Intro section
The challenge
British Transport Police (BTP) Officers and Staff are frequently exposed to the risk of violence and assault and are frequently involved in very challenging incidents with members of the public on the railways. It is recognised by BTP that the impact upon the mental health of officers tasked with this work is significant and suicide rates are high in comparison to most front-line professions. Consequently, BTP adopted TRiM (Trauma Risk Management), but early uptake of this trauma support was very low, and it was apparent that this needed exploration. Consequently, the BTP Safety, Health and Wellbeing team sought a collaborative review of wellbeing and trauma support provisions within the force.
The approach
A project exploring the barriers to the uptake of TRiM and the wider issues relating to wellbeing was commissioned by the Chief Officers Group (COG), undertaken by the team of psychologists from the Centre for Human Factors, University of Hull and the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Data collection engaged a range of stakeholders in England, Wales and Scotland and the report provided description of the key findings, and recommendations for further work to tackle the issues raised.
The Impact
Since the completion of the project, there has been considerable growth in wellbeing activities within the organisation. The foundations for support were strengthened and the TRIM process was supplemented with the launch of a peer support programme. The force wellbeing offering has grown profoundly, and the findings resulted in tangible benefits across the force including wellbeing strategy development, and accessibility of wellbeing practitioners.
Main Article
The Challenge
British Transport Police (BTP) Officers and Staff are exposed high risk of violence and assault, due to the nature of policing the railways. High rate of injuries and near misses and incidents had led to initiatives that aim to mitigate risks of physical harm to staff. In addition to this risk of violence, frequent exposure to difficult public incidents significantly impacts BTP officers’ mental health. This detrimental cumulative effect on staff wellbeing is recognised by BTP.
Due to the level of exposure staff and officers face, suicide rates are high in comparison to most front-line professions. Consequently, following NICE guidelines, BTP adopted TRiM (Trauma Risk Management) – a reactive risk assessment tool which aims to signpost employees to support and help if they are showing signs of traumatic exposure. Yet, early uptake of the trauma support provisions at the time was low and feedback made it clear that there were some challenges which needed exploration.
To explore and address these challenges, the Director for People & Culture commissioned a project led by the BTP Safety, Health and Wellbeing team to explore the barriers to the uptake of TRiM and the broader wellbeing picture at BTP. In doing so, BTP wanted to be forward-thinking by taking an holistic approach to officer and staff mental health by exploring various contributing factors.
Siobhan Root, Head of Wellbeing, was the Mental Health and Trauma Manager at the time the project was commissioned. Siobhan explains,
“We wanted to understand from the focus groups delivered why people weren’t taking up TRiM (what was preventing them from doing so). Were there any gaps in the provision that we weren’t aware of, and were there other things that we should be looking at to complement the TRiM process as our mental health and wellbeing offering was effectively in its infancy stage at this point in time? Therefore, it was really about how we could better utilise TRiM and what else we could be doing in that space.”
Key stakeholders in this work were the Chief Officers Group, the British Transport Police Authority, the British Transport Police Safety, Health and Wellbeing Team and the Police Federation.
The Approach
The project team consisted of occupational, health, clinical and research psychologists from Centre for Human Factors University of Hull and the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE). To meet the aims of the project, a range of data collection strategies were employed, including a document review, an analysis of HR recruitment and selection data, interviews, focus groups and meetings with key stakeholders. These sessions were conducted nationwide to understand perceptions of wellbeing provisions across the force and to gather a balanced range of perspectives from as many contexts as possible. Participants included all ranks across the force.
The Impact
Siobhan explained that there was very positive feedback from the officers who engaged with the project. Although the findings didn’t provide the senior leadership team with a mechanism to solve the trauma and wellbeing challenges identified, there were many initiatives following the project which built on the insights gained: There has been considerable growth in wellbeing activities within the organisation; the foundations of support were strengthened and the TRIM process was supplemented with the launch of a peer support programme. Siobhan explained that there were two key recommendations from the work that were taken into consideration:
- Wellbeing lead implementation, and the expansion of the wellbeing team
- 3rd party provider contract for mental health provisions (more investment in outsourcing rather than in-house, enabling nationwide wellbeing support)
Siobhan said “The focus group feedback helped us understand that there was still a lot of stigma surrounding TRiM in particular, as well as confidentiality concerns due to misconceptions that participation would appear on records or colleagues would find out about their involvement, despite this not being the case. Additionally, the degree of concern towards the process differed in certain areas of the force, with some areas particularly standing out in terms of privacy fears.”
Siobhan also explained that overall, the force wellbeing offering has grown profoundly, and there are also several ways in which the findings have resulted in tangible benefits across the force:
- Evolution of the wellbeing team
- Accessibility of wellbeing practitioners nationwide
- Wellbeing strategy development
- Formation of a Wellbeing Hub (one-shop place for guides and support)
- TRiM utilisation rates have remained steady, but retention has increased
- 3rd party provision
Of the value in collaborating with the Centre for Human Factors and HSE on this work, Siobhan said,
“The focus on widening the workforces’ views on wellbeing by looking at multiple new angles, rather than just the lens of trauma due to its prevalence across the force has been of particular benefit.”
“We received a great level of support throughout the journey from the CHF team, and an appreciation that the wellbeing team themselves are exposed to trauma through handling logs and files (acknowledging they deserve consideration as well). It was an extremely positive experience – I think we had initially underestimated the benefits of the project in terms of learning new things and gaining insights beyond the scope, along with garnering the expertise of the Centre for Human Factors team.”
