A first-of-its-kind training model could help with reducing trauma-related injuries for members of the Lethbridge Police Service.
The Down Regulation Skills Training program is being offered by the service, along with Wounded Warriors of Canada.
The program will equip first responders with practical and simple tactics they can use following a highly stressful call or during the event itself.
Officers will have access to the BETR model—a short self-check-in to down-regulate the body’s stress response when the natural process is interrupted.
“It takes about a minute, but they verbalize it out loud, and it just helps bring them back into the moment as opposed to their minds still being somewhere else,” said Deputy Chief Gerald Grobmeier with the Lethbridge Police Service.
“They’re still in a high-risk situation, and the reality is we need (them) in the game until it’s completed, but we also want to help them get through it.”
The Lethbridge Police Service estimates more than half of civilians will experience at least one potentially traumatic event in their lives, while police officers are exposed to about three to five traumatic events every six months.
