PC David Rathband’s Blue Lamp Foundation helps get injured Police Officers back on the beat donating £75,000 to Police Treatment Centres to help fund and set up the new psychological Wellbeing Programme.
Many patients visiting the Treatment Centres come for physiotherapy, there are a number of patients who need support with stress, anxiety and other such conditions and the number of officers needing this care has in recent years increased. Certain roles within the force are deemed to be of a higher psychological risk and Officers working in more Specialist Crime areas are more psychologically demanding and challenging.
A new treatment programme has been designed at the PTC to better address these growing areas of concern and the new Psychological Wellbeing Programme is now being rolled out across both Centres.
Head of Clinical Services, Mark Oxley, said;
“Police are under higher stress, because of lower staff numbers and confirmed exposure to stressful situations, and sometimes both personal and professional responsibilities take their toll. Attending the treatment centre for such officers provides the necessary support needed in an informal setting, reducing pressures of life & workload to enable them to take the time to learn strategies to improve their psychological wellbeing.”
PC David Rathband’s The Blue Lamp Foundation have very generously pledged to donate £75,000 towards setting up this new programme which will support the introduction of an established treatment programme to support mental health and wellbeing. The programme will take the form of group sessions in stress management, workshops focusing on relaxation, sleep, mindfulness, group exercise sessions and also individual counselling and complementary therapy.
The Blue Lamp Foundation was set up in October 2010 after PC Rathband received life changing injuries after being shot on duty. The Foundation provides support to members of the emergency services whose physical or mental health has suffered as the result of being injured whilst on duty.
Peter Sweeney, Chairman of the Blue Lamp Foundation, said:
“We have a strong history of supporting the work of the Police Treatment Centres including a donation of £60k back in 2012 to pay for bedroom refurbishments so we are once again delighted to be able to make a difference with this grant.
The emotional wellbeing of our emergency services personnel is high on everyone’s agenda and by working with the Police Treatment Centres to get this programme off the ground we are playing our part in getting that help and support to those who need it.”
Patrick Cairns, Chief Executive of the Police Treatment Centres said;
‘The Blue Lamp Foundation’s donation of £75,000 is a tremendous boost and we are enormously grateful for their wonderful support. The Blue Lamp Foundation have been a good friend to the PTC for many years, and through their financial aid, they have helped us to treat and support thousands of our patients over many years. This latest donation will help us focus some of our resources more closely on the treatment of psychological conditions which is becoming increasingly prevalent within the police service."
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