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Hi!
I'm Paul Bellard
I help Disillusioned, Disappointed, Discontent and Demoralised serving Police Officers to become Decisive, Determined, and Re-Dedicated, and help turn their:
- Frustration into Focus,
- Exhaustion into Energy, and,
- Go from 'Beat to Breakthrough'!
In Service to Police Officers Thinking of Becoming Police Leavers
A Successful Police Leaver Transition...
...From Beat to Breakthrough.
I am not a big fan of talking about my transition story because I want the work to be all about you and your transition, not mine. That said, police leavers want to know and those those who do know tell me how inspired and reassured they are to know that there really is life and great potential outside of policing and beyond the badge.
What follows is a long read. I give you every milestone so you get the full picture. Make no mistake, along the way on this journey, I tripped, failed and fell flat on my face so many times it's almost funny. (Looking back now at least)!
If you are reading on a mobile device, to avoid never-ending scrolling, I recommend you put it on hold until you can read it on a desk top. Alternatively, I have created a video training session called "Just Take the First Step" in which I talk about the journey and explain how you can do the same.
From humble beginnings, I left school at 15, shy, introverted, and with no qualifications. After some factory work and a trial year as a Special Constable in Cheshire police, at age 27, I managed to scrape my way through the Police entrance examinations and was recruited into Merseyside police. Serving out my probation at Prescot Police station, I turned out to be a pretty determined and good thief catcher! It didn't take long to fall in love with my calling.
From humble beginnings, I left school at 15, shy, introverted, and with no qualifications. After some factory work and a trial year as a Special Constable in Cheshire police, at age 27, I managed to scrape my way through the Police entrance examinations and was recruited into Merseyside police. Serving out my probation at Prescot Police station, I turned out to be a pretty determined and good thief catcher! It didn't take long to fall in love with my calling.
From humble beginnings, I left school at 15, shy, introverted, and with no qualifications. After some factory work and a trial year as a Special Constable in Cheshire police, at age 27, I managed to scrape my way through the Police entrance examinations and was recruited into Merseyside police. Serving out my probation at Prescot Police station, I turned out to be a pretty determined and good thief catcher! It didn't take long to fall in love with my calling.
At the end of year three, I nervously sat for my second attempt and passed the sergeant promotion examination.
Soon after, I had several extended periods as an acting sergeant, and I thought my policing career was set. However, had you been sitting next to me in my blue Vauxhall Cavalier as I drove to Prescot police one sunny spring afternoon, you would have witnessed the pivotal moment my life was shunted onto a new, unplanned trajectory.
The former Prescot Police Station
I was just a few weeks into my new, long-awaited CID aide posting when an 'incident' on duty caused injuries that, although initially deemed not to be too serious, triggered a time bomb in my spine. Over time, things worsened, leaving me in excruciating pain and, eventually, unable to walk properly.
I had to go off sick. Around the same time I separated from my wife, my family stepped back in abject judgment. I had no choice but to move into a converted police cell they call 'Single Men's Accommodation' - a former cell block at the back of Huyton Police Station. From there, desperation and despair became my closest friends and my life as I knew it went spiralling into dark oblivion.
I had been off sick with a spinal condition and depression for almost a year, when under threat of zero sick pay, I was summoned to start restricted light duties in the admin side of the 'Force Control Room' (FCC) at HQ in Liverpool.
The following four years were, with hindsight, the best and worst years. This chapter in my life started a journey of self-discovery. I made many mistakes, learned things about myself I never knew, and generally took two steps forward and three steps backwards.
That said, this period of my life was the genesis of much of what I do today, and despite being the darkest chapter, I am very grateful for every day of it.
With spiralling confidence and self-esteem, no helpful support and feeling under constant suspicion I was faking it and subsequent pressure to resume regular duties by two specific senior officers, I eventually lost my ability to cope. Increasingly withdrawn, I became emotionally as well as physically broken. Chronic clinical depression was the result. On the night of December 31st, 1999, I felt lost, lonely, helpless, and hopeless. I was unable to face even another day, let alone another year.
