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Counselling isn't for the 'completely bonkers'!
Recent research conducted by Amanda Larcombe with the Devon & Cornwall Constabulary highlights some crucial lessons that need to be learned by both organisations employing and providing counselling services.
Published in the Counselling at Work Journal, February 2007, Issue 55, p.16-17.
“Counselling isn’t for the ‘completely bonkers’!”
Recent research with a UK police force has highlighted that misconceptions and cultural stereotyping still exist in association with counselling provision. How does this affect the potential for counselling to support police officers? What are the implications for organisations? What lessons need to be learnt by counsellors, counselling providers and the organisations that employ them?
“Around 250,000 days were lost across the UK police forces in 2004-5 due to stress-related illness, costing around 40m a year, according to Home Office figures.” (www.personneltoday.com/Articles, 25 May 2006)
“17 percent of this group should be seeking medical treatment…nearly 20 percent of those who responded to the survey show symptoms of depression.” (Superintendents’ Association Health Survey, Lund, 2003)
Devon & Cornwall Constabulary (DCC), along with all other UK constabularies, has been and continues to be under increasing pressure to reduce absenteeism due to stress-related illness. The scale of the problem is evidenced regularly in the media and the UK police forces own publications and, as such, add to this influence. One of the many measures they have taken to tackle this issue has been to employ the services of an EAP, which, amongst other things, provides counselling support. With such pressures to succeed it is vital that the investment they have made realises a significant return. In other words, that the counselling provision does what increasing amounts of research have shown it is capable of doing: reduce absenteeism and improve psychological well-being (Sprang, 1992; Cheeseman, 1996; Worrall, 1999; Barkham, Shapiro et al, 1999; Royal College of Nursing, 2000; McLeod, 2001; Michie & Williams, 2002; Millar, 2002).
A recently completed piece of research (Larcombe, 2006), investigating the DCC’s experience of counselling provision in this context, discovered that many misconceptions, misunderstandings and negative stereotypes of counselling still exist. In particular, what it is and who it is for: ‘who should use it’. The fact that they still exist may not be a surprise. Indeed many would possibly have assumed that this would be the case, particularly in association with organisational culture. However, what became apparent during this piece of work is the potential extent of their influence: so extensive that it can and does undermine the capacity of counselling provision to do what was being asked of it. What we are left with is a very clear message relating to the responsibilities counsellors, counselling providers and organisations employing counselling services have in the context of education and cultural awareness.
The study invited Police Officers who had use counselling at some point in their career to share their experience of the process. Responses were remarkably full and in some cases very colourful. What they highlighted were three elements that appeared to cause problems:
1. What Police Officers thought counselling was
2. Who counselling was for, who ‘qualified’ to have it
3. And the cultural fit of the overall image of counselling with that of the perceived organisational culture
Police Officers reported a lack of understanding as to what counsellors do and what counselling is:
“I thought that the counsellors would have all the answers to my problems but that is not the case.”(23)
For those who expected and needed advice and answers to specific questions, this realisation resulted in their thoughts on counselling being quite negative. In other words their expectations were not appropriately matched by the counselling provision, even though these expectations were based on a lack of understanding.
Reassuringly the study discovered that many Police Officers views on counselling changed for the better. In so doing, however, they highlighted what their original thoughts were on what the process was, who it was for and potentially how ‘inappropriate’ this would be for a Police Officer:
“not for the ‘weak’ or a ‘waste of time’ but an objective view from an independent party who helps you to help yourself.”(18)
“It is not the ‘bean bag, pink fluffy cushion’ that many colleagues believe….Its biggest problem is the services ‘macho’ image.”(31)
Locke (2004) explains that the macho culture is embedded in the assumption that a tough job requires tough people to do it and that being ‘tough’ means that you “do not suffer from ‘emotional stuff’ as only wimps have those problems” (Locke, 2004:12). Police Officers readily confirmed the existence of this view within their responses:
“Realisation that counselling isn’t for the ‘completely bonkers!’”(19)
“I now don’t see it as a soft option”(34)
In this instance, counselling as a service and a process appears to have an image that effectively clashes with the perceived existence of the ‘macho’ culture of the organistation: one cannot be weak, waste time, be ‘pink and fluffy’ and sit on bean bags whilst being a ‘strong’ police officer. What was not discernable is the source of this image: the police culture, society or individual beliefs and values? It is more than likely a mixture, to some degree, of all of them. However, the fact remains that this image exists.
The impact of these views has been found to be both significant and invariably negative. It was found to affect police officers expectations associated with counselling. They expected one thing and got another which in some cases reinforced a view that it was a ‘waste of time’. This view, of course, is then taken back into the organisation and potentially passed on to other police officers. It was found to affect their attitudes to taking it up. The fear of ridicule, possibly being seen to be ‘weak’ or ‘bonkers’, either delayed entry to counselling or prohibited them taking it up altogether. In some cases the delay then appeared to extend the duration of sickness absence:
“I always knew its value I just left it too late to get it.”(16)
The study showed that when police officers finally accessed counselling, the number of short term absences dropped by about half, whilst the requirement for periods ‘Over 22 days’ nearly doubled. A possible indicator of the extent to which their limits (emotional / physical / psychological) had been compromised whilst they delayed their entry into counselling.
With such strong negative influences it is a wonder that the counselling facility was used at all. What was evident within the study however was that a positive counselling experience did appear to facilitate some sort of challenge: actively changing perception and enabling a ripple of cultural change to find its way back into the organisation:
“I have spent too much of my police service dismissing the value of counselling. For several years I believed that there was no place for it, and that as members of the police, we should be capable of rising above the emotions surrounding tragedy. Culturally there was (and is?) great difficulty for officers to concede that counselling may be the answer…I am now a champion for the benefits of counselling…”(2)
Sadly, it appears that misconceptions, misunderstandings and stereotypes of counselling still exist. In this instance they are associated with a UK police force, the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary. What should be of concern to all parties involved, the organisation, counsellors and the counselling providers, is that they have the potential to actively undermine the ability of the counselling providers to do what has been asked of them. Indeed, what is ‘expected’ of them as the result of increasing bodies of research into the relative effectiveness of counselling in the workplace. What this means is that whilst these views remain unchanged the DCC is investing in a service that is only yielding a possibly small percentage of its return on investment. Counselling providers are unable to show the full impact of the service they are able to provide. And, most importantly many police officers may be left suffering unduly and careers lost completely because they feel unable to grab the life line that has been extended to them.
It is difficult to pin point the source of such views and therefore who is responsible for what: is it organisational culture, society or the individual? In many ways, however, the source could be considered immaterial. We simply need to know that they exist to be able to challenge and change them. What is clear is that organisations, when employing counselling services, need to be made aware that these influences exist; to know how their organisational culture may affect the return on their investment and be supported in addressing it positively. Counselling providers need to incorporate regular ongoing programmes of education around the process of counselling, where it is an appropriate intervention, what to expect from it and to actively dispel the associated myths around ‘who’ it is for: a responsibility which ultimately can also be directed to the professional bodies that oversee their work and the profession as a whole.
We all know that you do not have to be ‘completely bonkers’ to benefit greatly from counselling. However, it is incumbent on us all to ensure that individuals and organisations employing our services know that this is the case.
Amanda Larcombe
MBACP MA BA(Hons) Adv Dip Couns Cert Coaching
Director, Optima Workplace Ltd
Counsellor and Coach in Private Practice
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Anti-stress scheme boosts health and morale of City of London police: Wellbeing
Personnel Today, 8 March
www.personneltoday.com/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=34257
>2006
www.personneltoday.com/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=34257
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