Mike – “The Police Officer”
Help Mike save his career and marriage.
Mike is experiencing a rapidly evolving mental health crisis. The cumulative stress and trauma from the job and his time in the military is catching up with him. All four characters are directly involved in one way or another. Mike’s crisis is spilling over to his marriage and affecting his on-the-job performance. Along the way Mike and Katheryn will confront stereotypes and the mental health stigma in the law enforcement profession. Ultimately, Mike learns to use time tested resilience/wellness practices and how to ask for help. Katheryn also practices resilience and wellness skills, and she learns how to fight compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma but not without the help of Charlie (peer support) and Aaron (mental health professional).
Following the big argument with Katheryn Mike goes to work where he has a confrontation with fellow police officers, Ann, and Jerod. Both Ann and Katheryn reach out to Charlie for help and Charlie realizes quickly how serious the situation is. It is a race against the clock to save Mike’s career, marriage, and quite possibly his life. He uses all the tools in the peer support inventory to convince Mike to go to counseling.
Mike takes the first available appointment with Aaron. Aaron is enrolled in the Certified First Responder Counselor program and puts the learning to good use as she establishes a trusting relationship with Mike, Katheryn, Charlie, and the rest of the department. As the agency’s peer support specialist, Charlie works to help Aaron along her journey to understand police culture. Along the way Charlie (and Ann) exposes Aaron to some of the darker secrets of the profession and through station tours, ride alongs, and some long talks with Charlie she learns enough of the ins and outs to gain the trust of several officers.
The video ends with Mike and Katheryn demonstrating an effective end of shift “homecoming.”