PAX Centurion - April / June 2016

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • April-May-June 2016 • Page 51 trauma of war. If you are not already disabled when you begin working as a police officer, your otherwise manageable stress could be exacerbated by police trauma to the point of disability. In that case, the legal cause of the disability is the job, not the military service. A good first step in assessing your case is obtaining a copy of your pre- employment psychological evaluation. “Bona fide personnel actions” are not considered compensable traumas. However, the action must be both a “personnel action” and “bona fide” in order to fit into this exemption. Union lawyers are currently pursuing litigation for employees who have been traumatized by acts of their superiors that exceed the bounds of these definitions. Your union may be able to obtain these benefits for you. But you must acknowledge that you might need help, and then seek it out. Many police officers do not seek help for psychological issues because they are afraid they will end up with a negative label. That fear is understandable, but untreated PTSD could cause you to develop issues that will themselves expose the problem, regardless of your intentions. It is better to get help before the problem becomes unmanageable. There is no way to predict who will be injured by exposure to trauma. It is said that a person “cannot experience force without being touched by it to the very soul. Grace can prevent this touch from corrupting him, but it cannot spare him the wound.” This is an old quotation, from SimoneWeil’s “the Iliad, or The Poem of Force,” and is in the prologue to Roxana Robinson’s wonderful novel, Sparta, about a young soldier returning from Iraq plagued by the symptoms of PTSD. Post-traumatic stress is as old as war. Fortunately our society is beginning to recognize it as a normal consequence of experiencing trauma. What can you do? P olice officers will not feel free to reach out for help with PTSD until the stigma of mental injury is erased.You can help by simply offering a sympathetic ear to your brother and sister officers when they tell you they are experiencing the symptoms discussed above.You can help even more by advising them to seek the help of a professional. Resources: The Boston Police Stress Unit: (617) 594-9313 (617) 343-5175 Police psychologist/psychiatrists: James Beck, Cambridge Hayden Duggan, The On-SiteAcademy, Gardner Mark Dunay, Harbor Counseling, Plymouth Leo Polizoti, the Direct Decision Institute, Worcester Eire Pub 795 Adams Street Dorchester, MA 02124 281 Neponset Ave. Dorchester 617-265-2665 Full Day Preschool – $40.00 Secure Play Area 4,000 sq. ft. 3 Classrooms 2 yrs. 9 mo. to 6 yrs. Massachusetts Early Education License #291031 • Daughter of a BPPA Retiree Neponset Preschool www.NeponsetPreschool.com