Treating Police Stress: The Work and the Words of Peer Counselors

Madonna (Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis) worked with police officers and their families for many years in Worcester, MA. Kelly, retired from the Massachusetts State Police, helped found its Psychological Services Unit. In order to understand the experience of police stress unit responders, they interviewed all the officers of the Worcester Police Department who had served as peer support counselors since the unit's inception 20 years ago. Includes discussion of critical issues, aiming for prevention rather than first aid for the psychologically wounded, recommendations for responding to a traumatic incident, and a foreword by the president of the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation. Lacks an index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)