Mental Health Support for Security Personnel

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Healing-Centred Resilience Training for Police Officers in Kenya

Abstract

Police officers in Kenya operate within a polycrisis environment of terrorism, intercommunal conflict, and violent crime that generates chronic trauma with consequences extending into families, institutions, and communities. This empirical study evaluates Muamko Mpya: Healing the Uniform, a co-designed, healing-centred trauma-informed programme grounded in Healing-centred Peacebuilding (HCPb) — a decolonised, peer-based framework that prioritises community ownership and cultural grounding over clinical expertise. Synthesising findings from three complementary evaluation phases (2018, 2020, 2024) conducted in partnership with Kenya's National Police Service, the study employs quasi-experimental baseline-endline designs using quantitative instruments (Kessler 10 Psychological Distress Scale) and qualitative methods, including Most Significant Change methodology, focus group discussions, and observations of peer-facilitated healing circles. Findings demonstrated statistically significant reductions in psychological distress (p < 0.011), with 67% of Phase 3 officers reporting four or more adverse childhood experiences before service - substantially exceeding international benchmarks and reframing officer mental health as a pre-service developmental challenge. Ninety percent of officers sustained use of emotional regulation tools at ten to eleven months post-intervention. Phase 3 showed trauma awareness improving from 67% to 99%, with peer-trained officers independently facilitating healing circles and achieving outcomes exceeding those of expert-facilitated workshops. By synthesising all three evaluations, this paper documents the programme's development, effectiveness, and scaling potential, advancing evidence at the intersection of psychological health and national security. The study recommends integrating adverse childhood experience-informed education from recruitment, establishing a formal Training of Trainers pathway, and extending the model to Kenya's broader security sector and regionally across Africa. The findings provide evidence for decolonised, non-clinical mental health approaches within security institutions, with implications for national security strategies that position officers' psychological well-being as a foundation for institutional effectiveness and community peacebuilding.