Annual Report

Command Resilience

COMMAND RESILIENCE

2008/09 was a memorable year for the Command Resilience Group. The earlier part of the year was taken up with proof reading and refining the 'Be a better Superintendent' Toolkit. An award winning occupational psychologist, Emma Donaldson-Feilder, was selected to assist the production and the toolkit was formally launched at Conference in the Summer. Every member has since been issued with their personal copy and as new members join they are issued a copy.

The toolkit has since attracted considerable interest across the United Kingdom and internationally. The PSNI have adopted the product for their members and we are currently in discussion with the Inspectors Central Committee of the Police Federation. The toolkit offers practical tips and advice on four key areas; Living Better, Performing Better, Feeling Better and Leading Better. As a follow up, a series of articles have also featured in the Superintendent magazine and a series of presentations have been delivered to other key policing organisations to market the resource.

All Inspectors within HMIC have been issued with their own copy and have promised to use it as a reference tool in forthcoming inspections and members of the APA have also been given copies. It is pleasing to note the interest shown across the Service and the Group is proud of its efforts.

In addition, the Revitalise wellbeing website was also launched at Conference and offered to members and their families as an additional free support service.  This has also attracted considerable interest across the Police Service and it is pleasing to note that Revitalise are now working with several Police Forces across the UK.

This year, instead of a Christmas card, members who attended Conference received a postal reminder of the promises they had made to themselves (at Conference) to improve their lifestyle. The idea was well received at Conference but feedback suggests a few promises have been broken!  Indeed, the Chair of our group promised to lose at least a stone in weight by next Conference. At the time of writing he still has some work to do…

Following the launch of the toolkit, efforts moved onto the Personal Resilience questionnaire. Again, with the help of Emma, a newly constructed questionnaire was produced and circulated across the membership. The results from the survey will feature as part of a presentation at this year’s Conference.

Questions around long hours, anxiety and depression, and other health issues which have featured in previous questionnaires, remain in the current survey, but new additional areas are also covered on wider personal resilience issues, such as caring responsibilities.

Our efforts in the forthcoming year will be focused on the health survey findings and how we can best continue to influence improvements. We will also be monitoring the impact of the broader economic recession particularly in relation to Command Resilience.

Robin Jarman

Superintendent