A state grant will help the Renton Police Department continue to fund wellness check-ins and a financial training program.

The RPD received $34,000 after applying for a First Responder Wellness Grant through the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission to fund its “Wellness Check-in Program” and its new department-wide financial wellness training specific to first responders at all stages of a law enforcement career.

About $22,300 of the grant will go toward funding the contract with mental health professionals, and $11,900 will go toward the financial wellness training, with an additional $1,100 coming from the department budget to fund the remainder of the training cost.

RPD Deputy Chief Ryan Rutledge said the state commission recently began awarding grants, which has shifted the perspective of health and wellness for first responders.

“You know, stress and viewing traumatic incidents does take a toll on staff over a career,” Rutledge said. “The state has recognized that giving different training and resources to first responders is beneficial.”

Rutledge said the wellness check-in program is different from going to see a counselor through regular channels. Rutledge said quarterly, officers can sign up to see a mental health professional for a 50-minute check-in virtually.

Rutledge said that during the check-in, officers can share the stressful incidents that have occurred or anything else on their minds. He said it’s a chance for officers to reflect and speak to someone and then for the mental health professional to determine if the officers need to continue seeing them, if they can be referred elsewhere, or if the visitation was enough for what they needed.

Rutledge said the new department-wide financial wellness training is good because there are many young officers, but it will benefit all officers regardless of experience. Rutledge said this training is given by an organization named FinancialCop, which is a police-run organization that teaches officers how to manage their finances.

“We want to give officers the tools to be responsible with their finances to help alleviate any kind of stressors down the road that may impact mind, body, soul,” Rutledge said. “Just give them that financial advice upfront, but this also will target officers in their middle of their career and also officers later in their career.”

Rutledge said even if they didn’t receive grants, they would try to fund wellness programs, so the grant allows them to allocate money to other places. Rutledge said they want to fund wellness programs because they see their value and have seen good feedback. Rutledge said most quarters, the wellness check-ins are full, and the anonymous feedback is positive.

Rutledge said they received the grant thanks to one of the department peer coordinators, Officer Casey Procter, who went out independently and found this grant and a previous grant that funded the wellness check-in program.

Rutledge said he’s been a police officer for nearly 21 years, and since he started, he’s seen officer wellness be more normalized. Rutledge said he thinks this new push to prioritize wellness will ultimately result in officers being their best selves and, in turn, doing a better job.

“When our staff is healthy, and when wellness is more normalized, officers, they’re going to feel better, they’re going to make better decisions, so it’s really going to positively impact how they do their job, and then in their off duty life as well,” Rutledge said. “We want them to be healthy and happy, and that extends to at work, of course, but also at home.”