Do you work within an investigative role? Join the national wellbeing week of action, commencing on the 10th November 2025, where we will explore a host of issues that impact Investigator Wellbeing.
We know that the role of investigator is incredibly rewarding but is not without significant challenges that can directly impact your wellbeing. The personal sacrifices you make, the responsibility to support victims, the continual exposure to trauma and high workloads can converge to heavily impact on the wellbeing of investigators.
Developed and facilitated by the NPCC Recruitment Retention and Wellbeing of Investigators Portfolio, the week of action will involve a variety of daily webinars to share best practice and encourage national debate. Much of this work is included or aligned to the Investigator Wellbeing Toolkit, which is republished with updated guidance and interventions.
You can register for all the sessions you are interested in using the link button or by clicking on the appropriate link within the timetable for the teams details that can be saved into Outlook. A full description of each of the sessions can be found below.
Register for the sessions you are interested
Access the wellbeing of investigators toolkit
Webinars
Monday 10 Nov - Leadership
9am National Overview of the Investigator Wellbeing Work to date: ACC Martin Brunning and Sarah-Jayne Bray will give an overview of work to date. This is an opportunity to pick up best practice ideas and share your views on what support you would to see developed in the year ahead.
11am Blue Light Wellbeing: Hannah Bailey of Blue Light Wellbeing shares her journey as a former officer to supporting others with their personal resilience. This session addresses the key issues experienced by investigators, providing you with the tools you need to improve resilience.
1pm Wellbeing Theory of Change: Prof. Emma Williams of ARU share the work of the Investigator Wellbeing Academic Reference Group and the Theory of Change we hope will transform the way we approach wellbeing.
2pm A Debt of Gratitude: Investigation into the wellbeing and support needs of police families: This presentation explores the first of its kind research into the psychological and support needs of police families, giving a platform to the often-unheard voices of the police services biggest supporters - our families.
4pm Resilience in Teams: Author of Weathering the Storm, Julian Roberts is a respected leader in team resilience. This session will blend psychological insights with practical leadership advice to help grow more resilient teams.
Tuesday 11 Nov - Protect and prepare
10am Fuelling Yourself Well - How nutrition can play a role in combatting fatigue: Finding the time and effort to eat healthily as an investigator can be a challenge. It's tempting to grab whatever you can find to give you a quick energy boost, and working long hours and shifts can mean access to healthier options are limited. Anna will share with you how high sugar foods could actually be driving fatigue and suggest alternatives that could provide the energy boost you need to help fuel you well.
12.30pm PSNI Wellbeing and Trauma Resilience Programme – The Impact of Mental Health Promotion and Resilience Building: The PSNI have developed the Wellbeing and Trauma Resilience Programme which marks a shift towards prioritising proactive mental health initiatives, in addition to currently available Occupational Health Mental Health Support. This presentation will provide an overview of the 5 projects within the Wellbeing and Trauma Resilience Programme, allowing participants to consider which projects they may be able to implement within their own force. Mental health promotion and prevention within policing is about supporting our colleagues to not only perform optimally and effectively in their difficult role, but so that they continue to have a fulfilling and productive life outside of policing.
3pm Wellbeing in SO15: Jill Leech of the Metropolitan Police will share the work of her team in improving wellbeing within SO15. This session will explore the challenges and opportunities when introducing a wellbeing strategy and how you too can make a difference in your own team or department.
Wednesday 12 Nov - Creating the environment
10am Evidence-Based Wellbeing Support: Why You Should Engage: Led by Dr Ashley Carwright, this session introduces recent research into wellbeing support for police professionals. It will offer a brief overview of what works, highlight common barriers to accessing support, and share simple, evidence-informed advice for improving psychological self-care and resilience.
11am Pilot-Testing Interventions to Enhance Mental Health of Police and Law Enforcement Staff: Protecting Those Who Protect Us: How do we protect the hidden frontline—secondary investigators and analysts who are repeatedly and indirectly exposed to distressing experiences of other people? We will share preliminary findings from our pilot study testing four cost-effective strategies to strengthen wellbeing and resilience. Join us to explore which approaches show the most promise and how these insights could inform policies and practices across the criminal justice system.
