Exclusive: spending data shows Home Office hired ‘resilience practitioners’ after what PCS union calls ‘trauma assessments’
The Home Office has provided border officers with mental health workshops to help them manage the stress of dealing with the small boats crisis.
Spending data released by the Home Office shows it hired mental health professionals referred to as “resilience practitioners” for UK Border Force staff who were dealing with small boats.
The sessions were held this spring with border officers in Folkestone, Kent, where asylum seekers travelling on small boats often land.
In social media posts seen by the Guardian, one of the resilience practitioners described the officers as dealing with a “humanitarian crisis”. Another said on their website that their sessions often involved “positive psychology and cognitive behavioural theory”.
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which represents government workers, said the workshops were offered after trauma assessments were carried out on staff by fellow trained officers.
