4.1.4. Service Provider Mental Health and Well-Being

Participants in the current study spoke about the impact of CSAM on their mental health and well-being. This is aligned with previous research, which has identified that repeated exposure to CSAM is one of the top stressors for law enforcement (Powell et al. 2014b; Violanti and Aron 1995). Further, research has shown that repeatedly viewing CSAM can lead to secondary traumatic stress and burnout (Bourke and Craun 2014; Burns et al. 2008). This was confirmed in this study, where participants discussed the mental health toll of doing this work and the high turnover rates for CSAM investigators.

One issue consistently raised by participants in this study was that, even when mental health services are available, there is a stigma in accessing professional mental health support and that doing so could be used against them later. Additionally, participants in this study noted that mental health services are often inadequate at addressing mental health and coping issues that relate directly to an individual's work in the field of CSAM. They stated that often psychologists or other mental health professionals do not have adequate training or knowledge to address CSAM. This has been echoed in previous research, with investigators of CSAM highlighting that workplace psychologists or employee assistance program service providers are not able to address the specialized nature of CSAM and the impact on those investigating such crimes (Powell et al. 2014a; Wolak and Mitchell 2009). This is an essential point and has been brought up not only by investigators, but also victims and survivors of CSAM as well as mental health providers trying to support CSAM-affected populations. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection (CCCP) Survivors Survey highlighted that many survivors believe mental health providers are not adequately trained (CCCP 2017). In their survey with mental health service providers, Von Weiler et al. (2010) showed that service providers themselves often felt ill-equipped to provide support for survivors of CSAM. This amplified the need for service providers in this area to have adequate and specialized training.

While it did not come up as often, participants in this study highlighted that when they had policies and procedures in place that made mental health and wellness mandatory, this increased staff well-being. Supporting the idea of mandatory wellness programming, the CCCP was mentioned as a promising approach. At the CCCP, staff who view images are required to attend weekly group therapy and individual sessions, have a limit set on the amount of time they process images, have one "wellness" day per month, and have other policies and procedures in place that support the well-being of staff—especially those who are exposed to images on a regular basis. Within the current study, the traumatic nature of viewing and investigating CSAM was highlighted. Thus, having wellness programming in place is essential and should be a priority within these settings.
