Who we are – The founders behind Code 0
Ian Cook and Ben Pearson, co-founders of Code 0
Code 0 was founded by two individuals who have lived the reality of frontline emergency service life.
Ian Cook is a former police officer with 18 years of service. Throughout his career, Ian experienced the highs of policing — the camaraderie, the purpose, and the privilege of helping the public — but also the mounting pressures that many officers quietly carry. After leaving policing, Ian founded Blue Light Lifestyle, supporting emergency service workers with their physical and mental wellbeing through coaching, education, and community support. His work has since reached thousands of frontline personnel across the UK.
Ben Pearson dedicated 19 years to policing and is widely recognised across policing as one of the most influential voices in the wellbeing space. Having experienced his own struggles with mental health during his policing career, Ben has dedicated himself to improving wellbeing support within the service. His work has focused on breaking stigma, improving organisational awareness, and supporting officers through honest and open conversation.
Together, Ian and Ben recognised that while support services exist, many emergency workers still fall through the cracks. Code 0 was built to bridge that gap.
How the idea for Code 0 was born
The concept for Code 0 didn’t come from a boardroom or corporate strategy meeting. It came from conversations. Real conversations.
Conversations with officers sitting in vehicles after difficult jobs. Conversations with colleagues quietly battling anxiety, trauma, and burnout. Conversations with families who felt helpless watching loved ones struggle. Conversations with emergency service workers who felt they had nowhere safe to speak openly.
One theme appeared repeatedly: Many emergency workers felt support only arrived when they reached crisis point.
Code 0 was designed to provide support earlier — before burnout becomes resignation, before anxiety becomes absence, and before silence becomes crisis.
The problem we are trying to solve
Mental health challenges within emergency services are not new, but the scale of the issue is becoming impossible to ignore.
Research across UK policing and emergency services highlights:
- Emergency service workers are significantly more likely to experience PTSD, depression, and anxiety compared to the general population.
- Studies suggest that up to one in five police officers and staff experience symptoms consistent with PTSD or complex trauma.
- Mental health–related sickness absence continues to rise across forces, with thousands of working days lost each year to stress, anxiety, and depression.
- Research from policing wellbeing reviews has shown that stigma and fear of career impact remain major barriers to officers seeking help.
Behind every statistic is a colleague, a teammate, or a friend who once stood shoulder to shoulder with us on shift.
Despite increased awareness and investment in wellbeing services, many emergency workers still report feeling isolated, unsure where to turn, or reluctant to speak openly due to cultural pressures.
Code 0 aims to change that.
What Code 0 offers
Code 0 is more than an app. It is a dedicated wellbeing ecosystem built specifically for emergency services culture and realities.
The platform offers:
- A safe, confidential community space
- A place where emergency service workers can speak openly, share experiences, and support each other without judgement.
- Real conversations and storytelling
- Access to podcasts, interviews, and lived-experience discussions featuring frontline personnel, wellbeing specialists, and leadership voices.
- Practical mental health tools
- Resources designed around shift work, operational stress, trauma exposure, and lifestyle challenges unique to emergency services.
- Education and awareness
- Content focused on recognising early warning signs of burnout, anxiety, trauma, and mental fatigue — helping users understand what they are feeling and why.
- Peer support and shared understanding
- A platform built by emergency workers, for emergency workers, ensuring users feel understood rather than analysed.
What makes Code 0 different
Many wellbeing platforms exist, but Code 0 has been built with one clear focus: Authenticity and relatability.
Code 0 is not designed to replace existing support structures such as occupational health, TRiM services, or counselling. Instead, it sits alongside them, offering accessible, day-to-day support that emergency workers can engage with privately and proactively.
What makes Code 0 unique is that it has been shaped directly by frontline experience. It understands the language, humour, pressures, and cultural barriers that exist within emergency services.
Most importantly, it aims to normalise conversation around mental health in a profession that has traditionally relied on resilience through silence.
Why the name “Code 0”?
Within emergency services, codes represent urgency and response.
For us, Code 0 represents something different.
It represents the moment we pause.
The moment we check in with ourselves and each other.
The moment we recognise that mental health deserves the same priority as physical safety and operational readiness.
Looking ahead
The launch of Code 0 is not just about introducing another wellbeing resource. It is about contributing to a wider cultural shift across emergency services.
A shift towards early support.
A shift towards open conversation.
A shift towards recognising that looking after ourselves is not weakness — it is professionalism.
Emergency service workers spend their careers protecting others. Code 0 exists to help protect them.
Join the movement
Code 0 is now live and available to emergency service workers across the UK.
By joining Code 0, users are not only accessing support, they are becoming part of a growing community committed to improving mental health across the blue light family.
Because no emergency worker should ever feel they have to carry the job alone.
If you’re an emergency service worker who is looking for a safe space where you can proactively look after your mental wellbeing then Code 0 is here for you.
Click here to join the movement in allowing emergency service workers feel seen and heard.
