Counseling Cops: What Clinicians Need to Know

By Ellen Kirschman, Mark Kamena, and Joel Fay
Foreword by Ellen Scrivner

PAPERBACK
Published: September 24, 2015
ISBN: 9781462524303
288 Pages
Size: 6" x 9"

ORDER CODE: 9781462524303

Grounded in clinical research, extensive experience, and deep familiarity with police culture, this book offers highly practical guidance for psychotherapists and counselors. The authors vividly depict the pressures and challenges of police work and explain the impact that line-of-duty issues can have on officers and their loved ones. Numerous concrete examples and tips show how to build rapport with cops, use a range of effective intervention strategies, and avoid common missteps and misconceptions. Approaches to working with frequently encountered clinical problems—such as substance abuse, depression, trauma, and marital conflict—are discussed in detail. A new preface in the paperback and e-book editions highlights the book's relevance in the context of current events and concerns about police-community relations.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword, Ellen Scrivner
I. The Basics of Cultural Competency
1. Working in the Law Enforcement Culture
2. Managing the Therapeutic Alliance
3. The Emergency Responder's Exhaustion Syndrome
4. Growing Old in a Young Person's Profession
II. Line-of-Duty Issues
5. Death by 1,000 Cuts: Critical Incidents, Trauma, and Posttraumatic Stress Injuries
6. Betrayal: The Hidden Critical Incident
7. Shift Work and Sleep Deprivation
III. Treatment Tactics
8. Reading Your Client: Assessment Strategies
9. Treatment Strategies
10. When Your Client Needs Medication
IV. Common Presenting Problems
11. Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Other Addictions
12. Depression and Suicide
13. Somatization, Panic Attacks, and Stress Reduction
V. Working with Police Families
14. Resilience and the Police Family
15. Givens and Paradoxes
16. "Why Didn't You Shoot Him in the Leg?": Police Family Communication
17. The First Responder Relationship
18. Infidelity, Divorce, and Domestic Abuse
VI. Getting Started
19. Special Considerations for Treating Other First Responders
20. Breaking and Entering
Appendix: Residential Treatment/Group Therapy
Resources

AUDIENCE

Clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, psychiatric nurses, family therapists, counselors, and police chaplains and peer support personnel; also of interest to police psychologists and police chiefs.