RESILIENCE INVESTIGATED

Resilience means the ability to function successfully under challenging circumstances and involves the human aspects of police professionalism. How can police personnel continue to do their work under mentally and physically stressful circumstances, and what do they need in order to recover properly? What support can be provided for police personnel in order to ensure that they can continue to contribute to a fairer and safer society - a society in which tensions and stresses are increasing, producing complex and difficult situations? These questions touch on the human and inter personal processes that are at play in police work. Five years of research into these processes has led to a number of scientific insights that are relevant to police work. These insights are explained and illustrated, and their relevance to other international literature is revealed. This research emerged from the agenda of the Professional Resilience Enhancement Programme. The Programme has led to the launch of several new interventions, as well as the improvement of existing interventions. Examples include Mental Strength Training, the 24-7 Police Help Desk, the Suicide Registration Point and Fit@NP.

This book has been published alongside a collection of short stories entitled Stories of Resilience: personal experiences that illustrate what resilience means in practice.