While it has been well-established that support for officer safety and organizational wellness is crucial for the well-being of officers and their colleagues, agencies, families, and communities, entering the previously “uncharted territory” of building and maintaining an agency wellness program has felt daunting for many agencies.
Thankfully, through years of consistent dedication and support from industry-leading organizations and professionals, the field is fortunate to have clear, evidence-proven best practices; a wide availability of resources and partners; and clear pathways that agencies of any size or location can use to successfully implement a new wellness program, keep it relevant, and improve efficacy over time. The key is, and will always be, sharing information and resources among each other so that together, the industry can continue to advance and expand.
What Is the Number One Key for Wellness Program Sustainability?
Some of the most common questions IACP Officer Safety & Organizational Wellness Section leadership receive from agencies today are related to program sustainability. Many ask, “If I want to build a sustainable wellness program, where do I start?” Other agencies with established programs ask, “How can we make our wellness program sustainable?” Fortunately, the answer to both questions is covered by one paramount principle: Above all, agencies must earn and continually fortify an unshakable foundation of trust in every aspect of their wellness program. Next, that begs the question of how?
When agencies are in the beginning stages of building a new wellness program, building trust can start with simple steps such as communicating the purpose of the wellness program and inviting agency members to share their input on it (e.g., at shift brief meetings and/or via a quick “Wellness Interest Survey”). Promising to incorporate members’ input into the program and then keeping that promise by visibly integrating their input into the wellness program’s structure, design, and prioritized goals begins building a foundation of trust. That recommendation and more are included in the IACP’s IACPlearn: Introducing the IACP’s New Health & Wellness Assessment Tool and Action Planning Roadmap: Your GPS for Success video and accompanying Officer Health and Wellness Agency Assessment Tool and Action Planning Roadmap PDF, which provide a valuable framework for strategic wellness program success.
When agencies reach the stage of wellness program maintenance and expansion, sustaining success via sustaining trust becomes even more important. The following questions and expert responses will help guide a program’s success. Remember, whether an agency is in the beginning stages of building the wellness program or the agency already has an established wellness program but is working to make it more sustainable and expansive, there is no need to go it alone. Professional guidance is available at no cost to agencies via the U.S. Department of Justice and IACP’s CRI-TAC Program. Every agency wellness program is unique, and this technical assistance program provides agencies of all sizes and regions with customized technical training and assistance from world-class subject matter experts who have consistently achieved measurable, meaningful wellness program results and specialize in paving the way for more agencies to achieve sustainable wellness program success.
Can a Wellness Program Truly Sustain Relevance and Engagement?
Yes! It starts with program evaluations. It’s important to keep wellness programs relevant, engaging, and sustainable by continuously evaluating each initiative to ensure it still effectively meets the needs and preferences of staff and key stakeholders. That can be done by routinely hosting wellness program feedback forums, deploying wellness program satisfaction surveys, and evaluating qualitative and quantitative results and return on investment. Full guidance to do so is available in the workshop recording, “The Wellness Return-on-Investment (ROI) Cycle: Key Strategies to Achieve, Measure, and Report Valuable Results.” Remember, when evaluating wellness program initiatives, the most important step is instilling trust by communicating that when employees and key stakeholders speak, wellness leaders will listen and adjust or expand the wellness program in accordance with the current needs and preferences of those it serves.
What Are Some of the Most Sustainable Ways to Expand a Wellness Program?
As agencies successfully evaluate their wellness program, new or additional wellness needs will eventually come to light, and it will be time to expand the depth and breadth of the wellness program. That is typically a “fork in the road” moment. Either the program becomes even more relevant, helpful, and engaging, or it becomes overly cluttered, understaffed, and unsustainable. To achieve the best outcomes, it is very important to expand the agency’s wellness program gradually and systematically, while keeping program facets interconnected. Remember the old adage: “If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.” While it may be tempting to quickly add a large plethora of additional wellness initiatives or abruptly jump from one wellness initiative the next, doing so without proper planning can create a sense of confusion and overwhelm staff members. A more effective approach to expanding an agency’s wellness program is to take thoughtful, strategic steps to properly staff the program, ensure each new wellness initiative builds on previous or existing initiatives, and ensure all initiatives are interconnected and focused on a unified mission.