I decided enough was enough and 'walked' into the tidal estuary of the River Dee between Wirral and North Wales. I needed to bring the suffering to an end. Looking back, I didn't particularly want to die. I just didn't care if I lived, but more than anything, I just needed the noise in my head, the pain in my heart and, of course, my spine to end.
IMPORTANT:
If you are at or close to this breaking point, I implore you to speak to someone, anyone and if you feel comfortable to, me! Just send me a message with "Breaking Point" in the message field; You don't even have to write anything else, and I'll send you a link the same or the latest, next day with which we can connect online.
If and when we meet, I'll share what happened next, but for now, know this: Something happened in that murky, muddy water that night that triggered an awareness in me that forged who I became, what I do today, and how I handled what was to come next...
Later that new year, after four years of two steps forward, three steps back rehabilitation, counselling and various other failed treatments, I was referred to a spinal surgeon at BUPA. In his expensive suit, looking at my most recent batch of MRI scans on his illuminated white screen and without taking his eyes off it to look at me, he told me I had advanced-stage degenerative disc disease in four of the five lumbar discs. I had no idea what that meant or what was coming next.
After making some observations, he finally turned away from the screen to look at me. He delivered his matter-of-fact prognosis that it was his medical opinion I'd "never walk properly again".
"And", he added, "operating is not an option on so many levels due to the risk of paralysis".
I was stunned into silence. I had no words. I can't even remember most of what he said after that except for the final casual "Oh, by the way," words before I left. He said "This will get worse, so make the most of the time you have left walking at all."
His damming written report detailing my condition, his opinions, prognosis and conclusion that I was 25% disabled was sent to the Force Doctor and it signalled the end of my policing days. In July 2021, I was out, strategically discarded like a problematic, worthless piece of trash!
Someone once told me that leaving the police is akin to pulling your hand out of a bucket of water. You will be remembered for about the same time it takes for the ripples to fade, and it will be like you were never there. But no one warned me how isolating and lonely that can feel. Resentment and anger soon follow.It felt discarded like a piece of trash, except for my last Chief Inspector, a friend to this day; no one checked in, and no one came to visit. All of my former colleagues, whom I thought to be friends, marched on without me and disappeared. Eventually, in the darkest months that followed, I realised that no one would come and rescue me. I had to rescue myself, and I did!
"If it's to be, it's up to me"
Beyond the Badge - Our Purpose, Our Mission!
'Beyond the Badge' helps Disillusioned, Disappointed, Discontent and Demoralised, Police Officers to become Decisive, Determined, and Re-dedicated.
Turn Frustration into Focus and Exhaustion into Energy,
and go from "Beat to Breakthrough'.
To Become Super-Resilience with Renewed Focus and Boundless Energy, before then, making an intelligent, well informed, well founded decision:
Continued service? or New Beginnings?
New to BtB? Start Here -
New to BtB?
Start Here
Here is where you can learn what BtB is about, how we can serve you and how you can get in touch!
Starting from 'ground zero, I began to rebuild. Starting first with the obvious limitations: Obesity, an 'S-shaped spine (when viewed from the front) and excruciating pain.I set an impossible goal—to get a flat stomach and visible abs in twelve weeks! My last remaining friend laughed at me and begged me not to try it. It was the best thing he could have said. His fear of what another failure would do to me and his lack of belief only made me more determined.
It was tough and painful, and every day I wanted to quit. But I persevered. Within a month, I noticed the spinal and sciatic pain was reducing, and my spine became more aligned. Encouraged, I pressed on, and by week fourteen, two weeks later than planned, my abs became visible again. (Well, if I tensed really, really hard with some side lighting!). However, the physical result was nothing compared to what happened mentally and emotionally; the psychological effects were astonishing and transformational.
Do not make any decisions about leaving the police until you have read this!
POLICE MINDSET RESET 80 pages of guidance, strategies, and practical tools to help you cultivate resilience, reset your mindset, and approach your policing transition with renewed empowerment and purpose.
