Peace Officer Wellness, Empathy & Resilience
Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to common questions below.
The Program
What are the components of this program?
The program consists of the the following main components:
- Introduction to Council and Mindfulness 2-Day Workshop (program launch) - POST Credit - An introduction to the basics of council, how to hold your own huddles, and an exploration of personal mindfulness.
- Workshop 1 (two months after launch) - POST Credit - A review of council, along with a discussion about different models of understanding yourself and others.
- Workshop 2 (four months after launch) - POST Credit for Perishable Skills in Interpersonal Communication - An exploration of council as a way to "read the field," "speak into the listening," and more.
- Workshop 3 (six months after launch) - POST Credit - Incl. explorations of different models for approaching an understanding of yourself, those around you, and the world.
- Learning Activities Units - 6 weeks each, covering physical, mental, emotional, and social awareness (delivered weekly via email).
What are the learning activity units?
There are four learning activity units that are delivered weekly via email, each six weeks long. They pertain to the following four broad categories, covering a variety of weekly themes:
Each week of the program, you will receive an email with four main components, tied together by the theme.
- Physical Awareness: including body language, stress, sleep, breathing, slowing down, and nutrition.
- Mental Awareness: including inner critic (negative thoughts), bias, changing your mind, attention and focus, and mind wandering.
- Emotional Awareness: including emotion regulation, anger, gratitude, empathy, happiness, and vulnerability.
- Social Awareness: including insight, compassion, forgiveness, community, the warrior ethos, and moving beyond us and them.
Each week of the program, you will receive an email with four main components, tied together by the theme.
- Reading/Listening/Watching: These are short articles, videos or audio podcasts exploring a thematic topic.
- Awareness Practice: Each of these will have two categories. One is a reminder to do a daily mindfulness practice; the second is a particular action that we'd like you to do throughout the week.
- Written Reflection: Each of these will have two categories also. One is a reminder to keep your daily gratitude journal; the second is a request to reflect on #1 above. These can be kept by you and do not need to be "turned in."
- Council Huddle: These are recommended prompts for holding your weekly huddle. You may use the prompt, which is related to the theme, or you may devise your own.
What is required?
Not to be evasive, but it depends on what is meant by "required."
Required for POST credit: Each full in-person workshop you attend will earn you POST credit, provided you demonstrate a level of fluency with the topics discussed.
Required to get a certificate of completion from Center for Council: You will need to complete all four in-person workshops, and at least three of the learning activity units (completing five of the six weeks of assignments).
Required to get the most out of the program possible: All of it. This program is designed to help you develop an ongoing series of practices to help you become more aware of your own physicality, emotions, thoughts and relations. Every aspect of the program is tailored to give you the most up-to-date information to help you do that.
Required for POST credit: Each full in-person workshop you attend will earn you POST credit, provided you demonstrate a level of fluency with the topics discussed.
Required to get a certificate of completion from Center for Council: You will need to complete all four in-person workshops, and at least three of the learning activity units (completing five of the six weeks of assignments).
Required to get the most out of the program possible: All of it. This program is designed to help you develop an ongoing series of practices to help you become more aware of your own physicality, emotions, thoughts and relations. Every aspect of the program is tailored to give you the most up-to-date information to help you do that.
What if i miss an in-person workshop?
We understand that life sometimes gets in the way of doing what is intended. Missing an in-person workshop obviously precludes you from obtaining those credits from POST at that time. There may be other training opportunities in your area in the future, with other cohorts, so you may contact us to find out when the next one will be held so that you can be included in that workshop. However, you may need to work those details out with your supervisor about how to make sure you can obtain the necessary time off since it won't be with your regular cohort.
Personal and Cohort IDs
What is a personal id?
Personal ID's are a string of letters and numbers chosen by you that we use to track your progress in the self-guided portions of the program (your POST ID will be used for all in-person meetings). Using a personal ID that only you know allows us to track progress without ever requiring that you log into anything. That means no remembering of passwords, and no unnecessary emails from third-party providers.