“Establishing partnerships with trusted universities that specialize in supporting police wellness programs can help provide “force multipliers” for agency wellness leaders as they monitor and report the success of their wellness program”
Doing so will give employees an opportunity to grow with the program and use it to steadily increase their wellness knowledge, skills, and abilities (instead of simply getting exposed to a variety of wellness program information or offerings that they don’t know how to use or do not feel comfortable using). Putting this principle into tangible terms, if an agency starts their wellness program with mental health initiatives, then brings in physical health and fitness experts to help expand the program, it will be important for the leaders of both programs to unite and show employees how both programs function together to support them (and the agency’s greater mission of supporting overall employee health, wellness, and quality of life). They could do so through organizing mutually beneficial communication campaigns, fun holistic wellness challenges and contests, designing in-service curriculum together, and more. The IACP’s Officer Safety & Wellness webpage and the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance VALOR program offer time-saving resources like wellness infographics, posters, and other communication tools that can help make the integration and cross-promotion of various wellness program initiatives even easier.1 Creating full cohesion among all facets of the agency’s wellness program and creating a very inviting and supportive wellness environment will make it easier for employees to understand and participate in the wellness program. That will significantly enhance overall program engagement and results
How Can Agencies Fund Wellness Program Staffing Expansions?
Adequately staffing the wellness program is a critical step when sustaining and expanding an agency’s wellness program. It may initially seem daunting, but thanks to advances in the industry, it’s becoming easier every year. For example, since many departments have achieved tremendous success by hiring a full-time wellness manger or director (who then establishes an agency wellness team or contractor/partner agreements), the U.S. Department of Justice COPS Office now provides up to $200,000 per year to fill that position via the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (LEMHWA) Program.
“Longer-term, more quantitative wellness program results can include reduced injury occurrences, reduced rate of chronic disease, and more”
All that is required from the agency is a simple application. Employing an experienced, culturally competent, well-rounded wellness manager or director who is an excellent listener; a masterful communicator; extremely well-organized; adaptable; humble; selfless; and proven to be fully trustworthy, respected, reliable, and focused on holistic health can create invaluable unity and cohesion in an agency’s wellness program. It positions the agency to achieve tremendous meaningful and measurable wellness program success, especially when supported thoroughly by dedicated command staff members who consistently encourage all employees to practice a healthy lifestyle.
How Can Agencies Ensure the Wellness Program Sustains Alignment with Shifting Agency Priorities?
As agencies continue working to sustain wellness program success, it will be important to keep their program relevant, engaging, and aligned with current agency priorities by reviewing and updating not just individual wellness initiatives, but also the core elements of the wellness program. That includes organizational policies that relate to or impact wellness (e.g., wellness team policies, on-duty workout time policies, training policies, injury risk reduction policies, light duty policies, return-to-work policies.); procedures (e.g., wellness team procedures, wellness program communication procedures, incident debrief protocols); guidelines (e.g., for peer support team members, for snacks and refreshments at meetings); and incentives (e.g., challenge coins, gift cards) to ensure they meet current needs and demands and to reduce any points of friction.
How Can Agencies Successfully Transition from “Having a Wellness Program” to Having Permanently Instilled a Sustainable Culture of Agency Wellness?
While amalgamation of strategies implemented over time is typically required to instill an authentic culture of wellness, one strategy that every agency can start using today is to start infusing intrinsic wellness motivation into every aspect of the agency. That can be done by finding opportunities to show agency members how optimizing their health and wellness directly empowers them to do the job they want to do and lead the life they want to live both on and off duty. One way that an agency can do that is by sharing key points from research that has shown that health is foundational for safety and peak job performance and longevity. For example, IACP infographics on topics like sleep, nutrition, and more could be added into in-service curriculum.
Another strategy that successful agencies have used to intrinsically motivate staff by showcasing the relevance and criticality of wellness is using shift briefs as an opportunity to show everyone footage of successful hot calls (that required peak tactical athleticism); then showing them which types of physical fitness training and tactical athletic training are necessary to respond to those calls safely and effectively; and finally, promoting the corresponding physical fitness and tactical athletic training that the agency provides to help enhance everyone’s ability to take those kinds of calls. More of those kinds of strategies (plus example drills) have been published Police Chief’s January 2021 Focus on Officer Wellness column, entitled “Maximize Readiness and Optimize Performance.” These are just a few of the many recommendations recently included in the IACP’s Key Principles and Best Practices for Developing and Implementing a Physical Health and Wellness Program PDF. Each generation of employees will absorb information and encouragement differently, so it is important to customize the agency’s messaging and delivery methods accordingly. A full framework is available via the IACPlearn: Law Enforcement Fitness Program Implementation Toolkit: Scalable Solutions for Measurable Success video.
