If I seek counseling, will it kill my chances to work in Law Enforcement?

[Sgt. Slaughter]

Don't be so sure of that ;)

Don't make me open up a polling thread. We know better.

[L-1]

Hey everyone. I'm in college seeking a CJ degree, looking to work in LE after graduation.

My question is, I've had a rough couple of years and I feel a bit depressed, and I've been experiencing some social issues. Nothing really serious or anything, I just thought it would be helpful to take advantage of the free counseling services provided through my university.

If I did so, would I effectively be killing my chances to get hired? In other words would this DQ me or hurt my chances of getting hired?

First, this is not a background issue, it is a medical issue. Second, its not so much the counseling, but your mental state itself.

Most states required their peace officers to be free from any "emotional, or mental condition which might adversely affect the exercise of the powers of a peace officer." To that end, peace officer candidates are required to pass a psychological screening, which usually consists of two written assessments: one targeted to identify patterns of abnormal behavior and the other, which is an assessment of normal behavior. A clinical interview with the applicant usually follows.

If the results of the psych exam suggests the issues that caused you to seek counseling still exist and fall within any of the department's disqualifying criteria, they you will be out. OTOH, if they no longer exist or they do exist but are not within the department's disqualifying criteria, they should pose no problem.

I cannot tell you what the disqualifying criteria is, because it will vary from agency to agency and I have no expertise in that field. However, if you take a look at http://lib.post.ca.gov/Publications/...cal-traits.pdf it will show you some the job related psych dimensions for my state (and which are fairly universal for most of the country).

[GigAg04]

You make it sound like this job is full of people who can't handle it. I haven't seen any statistics that show LE has a higher suicide rate. If you have data from a reputable source, I'd like to see it. LEO's DON'T go through counseling "all the time". Some do here and there, but you're making a blanket statement like it's a big part of this culture and it's just not true.


49 posts in 4 years. May be a while before he pops his head back up.

I have verification request pending - I apologize for jumping the gun. Also - I've been busy in the academy and knocking out field training so I don't have as much time to post and haven't for the past 6 months. Leading up to getting hired I was very busy here. I got a ton of great info too, which I appreciate.

As far as people going for counseling all the time, in my experience our Sgts are very open to talking with their officers about stresses of the job. I consider this a form of counseling, and we have an EAP (employee assistance program) by phone that more than a people use annually. I have stats somewhere from the academy (at least TX stats) but I don't care to dig them up. I'm not going to argue with you guys, because your experience far outweighs some class on Critical Incident Stress we had.

I also apologize if somewhere in my most I conveyed that I feel as a profession LE is going crazy by the day. I chose a poor way to word what I intended. You hit the nail on the head with "some do here and there" and I'll leave it at that. In my limited experience I would agree with that for sure.

I'll digress and get back to studying my map book

[viperphi]

You are expected to be human. LEOs go through counseling all the time. We as a profession have a higher divorce and suicide rate than our non-sworn contemporaries. If you choose to speak with the counselor (which I encourage) just be sure to be open about it in your hiring processes.

As long as the psych eval person sees you fit to carry out duty then you'll be fine. Wanting to talk about being stressed is a normal healthy response. I think it is a mature move. Good luck.

Really? All the time? Pfft. We have a higher suicide rate? Says who? This coming from who? Someone who says they are law enforcement but it throwing out pretend statistics? And who is this "we" you speak of? I understand you just got through the academy and FTO, etc. But you throwing this stuff out as fact is like a fresh butter bar in the service standing in front of his platoon and starting out his speech with "based on my experience".

Higher divorce rate? Yeah. Because it's very easy for this job to become the wife and the wife to become the mistress if you don't find a healthy way of turning it off when you are off duty.

We don't all go through counseling though. That is a crock. Most, I think anyways, find their own ways to cope.

To the original poster, I'm not telling you not to seek some kind of help if you indeed feel that you need it. Your mental health and stability I think would take the front seat to anything else. But to say that it might not have any impact on you becoming law enforcement would be snowing you. It could. You have to go through psych testing, polygraph, interviews, etc to establish if you can take the job and ensure that you aren't going to explode at some point. It's the nature of the beast.

[Sgt. Slaughter]

As far as people going for counseling all the time, in my experience our Sgts are very open to talking with their officers about stresses of the job. I consider this a form of counseling,

That's no more "counseling" than what we do here. Non-mental health professionals talking to people. What the OP is referring to and the other cops here referenced is seeing a real counselor/therapist/psychologist where there is a professional record kept of such sessions.