Healing our heroes: a pilot workshop for preventing and treating trauma with police officers

According to The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI, 2018), 1 in 4 police officers has thoughts of suicide during their life and between 7% and 19% have symptoms of PTSD to compared with only 3.5% in the general population. That represents between a 100% and 442% increase from the general population to police officers. There is an absolute need to take care of these people that dedicate their lives to protecting the broader population. Creative arts therapies utilize an individual's right-brain which engages in nonverbal communication and sensory experience which assists in integrating right and left brain integration. When an individual has experienced trauma and words do not suffice, the trauma may be accessed through the body and sensory processes (Malchiodi, 2014). Using drama therapy allows an individual to access and connect to their trauma in a safe and supportive manner. Healing Our Heroes is a workshop which will meet for 120 minutes, one time per week for eight weeks utilizing drama therapeutic techniques to help police officers cope with and prevent future trauma.