ASP Nanewortor in an interview with the media
The Police Hospital, Accra, has recorded about 108 mental health-related cases among police personnel in 2018.
Out of that number, about 60 per cent of the patients had issues relating to alcohol abuse while some three personnel had attempted suicide.
Moreover, four personnel have committed suicide where three of the acts were carried out using ammunitions.
A clinical psychologist at the hospital, ASP Foster Nanewortor, made this known when he interacted with some police personnel at a health sensitisation lecture which took place in Accra recently.
The programme, which was on the theme: ‘Building A Resilient Healthy Lifestyle For Effective Policing’, was aimed at educating the personnel on financial management, stress management and other lifestyle-related diseases.
In managing stress among police personnel, ASP Nanewortor, in an interview, called for the recruitment of more clinical psychologists into the service so as to improve access to mental healthcare.
“Currently, I will say that I am the only active clinical psychologist in the service who is practising with the service. The others are doing duties elsewhere which are not clinical psychologist,” he said.
He further advised officers to be on the lookout for symptoms such as withdrawal, emotional outburst, inappropriate humour or excessive silence as signs of mental health problem among colleagues who might need help.
“They should not assume that everything is fine as that could lead to suicide,” he added.
ASP Nanewortor also encouraged personnel to eat properly, exercise regularly, make time to break from work in order to rejuvenate themselves and also desist from taking alcohol as a stress reliever.
The Head of Public Affairs Unit of the Accra Region, DSP Efia Tenge, indicated that the programme was part of activities to improve the welfare of personnel, which is a thematic area in the transformation agenda being carried out by the Ghana Police Service (GPS).
“We cannot have the police personnel giving their best if they are not mentally and physically sound. So the stability of the officer is important to the regional command,” she added
DSP Tenge indicated that the programme would be carried out across the various divisions within the region.
By Issah MohammedP