CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Nonprofit Presby Psych is hosting an “embrace mental health” breakfast, highlighting the importance of first responders’ mental health during this National Police Week.
Presby Psych counselor Katie Boone says it’s the nature of first responders’ jobs that cause them to experience trauma regularly.
“They are exposed to some of the worst experiences, worst events in the community,” Boone said. “These folks are engaged in violent conflicts… where their lives are at risk and others’ lives are at risk”
Boone says there is often a stigma within police organizations surrounding asking for help.
Sgt. Donnie Penix has over 26 years with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
Penix currently works with the CMPD airport division over the K-9 and narcotics unit. But, before his years at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Penix spent more than a decade on patrol and even more time with the SWAT team as a sniper.
“I think I spent New Year’s Eve and Fourth of July on a roof uptown as a sniper, for I don’t know how many years in a row. I spent more New Year’s Eve and Fourth of Julys with my coworkers than I did my family. That’s the tradeoff with it and you have to make a decision at some point to step away from that,” Penix said.
Penix said in his first five days as an officer, he saw his first dead person. He also responded to a domestic violence call where a man poured acid on a woman’s face. For 20 years, those are the scenes that piled up in Penix’s mind.
“For police officers, it’s not what you see, it’s what you can’t unsee,” Penix said. “I equated my feelings and emotions at the time like a bucket of water. I would dip a little bit out just to keep it from overflowing, but it came to a point where I couldn’t control it anymore and I had to do something.”
Penix said he reached a breaking point and almost quit after a shooting he was involved with in 2016. That was when he finally reached out for help and counseling services with Presby Psych.
“There’s a stigma associated with police officers that we’re not supposed to ask for help. We’re not supposed to be the ones that say, ‘hey something’s wrong.’ Especially the position I was in special operations – that was unheard of,” Penix said. “But, I had no choice, I had to do something and it was hands down the best decision I ever made in my life.”
Presby Psych is offering free and reduced-fee counseling to first responders.
Boone says the nonprofit wants to normalize using an outlet to deal with stress, so people can show up for themselves and for their jobs in a more healthy way long term.