POWER training program for law enforcement officers

The Peace Officer Wellness, Empathy & Resilience (POWER) Training Program is an intensive and interactive cohort-based three-month curriculum for police and correctional officers that utilizes mindfulness practices, compassion-based communication exercises, and training in wellness-related areas such as stress management and self-care.

The program combines innovations in neuroscience, practices to strengthen attention and focus, mindfulness activities, along with regular peer-led “council huddles,” wherein officers gather to unpack the topics explored in the curriculum that are showing up in their lives and work. Over time, these ongoing small groups help integrate the curriculum into agency culture. 

POWER is focused on improving:

• individual health and wellbeing
• self-awareness
• self-regulation
• stress management 
• communication skills
• relations with colleagues and family
• connections with community members

POWER offers a deep exploration of the science and experience of mindfulness and compassionate communication as these themes relate to:

• stress
• resiliency
• relationships
• performance
• leadership
• community building

With a focus on skill building to enhance self-awareness, attunement to others, compassion, wisdom and elite performance, participants will learn skills that can be translated to their personal and professional life.

This program offers an opportunity to

• enhance performance
• improve situational awareness
• increase physical health 
• improve cognitive performance
• develop leadership capacity
• balance operational demands with life beyond the watch

POWER Training teaches powerful stress management and self-care techniques, equipping officers with tools to enhance focus, recognize dysregulation, communicate more effectively and de-escalate conflict without resorting to excessive force.

The POWER approach reinforces skills of attention, self-regulation, and discernment, fostering a deeper understanding and more skillful approach to implicit bias, cultural diversity, and community policing.

First responders, including law enforcement and correctional officers, are consistently exposed to elevated levels of work-related stress and trauma.

Without effective tools for managing stress, officers are often set up to experience poor physical, mental, and emotional health which impacts work performance and increased rates of absenteeism, tardiness, and turnover in law enforcement and correctional settings.

Negative relationships with colleagues, loved ones, as well as community members often result from this dysregulation and ineffective communication skills.

The POWER program has been designed to offer practical, accessible tools that offer an immediate impact for officers.

In April of 2022, Beyond Us & Them entered into a formal partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice to work together to increase law enforcement awareness of the intersectionality of wellness, compassion, procedural justice, and community building. Through this collaboration, the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) division of the DOJ works to highlight Beyond Us & Them's science-based strategies for optimizing physical, emotional, mental, and relational health through the POWER program that explores strategies for addressing empathy fatigue, moral distress, pathological altruism, depersonalization and burnout.

This partnership emphasizes the way in which the skillful integration of high ethical standards, personal well-being, and sustainable practices for navigating the professional demands of police work can help officers enhance compassion toward both themselves and their communities, support positive agency culture and flourish personally.

The POWER Training program has received certification from the California Commission on Police Officer Standards and Training (C-POST) for police and correctional officers throughout California.

In addition, POWER received the National Certification Program Seal of Excellence from IADLEST, the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training. After a thorough and rigorous independent review process, IADLEST concluded that the POWER curriculum and program design were of exceptional quality.

POWER has been evaluated by researchers utilizing psychosocial surveys developed with RAND CORP & UCLA, utilizing validated academic scales. This data points to statistically significant improvement in mindfulness, emotion regulation, empathy, perceived stress and anger. Anecdotal evidence (focus groups and testimonials) include reports of reduction in headaches and stomach aches, better sleep, more exercise and decreases in blood pressure, as well as improved family relations and better overall mood.

Recent technological advances have made it possible to include biometric measurements, assessing Heart Rate Variability. For police officers in the 3-month POWER Training Program, researchers found a trend toward increased Very Low Frequency HRV after 3 months -- which implies improved health and correlates with their anecdotal remarks on what they were experiencing in their health. Research also demonstrated that their HRV pattern became more coherent.

Read recent evaluation reports here:

Read the latest research and publishing for all of our programs here

There may be grant funding available for our  POWER Officer Wellness program through the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (LEMHWA) Grant.

Find out more about the grant, who it's for, and how it can be used here.