Course detail: Relationship and Sleep Issues for First Responders and Spouses

This class is designed for First Responders and their spouses. 

First Responders need to register for the training, spouses will not need to register and may join for no additional fee.

First Responders tend to work long non-traditional hours and encounter unique types of job stress that other traditional jobs do not. A healthy marriage can contribute to minimizing stress and distractions. Humans are created as spirit, soul and body. Emotional nurturing and understanding human bonding experiences are every bit as important and necessary as meeting physical needs.

In part 1 of this training, you will explore workplace factors that impact even the best of marriages such as post-traumatic stress injuries or other mental health conditions that can make building and nurturing interpersonal relationships difficult. You will be given an opportunity to complete self-inventories that can be helpful in resolving issues before they become large scale stressors.

Quality sleep - getting enough of it at the right times - is essential to first responders. It is as important to survival as food and water. Like our load-out gear that keeps us safe while on-duty, healthy sleep helps keep us aware and decisive. Without sleep you can't form or maintain the pathways in your brain that let you learn and create new memories and it becomes much harder to concentrate and respond quickly.

In part 2 of this training, you will develop your understanding of the important relationship between sleep and a number of brain functions including how nerve cells (neurons) communicate with each other. Research shows that a chronic lack of sleep or getting poor quality sleep increases the risk of disorders including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression and obesity. Sleep is a complex, dynamic process that affects how you function.

Core Competencies:

Participants will support their wellness and resilience with skills learned in the physical, mental, spiritual and emotional areas required of law enforcement officers. 

 Part 1 

Objectives:

The participant will:
  • Identify workplace factors that impact relationships
  • Evaluate self-assessment inventories to develop a better understanding of attachment patterns
  • Improve emotional engagement through the development of new attachment cycle patterns

Part 2 

Objectives:

The participant will:
  • Analyze the relationship between sleep and brain function
  • Recognize the importance of sleep
  • Develop a sleep plan

Instructional Methods:
  • .Lecture
  • Group discussion
  • Scenarios

Who Should Attend:
  • All public safety personnel and their spouses

Course Requirements:
  • 100% attendance and participation
Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend University of Kansas sponsored events. If you require a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in an event, please email KLETC or call 620.694.1400 at least three weeks before the first day of the event. Some events may require notice earlier than three weeks and require you contact a specific individual; if so, that information is provided in the event-specific information.

Available sessions

This course contains no sessions
Click here to be notified about the next scheduled program.