LAKELAND, Fla. (WFLA) — Lakeland Assistant Police Chief Steve Pacheco has spent much of the last decade getting officers to talk about their feelings, their anxieties, and their mental health.
“Because of their profession and because they don’t want to be perceived as being weak or asking for help, they’re afraid to ask somebody ‘What do I do?’ ‘How do I get help or how can I continue on?’” he said.
Pacheco has his own experience with mental health issues and suicide. He was away at a conference when his wife died by suicide 15 years ago.
“This police department investigated her death and so all of my friends had to answer that call,” said Pacheco. “It shocks you and it really changes your life and changes your perspective on life.”
Pacheco said it took conversations with empathetic coworkers to even recognize that he had gone through a traumatic event and to seek the help he needed.
In the years since, he has worked to make sure officers understand the impact the job has on their mental health.
“The things that we see and the things we have to deal with in this job will change you as a human being,” he said.
He has worked with Lakeland Regional Health to provide an alternative, discreet entrance for officers seeking mental health treatment in a crisis.
He meets with new recruits and their families to discuss warning signs of mental distress.
“The ones that are closest to us are going to notice that change before anybody does,” he said.
In March, the Lakeland Police Department launched a customized version of the “Lighthouse Health & Wellness” app on the work cell phones of sworn officers, civilian employees and retired officers.
It consolidates all the mental health resources available to employees, including contact information for the peer support team, of which Asst. Chief Pacheco is a member.
“24/7 assistance so those are your hotlines, your suicide hotline. There’s another entity called Cop Line which is actually manned by police officers or retired police officers,” said Pacheco.
It also includes questionnaires about depression, anxiety and alcohol use.
“It will give you some recommendations that, hey you’re feeling stressed, this is where your score’s at so maybe you need to call a peer support person or maybe you need to reach out to a chaplain or call [Employee Assistance Program] EAP,” Pacheco said.
The app cost $3,300 for the department to be able to customize it and send targeted alerts to employees.
The hope is to provide officers with a first step to seeking mental health treatment in a crisis.
“Let’s just say an officer or a civilian is going through a bad time in their life and they’re feeling stressed out. They don’t really know. They’ve never been to a counselor. They’ve never been to a psychologist. They don’t really know where they’re at in life,” said Pacheco.
The Lakeland Fire Department is also considering utilizing the app.
There is already a focus on mental health within that department, including its own peer support group.
“You need to vent sometimes with all the stresses, do it with someone who understands rather than take it home to your wife and kids,” said Lt. Paramedic Phil Green, who coordinates the peer support group.
In the end, Pacheco says, the goal is to save lives.
“A lot of our public safety professionals die by suicide because they don’t feel like they can reach out and talk to somebody and get help,” he said.
