APD enhances officer mental health support services

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Employees from the Austin Police Department gave a briefing during the city of Austin's Public Safety Commission meeting earlier on Monday focused on how the department is aiming to bolster the officers' mental health in a stressful career.

It's all under the umbrella of the victim services and employee wellness division. The department employs psychologists, volunteer chaplains and even brings in dogs as part of what the department called a "pet comfort program."

While most officers deal with work-related stress, they can also seek help from a peer support program for anything outside of the line of duty, from anything dealing with relationship issues to dealing with grief, according to APD.

"And so any time any of these things get on our radar, we have a small team, and we do these check-ins on people. Then from there, we try to get them whatever help we think there is that might help them," said APD Peer Support Sergeant Jen Smith.

While there are state grants that can cover the costs of these types of programs -- like the first responder mental health grant -- they are not reoccurring, which means the department may explore other funding options in the next fiscal year.