Fuelled by the success of setting my first determined, meaningful goal and hungry to maintain momentum, I tackled the next problem—employment!I believed I was 'unemployable'. I had left school without any qualifications, not to mention my now abysmal medical record. The only solution was for me to employ myself. But in what?
I thought back and asked myself what the common denominator was; what was the golden thread through everything I had ever done to date? The answer was clear: Service! I realised that 'Professional Customer Service' was my thing, the thing I sought and strived for in everything. I even treated prisoners like customers—primarily to ensure they had no get-out-of-jail card to play in court.
Fuelled by the success of setting my first determined, meaningful goal and hungry to maintain momentum, I tackled the next problem—employment!I believed I was 'unemployable'. I had left school without any qualifications, not to mention my now abysmal medical record. The only solution was for me to employ myself. But in what?I thought back and asked myself what the common denominator was. What was the golden thread through everything I had ever done to date? The answer was clear: Service! I realised that 'Professional Customer Service' was my thing, the thing I sought and strived for in everything. I even treated prisoners like customers—primarily to ensure they had no get-out-of-jail card to play in court.
My next question was "who's gonna listen to Paul Bellard's ideas on what great customer service is? "There must be some criteria, system or structure - a standard that must already exist". Finding out what that was became the next goal. Out of that I decided to study quality and customer service management as my next goal.
I had no money to pay for courses or buy books, so every day for over six-months, after the gym, I went to the public library in Liverpool, where I would remain for the rest of the day.
I studied, read, and researched like I had never done before. Like I did not even know I could. I was astonished that my hitherto sieve-like brain was absorbing, retaining everything I read like a sponge!
This ability had never happened in school; in fact, even my own Mother and stepfather mistook shyness as me being mentally slow, and they treated me as such!
Liverpool city Library - Became my second home!
But now, fuelled by my passion and the realisation that change is a must, not a choice, I read and learned from every book I could find on business, quality management, customer service, and business process management.
"When Change becomes a must instead of a choice, people can achieve anything they want"! – Paul Bellard
Organic Growth, Ongoing Change and Development
One day, during a five-day ISO Business Management training course in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, one of the delegates, an elegant, softly spoken Arabian man, approached me at the end of the forty-hour training course and asked me if the so-called 'friend' referred to was, in fact, me. At that time, I was still unable to talk about my experience of leaving the police service in the first person without getting emotional. So, when I told the story, I used disassociation by referring to myself in the third person.
I humorously denied it was me and even wiggled my butt from side to side to demonstrate there was nothing wrong with my spine! He gave me a penetrating, knowing look and asked if I would pass on a message to my [air quote with his fingers], 'friend' when I next saw him. I agreed, and this is what he said: "Tell him that if he doesn't do something with his story to help others in a similar situation, he missed the point of the event". His words echoed in my mind ever since.
It was only a short time before people became as curious about my transition and transformation story as much as the specialist subjects I had learned to do it. I reached the point where I had been doing training and consulting long enough that, even though I was terrified of doing them initially, they started to feel routine and sometimes mundane. I had a constant nagging-knowing that there was something more I either could or should be doing. I loved training and consulting on these subjects because they helped improve the working environment and how people feel at work.
Given how I was made to feel at work in the police, this outcome was a personal mission. However, the consulting and training work I had been doing on ISO business management systems could only go so far in improving a company. I now needed to go deeper and connect with the people within the company too.
One year after that moment in Saudi, I completed an eight-month certification program in London and was certified as an Executive High-Performance Coach. After some local TV and media attention, I saw an opportunity for professional-level keynote speaking as a means to reach more people more quickly with my message about the power of the human mind, personal development, and the psychology of change, transition, and transformation. I also qualified as a REPS registered Advanced Personal Trainer and worked 1-2-1 with stressed burnt out and overweight executives to burn the fat, and become fit and lean like I did.
I again invested a significant amount of money and went to the USA to train and over the following year get certified as a Professional Speaker. I chose to specialise in Inspirational Conference Keynote Speaking talking primarily about Personal Mindset, Change, Transition and Transformation. Now, not only could I finally get to impact more people more quickly, in this additional role, I now earn three times what I was paid as a police officer in a month, in just one-hour on the stage doing something I just love, taking about the subject I'm passionate about.
