Culture Shifts One Conversation at a Time

After teaching a recent class, I was approached by the wellness director of a large police department that was starting a wellness section. She shared some of the challenges they were facing and asked for advice on where to begin. My response? How’s the culture in your agency?

Culture trumps everything.

In 2025, police departments across the country are finally having the right conversations. There's a growing understanding that cumulative trauma affects both the mental and physical health of first responders. And more companies than ever are offering tools and programs to support officer wellness.

There are apps that allow officers to complete self-assessments, access resources, and watch educational videos about trauma and mental health. But in talking with officers, one thing is clear: these programs are often severely underused.

Why?

If most officers understand the long-term effects of trauma, why don’t they use the resources available to them?

Ask any culturally competent professional and you’ll hear the same answer: stigma. I’ve yet to attend a police mental health training where stigma isn’t a major topic.

In the past, officers who sought help for depression, anxiety, or PTSD were often punished by their departments. They were pulled from the street and treated like they were broken. So on top of what they were already dealing with, they lost a key part of their identity. That kind of experience created a culture of silence. When cops were struggling, they kept it to themselves.

Today is different. Education and research have shifted how departments approach mental health. There's still work to do, but the culture is evolving. The stigma is fading, but wellness facilities are still empty. How leaders treat their people needs to change before any real progress can happen.

That cultural shift is what makes it possible for officers to speak up when they're struggling. A department can have the best wellness program in the world, with top-tier facilities and talented professionals, but if leadership doesn’t actively support it, none of it matters. It will all sit unused. Officers who don’t believe leadership has their back will never trust them with their mental health.

So how can an agency change its culture around wellness to actually help its cops?

• Wellness affects every part of an officer’s life. Are they allowed to take time off? Is staffing so short that they’re running call to call without a break? How they’re treated on a daily basis has a direct impact on their emotional health.

• Leaders have to walk the walk. I wrote a blog about how leaders need to address their own mental health and how that directly affects the people who work with them. You can read it [here].

• Conversations about therapy and mental health resources need to be normalized. Mental health should be part of every aspect of policing, not a separate or hidden issue.

• Building resilience must be a priority. We need to shift from only using mental health services to fix a problem, to building the strength to face trauma and still maintain mental and physical health.

  
  

The hardest part about culture change is that it takes time. When I was working in the wellness bureau in Las Vegas, I had the opportunity to visit the Nashville Police Department. They were years ahead of where we were, and their director told me that changing culture takes time. He said it would probably take ten years to truly shift the culture in a police department.

Culture doesn't change because of a new app or a one-time training. It changes when leaders consistently show up, have hard conversations, and make wellness a daily priority. If we want officers to stay healthy and effective, we have to create an environment where they feel seen, supported, and safe enough to ask for help. One conversation at a time, we can build that culture. The question is: are we willing to lead it?