Struggle Well Case Study: Tucson PD

The History of the Partnership

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In May, an officer commit’s suicide at TPD ....Within 3 months we had a second suicide. The sense of urgency went through the roof. I presented again a third time the chief agreed that we needed to do something. The department freed up some money and we had our first Struggle Well class, In November of 2021 with 20 TPD members. It was a hit.
Struggle Well program participant, Tucson Police Department

The Tucson Police Department had multiple employee supports in place, but the supports proved insufficient to counteract the combined challenges of the COVID pandemic, civil unrest, considerable staffing shortages, and record-breaking local violence. When the TPD lost two employees to suicide in the summer of 2021, senior leaders knew they needed to make a change. At the recommendation of a TPD wellness director who had attended Warrior PATHH, TPD leadership connected with Boulder Crest Foundation to discuss bringing its new Struggle Well program to Tucson.

Chad Kasmar was named Chief of Police shortly after the partnership was initiated, and he immediately bought into the new partnership and Struggle Well. The initial vision for this partnership was for every member of the TPD to go through a 5-day Struggle Well training. Between December 2021 (when the first class was conducted) and now, over 600 TPD personnel attended Struggle Well. Chief Kasmar kicks off each training session by sharing his own experiences, modeling the vulnerability and honesty required for participants to get the most out of the training.

We certainly knew that officers weren’t coping well. We had a robust Mental Health Support Team, a Behavioral Sciences Unit, a department psychologist, and two Sergeants, but it just wasn’t enough. It was at that time that really rocked the organization that we recognized we need to do more…and then the conversation started about what that MORE would look like”
Chad Kasmar, Chief of Police, Tucson Police Department

As more TPD personnel attended Struggle Well, the department’s culture began to transform to one where talking about struggle became normal and people felt they had the skills to check in with and support their colleagues. The department’s retention rate improved as well, and TPD leadership attributed the emerging wellness-focused culture and improved retention, in part, to the integration of Struggle Well into their employee training. As a result, they incorporated 30 hours of Struggle Well training into their police academy and began to offer a Struggle Well workshop for retirees.

This project is sustained by the train-the-trainer model that enables Boulder Crest Foundation’s partners to build internal capacity for program delivery. Boulder Crest Foundation trained the first TPD officer to deliver Struggle Well in the summer of 2022 and this officer led his first class in October 2022. Since that time, over twenty additional TPD officers have been trained to deliver Struggle Well. TPD now has the capacity to both meet the growing demand for Struggle Well within its own workforce and among its retired staff, and introduce Struggle Well to other first responder departments around the state of Arizona.

People join the police force because they want to serve their communities, and the cost of this service should not be the quality of their lives. “We have been focusing on building trust, connection, and mutual support internally, which has had a positive effect on the community,” Chief Kasmar said of Struggle Well training. In the end, you have to be well to police well and the Tucson Police Department has found an innovative way to ensure workplace health.