I am pleased to say that we are running both our Centres at almost full capacity at the moment and working hard to drive down the waiting times. We are always very conscious of the fact that any delay in getting officers through for treatment can and does feel much longer than it would ordinarily, if you are the one who is at the back end of the waiting list but I can assure all applicants that this is always something that we do take seriously, and are constantly looking for ways in which to improve our practices and procedures.
This has also been a period of visits, last week we welcomed Paddy Tipping, the Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner to Harrogate for a visit, that this was followed this week by a visit by Ian Weinfass a reporter from Police Oracle who like many individuals in the policing community had not heard of the PTC before, and we also hosted Rosemarie Holmes, Head of HR and Training, and Leanne Consett HR Professional Support Manager both form North Yorkshire Police, to try and ensure that we establish better and smoother working practises and procedures with the HR department. Castlebrae has also had its fair share of visitors, and I am currently up in our Scottish Centre where we have been hosting a visit from Provost Liz Grant, the Provost of Perth and Kinross. Needless to say all were impressed with our excellent facilities, and of course the work that we are doing on behalf of the serving and retired officers.
Provost Liz Grant with CEO Patrick Cairns & Paul Grant, Centre Manager, Castlebrae
We are continuing to review our programme about how we deal with psychological issues, and I and 15 other members of staff last week attended a very useful study day hosted by Dawn Collins a mental health practitioner, entitled
Mental Health First Aid. We are very proud of the fact that all of our employees are fully engaged in supporting officers who attend our Centres, and it was good to see employees form all departments represented at this study day, being briefed on how to spot the warning signs of when someone might need help, and then what to do about it and who to inform. I think it fair to say that all of us also picked up some useful tips of how to perhaps run our own personal lives in a less stressful manner, and what stress valves to engage when emptying the “stress bucket”, and all of the staff at the PTC remain fully committed to helping all of those individuals who might suffer from psychological issues.
Externally our Fund Raising and PR team have continued to push out on a series of meetings and visits with the various Police Federations, and Mark Oxley our Head Clinician and Peter Moore our CFO, spent a useful day attending the BTP Conference in York as well this week.
Overall it has very much been business as usual, with a combination of internal and external visits, some routine business, and then some grander planning for how we are going to evolve and develop in the future.
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