Inaugural Family Wellness Day Event Draws Hundreds of Pasadena Police Employees and Families to Brookside Park

More than 200 Pasadena Police Department employees gathered at Brookside Park on August 13 for the department’s inaugural Family Wellness Day event.

“Today is about the employees, about the people, the men and women that work the front lines of the police department behind the scenes,” Interim Police Chief Jason Clawson said at the event.

“We kind of gauge how our community is thriving by the activities we see,” Clawson continued, “And this event here is specific to getting the employees together with lots of resources, vendors, and community based organizations. It all comes down to employee wellness.”

Wellness of police officers and employees was the motivating force for Sgt. Domino Scott Jackson when she created the Employee Wellness Unit of the Pasadena Police Department in June 2021.

Jackson, well known and respected for her expertise in mental health practices within the law enforcement community, created the specialized unit because she believed more should be done to help police officers battling mental health problems.

“We’re doing great things for our employees, but we could really be doing more,” Jackson said, “And what that more looks like is ensuring that our officers and employees are connected with mental health services.”

Jackson continued, “Ensuring that [is] recognizing that the trauma that our officers experience – they obviously experience it at a higher rate, a higher level because of continual calls of service that they respond to that can be traumatic.”

“If they’re not well personally and professionally, how can we expect them to go out in the field and be well for the community?” Jackson said.

Echoing Jackson’s observations, Clawson pointed out during Saturday’s event that oftentimes police may only interact with citizens who are suspects or victims of crimes.

“And neither of those is good,” Clawson continued. “So I think that we get beaten down by the toll of violence, and the bad things that we see. And, sometimes, we need a break from it all.

“This is something that’s good to have, a baseball game, have some food and have some vendors and basically, another portal for outreach,” Clawson said.

The event, which PPD hopes to make an annual event, was organized by the department’s Employee Wellness Unit.

Now head of the Employee Wellness Unit, Jackson has been with the Pasadena Police Dept. for over 20 years, starting as a police cadet, moving into being a Park Safety Specialist and eventually becoming a patrol officer. Her academic pursuits include a B.A. in Sociology and an M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy, which propelled her career into new territory years ago.

Jackson explained that like other people, police officers could also suffer from trauma.

“There’s an expectation in law enforcement that we’re okay. [That] we’re okay when we get into this job and we’re okay with handling, seeing negative things or bad things.”

“[But] oftentimes an officer may experience traumatic incidents. They may experience trauma in one shift … that a person may never experience in a lifetime.”

If trauma is not processed, this can affect an officer’s physical and mental health, according to Jackson.

Through the wellness program, officers can not only get access to a “culturally competent” therapist or a mental health professional. They also have access to programs and services which will help them connect and improve their overall wellbeing.

Part of Jackson’s role as head of the unit is to monitor employees who have reached out or are getting connected with services. She also plans events “to keep our personnel engaged “ and “to promote wellness.”

“The goal of the wellness unit is to ensure that if a person is dealing with something difficult, some type of trauma or some difficult situation personally or professionally that they know where to go to get the help and they can get the guidance to get that,” added Jackson.

According to Jackson, the Employee Wellness Unit is working on getting a wellness mobile app where officers can watch a video that promotes among other things, wellness and healthy eating habits.

Meanwhile, aside from helping officers, the Employee Wellness Unit of PPD also helps members of the community.

According to Jackson, the unit responds to community incidents through the Trauma Response Unified Support Team (TRUST) which is a team under the unit. It is composed of a peer supporter, a mental health professional and chaplains.

“If there’s a traffic collision where someone passes away, then we respond to assist that family.”

“We respond very soon after the [incidents] to just provide resources for the family,” Jackson said.

During Saturday’s inaugural Family Wellness Day, PPD employees enjoyed music, a softball game, children’s activities, lunch from Chik-fil-A, and visits from dozens of resource organizations and vendors, from health insurance to financial planning and dental care, along with the Pasadena Federal Credit Union.