Course Number: R4144C
Course Description:
Emotional Survival For Law Enforcement
A Foreword of the new book by Alexis Artwohl, Ph.D.
If you’re a cop, you’re going to love this book. It could change your life. It might even save your life, your career, your home life.
If you’re not a cop, you’ll still love it because the ideas in this book could certainly apply to you too. Maybe you’re in a relationship with a cop or have a highly demanding career that puts you on the “biological rollercoaster” ride, a concept that stems from Dr. Gilmartin’s brilliant insight into the cost of public safety work and other high stress occupations.
Author Kevin Gilmartin, Ph.D., is eminently qualified to write about emotional survival for law enforcement because he has lived it, studied it, researched it, and taught it. He is one of America’s very few “cop docs.” After earning his Ph.D. in psychology, he was a career deputy sheriff with the Pima County Sheriff’s Office (PeSO), in Arizona. He started with the PCSO in 1974 on a Law Enforcement Alliance of America (LEAA) grant, then became a sworn deputy in 1977 until his retirement in 1995.
In 1982 he was nationally recognized for his work in hostage negotiations when he was selected as one of America’s ten best “Police Officers of the Year” by Parade Magazine. Other operational activities during his deputy she rrif career included assisting investigators, criminal profiling, crisis interventions with emotionally disturbed persons, and dealing with extremist groups. The article he wrote on religious extremist groups, “The Lethal Triad,” is still used in counter-terrorism training.
A true police psychologist is a rare breed in itself, and Dr. Gilmartin was one of the early pioneers in this highly specialized area. He was invited to write articles for leading publications and developed one of the nation’s earliest police behavioral sciences units in the Tucson metro area. Although his initial interest was in operational work, his work in counseling police officers and their families soon led him to the realization that one of the most critical and ignored areas in law enforcement is the emotional toll this stressful occupation takes on its own people, and his focus turned increasingly to this area.
As deputy sheriff and doctor, living, working, and studying the unique world of cops and their families, he developed a penetrating insight into the daily work life of cops. He came to see how it insidiously dismantled the personal lives, health, happiness, and careers of officers who weren’t prepared to cope with the unique demands of the law enforcement lifestyle. These officers and their family members became emotional casualties. Dr. Gilmartin was determined to do something that could help them become emotional survivors instead.
Fortunately for law enforcement at large, Dr. Gilmartin is a gifted trainer who started training early in his career and soon became inundated with requests for training from all across North America. After retiring from the PCSO, he was able to devote all his efforts to taking his message on the road internationally and is teaching as many officers as he can about the hazards of the wild biological rollercoaster ride, a ride that can end in disaster if officers don’t learn to manage it.
I first heard Dr. Gilmartin speak at the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conference in 1993. I was instantly impressed by two things: This guy really knows what he’s talking about, and he is fun to listen to. Not only is he highly entertaining, his message is clear, straightforward, and easy to understand. His life-changing advice is practical and simple to apply once you understand the concept of the Hypervigilance Biological Rollercoaster®.
When he isn’t helping cops, Dr. Gilmartin chases steers as he enjoys the cowboy lifestyle on his horse ranch in Arizona. He and his wife, Anne, are avid team ropers and compete in the rodeos of the Law Enforcement Rodeo Association.
As a law enforcement trainer myself, I, like Dr. Gilmartin, travel all over North America training cops. Because I admire his work, I usually mention Dr. Gilmartin’s name and encourage officers to attend his training if they get the chance. Time after time officers have come up to me during the breaks to tell me they had been fortunate enough to listen to Dr. Gilmartin speak in person or on his videotape. They rave about how entertaining and informative the class was, but, more important, they tell me that hearing him speak changed their lives. Many of the older veterans wistfully tell me, “Better late than never, but I wish I had heard his talk at the beginning of my career.”
Now Dr. Gilmartin has put his message in print in this book, which is not only profound but almost as entertaining as he is in person. So enjoy, and go become an emotional survivor.
—Alexis Artwohl, Ph.D.
Co-author of Deadly Force Encounters
Dates: February 2 & repeats on February 3, 2022
Times: 0800-1700
Credit Hours: 8
Location: Watersprings Church, 4250 S. 25th E., Idaho Falls, ID 83401
Cost: Free for officers of IFPD, Idaho State Police D6, Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office. All others $99.00 plus tax (ALL Spouses, regardless of place of residence, attend for free)
(Attendees are responsible for meals, travel, and/or lodging)
Deadline:
Instructor(s): Robert White, pre-recorded introduction from Kevin Gilmartin
Remarks: To register for this course, click the link- https://www.eventbrite.com/e/emotional-survival-for-law-enforcement-tickets-211992835277
Official Government Website