Strategies and solutions to address the mental health needs of protective service workers: An introduction

By virtue of their occupational responsibilities, protective service workers are often exposed to stressors and hazards that may increase their risk for various mental health problems. Efforts are thus needed to enhance connection to psychological services across protective service worker groups and to tailor the delivery of these services based on the specific needs of these workers. To enhance the understanding of how to improve the provision of psychological services to protective service workers, the journal issued a call for papers. The 5 articles summarized in this introduction were accepted in response to this call and constitute this special section of articles. These articles represent a wide variety of public safety roles, including police officers, military service members, workers on secure forensic units, and human rights advocates. Despite this variety in specific roles and public service practice settings, findings from each study offer broad insights into bolstering mental health and improving the delivery of psychological services to all protective service workers. Together, these articles provide key perspectives on how to meet the mental health needs of protective service workers and illuminate unique considerations when providing care to this important group. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).