What's This?
A bunch of people brought this up in the comment section and via email (click for larger version):
Sorry about the quality, but it's a picture from a computer screen.
On one hand, we appreciate the spirit behind the organizations that are attempting to assist the Officers in crisis. The CPD is in a bad spot (and has been for a number of years) where the mental health of Officers took a back seat to pretty much everything. The sheer number of Officers taking their own lives has been crushing. The steps currently being taken sound good, but as with anything run by the government, are astoundingly slow.
On the other hand, we do understand that there needs to be some sort of standardization among the volunteer groups to comply with what is required by State Law and what is required to remain a Police Officer. Mental health persons have reporting responsibilities especially where self-harm is evident or implied, and once that reporting takes place, there is a potential conflict - real or perceived - regarding fulfilling the requirements of the job, i.e. the FOID card.
This is a problem that needs to be addressed promptly and professionally. The EAP program is great....if it's available, operational 24/7/365, and fully staffed. Which we don't believe it is, despite more than how many years now? Volunteer organizations could fill the gaps, if they operated under a central authority and a uniform set of rules.
Staying alive and mentally healthy should always be the goal, but that's hard to do if your entire future employment is on the line. In fact, that's an entirely understandable set of additional aggravating stressors if you're already suffering.
Labels: info for the police
posted by SCC at 12:03 AM
41 Comments:
Very non connected guy was at roll call from a outside organization providing free mental healthcare for police think his name was Johnson Blue something
So moral is at an all time low and suicides are occurring much too often. And another officer shot in 006. But the city won’t let organizations come to police facilites and provide options for physical and mental health. Smh!!
EAP is not fully staffed 24/7/365. I called during a particularly bad time with a dying parent. After providing my number for a call back (on a weekday at 2pm) no return call ever happened. Not at all. A full 5 days, went by and I sought my own help thru another source in that time, but at the time I did call I was in crisis. When I complained to a supervisor the following week, so it never would happen to someone in a far worse place (this actually occurred the week after an officer suicide) the supervisor did nothing but make excuses and copped an attitude. No thanks.
Dr. Sobo watched me during a session have a full blown panic attack and said go read a book. I went the next week to see a private doctor that specializes in Police clients who correctly saw I had PTSD in our first session and needed a specialized therapy that finally gave me the relief I needed. I think I was a lucky one to find someone that got me the help I needed but man I can't imagine those that seek help only to be told read a book when clearly something's wrong. Either he's overworked or overburdened which is understandable either way but we can't keep going down this road. Real investments , real resources, and people with the knowledge of how to manage the two are needed so that we don't have to see fellow officers go through what others did in the past. Enoughs Enough.
EAP is hardly ever available and if you do get them you set an appointment much like a doctor if you’re lucky you’ll get them in about a week.
I don’t trust them anyway. Most of them are far left leaners not to mention they are not your friend. Don’t tell them anything you don’t want leaking out.
If an officer resigned and wants to come back, they now have to reapply, take the entrance exam and do the academy all over again, why would the city waste the time and money doing this? I get going through the hiring steps, but the academy?
Once you tell anybody, your head ain’t right, they can pull your FOID and you may never get it back. CPD will fire you and no LE can hire you.
To those who seek marriage counseling, get someone qualified and don't each of you see the same counselor at EAP at different times. The counselor will take the first spouse's side and the issue won't get resolved. That was one person's experience at EAP.
Also, it's a good question to ask, have our EAP Counselors taken specialty training to counsel law enforcement officers and their families?
https://www.apa.org/ed/graduate/specialize/police
DR ROBERT SOTO
DIRECORY
read the memo!!!! they need to be vetted , its not a bad thing and makes sense
I'm curious, what should he have done for you ?
Have to justify the staff which exceeds most districts!
Seek outside help if necessary.
For anyone who’s never been to EAP, going helped me, and I still go.
It’s disheartening to see people telling others not to go. Saying you shouldn’t trust EAP, or warning that what you say will leak out, is just harmful. Nothing I’ve ever shared with EAP has ever been leaked.
We all know co-workers who are so deep in their own pain that they believe happiness is limited. If you're doing okay, they feel like there’s less left for them. That kind of resentment doesn’t come from nowhere. It’s pain that’s been sitting unaddressed for years, and for many, it started long before they put on this uniform.
But how long are you going to wait for that pain to disappear on its own? Healing doesn’t happen with one phone call or one visit.
If you call and EAP isn’t immediately available, that doesn’t mean they don’t care. They’re civilians. They don’t work the kind of 24-hour shift we do. That’s not neglect. It’s complexity. We can’t resent others for having what we’re all chasing: balance, boundaries, and rest. That frustration might be real, but it’s not about them. It’s about what this job takes from us and that’s exactly why reaching out for help matters.
If you need someone right away, call a family member, a chaplain, a peer support team member, or a co-worker you trust. Don’t sit in silence just because someone bitter told you to.
100%!
There should absolutely be a vetting process for those who work with LEOs. The 100 Club, Wounded Warriors, Bank the Blue all have a serious vetting process. EAP is not available 24/7/365 and there are not enough therapists there to handle the responsibilities they have as it is. They should have announced this after they had a vetting process in place.
