Denver Department of Public Safety outlines employee wellness, mental-health and physical-therapy programs to council

Rene Macias, director of Employee Wellness for the Department of Public Safety, told the Denver City Council Health & Safety Committee on Sept. 17 that the department’s consolidated wellness work — including a six‑person physical therapy team, mental‑health contracts and peer‑support clinical supervision — aims to support employees “from pre‑hire to retirement.”

The briefing, requested after council members and staff raised concerns about recent reductions in available counseling hours and several deaths by suicide among safety personnel, outlined program components, use rates, demonstrated cost savings from the in‑house physical therapy program and budget pressures that could reduce services. Daryl Watts, chair of the Health & Safety Committee and a councilmember for District 9, opened the meeting and thanked staff for the data, saying, “Each of those data points, that's a person working for the city and their family.”

Macias described the program’s structure and partnerships with risk management and human resources. The Department of Public Safety (DOS) employs six physical therapists — two assigned to each of the major agencies (police, fire and sheriff) — who provide direct‑access care, academy support, exercise programming and peer‑support clinical functions. Macias said the department recorded…