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Assignment 1: Counseling and Suicide Prevention Services in Law Enforcement Settings

Part 1: Counseling and Psychotherapy in Law Enforcement Agencies

This assignment encourages you to examine how the therapy process might be different in a law enforcement setting. You will examine some of the unique aspects of working with law enforcement and in a primarily male-dominated field.

Using the module’s readings and the Argosy University online library resources, research issues involved in working in a primarily male-dominated field that has also been historically suspicious of seeking mental healthcare.

In a minimum of 300 words, respond to the following:

• How and in what ways is the provision of counseling in a law enforcement setting different from that in a community setting?
• In what ways should the approach to counseling an officer be different from that of counseling an individual in the community?
• What ethnic and diversity issues might be present?
• What are some of the issues related to the field being male-dominated that you might address in therapy?

Part 2: Suicide Prevention Plan

For professionals involved in evaluating and counseling law enforcement professionals, the issue of suicide assessment and prevention is important to consider. This part of the assignment will help you learn more about the increasing problem of police officer suicides.

Scenario:

You are the clinical director of a mental health facility that provides psychological services to several police departments and sheriff’s departments. There have been five police officer suicides in the past three years in your area. You have been asked to research the issue and create a suicide prevention plan that will support both large and small departments. You will research other suicide prevention plans and examine what they comprise. You will incorporate these successful interventions into your plan. Consider your audience—larger groups or individuals—and analyze the obstacles to implementing a suicide prevention plan.

Using the module’s readings and the Argosy University online library resources, research factors contributing to such suicides. Ensure that you research statistical information.

Respond to the following:

• What are the statistics and research on police officer suicide?
• How many departments have suicide prevention programs?
• What would you include as part of your suicide prevention plan?

Support your responses giving reasons and examples from scholarly resources.

Submission Details:

• By the due date assigned, post your responses to this Discussion Area.
• Through the end of the module, respond to at least two other classmates’ posts. Participate in the discussion by asking a question, providing a statement of clarification, providing a point of view with a rationale, challenging an aspect of the discussion, or indicating a relationship between one or more lines of reasoning in the discussion.