What Modern Therapists Should Know About Law Enforcement Mental Health: An Interview with Cyndi Doyle, LPC
What Modern Therapists Should Know About Law Enforcement Mental Health: An Interview with Cyndi Doyle, LPC
Curt and Katie interview Cyndi Doyle on the mental health of law enforcement officers. We look at how being a cop impacts their mental health as well as specific incidents and the chronic desensitization. We also explore the feelings in law enforcement related to calls to defund the police and how society views the cops. Content warning: potentially traumatic incidents (violence, death)
Transcripts for this episode will be available at mtsgpodcast.com!
An Interview with Cyndi Doyle, LPC
Cyndi Doyle is a Licensed Professional Counselor, group practice co-owner, founder of Code4Couples®, podcaster, and author of Hold the Line: The Essential Guide to Protecting Your Law Enforcement Relationship. She has spoken nationally and internationally including at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conferences (IACP), the FBI National Academy Association (FBINAA) Conference, keynoted at police spouse conferences throughout the country, and at trained various police departments. While much of her work focuses on first responders, Cyndi’s stories of embracing and wrestling with living her own bold and authentic life have resulted in her being a sought-after speaker for other mental health professionals. Her message of humanizing struggle, compassion, courage, and resilience has resulted in her speaking nationally and even keynoting at the 2020 Texas Counseling Association Professional Growth Conference. That same year, the American Counseling Association awarded her the Samuel Gladding Unsung Heroes Award for her work with first responders and contribution to the field of counseling.
In this podcast episode, we talk about Law Enforcement Mental Health
We reached out to our friend, Cyndi Doyle to explore a population of folks who we typically don’t think about as our patients: Law Enforcement Officers (LEO).
What should modern therapists know about the mental health of Law Enforcement Officers and their families?
Different dynamics than typical couples
The definition of cynicism
How training impacts the mental health of officers
Misinterpretation of control versus abuse
Over diagnosis of trauma
The negative impacts on police officers of the heightened scrutiny and criticism
Hypervigilance and the impact of cameras on police offers performing their jobs
The lack of support from the community (or the legislators or even law enforcement leadership) for officers
Lack of compassion satisfaction, considering quitting their job, PTSD
The impact on Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) families
Exploration of the calls to defund the police and fund other resources
Looking at the law enforcement response to defunding the police
Exploring community policing and how that could help decrease abuses
The cultural shifts and education happening at police departments
The potential for mental health resources being added to policing
When staffing is down, there is less time to recuperate and be prepared for work
Mental Health Concerns that bring law enforcement officers and their families into therapy
Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Addiction
Relationships, family and couple
Incident, critical incident, trauma
Desensitization to violent incidents, injuries, and death
The personalization in incidents that can cause more of a trauma response
The insufficient training to build resilience for law enforcement officers
The shifting culture that is now recognizing mental health as health, but the ongoing stigma for seeking support
Cynicism, lack of empathy, and bias in Law Enforcement
The mindset that narrows down to “everyone” behaves
Working to make officers more human, so they can see more good in the world
The importance of supporting the resilience and empathy within LEO (while recognizing that some of these things are not helpful “on the job”)
Cyndi Doyle.com
What Modern Therapists Should Know About Law Enforcement Mental Health: An Interview with Cyndi Doyle, LPC