8 Week WISE Resilience Program with Victoria Police 2021-2025
“The eight week WISE Resilience program has deepened my understanding of the physiological responses associated with stress and anxiety and shown me that it is possible to not only rewire the brain, but also bring about physiological changes to it. The guided practices have allowed me to gain an appreciation of mindfulness and its benefits, enabling me to become more aware of thoughts, emotions and senses and giving me the opportunity to observe their impact, both positive and negative, on me. I am now more conscious of what I am experiencing and know that I have the capacity and tools to influence how I react or respond. My sincere thanks to you for the opportunity to participate in this program and also for the gentle, compassionate and insightful way you delivered it”.
“Thank you again for last night’s session. I also had an ‘a-ha’ moment last night which probably explained my moods a few months ago. Getting heaps out of these sessions and appreciate your time and effort”.
“This was a great course and I will definitely be recommending this to my team. I am aware of members who are suffering with mental health concerns in my workplace. This course will be great in assisting them with coping mechanisms (there are so many options) without causing further trauma as has happened with previous courses. Thank you”.
“A personal note to let you know how wonderful and impactful the last eight weeks have been with you. Transformative really. Having received counselling in the past for trauma, the experience has been really hit and miss. This program has been a light bulb moment for me as whilst counsellors offer coping strategies to deal with anxiety or depression, the part that has always been missing has been the deeper understanding of why our brains do what they do. This program has completed the jigsaw puzzle for me and I feel like I’m a better human for it in my relationships with friends, colleagues and family. I feel like in some small way, I have been able to help others. You are an extraordinary and gifted person with so much knowledge, skill and experience and most importantly care in your craft and an amazing educator. I’ve absolutely loved listening to your sessions. Once again thank you for what you do. I am not sure you realise just how special you are and the multiplying effect of goodness you have spread”.
“My scores here are likely lower than at the start so sorry if this skews the results. Some other factors totally unrelated to the program have affected me in the second half. What I must say is that without this program in the last 4 weeks I would have struggled much more than I have. My testimonial is that this program has kept me going right when I really needed all of these techniques reinforced. The value has been incredibly high for me and the scores do not reflect that value in my case”.
“I really valued this program! I have never completed a MH/Wellbeing program and I not only feel accomplished, but I have altered my perception on certain things and believe I now have the tools to handle stress/ trauma/ negative feelings in a controlled manner. Thank you Sally”.
“Thank you sally for allowing me to attend this program. Although I only attended half, they were extremely helpful. I wish I was able to attend them all. I find it hard to be motivated but after attending a few sessions of this program, I reached out to my GP RE: my mental health and got a couple of referrals to help me out which I had been putting off for some time. The breathing techniques used to make me feel like I couldn’t breathe but mixing that with the mind clearing techniques you’ve taught have made me be able to finally use breathing techniques. Thankyou”.
“I have learnt and accepted that it’s okay not to be okay and allowing myself to have a break and not feel guilty. I believe I am a compassionate person; I just need to learn to apply this compassion to myself”.
“Used the STOP principle…Conflict avoided. Seriously though a couple of box breaths, and anger has pretty much gone!”
“It was great to see a course like this put out there for VP, thanks Sally and good luck with future courses, hopefully get a big uptake and reduce the impact policing has on our lives as a job”.
“This program was really enjoyable, I have meditated religiously in the past but lost my way over a decade ago. Getting back into this practice helped me feel more at peace in day to day life. It feels far better to taking steps to control my mental health rather than just treading water and hoping for the best”.
“A great program, very educational and actually useful to be applied personally and when supervising the troops”.
“I found the secondary arrow tool very impactful. I often find myself ruminating when things get wrong and I can literally ruin a day over something minor. Now I try my best to make distance and peace with my emotions so I can get on with my day”.
