PORT ST. LUCIE − Police received a grant that will bolster a peer support program to help employees connect with professionals to address issues ranging from mental health to marital challenges.
The city in November announced the $200,000 grant, which covers two years, from the U.S. Department of Justice. Chief Leo Niemczyk plans to use the money, provided through a Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act grant, to fund a clinical administrator for the agency’s 12-person peer support team.
Peer support officers, Niemczyk said, must have 40 hours of training, though the average officer has several times that amount. Peer support officers are “primarily trained to identify what the needs are that that person has.”…