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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. |
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LAPD officers reflect on their experience with the POWER program
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Watch the full video HERE.
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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.
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.
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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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COPS Dispatch article on POWER:
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MEDIUM article on POWER:
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"The Beat" 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 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. |
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What officers have to say about the POWER Training Program:
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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. |
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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. |
