The wellbeing of those working in policing has again been in the news again recently with conversations about the use of trauma trackers to monitor exposure (guardian.com).

The FCN have been working for the last few years with practitioners in England and Wales and more widely across the world to identify the challenges, share best practice and improve the wellbeing of our workforce.

The second edition of the FCN Forensic Investigators wellbeing toolkit is now available on the FCN website and will be shared widely across the forensic community. It includes new research and Case studies and examples from police forces across England and Wales and worldwide. 

The FCN Workforce Strategy Lead Dr. Joanne Morrissey shared a survey with practitioners last year. Preliminary results were shared at several events including a webinar in January and the full report is now available. It is available through the FCN website and the results of this first piece of work will now inform focus groups that will start in late June/early July. 

The focus groups will look at developing the main themes from the survey:

  • The importance of support for practitioners
  • Psychological screening and counselling provision
  • Measurement of interventions used and targeting these more appropriately.

There will be groups for crime scene investigators, digital forensic practitioners and other forensic disciplines. We already have volunteers but If you or any of your colleagues are interested in these groups then please contact Joanne.morrissey@dorset.pnn.police.uk and we will send out a list of meeting dates. 

Our workforce are our most valuable asset and it is of the utmost importance that we protect them.