Cambridgeshire Constabulary
Ethics Playing Cards
Copyright © 2025 Compass Ethics
5
Two skippers have been in a relationship with each other that has now broken down. They are using a friend of yours as a line of communication, who is feeling quite stressed about the situation. What should you do?
Case Studies
- Your line manager is coping with a relationship breakdown and has been increasingly “oversharing” with you. You are uncomfortable, but don’t want to withdraw support – what do you do?
Discussion
Each of us faces pressure in our daily lives – whether that’s at home or at work. Some people find these pressures easier to deal with than others, but when we experience too much pressure and aren’t able to recover from it, we start to feel stressed.
- Getting the balance right between supporting your colleagues and becoming involved in the situation yourself to the detriment of your own well-being, is a difficult path to walk, as is putting some distance in when needed. This can feel like abandoning the people who are asking for help.
- PSD have a welfare role as well as their other concerns - are they aware of the situation?
- Is it affecting the working environment or is it just a strain on the person providing the support?
- Putting appropriate barriers in place to ensure that the situation is manageable is important though. The people involved may be so wrapped up in their own concerns that they are unaware of the strain this is putting on the people around them. A candid conversation explaining this might help all parties in this situation.
The BCH Employee Assistance Programme is a free and confidential service provided by MCL Medics. The programme offers some extra support with life’s challenges and short-term intervention when experiencing difficulties that impact on work and personal lives through 24/7 access to a range of services to support health and wellbeing. There is also a counseling service and legal and financial information and support. The service can be accessed through an app, website, email and phone.
The EAP is a separate organisation to BCH and does not provide confidential information back to BCH about individuals who use the service. To download the EAP App, search MCL Medics on your app store and enter the code 309678. For more information, visit the BCH People Hub.
Work is underway to enable app and website access through work issue mobiles and laptops/PCs. In the meantime, it is still possible to access in this way through personal mobiles and laptops/PCs.