• join us
    • get involved
    • workshops >
      • in-person council workshops
      • online offerings
    • trainings for organizations
    • certification and standards
    • subscribe
    • contact
  • our programs
    • law enforcement agencies >
      • POWER training >
        • lapd officers discuss power
        • LEMWHA Grant
      • cops & communities
    • incarcerated and system-impacted individuals >
      • council for insight, compassion, resilience
      • council reentry program
      • get a copy of leaving prison behind
      • system-impacted individuals
    • organizations >
      • organizational wellness project
    • council training for mental health professionals
    • healthcare professionals
    • educators
    • community leaders >
      • trainer leadership initiative
    • public council training workshops
  • what we do
    • what is council?
    • origins of council
    • why council
    • FAQ
  • who we are
    • our team
    • our new book
    • our supporters >
      • awards and associations
    • news and stories >
      • the power of story
      • council in session
      • recovering compassion
      • story archive
    • voices from council
  • donate
Center for Council
  • join us
    • get involved
    • workshops >
      • in-person council workshops
      • online offerings
    • trainings for organizations
    • certification and standards
    • subscribe
    • contact
  • our programs
    • law enforcement agencies >
      • POWER training >
        • lapd officers discuss power
        • LEMWHA Grant
      • cops & communities
    • incarcerated and system-impacted individuals >
      • council for insight, compassion, resilience
      • council reentry program
      • get a copy of leaving prison behind
      • system-impacted individuals
    • organizations >
      • organizational wellness project
    • council training for mental health professionals
    • healthcare professionals
    • educators
    • community leaders >
      • trainer leadership initiative
    • public council training workshops
  • what we do
    • what is council?
    • origins of council
    • why council
    • FAQ
  • who we are
    • our team
    • our new book
    • our supporters >
      • awards and associations
    • news and stories >
      • the power of story
      • council in session
      • recovering compassion
      • story archive
    • voices from council
  • donate

training for
​law enforcement officers

The Peace Officer Wellness, Empathy & Resilience (POWER) Training Program offers an intensive and interactive 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.

LAPD officers reflect on their experience with the POWER program
Watch the full video HERE.

In April of 2022, Center for Council entered into a formal partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice to work together to increase law enforcement awareness of the intersectionality of wellness, compassion, procedural justice and community building. Through this collaboration, the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) division of the DOJ will highlight Center for Council's science-based strategies for optimizing physical, emotional, mental and relational health and its programming that explores strategies for addressing empathy fatigue, moral distress, pathological altruism, depersonalization and burnout. Ultimately, this partnership will explore the way in which the skillful integration of high ethical standards, personal well-being and sustainable practices for navigating professional demands of police work help officers enhance compassion toward both themselves and their communities.
Picture
In September 2022, POWER received the National Certification Program Seal of Excellence from IADLEST, the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training.
​What is POWER Training?

Interested in bringing POWER Training to your agency or department?

Contact us about setting up a training program.

POWER in the media:
COPS Dispatch article on POWER:
MEDIUM article on POWER:
"The Beat" podcast on POWER:
Picture
Picture
Picture

read Evaluation report Findings here

Lt. Gena on Resilience, Self-Care & Relationship:

Sgt. ​Ken on Authenticity, Trust & Relationship:

​"Cops & Communities: Circling Up" - teaser trailer

​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

Here are a few glimpses of the experience of officers who have participated in recent programming. Gena, an LAPD Lieutenant, reflects on the importance of cultivating self-care and practices to address the intense stressors that are encountered everyday on watch, and that build up over time. Ken, an LAPD Sergeant, describes his experience in a recent Center for Council program that brought together officers participating in our training for law enforcement with participants involve in our community-based programming.

The third video is a brief look at 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 that is available upon request. Included here is a short trailer that offers a brief glimpse of that experience.



     What officers have to say about the POWER Training Program:

​​​
Picture
The 2021 International Association of 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.


​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. ​

Contact us for more information on the POWER Training Program

Picture

About

home
center for council
what is council?
FAQ

Support

donate
get involved
contact
subscribe

Connect

Center for Council is a project of Community Partners
© 2014-23 Center for Council. All rights reserved.
  • join us
    • get involved
    • workshops >
      • in-person council workshops
      • online offerings
    • trainings for organizations
    • certification and standards
    • subscribe
    • contact
  • our programs
    • law enforcement agencies >
      • POWER training >
        • lapd officers discuss power
        • LEMWHA Grant
      • cops & communities
    • incarcerated and system-impacted individuals >
      • council for insight, compassion, resilience
      • council reentry program
      • get a copy of leaving prison behind
      • system-impacted individuals
    • organizations >
      • organizational wellness project
    • council training for mental health professionals
    • healthcare professionals
    • educators
    • community leaders >
      • trainer leadership initiative
    • public council training workshops
  • what we do
    • what is council?
    • origins of council
    • why council
    • FAQ
  • who we are
    • our team
    • our new book
    • our supporters >
      • awards and associations
    • news and stories >
      • the power of story
      • council in session
      • recovering compassion
      • story archive
    • voices from council
  • donate