Durham Strategic Plan Dashboard
Prosperity
Status Indicator: 
In Progress | 
On Hold | 
Complete/Ongoing
Initiative: 2.33 Evaluate, assess and propose additional support for healthy and engaged public safety employees
Creating a Safer Community Together
Description
This initiative will (1) ensure public safety employees have defined pathways to address any incidents of trauma, stress, or burnout; and (2) Increase overall focus on public safety wellness and reduce stigma related to obtaining support; and (3) Increase staff retention and growth in the public safety sector.
Key Measures & Data Analysis
According to Kaiser Perm, there is an increase in risk associated with working in public safety.
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Police officers and firefighters are more likely to die by suicide than line of duty
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85% of first responders have experienced symptoms related to mental health conditions
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Depression and PTSD are up to 5x more common in first responders.
National % w/ Mental Health Concerns
Why is it important?
According to Kaiser Perm, there is an increase in risk associated with working in public safety.
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Police officers and firefighters are more likely to die by suicide than line of duty
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85% of first responders have experienced symptoms related to mental health conditions
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Depression and PTSD are up to 5x more common in first responders.
This initiate will seek to change these trends by creating a model program to build on local evidence, innovation, and evidenced-based research practices. This initiative will create a major impact on enhancing the health and wellness of public safety employees. This can reduce the prevalence of mental health trends among staff and the collateral consequences that may be associated with untreated health needs that could range from impacts on performance to worsening relationships with peers to harm to community members, self and external stakeholders. As a result, the initiative aims to improve overall wellness and increase retention and job satisfaction.
What have we been doing?
We are in the process of surveying the national landscape to evaluate best practices as it relates to first responder wellness. We found a number of cities utilizing Embedded Behavioral Health (EBH) an early intervention and treatment model that promotes first responder readiness and resilience by providing multidisciplinary behavioral health care to responders near station or off-site. We are also working with the City's human resources department to identify the types of resources available to first responders as well as their utilization rates.
What's next?
We are evaluating various wellness inventories that will allow the city to establish a baseline measurement of overall wellness as it relates to first responders. Once a baseline measurement is established, we will ask all public safety employees to take this survey annually to measure the effectiveness of the identified wellness pilots. Our group will then consolidate the research completed regarding best practices as it relates to first responder wellness and determine which initiatives to pilot within the city's first responder departments. We will then identify budget implications related to the identified pilots then plan and implement pilots.
City Website Home Page: Durham, NC | Official Website (durhamnc.gov)
Budget Website Page: Budget & Management Services Department | Durham, NC (durhamnc.gov)
Budget and Management Services Department
Office of Performance and Innovation
Strategy and Performance Division