Mental Health and Wellness Support
A resource guide for NJ State PBA members
Mental health advice from one of your own
■ BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
Peter Killeen has been on call as a stress counselor for law en-
forcement officers 24/7, 365 days a year for the past 28 years. He
started a program for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Fire-
arms (ATF) that, 28 years later, is still the only agency in the fed-
eral government with a mental wellness program. He provides
similar services for the DEA and Port Authority Police Local 116.
There are some who say Killeen has written the book on men-
tal healthcare services for law enforcement. Actually, he has
written two, one of which the Port Authority uses in its academy.
So Killeen is offering NJ Cops a chance to lie on his couch
right here and help them get into the men-
Mental Health tal healthcare and wellness they so much
need and deserve. Yes, he knows your fear
Spotlight
about being identified as a mental health
patient and what you think that might do
to your job security. But Killeen can calm your fears.
“It’s not a weakness. It doesn’t mean you can’t perform your
job. It just means you have been impacted in an adverse way,”
advises Killeen, who served as a Port Authority officer in the
early 1970s. “If you’re in law enforcement, there’s a very good
chance you have been exposed to critical incidents causing
PTSD and vicarious trauma that have an adverse impact on
some levels.”
Killeen further asserts that getting officers the mental health
and wellness support needed to address the effects of post-trau-
matic stress disorder (PTSD) starts at the top.
“The stigma has to be addressed on the executive level as
well as the level of the officer,” Killeen adds. “Many of the po-
lice chiefs have post-traumatic stress and don’t even know it.
Education has to be the primary thing. That’s where the whole
prevention takes place.”
Killeen comes from a law enforcement family. His grandfa-
ther served as a Jersey City officer. His father worked as a Port
Authority detective, and his brother also served with the PAPD.
After serving for a couple of years, Killeen left to go back to
school and became a Franciscan friar for eight years. He worked
with the Port Authority in the World Trade Center and, in 1989,
opened his own office to begin providing counseling for law en-
forcement officers.
He counseled officers in Local 116, as well as Port Authority
detectives and sergeants and the New York City PBA. Killeen has
devoted the past 28 years – 24/7, 365 days a year – helping offi-
cers be better prepared on the job by taking care of their well-
ness. He has developed an important asset that seems to make
a difference in officers not being afraid to seek mental health
and wellness.
“There has to be a trust level,” he notes. “It took me a long
time to get the trust. Even when I went into facilities, everybody
would be afraid of being identified. Now, I go in and address roll
calls and officers don’t look at it as being stigmatized.”
Killeen authored Operation Longevity: A Mindful Approach
to Wellness and Resilience for the Law Enforcement Profession-
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NEW JERSEY COPS
■ FEBRUARY 2019
“If you’re in law enforcement, there’s a
very good chance you have been exposed
to critical incidents causing PTSD and
vicarious trauma that have an adverse
impact on some levels.”
Peter Killeen
al in the 21st Century to offer the tools to better adapt and ef-
fectively cope with much of the stress experienced within the
law enforcement profession. He also wrote Operation Longevity
Personal Journal to provide interactive activities that follow the
philosophy of Operation Longevity.
He will be presenting information about Operation Longevity
and the process of entering into counseling at the NJ State PBA
Mini Convention on March 4-8 in Atlantic City. Co-presenting
with Killeen will be Dr. Anastasia Pytal, a former police officer
in Virginia and a psychologist for the Metropolitan Police De-
partment in Washington, D.C., who founded the Northern New
Jersey Counseling Center in Little Falls.
Operation Longevity advocates a continuum of care that be-
gins with education. Combined with the support of the director
and deputy director, that is how Killeen has successfully instilled
a mental wellness program for ATF. It’s the same approach that
is working with the Port Authority police.
“The first thing I would say to officers having problems after
a critical incident is to seek professional help,” Killeen states.
“The other is to take care of yourself physically and spiritually.
Work on your family unit. Make sure you continue to commu-
nicate with your spouse or significant other. If we can get that
done, that’s a huge thing.”
To further promote longevity, Killeen suggests that all agen-
cies consider implementing an approach in which officers have,
at minimum, an annual mental health checkup. This would
preferably be done by a therapist with specific training.
“My dream would be to have people trained in the law en-
forcement and first responder culture,” he relates. “That way,
when officers speak to that person, they won’t have to explain
what they do.”
Killeen has used another technique that has made an impact
with ATF, DEA and the Port Authority police. He calls this “se-
renity in the workplace,” which he believes is more instinctive
to law enforcement officers than they even know.
“You can all find happiness in your work by performing ran-
dom acts of kindness and not expecting anything in return,”
Killeen explains. “You will start making a difference not only in
the lives of the people you serve, but in your life as well.”