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The Peace Officer Wellness, Empathy & Resilience (POWER) Training Program is an intensive and interactive six-month curriculum for police and correctional officers that utilizes mindfulness practices, compassion-based communication exercises, and training in wellness-related areas such as stress management and self-care.
POWER offers a deep exploration of the science and experience of mindfulness and compassionate communication as it relates to stress, resiliency, performance and community building. With a focus on developing tools and resources that enhance self-awareness, attunement to others, compassion, wisdom and elite performance, participants learn skills that can be translated to their personal, as well as professional, life. This program offers an opportunity to enhance performance, improve situational awareness, increase physical and cognitive health, and develop new leadership capacity, balancing operational demands with life beyond the watch. |
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Interested in bringing POWER Training to your agency or department?
Contact us about setting up a training program.
Contact us about setting up a training program.
POWER in the media:
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Article on our POWER Training for LE:
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Article on our prison-based work:
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Podcast on POWER:
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POWER Training builds durable skills for fostering compassion for self, team and community.
As officers learn and practice the skills of self-awareness and self-regulation, communication and relational strengths develop, along with increased health and wellness. Improving these skills leads to more positive agency culture, enhances police-community relations and supports the goals of procedural justice. Participation in sector-specific programs like POWER provides the foundation for cross-sector engagement like our "Cops & Communities Circling Up" initiative To launch this initiative, Center for Council hosted a day-long encounter between program graduates from different arenas we serve: officers, community activists, educators and formerly incarcerated individuals. The lessons from that event were priceless and were captured in a 23-minute documentary about the convening. A short trailer may be viewed here. |
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What officers have to say about the POWER Training Program:
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The 2021 International Chiefs of Police (IACP) Officer Wellness Symposium featured a workshop on the POWER Training program, entitled: "Mindfulness & Resiliency Meets Community Engagement: Empathy, Awareness & Procedural Justice."
A video recording of that workshop, led by Jared Seide and Richard Goerling, can be viewed below. Additional comments from Richard Goerling here. |
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POWER Training teaches powerful stress management and self-care techniques, equipping officers with tools to communicate more effectively and to de-escalate conflict without resorting to excessive use of force. The approach attempts to decrease officer-involved shootings and excessive use of force by working with attention, self-regulation and discernment, developing a more insightful and skillful approach to implicit bias, cultural diversity and community policing. The POWER Training program has been certified by the California Commission on Police Officer Standards and Training (C-POST) and provides professional credit to police and correctional officers throughout California. |
