Barriers to Effective Mental Health Interventions That Reduce Suicide by Police Officers (In: Suicide and Law Enforcement, edited by D C Sheehan & J I Warren)

Suicide by officers became the genesis of a confidential counselling program for officers & their families. However, 10 years after these deaths, a confidential counselling service was shifted to a gatekeeper, nonconfidential service delivery model. Within 2 years, three more officers had died by suicide. This agency provided a near-perfect A-B-A research design where the intervening confidential agency-suported counselling program contributed to no suicides among law enforcement officers. This chapter describes 5 barriers to obtaining effective mental health treatment & the disastrous results of these barriers. It also provides implications for organizational interventions. JA