The desired app will serve as a vital tool to enhance resilience and reduce occupational stress by fostering supportive relationships and providing on-demand wellness resources, designed specifically for public safety personnel and aligning with the SPPD’s broader goals of improving wellness, retention, and community trust. The app will include self-directed tools tailored for first responders, such as specialized wellness guides and confidential self-assessments. It will make it easier for users to access general resources to support better mental health and wellness, such as tips for improving sleep or recognizing signs of mental health concerns in family members. It will also make it easier for users to connect with the people who can support them, such as members of the Peer Support Team, the head of the EAP, and therapists contracted by the SPPD. The app should be user-friendly, easy to download and always free for users. Users should be able to create individual accounts so they can access and return to resources they find most appropriate for them. It should be customizable so that SPPD administrators can update as appropriate and come with “branding” unique to the SPPD. Users must have complete confidence that they can use the app, or the resources it connects to, without concerns for their privacy or anonymity. This includes appropriate protections against hacking, malware, or other violations by outsiders. It also means that they feel certain that supervisors or others at the SPPD or the City of St. Paul cannot learn of their use of the resources through the app or the data it collects. Within these strict privacy safeguards, the app should make evaluation possible by collecting anonymous aggregate information on how much the resources are used, and which are most useful. The scope of the project includes providing materials to promote the app to potential users, including instructions for installing and using the app. More detailed information for administrators must also be made available for customizing, updating, and evaluating the app. It must be simple for users or administrators to securely end their use of the app, including uninstalling it. Tech support should be available for users and administrators.
