Ep.68 The Impact of Challenging and Changing a Toxic Police Culture with Gareth Keyte

Welcome to episode 68 of the Blue Light Leavers Podcast Today, I've got the absolute pleasure of talking with Gareth Keyte. Gareth is a former Police Officer and Royal Marine Commando, and in this episode he talks us through his policing career where he reached the rank of Detective Inspector. Whilst serving, Gareth had identified a particular process within his organisation that resulted in him having to report the issue to, and subsequently challenge a senior officer, who then made it his mission to do all he could to make Gareth's life as difficult as possible, in every possible way. It's an extraordinary and heart breaking story, and Gareth goes on to explain the impact on his mental health and the signs and symptoms that manifested themselves, as a result of the behaviour of the individual and the lack of support of the organisation. This resulted in him having to leave on ill-health retirement after 21 years service, and he talks us through his struggle with the loss of identity, his ongoing recovery and treatment, and how he's since gone on to re-train and create Oxygen Coaching Company in partnership with his wife, Dawn. He talks about the importance of being proactive in supporting your own mental health, and he talks about the importance of not relying on an overwhelmed organisation to provide the right support and how damaging the 'big boys don't cry' culture is. He also shows us that there really is life after policing and that it's a mindset shift, by learning to reject 'learned helplessness.' We also go on to talk about reactive versus proactive mental health support and what can and should be in place? This is an extraordinary interview and Gareth is so honest and open about his struggles and the challenges he's had, but it's so inspiring and he's gone on to do some amazing things, including being asked to deliver a keynote speech by senior police leaders, to the National Police Chiefs'​ Council and the Disabled Police Association about his experience and challenging and changing the toxic culture in policing. Tickets are on sale for 'Out Of The Blue' Police and Emergency Services Career Transition event on Sat 29th April 2023 at the Millennium Point, Birmingham and you can view and purchase your tickets HERE Join our one-day event for Police and Emergency Services leavers and be ready to make the change! This episode is sponsored by Motor Source Group. MSG offer genuine new car discounts to serving and retired emergency services personnel, including Police, NHS, Fire and Rescue, and the Prison Service. They're completely independent, offering a full range of makes and models, and are rated excellent by their customers on Trustpilot. I promise you; you will make savings. To find out more, go to https://www.bluelightleavers.com Don't forget, you can join the private Facebook Group via www.facebook.com/groups/bluelightleavers The Academy Membership from Blue Light Leavers gives you all the help you need to find your new role or career, including live sessions with Andy and others who've been there and done it along with subject matter experts, talking CVs, LinkedIn, interviews and so much more, so if you're looking for a little more help and support and want to find out more, you can go to https://www.bluelightleavers.com/ You can listen to the podcast on shift, walking the dog, pottering about, and do it on your phone, desktop, laptop, or tablet, anywhere and whenever suits you, pause and play and they're all completely free! Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/bluelightleavers/message