1pm CEEUPS Health Inequalities in Policing Input – Richard Harding, Op Soteria Bluestone: Join to hear preliminary findings and implications from a scoping research project into the occupational health impacts of policing, and the experiences of policing practitioners and general practitioners in providing treatment and support. Please note this session will not be recorded.
2pm SIO Peer Support Networks: T/DCI Howard Broadribb of HIOWC shares his experience in introducing a Peer Support network dedicated to SIO Wellbeing. The network aims to explore the wellbeing needs of SIOs, encourage greater networking opportunities and enables improved access to available support and combines this with CPD to support PIP3 annual accreditation.
4pm Safetybelt – Guidance for Working With Distressing Materials: Developed by Liz Tucker of Public Health’s Suicide Prevention and Response Workforce Wellbeing Project, the Safetybelt resource is for people who as part of their work have to review written, audio or visual material whose content has the potential to cause distress. Liz will talk us through the core principles of the guidance and how it can be applied in your own workplace.
Thursday 13 Nov - Mental health
10am Flourishing Under Pressure: Sustaining Senior Investigating Officer Wellbeing: This session will explore how Senior Investigating Officers (SIOs) experience and appraise the unique occupational stressors of investigative leadership. Drawing on doctoral research and national survey findings, former SIO Mark Dimelow will highlight how cognitive appraisal, passion, and recovery shape resilience and well-being under conditions of high accountability and scrutiny. The presentation will also share evidence-informed strategies to sustain both individual resilience and organisational effectiveness.
11.30am From Policing to Business: Navigating Welfare and Transition from Public to Private Sector: Amie Deacy, an ex-police officer with 20 years of service, dedicated her career to passionately advocating for improved staff welfare and treatment. Last year, she transitioned to the private sector and continues to seek opportunities to support the well-being of blue light services. Join her as she shares her experiences, the challenges she faced, and how she successfully navigated a complete career change.
2pm Supporting the Wellbeing of CSI investigators: This presentation by Rebecca Jones and Varvara Belova of Anglia Ruskin University will share the key issues relating to CSI wellbeing and what both organisations and individuals can do to improve resilience whilst exploring psychological screening measures.
Friday 14 Nov - Personal resilience
9am Theory, practice or go-with-your-gut? The evidence that matters in high risk roles: Join Dr John Durkin for a scientific presentation for investigators, clinicians and researchers that draws on the lessons of NYPD following 9/11, posttraumatic growth research and the major incidents of the Metropolitan Police Service in 2017. Techniques known to reduce pain, predict PTSD in colleagues and decompress after traumatic exposure will be demonstrated.
11am Vicarious Trauma in Interviewing: The role of interviewing victim’s, witnesses and suspects is an integral part of policing, yet the welfare of interviewers is often overlooked. Officer’s and staff are often exposed to unpleasant, traumatic and graphic content, that can have a significant impact on mental wellbeing. DS Emma Harris will talk about her own personal experience of PTSD during a suspect interview, the signs and symptoms and how supervisors and managers can support their interviewers in the short and longer term. Please note, this input will discuss details that some viewers may find distressing.
12 noon A CPD course for those working with distressing topics and content: Following several projects with analysts and secondary investigators and the development of a theory of PTSD following exposure to distressing material (Woodhams & Duran, 2024), a team at Centre-UB have designed a new continuing professional development course about working with such material. The presentation will outline how the course has been designed and why.
1pm Supporting Emergency Service Workers following the death of a child/young person: David Crewe of South Wales Fire and Rescue Service will share his work in developing a national group to improve the service provided to blue light workers following the death of a child/young person. He will be joined by colleagues from the NHS and 2Wish Foundation and will share the work undertaken in collaboration with partners to provide better care to staff following such incidents.
2pm Closing Summary: ACC Martin Brunning and Sarah-Jayne Bray will reflect on key messages from the Week of Action and discuss the next steps of the Investigator Wellbeing Group for 2025/26.
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