Strategic Wellness in Policing: The TPS model for member mental healthBy Lanie Schachter-Snipper, Toronto Police ServiceMental health and well-being are fundamental to the overall health of police officers and civilian members. By strategically prioritizing well-being, police services can support a healthy workforce from “hire to retire.” Improving police wellbeing starts with the development and delivery of a data-driven wellbeing strategy. The process of building a well-being strategy can be daunting, but by following a few simple steps, organizations can ensure their strategies are effective, meaningful and sustainable.In 2020, the Toronto Police Service (TPS) launched its inaugural member well-being strategy and framework. This strategy was one of the first of its kind in Canadian policing. Since the strategy was launched, TPS has made significant advancements in member well-being, including introducing more dedicated mental health roles and delivering targeted well-being programming. As a result, in 2024, TPS received a high commendation at the TELUS Health Wellbeing Awards and achieved Canada Awards for Excellence (CAE) Gold Certification in Mental Health at Work® in 2025.This article leverages TPS’s experience with member well-being to provide a blueprint for how other police organizations can take steps towards building their own well-being strategies.Members of the TPS Wellness Unit at their annual TPS Member Wellness Day Event.USE DATA TO IDENTIFY ISSUES AND OPPORTUNITIESThe most effective workplace well-being solutions are borne of a clear understanding of the issues. However, it is not uncommon for organizations to lack the information necessary to make data-driven decisions. As a result, organizations may find themselves relying on unreliable data, like informal feedback, to dictate how their limited workplace health and well-being budgets are spent. By engaging in a formal process of collecting data, organizations are better poised to make evidence-informed decisions with a higher return on investment.While there are different tools that can be used to collect data, audits and surveys are two examples of user-friendly tools for organizations of all sizes. In 2019, TPS started the process of collecting and analyzing well-being data by auditing wellness areas, including occupational health and safety systems, sick leave, and disability management programs.In parallel, the organization also released a service-wide Culture Survey and a Member Wellbeing Survey that resulted in thousands of responses. Using the data derived from this, the TPS Wellness Unit and other key stakeholders were able to advocate for the resources necessary to start to build a well-being strategy.DEVELOP AND SHARE RECOMMENDATIONSThe data collected informed a 20-page document that outlined key recommendations to modernize the delivery of member well-being services through the Wellness Unit. These recommendations were shared across the organization and included a multiyear action plan to realize key goals to increase members’ health, productivity and performance. By distilling the data into a comprehensive set of recommendations, TPS was able to identify actionable areas upon which to build the strategy. Each organization will develop their own unique set of recommendations based on the specific data that emerges from their context. TPS identified the following areas as strategic themes for member well-being:1. Confidence, trust and access;2. Health promotion and illness/ injury prevention;3. Ecosystem of care and support; and4. Culture, behaviours and member experience.These key areas will be the foundation upon which organizations will start to create deliverable action plans.IDENTIFY MEASURABLE DELIVERABLESAn action plan includes tactical and measurable initiatives with the goal of enhancing member well-being. These initiatives should be data-driven, culturally appropriate and built for the specific needs of each service. TPS identified several actionable areas to prioritize in the Member Well-being Strategy. Below are examples of a few of them:1. Integrated health teams; 2. Health hubs; 3. System navigation;4. Health promotion and harm prevention;5. Targeted well-being programs;6. Ecosystem of well-being supports;7. Psychological health and safety; and8. Stakeholder advisory panel.By identifying and describing initiatives, an organization can begin to build out a resourcing plan to identify staffing, budgetary and approval needs.GET BUY-INDeveloping and delivering a well-being strategy is an exercise in collaboration and cooperation across an organization. Member well-being initiatives impact the physical and mental health of members, but they also affect other areas such as recruitment, retention, training and operations. The process of developing a well-being strategy requires many contributing voices from across the organization, including from various ranks and roles, from both sworn and civilian members. By engaging key stakeholders, an organization will be better able to ensure that their well-being strategy is effective, sustainable and speaks to the complex needs of the membership.One approach to engaging stakeholders to increase buy-in is to create an advisory committee of volunteer members who represent a cross-section of the organization’s demographics, including senior leadership. While the role of a well-being subject matter expert (SME) is to convert input into actionable initiatives, the advisory committee’s role is to review the initiatives with an eye for ensuring cultural appropriateness and feasibility. The Advisory Committee can also translate into an informal team of ambassadors throughout the service who will be the voice of wellbeing when the strategy is launched.A significant amount of progress has been made in the development of data analytics and measurement frameworks to report on program performance, member engagement/ experience and compliance to statutory requirements and internal procedures. Key success indicators could include, but are not limited to, increased engagement in health promotion initiatives, reduced stigma around illness and injury, increased participation in early, safe and sustained return to work, decreases in absence frequency and severity and an increase in member awareness and accessibility of supports. By identifying and reporting on key indicators of well-being success, the organization is able to make resource allocations and investments based on data. It is important to note that the investment in a member well-being strategy represents complex transformative changes, and immediate impact to member wellness-related metrics may not be visible right away.Member well-being programming is a long-term strategy for organizations. Police organizations can best support the well-being of their members by taking a strategic, planned and evidence-informed approach to member mental health and well-being. This starts with building a data-driven strategy informed by members and built to create lasting and meaningful change.Lanie Schachter-Snipper is the Mental Health and Wellbeing Lead for the Toronto Police Service’s Wellness Unit. She can be reached at Lanie. schachter-snipper@tps.ca.
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