Greater Manchester Police transform perinatal mental health support for staff, backed by university research

Greater Manchester Police will transform the way it supports employees affected by perinatal mental health issues, with a new approach backed by research led by Manchester Metropolitan University.

Perinatal mental health problems are those which occur during pregnancy or in the first year following the birth of a child.

According to the NHS more than one in five women and one in ten men in the UK are affected in the perinatal period, but it is an often a forgotten area in legislation and organisational HR policies across all sectors.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) will use recommendations from the PANDAS Foundation HR toolkit, which is based on research findings from Manchester Metropolitan, to develop a new approach to support members of staff.

The toolkit is designed to educate and upskill businesses to support their employees who may experience perinatal issues.

It outlines 12 recommendations for employers including, raising awareness of perinatal mental health, conducting an audit of policies and practices, training and flexible working.

Lack of awareness

Focusing on the policing sector, researchers at Manchester Metropolitan, in partnership with the Open University, conducted a study to look into the relationship between perinatal mental illness and police employment.

The team interviewed 18 men and women from 11 different forces across the UK, all with different roles and perinatal conditions, to hear lived experiences and develop insight into the sort of organisational policies, practices and provisions that might prove effective.

Each member of police staff interviewed had difficulties when dealing with perinatal issues at work. They found that lack of awareness of perinatal health issues, line manager engagement and relationships, and specific job roles and responsibilities, all contributed to positive or negative experiences of dealing with perinatal mental health at work and therefore recovery.

The findings were presented as part of a Perinatal Mental Health and Police Life Conference held at GMP in January.

Now, GMP is working with Manchester Metropolitan to implement the guidance and recommendations into its own HR practices.

Unique challenges

Dr Krystal Wilkinson, lead researcher and Reader in Human Resource Management at Manchester Metropolitan University, said: “We know a lot about pregnancy and maternity and often see these written into HR policies, but perinatal mental health is mostly overlooked despite it being so common – this is the case in all workplaces.

“Many organisations feel that any problems that occur during the maternity leave period is not their problem, and this is the wrong way to look at it – there are many things organisations can do to support their employees through this, particularly when returning to work.

“Policing is a workplace that presents unique challenges due to its culture, shift patterns, the nature of the job and exposure to trauma and these can all contribute to perinatal issues. Staff rely on the support of their colleagues, so if they feel a barrier to disclosing any perinatal mental health issues then this can cause serious problems for the individual and also for the organisation.”

Providing support

Detective Inspector Anna Rickards of GMP and Chair of The Association for Women in Policing said: “Police Officers must be fit for duty both physically and mentally in order to serve the public to the best of our ability. We are a unique employer in many ways as the vast majority of warranted officers will remain with a police force for the duration of their working lives.

“With the longevity of service and the knowledge that repeated exposure to secondary trauma can result in a preposition to mental ill health, it makes both ethical and operational sense to support those who are suffering with mental health difficulties.

“At Greater Manchester Police we are grateful to the Manchester Metropolitan University in collaboration with The Open University for the research which is the foundation upon which we are now working towards providing a toolkit for supervisors to help identify concerns around peri-natal mental health as well as providing the requisite support mechanism to our officers and staff at their time of need.”

The work builds on a previous review by Dr Wilkinson of the literature around perinatal mental health and consideration of practical implications, which was published in Human Resource Management Journal. The next stage of the research will involve multi-stakeholder focus groups.