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Across the country, law enforcement agencies are rethinking wellness as more than just good slogans or EAP brochures. Washington State is leading that shift. Through the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC), agencies of every size joined an eight-week wellness challenge that treated health as a professional competency — something measurable, trainable, and shared across ranks. The program upleveled from “self-care” to total readiness: stronger bodies, sharper minds, and more resilience. By combining competition, clear metrics and statewide leadership, it created a blueprint other states could follow.
In this episode of the Policing Matters podcast, host Jim Dudley talks with Lexipol’s Mandy Nice, Camas Police Department Chief Tina Jones, and WASPC Program Manager Terrina Peterson about how WASPC’s Wellness Challenge translated that vision into measurable success. The statewide initiative focused on five pillars — physical fitness, mental health, nutrition, peer support and family wellness. It paired clear goals with leadership support, coaching, professional wellness guidance housed in Lexipol’s Cordico wellness app, and friendly competition that inspired lasting behavior change across Washington’s first responder community.
For more information on the WASPC wellness challenge:
Mandy Nice explains how the program’s structure integrated weekly guidance including occupation-specific workouts, nutrition training, resilience training and more, all within the state-funded app. Chief Tina Jones shares how her agency-built participation through a wellness committee, on-duty wellness time and visible leadership engagement. Terrina Peterson outlines the statewide rollout — from Wellness Coordinator training and a simple points scorecard to core leadership strategies that kept teams motivated — and how the effort connected law enforcement, corrections and dispatch through a unified approach to officer wellness.
Tune in to discover
- What makes a whole-person wellness program successful — and how WASPC’s approach equips first responders to stack healthy habits for heightened success
- The eight-week blueprint — goal setting, weekly success guidance, and a simple scorecard that turns realistic healthy habits into measurable wins
- How chiefs, wellness coordinators and leaderboards drive engagement — without mandating participation
- The app as home base for support — occupation-specific workouts, coping-skill drills, nutrition plans, and easy tracking, all accessible in one place
- Ways to sustain momentum — on-duty wellness time, leadership and wellness coordinator support, and academy integration so gains stick beyond the challenge
Key takeaways from this episode
Holistic by design: The challenge asked members to choose one or more of five categories — fitness, mental health, nutrition, peer support and family wellness — so everyone from recruits to seasoned officers could start where they were and build.
Simple metrics drive action: Targets like 150 minutes of weekly exercise, weekly nutrition “success plans,” and practicing new coping strategies gave participants clear wins to chase and report on a weekly scorecard.
Measurable outcomes, not just good intentions: Participants logged hundreds of thousands of activity minutes, practiced nearly 6,000 new coping strategies, completed over 1,000 nutrition plans and reported several hundred pounds lost, along with thousands of peer and family connections.
Culture change starts at the top and spreads to all ranks: Wellness Coordinator training, visible chief participation and a wellness committee created top-down permission with bottom-up energy. Leaderboards and agency size-based prizes kept teams engaged without mandating involvement.
Make wellness routine, not a one-off: Agencies wove wellness content into training days, used on-duty wellness time and tapped community experts for low-cost sessions on financial wellness, body mechanics and stress management to sustain habits beyond eight weeks.
About our guests
Tina M. Jones currently serves as the Chief of Police for the City of Camas, having assumed the role on July 3, 2023, following a rigorous multi-day national selection process. Before her appointment in Camas, Chief Jones held the rank of Commander within the Portland Police Bureau, where she had served since joining the force in 2001. Her law enforcement career began in California, where she worked as a corrections officer with the Placer County Sheriff’s Office.
Mandy Nice is senior CEM, Lexipol. She has over 20 years of experience developing and implementing national award-winning physical fitness and wellness programs. Her work has been featured in highly esteemed industry publications, and she has routinely served as a subject matter expert and professional speaker for industry-leading organizations, including the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance, the National Justice Clearinghouse, the National Fraternal Order of Police, the National Foundation Research Associates, the National Tactical Officers Association and the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Terrina Peterson currently serves as a program manager at WASPC, where she plays a central role in overseeing and supporting key initiatives related to officer wellness, sex offender registration and notification (RSO), and law enforcement resource programs.
About our sponsor
This episode of the Policing Matters podcast is sponsored by OfficerStore. Learn more about getting the gear you need at prices you can afford by visiting OfficerStore.com.
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