Cobb County Mental Health Law Enforcement Symposium- Suicide Prevention

On September 23, 2021 the office of the Cobb County District Attorney will host a mental health symposium on the subject of suicide prevention within law enforcement. This 6 hour event will provide CLE credit and training hours from Georgia POST and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office of Georgia (PAC). During this forum presenters will address fundamental factors that contribute to the prevailing issue of suicide among law enforcement officers.

In the Cobb Judicial Circuit, we recognize the importance of mental health for all. As such, we believe there is value in delivering this information to leadership, officers, prosecutors, and victim advocates as we are all equally impacted by this issue. Stigma around officer suicide must be addressed in order to effectively aid officers living with undiagnosed chronic mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Ordinarily a symposium of this sort is an expensive undertaking for an agency when considering factors such as registration fees, travel expenses, and loss of an officer for an entire day. As a result, many officers, leaders and supervisors bypass opportunities to attend trainings of this nature. In response to these concerns this mental health symposium will be free for all who attend. To ensure we are in line with COVID-19 protocols we will have a mandatory online registration for all participants.

As September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, we find this will be an excellent time to highlight and address a growing crisis among officers within the law enforcement community.

Agenda

8 a.m.-8:30 a.m. Registration

8:15 a.m. Welcome and House Keeping

8:30 a.m. – 10 a.m. Jacob King- "Dealing with Mental Health n the Community"

10:15 a.m.-11:45 William Anastasio “Leadership Through Self Care”

11:45 am-1 pm Lunch

1:15p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Keynote Speaker Patrick Cullinan “Surviving Mental Illness”

3p.m.-4:30 p.m. Dr. Keisha Pou- Buchanan “Mental Arrest”

Host or Publisher Office of the Cobb County District Attorney Bureau of Investigations