Never Mind the Whole Staircase - Just t
I want to stress; none of these achievements have anything to do with me being talented, intelligent or clever. I promise you I still do really stupid stuff sometimes. But I know that everyone can set goals and achieve them with the right mindset and by going through a number of steps.
When I was medically retired, I had no concept that I was even capable of doing what I do now, let alone that I could get to do them. I was 39 years old then and had no formal qualifications or experience in anything except factory work and policing. I had no concept of transferable skills and didn't believe I had any.
So I learned everything from scratch and spent most of the first eight to ten years terrified someone would discover that I was making it all up and had no idea what the hell I was talking about. My point is that you don't have to be great to get started doing something you love, but you do have to start to become great!
"Accept what is, let go of what was and have faith in what will be" - Sonia Ricotti
A Calling Back to Policing
In 2023, I became aware of the extent and severity of the pain and suffering within the UK police service and realised that all my work in the past two decades had led to this point. 'Beyond the Badge' was born! I just know that you too can go on to find what you'd love to do and just do it! Which is why I'm now using and sharing my experiences, choices, decisions, and many mistakes, so that you can have same options to get the same or better results, navigate around the trapdoors and tripwires - not just to get any old job, but a true transition - a transformative transition to whatever you desire.
Every great coach has a great coach, and mine recently asked me what drives me and motivates me to get up in the morning.
The answer is easy.
If I can stop just one more police officer from trying to end it all just because of a lack of knowledge and understanding about how their mind works, then everything I went through will have been worth it!
And more than that..,
If I can inspire you as a police leaver to finally take a leap of faith and go for the dream once put on hold to start your policing career, or, if I can help you to find within yourself the mindset and resourcefulness you need to start your own business, or even just retire in peace and successfully let go of all of the negativity, then again, everything I learned from my trips, falls and fails along the way will also have been worth it too!
I was proud to serve as a police officer then and I am proud to get to serve those who serve today. I do so by providing unconventional, inspirational and motivational means to help obliterate the stress, anxiety, and chronic uncertainty of modern day policing or leaving the police.
My mission is to help, guide, support those retiring with full service, and inspire those that are feeling disillusioned, disappointed, discontented and demoralised and transform those feelings into decisive, determined dedication, turn Frustration into Focus, and Exhaustion into Energy, so that you, and anyone that wants to can also go from 'Beat to Breakthrough' and live an inspired life Beyond the Badge!
"We can't control the changes that come our way, but we can choose and master our response to them"—Paul B.
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"Paul helped me with a mindset shift that is still serving me several years later!"
I was highly impressed by the depth and sincerity of Paul's approach and so I didn't hesitate to reach out to him when I needed some support to further develop my business.
I have used numerous coaches in the past but Paul is very different. Every step of the way, Paul has been in my corner and has given me the tools I needed.
I have no hesitation in recommending Paul, be it for business or personal reasons.
Andrew Finlayson
CEO
“
Being coached by Paul did a tremendous amount for me. I can't overstate it. I was at a crisis point in my life, I was under extreme pressure. I had just about had enough mentally, emotionally and physically, I was in a real mess and could see no way out.
Through Paul, I soon found myself living life with a new direction and a sharper focus.
The effects of my time with Paul are still very evident in my life years on. Paul helped me to realise that solutions are within me, that there is a choice on how to respond when things go wrong and that all resources needed to achieve anything is within all me, it always was, I just hadn't known it until now.
Ian Thurgood
“
Paul is an inspiration and I wouldn’t be who I am today if he hadn’t come into my life’
If you want to take a first step to changing your life then sign up with Paul - I did, and I have never looked back.
Working with Paul totally changed my life. I took positive action - and the results were amazing. Paul is an inspiration and I wouldn’t be who I am today if he hadn’t come into my life’
Debbie Cohen
Managing Director
How to Leave the Stress, Worry and disappointment of Policing behind and find the Courage, Clarity and Confidence
to start something new!
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