Jared Seide, Executive Director, attends the DOJ National Officer Safety & Wellness Working Group

Our Executive Director, Jared Seide, recently attended the National Officer Safety & Wellness Working Group in Washington, D.C., hosted by the US Department of Justice and Bureau of Justice Administration. The conference brought together law enforcement officials, mental health experts, and other professionals to discuss the challenges facing police officers and the importance of promoting officer safety and wellness.
The working group focused on a range of issues related to officer safety and wellness, including stress management, mental health, and building community trust. Participants also discussed best practices for promoting officer safety and wellness, such as training programs, peer support networks, and policies to address mental health and substance abuse issues.
Seide was invited to participate in the convening to share his expertise bringing programming to police officers to support self-awareness, resilience and compassion.He emphasized the importance of providing police officers with the tools and training they need to better manage stress, build resilience, and develop compassionate connections with their colleagues and their communities.
Seide shared details on Center for Council's POWER Training Program, which provides police officers with the skills and resources they need to better manage the stresses of their job and build more meaningful relationships with the people they serve. Through the POWER program, police officers are taught how to communicate more effectively with each other and with the community, as well as how to manage their emotions and cope with the challenging situations they encounter on a daily basis. 
Seide emphasized the importance of this type of training, stating that police officers are often exposed to traumatic events that can have a lasting impact on their mental health and well-being. By teaching police officers how to develop resilience and compassion, POWER is helping to address these issues and promote the overall well-being of police officers. The POWER program has been implemented in agencies across the country and the results have been promising. Officers who have completed the program report feeling more connected to their communities, more resilient, and better equipped to cope with the stresses and traumas they encounter on the job.
Seide's participation in the National Officer Safety & Wellness Working Group highlights the importance of promoting officer safety and wellness, and the critical role that programs like POWER can play in achieving this goal. By providing police officers with the tools and training they need to better manage stress, develop resilience, and build compassionate connections with their communities, we can help create a safer and more compassionate society for all.
Read more about POWER here: https://www.centerforcouncil.org/power-training.html

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