Uganda: Stressed Police Officers Undergo Counselling in Arua

29 July 2023
Nile Post (Kampala)
By Arafat Nzito

Police have begun stress and trauma counselling and training among their staff in an effort to improve the mental wellness of law enforcement officers.

This process commenced this week in West Nile region being the pilot regional police to empower police officers with skills of managing trauma and stress in the course of their duties.

In this Initial training, 25 police officers were carefully selected from different districts in the region who received training from Monday July 24 to 28 at Ediofe Catholic Mission in Arua City organised by police in collaboration with MEMPRO Uganda, an organisation that deals with stress management amongst the public.

According to the regional spokesperson , Josephine Angucia, the 25 officers were tactfully selected with a purpose of the training to empower them with skills of managing trauma and stress in the course of their duties.

Amongst the topics covered in this training invluded general trauma, vicarious trauma management, treatment of victims of trauma, copying mechanisms, characteristics of a traumatized person at work place, counseling in general, stress management and self-care tips to police officers.

The triaining was conducted by Dr. Ruth Matoya, an experienced consellor of law enforcement officers.

During the week-long counselling, Henry Kavuma, the district police commander of Arua, thanked the law enforcement body and its partners for organising this very important training for police officers, stating that, "Police officers frequently meet so many victims of trauma as well as get personally traumatised by the experiences they get while handling trauma victims, thus this training will help empower police officers with knowledge on how to manage trauma."

Those who pointed out low pay as one of the causes of stress among police officers were advised to be patient and not overstress themselves on salaries because they will increase over time, as will general welfare in the force.

Participants were encouraged to put their newly acquired knowledge into practise in order to better serve the general public and to pass it on to their colleagues.

This training process comes at a time when many police officers are experiencing vicarious trauma as a result of the daily trauma cases they encounter in the course of their duties.

Read the original article on Nile Post.

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