We use them to avoid problems associated with data theft. Since the questions asked in the reporting form are quite generic (which was on purpose), the database will never hold any personal information worth stealing.
But that requires that you always provide your Personal ID, Cohort ID, and Week information every time you report. Your Personal ID will also be used by you to view your progress.
We use them to avoid problems associated with data theft. Since the questions asked in the reporting form are quite generic (which was on purpose), the database will never hold any personal information worth stealing.
But that requires that you always provide your Personal ID, Cohort ID, and Week information every time you report. Your Personal ID will also be used by you to view your progress.
How do I pick a personal id?
Personal IDs should be chosen by you, and should be simple for you to remember. They should also be something that no one else knows or could easily guess. We recommend that they are 4-8 digits long, using only letters and numbers. An option that might help you remember is some mixture of your POST and badge number, but should not be one or the other, as anyone else can look those up.
What is a cohort ID?
We use a cohort ID so that we can track the progress of your entire training group. It also serves the purpose of double-checking the accuracy of your personal ID. If you mistype your personal ID on any report, we should be able to find and fix it later because of the cohort ID.
Cohort IDs are purposely simple so that you can remember them easily. They are typically two letters (representing your agency) and two numbers (reflecting your cohort number).
Cohort IDs are purposely simple so that you can remember them easily. They are typically two letters (representing your agency) and two numbers (reflecting your cohort number).
HOW DO I FIND or change MY PERSONAL and cohort id?
Every email from us contains your personal and cohort IDs. Look for them near the bottom on the email, inside a blue box. Because you should be the only one to know your personal ID, do not forward your weekly emails to anyone else without first deleting that.
If you'd like to change your personal ID, you can do so by emailing the sender of the weekly emails and request the change (it will not work to reply to a weekly email, however; you will need to compose a new one).
If you'd like to change your personal ID, you can do so by emailing the sender of the weekly emails and request the change (it will not work to reply to a weekly email, however; you will need to compose a new one).
Reporting on Progress
When should I report?
We ask that you report weekly on your prior seven days.
Each Sunday, you will receive an email with action items to do during the coming week. The following Sunday, you'll receive the next one that will have a green button at the top asking you to report on the previous week. It will ask if you did the activities and ask for a short reflection on them.
Each Sunday, you will receive an email with action items to do during the coming week. The following Sunday, you'll receive the next one that will have a green button at the top asking you to report on the previous week. It will ask if you did the activities and ask for a short reflection on them.
How do i report?
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At the top of every email, look for a green button asking that you "Click here to report on the last week" (see example). Follow that link and it will take you to this page. Each report should take no more than five minutes.
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Follow these to report on the previous week.
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HOW LONG SHOULD MY ANSWERS BE?
Most of the questions are simple dropdown answers. For the reflections, we don't need more than a sentence or two. We just want to know what you thought of it, and to track your progress.
What if i miss an assignment or forget to report?
We obviously prefer that assignments are done on a weekly basis, but you are also able to go back to previous assignments and complete them whenever you have time. You can find previous assignments by searching for the email, or you can follow the button in each email that says, "View Full Curriculum." That link is specific to your cohort.
If you forgot to report, simply do the same and report when you remember. Note: you may need to adjust the week number listed in the reporting form to comport with the assignment you mean to complete.
If you forgot to report, simply do the same and report when you remember. Note: you may need to adjust the week number listed in the reporting form to comport with the assignment you mean to complete.
What if I didn't do any of the assignments that week?
We request that you report on the week, regardless of how much you did or didn't complete that week. Each dropdown question for each category of work has an option for having not completed it. An honest answer is an acceptable answer.
What if I reported on an assignment one way, but want to change my answer?
You cannot change your answers. But if you may report on a previous week again by simply submitting a second report for that week. Because of your Personal ID and week number, we'll be able to see that two reports were submitted.
