ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Public Mental Health
This article is part of the Research TopicPathways to Mental Health Resilience in Emergency Personnel: Protective Strategies and Occupational ChallengesView all 10 articles
Trauma, Identity and Transition: Evaluation of the RESLEAPS Programme for Retiring Senior Police Officers
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Business and Law, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom
- 2De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom
- 3Police Leavers Partnership, Stockport, United Kingdom
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Introduction: Police officers are repeatedly exposed to trauma throughout their careers, with senior leaders experiencing the cumulative burden of critical incidents, organisational stress, and public accountability. As many retire in midlife, the transition can be psychologically disruptive, impacting identity, mental health, and future employability. This study evaluated a novel RESilient LEAders - Police Superintendents (RESLEAPS) resettlement resettlement programme (RESLEAPS)programme designed to support psychological wellbeing, resilience and future employability during this transition. Methods: This evaluation combined pre-programme psychological screening and qualitative interviews. Forty-seven participants completed standardised mental health measures, including the GAD-7 (anxiety), PHQ-9 (depression), and TSQ (trauma symptoms). Additionally, 17 participants took part in semi-structured interviews evaluating the programme and exploring emotional, identity, and vocational aspects of retirement. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to identify salient themes. 2 Results: At baseline, 17.02% of participants met the clinical threshold for moderate anxiety and 23.4% for trauma-related symptoms. Thematic analysis generated six interrelated themes: (1) High Pressure and Workload, including a pervasive sense of jeopardy; (2) Public Perceptions and Politicisation of Policing; (3) Psychological Impacts of 30 Years' Service, including cumulative trauma and fatigue; (4) Loss of Valued Role, Identity and Sense of Self; (5) Safe Space to Share Vulnerabilities through peer reflection; and (6) Reframing the Retirement Mindset toward renewed purpose and employability. Discussion: Findings highlight retirement both a point of vulnerability and an opportunity to strengthen resilience in police officers. Trauma-informed, identity-based resettlement interventions like RESLEAPS can support psychological resilience, confidence, and continued employability beyond policing. Future research should examine long-term wellbeing and vocational outcomes of these programmes.
Keywords: Police, Resettlement programmes, identity continuity, SIMIC Occupational Trauma, Retirement
Received: 10 Oct 2025; Accepted: 07 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Jones, Jones, Delpratt and Noble. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ceri Jones, ceri.jones@bbk.ac.uk
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