Police Organization Providing Peer Assistance (POPPA) Reflects on 9/11 and Introduces its Suicide Awareness for Emergency Responders (S.A.F.E.R.) Training

Police Organization Providing Peer Assistance (POPPA) Reflects on 9/11 and

Introduces its Suicide Awareness for Emergency Responders (S.A.F.E.R.) Training

By Jennifer Taylor, Ph.D., Clinical Advisor, POPPA, Inc.

POPPA is a confidential, independent, non-departmental, peer-based assistance program for the NYPD, designed to respond to the psychological and mental health needs of NYPD officers.  All services within POPPA are provided to NYC police officers free-of-charge. 

The backbone of POPPA is its more than 200 volunteer Peer Support Officers (PSOs) drawn from all ranks of the NYPD.  These officers receive extensive 8-day training by POPPA on peer support and screening for safety issues, substance abuse, and mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD.  POPPA also provides ongoing and semi-annual training and self-care support groups for its PSOs.  PSOs work in conjunction with a network of independent mental health clinicians who provide guidance and expertise. 

POPPA has used CISM protocols in several of its programs.  These include our 24-hour Helplines, Trauma Response Teams (TRTs) that conduct diffusings — responding immediately to critical or traumatic incidents, and follow-up critical incident stress debriefings (CISD).  POPPA goes out on hundreds of calls each year.  The debriefings have enhanced our ability to identify signs of distress and to respond by offering services and making appropriate referrals for these officers.  Information that officers share during debriefings have helped guide the expansion of POPPA services.  We now periodically offer our 2-day workshop/seminars.  These events include a debriefing component as well as health and self-care and interpersonal effectiveness strategies designed to bolster officer resiliency.  

POPPA was just in its 5th year when 9/11 happened.  In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, PSOs and clinicians, familiar with CISM, provided coordinated emergency mental health services at Ground Zero and established a temporary crisis center at the nearby Federal Reserve Bank.  Several ICISF-sponsored CISM teams from across the US and around the world came to work with POPPA at Ground Zero.1  Large numbers of officers, arranged in small groups, underwent defusings and debriefings to help process their experiences and by late September 2001, POPPA was providing services to nearly 100 officers daily.2  From December 2002 to December 2003, POPPA screened 28,232 NYPD officers (approximately 73% of the estimated 39,000 NYPD force) for the ongoing impact of the events of 9/11.  Over 68% of officers reported at least one ongoing behavioral, emotional, physical, or cognitive 9/11-related stress symptom 15-27 months after the attacks.3 This demonstrates the importance of responding to the emotional and psychological effects of exposure to traumatic events and the potentially devastating impact of cumulative traumatic exposures on police. 

The impetus for the development of POPPA was the shocking increase in suicides within the NYPD in 1993, 1994 and 1995.  With the exceptions of the deaths of 23 NYPD officers on 9/11, the ever-increasing numbers of 9/11 health-related NYPD deaths, and COVID-19-related NYPD deaths, the rate of suicide among NYPD officers is typically at least 2-3 times that of line-of-duty deaths annually.  This heart-breaking reality – that suicide exceeds line-of-duty deaths nationwide every year has led POPPA to develop its own Suicide Awareness for Emergency Responders (S.A.F.E.R.) program.   

The S.A.F.E.R. program helps to identify warning signs of suicidality and to respond effectively and compassionately to get the officer in distress appropriate professional help.  POPPA has conducted S.A.F.E.R. training for its own PSOs, as well as for NYPD peer support officers, active-duty NYPD officers, and has offered this training to surrounding agencies and police departments beyond the NYC area.  This training, like all POPPA services, is provided free-of-charge.

With gratitude for the work that the ICISF does and the collaboration between ICISF and POPPA, we would like to extend an offer for free S.A.F.E.R. training to emergency responders and clinical personnel as our guests.  If you are interested, please contact John Petrullo at 917 416-6558.

References

1. Levenson RL, Jr. and Acosta JK.  Observations from Ground Zero at the World Trade Center in New York City, Part I.  International Journal of Emergency Mental Health 2001 3(4), pp. 241-244.
2. Silver Award:  The Child and Adolescent Services Program of the World Trade Center Healing Services, Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers, New York – Providing Trauma-Related Treatment to Students After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, and Other Traumatic Events.  2005 APA Silver Achievement Awards.  Psychiatric Services, October 2005: Vol. 56: No 10.  Pp. 1309-1312.
3. 3. Dowling FG, Moynihan G, Genet B, and Lewis J.  A Peer-Based Assistance Program for Officers with the New York City Police Department:  Report of the Effects of Sept. 11, 2001.  Am J Psychiatry 2006; 163:151-153.

For more information check out their website! https://poppanewyork.org/