LARGO, Fla. (Tampa Bay Now) – The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office is launching a new program that will help officers with their mental health.
It’s called Mental Health for Heroes.
The program will be completely anonymous and officers will be able to talk to first responders who have been through similar situations.
“I actually had a friend years ago who had twin daughters who committed suicide. He worked for the sheriff’s office and I still have his phone number in my phone. I can’t bring myself to take it out,” said former police officer, Logan Long.
Long was a police officer for 18 years and says the job is not easy.
“I had an incident where I had to jump off the side of the causeway bridge to clearwater beach to help a suicidal subject with another officer and it’s those types of incidents among the smaller ones on a day to day basis that push you to seek out counseling,” said Long.
But anonymous counseling wasn’t an option for long while he worked on the force.
“Because of the continued stigma throughout law enforcement, being a supervisor and on the swat team and having to be the tough guy, I ended up leaving law enforcement early because I found myself not functioning the way I wanted to be functioning,” said Long.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says this is a situation many officers experience through out their careers.
“We have to take care of the people doing the job so they can take care of us because the job takes a toll on the mental health of first responders,” said sheriff Gualtieri.
That’s why Sheriff Gualtieri is launching a new mental health program for his officers that will allow for anonymous counseling sessions with professionals who have either previously been first responders or who have studied mental health specifically for officers.
“They make a difference. They save people who would otherwise leave the profession because we have to boot them out because they become dysfunctional, or they choose to leave or god-forbid, they terminate their own lives,” said sheriff Gualtieri.
The program is free and is paid for by the sheriff’s office, non-profits and the community.
Since the soft-launch of the program back in January, 50 Pinellas County officers have taken advantage of the program, and now that it’s being opened up to everyone, Sheriff Gualtieri hopes his men and women feel better about seeking help.
“We have to take care of the people doing the job on the front line every day,” said sheriff Gualtieri.
Applications are now available through the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.