COPS Office Awards Peer Support Project Mental Health Funding

DUPAGE COUNTY, IL — The DuPage County Peer Support Project and Illinois State Police Peer Support Project will receive more than $100,000 each in grants as part of the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services' (COPS office) Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act Program. In a news release, the Department of Justice's COPS office announced the $4.5 million in grants Tuesday, which are used to improve the delivery of an access to mental health and wellness services for law enforcement through:

• Training and technical assistance
• Demonstration projects
• Implementation of promising practices related to peer mentoring mental health and wellness
• Suicide prevention programs

The DuPage County Peer Support Project was awarded $107,000, and the Illinois State Peer Support Project was awarded $120,740, according to the news release.

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According to the Department of Justice's COPS office, Congress authorized the COPS office to implement peer mentoring mental health and wellness pilot programs within law enforcement agencies throughout the state as part of the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act of 2017. The Department of Justice's COPS office added, in the news release, that "Good mental and psychological health is just as essential as good physical health for law enforcement officers to be effective in keeping our communities safe from crime and violence."

“As a law enforcement professional with over 50 years of experience, I know firsthand the pressures that accompany this most noble profession,” COPS office Director Phil Keith said, in the news release. “This Department of Justice is committed to protecting the health and wellness of a police department’s most valuable asset – the men and women that leave their homes every day with a mission to protect and serve. The grants announced today will provide departments with key mental health and wellness services.”

The 41 awards announced Tuesday meet the goals of the 2017 Act and support the Department of Justice and the Administration’s commitment to law enforcement, the Department of Justice's COPS office said.

>> More information, including two recently published reports regarding officer mental health and wellness