About

“According to a five-year study, the daily stress of police work places officers at greater risk than the general population of developing a range of physical and mental health ailments. Law enforcement stress is correlated with higher levels of sleeplessness, suicide and cancer.

 Mindfulness programming represents a dramatic evolution in policing and there is growing evidence that mindful police officers make better listeners and smarter decisions. They are more productive, less judgmental and show greater empathy will have better interactions with the public. Mindfulness helps with emotion regulation, another crucial component for officers."

 What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the practice of being in the moment -- not dwelling in the past, not thinking about the future. It is the non-judgmental exploration of feelings, surroundings and experiences as they happen to heighten clarity and insight, and avoid reacting out of emotion. Studies have linked it to many health benefits, including reduced pain, better concentration and more self-awareness.

Mind, Body Stress Reduction (MBSR)

Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn developed the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Since its inception, MBSR has evolved into a common form of complementary medicine addressing a variety of health problems. The National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine has provided a number of grants to research the efficacy of the MBSR program in promoting healing Completed studies have found that pain-related drug utilization was decreased, and activity levels and feelings of self esteem increased, for a majority of participants. More information on these studies can be found on the University of Massachusetts Medical School website.

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction brings together mindfulness meditation and yoga. MBSR is an 8-week intensive training in mindfulness meditation, which meets on a weekly basis. Mindfulness practice is ideal for cultivating greater awareness of the unity of mind and body, as well as of the ways the unconscious thoughts, feelings, and behaviors can undermine emotional, physical, and spiritual health. The mind is known to be a factor in stress and stress-related disorders, and meditation has been shown to positively effect a range of autonomic physiological processes, such as lowering blood pressure and reducing overall arousal and emotional reactivity. In addition to mindfulness practices, The program brings meditation and yoga/ gentle movement together so that the virtues of both can be experienced simultaneously .

Mindfulness is a lifetime engagement--not to get somewhere else, but to be where and as we actually are in this very moment, whether the experience is pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral.

 The Mindfit Project offers adaptations of this style/model of intervention. Working with the Cambridge Police Department we are tailoring group sessions to fit the culture of policing. 

Challenges

The practice represents a radical shift: mindfulness has the potential to transform law enforcement culture and reinvent community.  Police participants in similar mindfulness programs integrated into police departments showed significant improvements in perceived stress and police stress. They also showed significant improvement in mindfulness, resiliency, mental health functioning and levels of anger.

Mindfulness practices have been identified as helpful but difficult to practice.  A culture change needs to occur in order for these practices to be used effectively and for police personnel and other first responders to recognize that the practice of mindfulness does not increase vulnerability but rather increases the potential for officers to respond rather than react in their everyday work life and interactions with the public.