Wyatt wanders into the investigations room, seeing who he can approach. He spots an officer and waddles up, tail wagging as he gives the officer a quick sniff.
Such is the life of Coronado Police Department’s (CPD) therapy dog, a yellow lab that has been a huge hit with officers, according to Capt. Mark Harris.
Wyatt has been visiting the station house for the last eight months, brought in by his owner, reserve officer Scott Finical, about twice a week.
His job, simply put, is to relieve the officers’ stress throughout the week and provide some distraction from the seriousness of their job.
Trained as a licensed therapy dog, Wyatt is part of a wider mental health initiative at the department: the wellness program.
“The job can be taxing. You see things, you see trauma, unfortunately, in this profession,” said Harris, who oversees the department’s patrol and investigative divisions.
The goal of the wellness program is to try to focus on physical fitness, mental health, stress and trauma, and (it) even branches off into nutrition.
Capt. Mark Harris
“The goal of the wellness program is to try to focus on physical fitness, mental health, stress and trauma, and (it) even branches off into nutrition.”
The program includes professional therapists for officers and family members, on-call chaplains to support first-responders, a quiet room with a massage chair and self-help books – and, of course, Wyatt the therapy dog.
“We’ve been trying to focus on, ‘How can we improve officers’ mental state?’” Harris said. “…It goes back to a high divorce rate, health issues among officers – even suicide.”
CPD has three chaplains who are basically on-call and stop by the department several times a week and sometimes ride-along with officers.
The police department also has counseling groups for officers to debrief together after critical incidents.
Harris credited the San Diego Police Department (SDPD), which received a National Officer Wellness Award in 2016, for leading the state and nation in wellness advocacy.
Edwin Garrette, who’s been at the San Diego department for 27 years and serves as senior sergeant of the wellness unit, said that the agency initiative began in 2011 and helped create a curriculum that is now taught in every police academy in the state.
The best way to have good relationships with the communities that we’re policing is to have happy, healthy police officers out there doing their job.
Senior sergeant Edwin Garrette
“The best way to have good relationships with the communities that we’re policing is to have happy, healthy police officers out there doing their job,” Garrette told The Coronado News.
“If you don’t prioritize your wellness, prioritize your well-being, inevitably at some point in time, you’re going to suffer,” Garrette said. “And that’s what we’re trying to alleviate from our staff.”
Garrette said about 90% of law enforcement agencies in the United States don’t have wellness units, according to his experience.
“There’s a stigma around using (a therapist),” he explained, where officers may think, ‘If I go see a therapist, what does that mean? Maybe I’m less of a person.’”
Harris said Coronado’s wellness program is constantly developing and improving. “And it’s nice,” he added. “Now we’re in an era where we’re focusing on officers’ mental well-being at work and personal life.”
Garrette said that a big reason why Coronado most likely is part of the 10% that has a wellness unit is because of staffing. He explained that in his experience, the agencies that don’t have a mental health program are because they don’t have the personnel to oversee it. They have to focus on the job at hand rather than adding an additional unit.
Coronado, however, has been able to keep their unit up and running for the past handful of years.
And Wyatt is a successful part of this unit as he makes his way through the hallways of the Coronado Police Department, bringing relief and joy to anyone he encounters.
