Massachusetts sheriff introduces training to help corrections officers manage stress
CHELMSFORD - While regular people experience stress from traffic jams or arguments, the men and women who serve in law enforcement experience stress on a different level every day. Now, the Middlesex County Sheriff's Department is using a new training aimed at helping incoming corrections officers regulate their emotions and stress.
The training is called Rewire 4, offered by the non-profit Roca.
Cognitive behavioral therapy to manage stress
WBZ-TV got an exclusive look at the training inside Middlesex Sheriff's training academy. Trainees listened to instructors, all former law enforcement, explain how what they think impacts how they feel and what they do.
The basis of the program is a cognitive behavioral theory, aimed at helping correction officers be aware of their thought cycles and control them.
Sheriff Peter Koutoujian says the training comes at a time when his correction officers are experiencing high levels of stress.
"Every day they're dealing with significantly ill people, let's just say. They can be very aggressive and unmanageable and really not in a great state of mind and not rational and can be very violent at the same time. And when you're dealing with this day after day after day, shift after shift after shift, for years at a time, it can really affect you," Koutoujian said.
The training has its roots in helping vulnerable youth. Roca began using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help young men in Baltimore who are most at risk of gun violence and incarceration. Roca teaches the young men to repeatedly think about the consequences of their actions.
"Over time, the brain can change the neural pathways," said Kurt Palermo, who runs Roca in Baltimore, "Through the reuse of CBT over and over, whether it's a conversation on a stoop, whether it's in a classroom, whether it's before the young people go to work crew, they will replace those old, unhelpful behaviors with new ones that are in line with their values."
Roca then saw the value in adapting the program for law enforcement. Former Chelsea Police Captain David Batchelor is now a Roca trainer. He says Rewire 4 helps officers regulate their emotions.
"When I became a police officer, the veterans at that time said, 'Don't think about that stuff. Just pack that stuff away. You can't let that stuff bother you.' It's almost like you can't be human. And the accumulation, you may not even realize it, it impacts your behavior," Batchelor said.
Over 2,000 officers already trained
Roca has armed thousands of police officers with Rewire 4 training. Every new class of Middlesex County Sheriff's corrections officers is taking the course. 2,027 Boston Police officers have already participated in the program.
Sergeant Krystil McDonald of the Middlesex Sheriff's Department has served as a crisis negotiator inside Middlesex County Jail. She says the course has helped her be aware of her own emotions and others.
"When you think about what you're going to do or what you're going to say that can help eliminate the use of force, it can bring somebody's level down with their emotions, and it really helps us to understand a little bit better about why people act the way that they do," McDonald said.
