08/17/2026
ALL first responders should take a few moments to read this post!
FPF staff will be learning about this grounding technique, practicing it, and sharing it with others soonšļøš«µš½šš½šš½š
A police officerās shift can change in a matter of seconds.
One minute, youāre sitting in your squad car finishing a report, drinking coffee/water/energy drink, checking messages, or simply catching your breath between calls. The next minute, youāre responding to a violent domestic, a serious crash, a child in crisis, a fight, or another call that immediately changes everything.
Your body knows how to respond. Your heart rate increases. Your breathing changes. Your muscles tighten. Your attention narrows. Your brain starts scanning for threats and trying to figure out what needs to happen next.
That response is part of what makes us effective police officers. When we need to react, we can react, but sometimes the call ends before our body realizes the danger is over.
I know this because Iāve experienced it myself.
Over the years, both on and off duty, I have used grounding techniques many times. For me, the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding exercise has been a simple but surprisingly effective way to slow things down, reconnect with the present moment, and get myself out of that heightened state when I recognize that Iām becoming overwhelmed.
Itās not magic. It doesnāt erase what happened. It doesnāt change a difficult call. And it certainly isnāt a replacement for talking with someone or getting professional help when you need it.
It's a tool, like the many different tools you have on your duty belt, and sometimes, having a tool you can use in the moment makes a difference.
One of the places I have found grounding particularly useful is sitting in my squad car. After a difficult call, it can be tempting to immediately move on to the next thing. Finish the report. Answer the radio. Take another call. Get back to the station. Keep going. Thatās what we do, but sometimes we need to give ourselves a minute.
If I recognize that Iām still carrying the stress of a call, I can stop, take a breath, and use my surroundings to bring myself back to the present.
5 things I can see.
I look around and really pay attention to what is in front of me. The dashboard. A street sign. A tree. Another vehicle. The sky.
I don't just name those things. I actually look at them.
4 things I can touch.
I might notice my hands on the steering wheel, the texture of my uniform, the seat underneath me, or the temperature of the air.
3 things I can hear.
Maybe itās the radio. Traffic. Birds. The air conditioner. Someone talking nearby. Or maybe itās simply the quiet inside the squad. I stop and actually listen.
2 things I can smell.
Coffee. The inside of the squad. Fresh air coming through the window. Whatever is around me. I simply acknowledge it.
1 thing I can taste.
Maybe itās coffee, water, gum, or the taste left from something I recently ate.
Again, the goal isn't to do it perfectly. The goal is to reconnect with right now.
The call is over. Iām sitting in my squad car. Iām breathing. Iām here.
I have used this technique many times, both on duty and off duty, and I have found it successful in helping me slow things down when my mind or body is still reacting to stress.
Sometimes Iāve used it after something particularly difficult. Other times, Iāve used it simply because I could feel myself becoming frustrated, anxious, overwhelmed, or mentally exhausted and that's something I think we need to talk about more in law enforcement.
You don't have to wait until you're in crisis to use a grounding technique. You can use it after a stressful traffic stop. After dealing with an angry person. After a difficult domestic call. After seeing something disturbing. Before walking into the station. Before starting the drive home. Or even during a quiet moment when you realize you've been running at 100 miles per hour mentally all day.
It can take less than a minute. Sometimes that's all you need to interrupt the cycle and give yourself a chance to reset.
Police officers spend our careers learning how to recognize threats outside of ourselves. We need to become just as comfortable recognizing what is happening inside of ourselves.
Are my shoulders tense? Is my breathing shallow? Is my heart racing? Am I angry? Am I unusually quiet? Am I replaying the call over and over? Am I having difficulty focusing? Those can be signs that our bodies are still responding to something that happened.
Grounding gives us one small way to respond. For me, learning these tools has been part of understanding that taking care of myself doesn't make me a weaker officer. It doesn't mean I can't handle the job. It doesn't mean I'm admitting defeat. It means I'm human.
I've learned that you can be strong and still need a moment. You can be a police officer and still have emotions. You can handle difficult situations and still be affected by them. And you can ask for help.
Every officer carries something from the calls we answer. Some experiences leave us quickly. Others stay with us much longer than we realize.
If something continues to affect you after you return to the station, after you go home, or even years later, don't convince yourself that you simply have to live with it. Talk to someone.
Talk to a peer, a supervisor, a chaplain, a mental-health professional, a family member, or someone who understands the realities of this profession.
Grounding is only one tool, but it's a tool that I have personally used many times, both on and off duty, and one that I continue to believe can be valuable for officers.
Sometimes healing doesn't begin with something complicated. Sometimes it begins with stopping. Taking a breath. Looking around. Feeling your feet on the ground and reminding yourself: I am here. I am in the present. I made it through that moment.
Take a breath. Ground yourself. Then take the next step.
By Stop The Threat - Stop The Stigma Founder and Wisconsin Police Captain Adam Meyers, CPS - www.stopthethreatstopthestigma.org
