The Muncie Police Department will soon refocus on helping employees deal with some of the stress they go through as part of a revamp of their employee assistance program.
The EAP provides free, confidential services to officers who may be experiencing issues with areas such as addiction, mental health or finances either in their personal life or on the job.
“A police officer on the street sees all kinds of things through the years that the average person would not be able to comprehend,” MPD Chief Steve Stewart said. “They are human beings too and sometimes they struggle with things. That’s what we try to do is help those who are struggling.”
Stewart said he had seen their EAP fall by the wayside--representatives dropped out and it wasn’t run properly.
MPD Detective Amy Kesler and Captain Allen Williams, who was recently hired as Ball State’s new assistant police chief, went to Stewart and said they wanted to strengthen the program.
A year ago, Kesler said, MPD officers volunteered to be new EAP representatives, but plans did not really start moving until early February when she attended training. She learned about issues officers face, warning signs, how to approach people and how to form peer support groups.
“Our job is in the infancy stage,” Kesler said. “I have a few things set up but I work on it a little bit every day.”
Her goal is to change the culture at MPD to one where it is okay to ask for help, making the department feel more like family.
She said if an issue reaches the point where an officer needs to be disciplined because they made a mistake at work, the department should have already known if something else was going on in the officer’s life.
“We have to be 100 percent when we are at work," she said. "We have a dangerous job."
If an officer is going through difficulties at home or at work such as marital issues or a trauma incident at work, they can come to an EAP officer to talk about it and the officer will refer them to local counseling services, a psychiatrist or a clinician.
All help is confidential and paid for by the department.
“A lot of people don't know we have this program or they are afraid it’s not confidential for the stigma that may go with that,” Kesler said. “Just reiterating to people that it’s there, it’s fully confidential and we want people to take advantage of it when they need it.”
Stewart said that as chief of police, he never knows if someone takes advantage of the EAP.
Kelser volunteered to be an EAP rep after she experienced personal issues that she thought affected her job. She didn’t think the help was there when she needed it and she saw an opportunity to help other officers.
“I would find some of the officers would talk to me more than other people about issues they were having and I saw that as an opportunity to get people help that needed it before it got worse,” she said.
Stewart said the EAP reps genuinely care about their fellow officers in the department and don’t want to see anyone go down the wrong path.
“If you can save an employee, if you can’t turn somebody's life around, its a win-win,” Stewart said. “It’s a win for MPD and it’s a win for them, personally.”
Ball State’s Employee Assistance Program
Ball State police officers--or any of the university's employees at that--have fewer counseling assistance resource available to them than students.
The Ball State EAP is based out of the Human Resources Department, which coordinates visits to the Counseling Center for employees who need assistance.
Unlike MPD’s offerings, Ball State employees only have one free counseling session.
“The first hour is free,” said Human Resources Program Coordinator Marta Stephens. “Beyond that the clinic will advise but usually one hour is sufficient enough to sort through any issues.”
Stephens said in a biannual survey, the numbers are consistently high that employees are aware of the EAP and most people that take advantage of it are self-referred.
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