Overall, one of the most important intrinsically motivating messages that agencies can share with their respective members is that the agency appreciates their staff members tremendously and that the agency supports and celebrates every step agency members take toward better health. Whether that includes participating in the agency’s physical health and fitness initiatives, mental health initiatives, other wellness initiatives, or even simply using no-cost tools from their insurance provider (like blood pressure management tools, diabetes management tools, smoking cessation tools, and more), it all builds positive momentum toward the health and wellness success that supports an enjoyable and sustainable culture of wellness.
How Can Agencies Share Program Results to Sustain Ongoing Program Support and Funding?
There are many ways to effectively collect, quantify, and communicate valuable wellness program results to sustain key stakeholder support for the agency wellness program, and agencies can even use the results that they achieve to win national wellness awards presented annually by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
When it comes to collecting and quantifying wellness program results, large and medium-size agencies tend to gather data on overall program utilization and then leverage relationships with their insurance administrators to collect aggregate data on reductions in the prevalence and cost of chronic disease and other health-related metrics that demonstrate wellness program success. Successful wellness leaders at medium and large agencies can also show how the program has produced a positive impact improving staff morale and productivity while reducing complaints and impaired decision-making.2 Smaller departments can often use a similar approach, though depending on the total number of employees, they may opt to collect and quantify their results using different methods and metrics (e.g., wellness program participation rates, wellness survey results, wellness challenge scores, wellness testimonies) to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (U.S.) or other applicable privacy laws. The approach taken to collect and quantify wellness program results should always be customized to meet the needs of the key stakeholders of each agency.
Once the quantitative and qualitative results have been collected, the next step is to share them with key stakeholders. When doing so, it is important to set fair expectations and present both the immediate “wins” and long-term perspective of the value that wellness program will deliver. For example, early wellness program wins can include improved access to wellness support and resources, increased awareness of wellness program offerings, reduced friction in policies and procedures related to wellness, successful formation of a wellness committee, improved morale, and more. Longer-term, more quantitative wellness program results can include reduced injury occurrences, reduced rate of chronic disease, and more. However, it takes time to achieve those results, and initial data may seem a bit misleading. For example, a rise in minor injury reports following the implementation of an on-duty workout policy may initially seem negative. However, further data analysis can highlight officers addressing minor issues early, preventing more severe and costly claims down the road. Metrics such as reduced light-duty days and lower average claim costs over time can also provide support for long-term benefits of these policies. Additionally, an increase in preventative exams may cause an initial increase in diagnosis of some conditions; however, those increases should be considered a “win” because they allow for early diagnosis and treatment, without which employees and the agency would have suffered severe, costly, and tragic outcomes. Establishing partnerships with trusted universities that specialize in supporting police wellness programs can help provide “force multipliers” for agency wellness leaders as they monitor and report the success of their wellness program. They can even help analyze trends in workers’ compensation claims and help show reductions in key indicators such as lost work days, injury recurrence rates, and average claim costs, all of which can help demonstrate the valuable impact of the wellness program. The possibilities for proving program results are nearly endless, but doing so remains critical for program sustainability.
All of the preceding recommendations are fundamental steps to not only build a successful wellness program, but to also sustain the program once it is established. These recommendations have helped fuel the tremendous success of some of the most successful model wellness programs in the United States, including the Irving, Texas, Police Department (under the leadership of Chief Derick Miller); the Daytona Beach Shores, Florida, Department of Public Safety (under the leadership of Director Michael Fowler); and the Texas Department of Public Safety (developed under the leadership of Colonel Freeman Martin) and their respective wellness leaders. Utilizing all of the best practices mentioned can allow an agency of any size in any location to be successful in sustaining an effective wellness program. Establishing the fundamental components of a successful wellness program is not an overnight process, but the positive impact an effective program makes in the quality of life and longevity of agency staff members is always worth it. d
Notes:
1Bureau of Justice Services, “VALOR Officer Safety and Wellness Initiative,” updated April 18, 2024.
2Police Executive Research Forum, Building and Sustaining an Officer Wellness Program: Lessons from the San Diego Police Department (Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2018).
Please cite as
Mandy Nice et al., “Sustaining a Successful Wellness Program,” Police Chief Online, May 28, 2025.
