Trauma and Resilience in Contemporary Australian Policing

Andrew Paterson began his social work career in 1974 and spent most of it working in the justice system in South Australia. He began as Community Welfare Worker in the Adelaide Office of the state welfare department working with young offenders. In 1975, he became Founding Supervisor of the Crisis Care Unit, working directly with SA police patrols in early domestic violence programmes, siege negotiation and Police Academy training. After six years in that role, during which the unit was replicated in several other Australian states, Andrew managed district centres for state welfare and in 1989 was seconded into the victims of crime service, a fledgling NGO as its first professional Executive Director. In this role, he raised profile of victims of crime, while carrying a case load of homicide victim’s families and armed robbery victims. He was instrumental in the creation of victim’s services in South Australia police and trained recruits at the Police Academy and offered inservice training to officers in domestic violence and victim support.  In 1995, Andrew was appointed General Manager of Mobilong Medium Security Prison and set about changing the culture and approaches to rehabilitation and management in the institution. In 1997, he established Empower Justice Services, a consultancy focused on crime prevention, restorative justice, victim support, debriefing and training and worked with SAPOL on criminal intelligence around crime reduction strategies.  During this period, he sat on a UN Institute Board, The International Centre for the Prevention of Crime, based in Montreal, Canada. Dr. Paterson has worked at Flinders since 2010, supervising social work masters students on placement during which time he established many justice-oriented placements including SAPOL, Corrections and the Court System. He teaches topics focusing on professional ethics, critical thinking and social work in a justice context. In 2015, he commenced Ph.D. studies into resilience and policing, interviewing fifty officers and six psychiatrists and psychologists who treat and assess police members.  This thesis was passed in July 2018, and the degree was conferred in September of that year.          

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Power, organisational and police culture, “the job”.- Chapter 3.  The Feminisation of policing.- Chapter 4. Death and bodies.- Chapter 5.  Keeping well, Coping.-Chapter 6. Asking for help.- Chapter 7. Sleep, “The elixir of resilience” .- Chapter 8. Resilience.- Chapter 9. PTSD and policing.- Chapter 10.  Posttraumatic growth in Policing.- Chapter 11. Conclusion: Resilience among police in South Australia.