In this episode, Matt talks to
Dr Jacqueline Drew. Dr Drew is currently conducting a research project into the predictive factors contributing to psychological injury faced by Police in the execution of their duties, with the view of implementing truly preventative strategies to support Police and first responders more broadly - which has already discovered some amazing outcomes. This research is being done in partnership with the
QPS and Commissioner Katarina Carroll.
Dr Drew's research has already shown that the organisational and operational stressors in Policing cause 3 times the harm compared to exposure to critical incident and traumatic event exposure when looking at psychological distress in Police officers. Further, the research has looked into the more recently coined 'Post Traumatic Embitterment' disorder and Moral Injury against instances which may have been somewhat incorrectly diagnosed as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder emanating from one or more traumatic event exposures.
Some of the more troubling statistics highlighted by Dr Drew are that over 80% of current Police Officers in Queensland are suffering burnout, compared to around 50% in the general workforce but more disturbingly 12% of Police in Queensland are suffering from extreme/severe levels of psychological distress (found consistent with the Beyond Blue research in 2018) against around 1.5% of the general Australian workforce.
Dr Drew also talks about the effect of losing the 'Police Family' for former members and how damaging the workers compensation system combined with loss of identity can be on the individuals involved in post service support can be.
All current and former members of Australia's Police Forces are encouraged to listen to this episode and follow the research being done by Dr Drew and the Griffith University.
To get in touch or follow Dr Jacki Drew's work check out these links:
Griffith experts page:
https://experts.griffith.edu.au/8497-jacqueline-drew