Everyone please please remember this before you seek help at EAP. In March 2025 the order was updated and they are now taking notes on you and any family members. Prior to this order they were prohibited from keeping records. Now if you use their services they are keeping a file on you and any family members that file is subpoenable to be used against you later. If you need help please get it, but be cautious of using EAP. “Professional Counseling Division will take notes on all Department members and families seeking counseling service” and “The PCD may not use or disclose protected health information, except as permitted or REQUIRED BY LAW.” It’s right there in the order. If you are ever in a high profile incident do you trust the city to fight a request for disclosure or subpoena of your treatment/mental state around the time of the incident even if it’s completely irrelevant? Don’t believe me? It’s all right there in the new order E06-01 - III. - I.
EAP is a joke. I suffered thru a tramatic incident and their counseling was ridiculously low skilled. I sought my own. Also the hater in charge at St. Michael's house won't let the police use their own dedicated wing, so police are stuck with criminals during detox.
Maybe because they don’t want po’s resign and then if things don’t work out just think they can come. Or to see if they really want to job they will do it to come back. Also does it depend on how long they were off
A curious memo indeed...Is the good Dr. Sobo worried about outsiders coming into his arena? Is he worried about his cushy connected position which has never been challenged? He was well liked when he arrived, but there is little evidence that he has done very much lately. The suicide rate has unfortunately elevated under his time here. I think it is time to ask some hard questions here. Does the Professional Coundeling unit need some new personell? What is being done right now is clearly not working.
It cant hurt to open this discussion...
I guess the grass wasn’t greener, huh?
EAP sucks just like corp council it’s bottom of barrel talent, u want real help your gonna pay for it, you get what you pay for, wake up and smell the coffee.
False. Stop lying
No my friend, the grass is not greener and I admit that. I just wish there was an easier way for POs to get back especially if they were hired and trained by Cpd originally.
All you need to know about EAP is they let kevin graham hide out there as a consolation prize after fucking up the fop with his spineless shameless alliance with lightfoot.
completely false. statements like this are being made to coppers in roll call by outside people. this is why they need to be vetted
see I had all the makings of a classic panic attack and treat it as such. 5 clinicians I spoke to says that would've been step one.
SOBO is an arrogant prick who doesn’t care about the officers only his Ego! And someone messing up his paycheck!
There’s a reason conversations are being recorded and stored. Why hasn’t the union made this public. The field reps are aware majority of officers can not possibly read all the updated GO/EO’s. We just click the “mark as completed” box otherwise the sergeants have a fit and ask to finish elearning at home. I don’t want to complete elearnings at home.
Same happened to me, never received a call back. I had to reach out to someone I know in the unit. They Made me feel as they were too busy and unconcerned and I work in peer support. I reached out to my chaplain and I received assistance from another source. I definitely felt different about EAP after that.. I definitely only assist anyone within my unit that needs assistance but also tell them to keep their options open as chaplains, church support group, talk to friends, family, and see someone else.. Get the help don’t let the snake 🐍 turn around and bite you in the ass.. Stay safe!!
Psychedelics work
The support system is designed to be mediocre at best and provides sufficient cover for the city and the Department. That is what counts. One police suicide is a tragedy. Multiple suicides over the past several years are city/CPD statistics and so goes Conehead as he leads Chicago marching on the road to Perdition. Keep voting for Democrats.
OMG - Richard? So true. It was the few sessions of marriage counseling with Dr sobo that destroyed any hope of saving our marriage:( my 1st 💘
Thank you for the resource on Leo specific qualifications for head docs. Stay safe-
EAP is cheap I work at OEMC and was having issues with my marriage and the bottle and all I got was
“Maybe you should try meditation or how about breathing techniques…”
“Have you considered getting out in nature or discussing the issues with your wife in a non confrontational way?”
I find more effective solace in a bottle of Tito’s still.
Many people have simply turned Cold, Heartless & Wicked… Many are putting status before humane concerns… EAP has gotten to the point of placing people in that unit that follow the Status Quo of covering up corruption instead of helping officers in dire need. Most EAP workers simply don’t care and just needed a job… I think in this evil world of nepotism and cronyism that most positions if not all, should be vote on… However, most importantly Keep GOD 1st in everything…
Correct. Ephesians 6.
We are dealing with spiritual issues not the bottle not the wife not the boss not anything else. Everything is attacks from the unseen realms spiritual attacks from wickedness from high places everything we are fighting is of the demonic realm. All of it. Our issues. Why the ghetto is the way it is. It’s all a sin problem. Sin. We are sin fighters. No matter what name scientists or politicians give it we are dealing with sin, dark sinister forces we cannot see professionally and personally.
God first.
Not dept approved and will cost you your J 0 B if you pissin hot
It's like when you breakup. You leave your partner and when you try to come back and reconcile they still hold why you left and if your back because of love and realize what you gave up or because you need an e z paycheck and gonna be a pos
Get paid to go to the academy to get trained on things you know 90 percent of? Easy money
Read who it's on behalf of. What's a Direcory? Best and brightest here.
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