Police experience a documented, elevated need for mental health (MH) care due to the significant chronic stressors and acute traumatic experiences that characterize police work. Yet, many barriers prevent officers from accessing and engaging fully in MH treatment. The purpose of this study is to understand the idiosyncratic officer-perceived barriers and facilitators to MH service utilization to generate strategies for increasing the accessibility of MH resources. Heeding the call for more qualitative work in this line of inquiry, we used thematic analysis of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a sample of 48 U.S. police officers to examine how officers came to initiate MH services, why they chose to engage or not engage such resources, and what organizational and supervisory factors promoted service utilization. Officers’ narratives show that police leadership should strive to (1) alleviate fear of negative professional consequences by addressing structural stigma, (2) improve agency culture and social norms around mental health care by focusing on prevention and resilience, and (3) emphasize the development of relevant and trustworthy MH care. To address structural barriers, officers described the urgent need for police leadership to clarify and make transparent organizational MH policies and processes, systematize departmental MH responses, and leverage mandated counseling. Additionally, officers perceived the need for a cultural shift emphasizing comprehensive, incentivized, preventative MH services. Finally, officers’ concerns regarding the quality of MH care encompassed the need for confidential, trustworthy services grounded in the realities of police work. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

由于长期的压力源和急性创伤经历是警察工作的特征，因此，警察经历了对精神卫生（MH）护理的有据可查的，升高的需求。但是，许多障碍阻碍了军官获得和充分参与MH治疗。这项研究的目的是了解特质官员所感知的障碍和促进MH服务利用的因素，以产生增加MH资源可及性的策略。在此调查中，听取了要求开展更多定性工作的呼吁，我们使用了深度，半结构化访谈的主题分析，并与48名美国警官进行了抽样调查，研究了警官如何开展MH服务的原因，为什么？他们选择使用还是不使用这些资源，以及哪些组织和监督因素促进了服务利用率。军官的叙述表明，警察领导层应努力（1）通过解决结构上的污名化来减轻对专业负面影响的恐惧；（2）通过着重预防和适应力，改善围绕精神卫生保健的代理机构文化和社会规范，以及（3）强调开发相关且值得信赖的MH护理。为了解决结构性障碍，官员们描述了警察领导层的迫切需要，以澄清和透明化组织的MH政策和流程，系统化部门MH应对措施，并利用授权的咨询服务。此外，官员们认为有必要进行文化转变，强调全面的，激励性的预防性MH服务。最后，官员对MH护理质量的担忧包括需要基于警察工作的现实情况提供保密，可信赖的服务。讨论了对研究和实践的意义。