Dr. Kevin Keough is a 42 year old licensed clinical psychologist, Director of the Police Psychology Consultation Center in Wilmington, Delaware. Dr. Keough provides comprehensive psychological services to 20 police departments and public safety organizations in Delaware.  He has been actively involved in police psychology since 1995.  He is a member of the Special Psychological Services Group, the nation's largest and most respected network of police psychologists see www.policepsychology.com.

     The mission of the Police Psychology Consultation Center, founded in 1995, is to ensure that  police officers and their families have access to comprehensive, competent,  and integrated mental health and family wellness services/resources/information.  PPCC offers a  broad range of primary prevention, secondary educational ,and tertiary interventions designed to effectively respond  to the unique mental health needs of the law enforcement community.  PPCC interventions are designed to educate and prevent mental health conditions, offer early identification and treatment of emergent  psychological and interpersonal difficulties, and deliver police officer friendly psychological consultation to individuals experiencing psychological symptoms, relationship difficulties, lafe transition, life event stressors.   Dr. Keough  is a political advocate for individual police officers and law enforcement organizations (see sample op-ed piece published in the News Journal).  The PPCC is committed to  supporting the health and well-being of individual officers in a way commensurate with the magnitude and insidious nature of the day to day stressors experienced by police officers.  Historically, the law enforcement community's wariness of -even contempt for the fields of psychology and psychiatry and individual practitioners has been justified.  We have failed at a national and organizational level -American Psychological Association and American Psychiatric Association-to respond to the stress related mental health and interpersonal concerns that are virtually unavoidable occupational hazards attached to careers in law enforcement.  The fields of psychology and psychiatry have changed in important ways yeilding down to earth, remarkably effective interventions, that can be delivered by appropriately trained psychologists dedicated to 'protect and serve'  the law enforcement professionals right to solid health care.  Police work is rightly considered the highest form of public service.  We have a responsibility as a profession and a society to ensure that you have access to every resource and service necessary to maintain your health and well being during careers in law enforcement. Healthy police officers do better police work. Now more than ever, we need healthy well-equipped public safety professionals.

     Dr. Keough has engaged in extensive networking within the law enforcement and police psychology communities toward the goal of creating a web site designed to address the health/mental health and family issues unique to law enforcement personnel. In addition to offering a range of personal consultative services, that include:

A) Performance of emergency evaluations
B) Conducting critical incident debriefings
C) Performance of initial evaluations
D)Delivery of brief psychotherapy following developed treatment plan
E) Making referrals to staff with special expertise
F)Participation in peer supervision and coordination of treatment services
G) Availability to provide consultation to administration
H)Presentation of mental health promotion educational modules
IJ) Conducting pre-employment psychological evaluations

     Dr. Keough has been inspired by and engaged in collaborative working relationships with retired police officers-practicing police psychologists Dr. Gene Sanders and Dr. Al Benner,nationally respected for their work in the delivery of psychological treatment to police officers and their families. Dr. Hibler and the SPSG staff have set the standards in the assessment and management consultation aspects of police psychology leaving the treatment standards to be pioneered by Dr. Sanders and Dr. Benner. 

 
      The field of psychology has developed a core set of prevention programs that address virtually every issue experienced in the ordinary life cycles of  individuals and families. Dr. Keough has identified and brought together has a comprehensive package of prevention programs to address the unique mental health and life transitions of police officers and their families.  Our goal is to develop a web site and related media designed to provide the law enforcement community with a definitive site to obtain comprehensive health, mental health, marriage and family information and resources. Completed components of the evolving PPCC website could be incorporated into the Cops Online web site.

Specific topics include:
a) shiftwork adaptation
b) law enforcement marriages
c) burnout-avoidance, recognition, recovery
d)medical conditions and medications that mimic psychological symptoms
e) fundamentals of mental health for the police officer
f) depression and anxiety inoculation
g) strengthening psychological characteristics associated with mental health and solid job performance
       1) self -efficacy
       2) optimism
       3) stress hardiness
       4) internal locus of control
       5) social and emotional intelligence
       6) achievement motivation
       7) ego strength or 'intestinal fortitude'
       8) self-regulation
       9) development and use of social support
       10) fundamentals of persuasion skills
        11) cultivation of patience
        12) tips for reducing the cumulative stress of dealing     with abuse, ingratitude, ignorance, and human suffering
       13) managing the emotional consequences of dismantling of the 'just world theory'

h) family oriented programs:

1) transition to parenthood
2) identification of 4 key patterns that ruin marriages and relationships
3) fundamentals of parenting
4) helping your infant sleep through the night
5) toilet training
6) effective discipline
7) what to do with a child's academic under-achievement
8) dealing with childhood fears
9) recognition of developmental milestones
10) uncommon sense for parenting teenagers
11) when to seek professional attention for a child
12) healthy habits, rituals, and routines for healthy families

    There are currently about 10 law enforcement specific stress management modules focused on different aspects of the stressors experienced on the job.

     Dr. Keough has participated in approximately 60 'active' ridealongs providing invaluable experience and awareness of the rigors of different aspects of patrol duty.  The benefits of ridealongs seem to warrant consideration of mandatory participation in ridealongs to earn the honor of the title 'police psychologist.  The professional community is struggling to establish acceptable standards, training, and credentials to regulate practitioners who want to offer servies to law enforcement personnel.  Truthfully, police officers ought be included in the development of standards and identification of clinicians cut out to work with members of the law enforcement community.  Listening to the voices of police officers and participation in ridealongs allows the police psychologist to gain credibility and a degree of trust increasing the likelihood that individual officers will  access psychological services as the need arises.