers are tactical athletes and need elite, integrated, mind and body training to support performance and prevent ill-health. One of the many pathways to build and optimize prevention involve interventions at both individual and organizational levels – creating a healthy positive organizational culture as well as building workplace health promotion by reducing organizational risk factors and building individual as well organizational strengths and protective factors. This presentation will focus on various strategies to help build organizational and individual strengths as part of prevention resilience pathways to help mitigate risk factors to psychological injuries and suicide, reduce disability as well as to optimize human performance, including health prevention services with the outcome being to prevent psychological and physical ill-health. Proactive approaches to sleep and fatigue will be discussed. The current physical and psychological toll on police will also be discussed, including the mental and emotional trauma stemming from social media, and exacerbated by current stressors, in turn, leading to distrust and fear and impacting health. Canada, UK, US, & Australia International presentation
Panelists:
Biographies
Session Convener
Dr. Katy Kamkar, Ph.D., C. Psych., is a Clinical Psychologist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) & Assistant Professor within the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto. She is the Chair, Canadian Psychological Association (CPA), Traumatic Stress Sector & Chair, Global Law Enforcement and Public Health (GLEPH), Police/First Responders Mental Health. She is the Executive Director, Canadian Association of Fire Investigators. She does specialise in the area of workplace mental health, disability management, resiliency and OSI first responders. In addition to her clinical work, her media engagement, and publications on mental health, she provides continuous Education and Workshops to Ministries and Organizations (National and International) on mental health in workplace and building individual and organizational resiliency.
Grant Edwards has recently retired from the Australian Federal Police having served in family law, international drug trafficking, major organised crime and people smuggling and cyber crime. He is presently the Head of Aspect Frontline. In 2003 he established the AFP’s Human Trafficking Team to address the crimes of sexual exploitation of women and children. Grant holds a Masters degree in leadership, policy and governance studies. He is also an accomplished sportsperson. He has competed across the world in Strongman events, including the 1999 Worlds Strongest Man competition in Malta and has won the Guinness World Record for single handedly pulling a 201 tonne steam locomotive. In 2017 he single handedly pulled a C-17 US Military Globemaster to raise awareness for mental health in Policing. In August this year, Grant published his book ‘‘The Strongman’, a memoir of his life as an Athlete, AFP Officer as well as his mental health struggles.
Dr Ian Hesketh was a British police officer for 30 years and is presently the Wellbeing Lead at the UK College of Policing and the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) for the National Police Wellbeing Service in the UK. Ian is an Honorary Researcher at Lancaster University Management School and holds a PhD in Management and Social Psychology. Ian also supports the National Forum for Health and Wellbeing at Manchester University Alliance Business School. His research interests are centered on Wellbeing, Resilience and Transformation in the context of Policing, and most notably he introduced the concept and phenomena of Leaveism to explain human behaviors associated with workplace workload and stress. In 2012 his article on Transformational Leadership during Change was voted one of the Top 5 Management Articles by the Chartered Management Institute.
Dale McFee, Chief of Police, Edmonton Police Service, Alberta, Canada. He is retired Police Chief, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan; Retired Deputy Minister of Corrections and Policing in the Ministry of Justice for the Saskatchewan government; and Past President of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. He has lectured nationally and internationally on leadership, demand reduction and Community Safety and Wellbeing, thus is a passionate advocate for evidence based practices to change practice to the subject matter being discussed.
Dr. Konstantinos Papazoglou, Ph.D., C.Psych. completed his postdoctoral appointment at Yale University School of Medicine. He completed his doctoral degree (PhD) in psychology (clinical – forensic area) as Vanier Scholar at the University of Toronto (U of T). He completed his doctoral clinical training at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (psychological trauma clinic; sexual behaviours clinic). Dr. Papazoglou is a former Police Major of the Hellenic Police Force and European Police College, and he holds a master’s degree in applied psychology from New York University (NYU) as Onassis Scholar. His research focuses on stress, trauma, and resilience-promotion among police officers. Dr. Papazoglou has established research collaboration with many law enforcement agencies in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, published book chapters and numerous scholarly articles in peer-reviewed journals, presented his research in many scientific venues, and conducted workshops and presented to numerous government agencies in Canada, the U.S., and Europe. Finally, Dr. Papazoglou has also worked as a clinical forensic psychologist with the Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services providing clinical services (assessment and treatment) to criminal justice offenders.
Paul Pedersen Chief of Police for the Greater Sudbury Police Service in Ontario, Canada. Holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration, has worked in policing for over 35 years in a variety of areas from general patrol to criminal investigations and is the immediate past President of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police.
Dr Katrina Sanders is the Chief Medical Officer for the Australian Federal Police. She is a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, has a Master’s Degree in Public Health and is the recipient of Australia Day Achievement Medallion 2019 for her work in health reform in support of law enforcement. Dr Sanders is internationally recognised as a key contributor to government and law enforcement policy on health.
Tom Stamatakis, M.O.M., is the President of the Canadian Police Association, and the International Council of Police Representative Associations. He has received the Order of Merit of the Police Forces, is a Member of the Order of Merit (M.O.M.), and Officer of the Order of Merit (O.O.M.).
Dr. Jeff Thompson, Ph.D. is an adjunct associate research scientist at Columbia University Medical Center, a certified Psychological Autopsy Investigator with the American Association or Suicidology, and a Law Enforcement Detective in the New York City Police Department.
