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In law enforcement, wellness can’t be an afterthought — it must be part of the foundation of operations. That means moving beyond surface-level initiatives to fully integrating mental health support into operations, training and leadership strategies. From proactive threat assessment to long-term officer resilience and retirement planning, embedding behavioral health into daily practice is key to building a healthier, more effective agency.
In this episode of the Policing Matters podcast, host Jim Dudley talks with Dr. Cherylynn Lee, a police psychologist with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, about weaving behavioral science into tactical operations, threat assessment and daily officer interactions. From co-responder units to retirement planning, Dr. Lee explains how agencies can proactively support both sworn and civilian staff.
Read more from Dr. Lee on Police1 here. Connect with Dr. Lee on LinkedIn.
About our guest
Dr. Cherylynn Lee is a police psychologist and works full-time for the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office as the Behavioral Sciences Manager, overseeing the mental health co-response teams, CIT training and the internal Wellness Unit, including Peer Support. Dr. Lee is a member of the county’s threat management team and consults on threat assessment cases around the state. She also serves on the crisis negotiation response teams for both the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office and the Santa Barbara Police Department and teaches in the FBI 40-hour Crisis Negotiation Academy.
Dr. Lee has a private practice in the Santa Ynez Valley where she sees first responders exclusively, specializing in trauma, post-traumatic stress and mindfulness. She is contracted with The Counseling Team International to offer counseling and emergency response services across the state of California. Dr. Lee has led many critical incident stress debriefings for OIS, LODD, natural disasters and as requested by both local and state fire and law agencies.
Dr. Lee is also a subject-matter expert with CA POST on both officer and dispatcher wellness and has participated in several training videos and initiatives aimed at supporting and encouraging wellness for departments and their personnel. She currently sits on the California State Sheriffs Association Wellness board. She can be reached at crl5034@sbsheriff.org.
Tune in to discover:
- Why “checking the wellness box” isn’t enough — and how to truly embed support into police culture
- What resilience really looks like in officers — and why hobbies and relationships outside policing matter
- How dispatchers experience trauma differently, and what agencies can do to support them
- Why planning for retirement should start early — and how to shift identity beyond the badge
Key takeaways from this episode
- Wellness must be embedded, not bolted on: Wellness efforts often fail when they’re treated as a checkbox or a collateral duty. Agencies need to integrate wellness into the core of operations, starting with leadership understanding what true wellness looks like.
- Operational psychologists provide real-time value: Having a psychologist embedded with tactical units allows for better communication with clinical professionals, improves decision-making during critical incidents and supports liability considerations during high-risk events.
- Behavioral threat assessment saves lives: Dr. Lee shared a powerful example of a 12-year-old whose interest in violence was detected early. Through multi-agency collaboration and long-term engagement, the child was stabilized before harm occurred — reinforcing the importance of proactive threat intervention.
- Resilience is built, not assumed: True resilience comes from preparation — including physical fitness, mental health habits, diverse relationships and non-law enforcement hobbies. Officers need a solid foundation before trauma strikes.
- Civilians experience trauma too: Dispatchers and other non-sworn staff often face intense secondary trauma. Dr. Lee emphasized including them in wellness and debrief protocols, noting they often carry guilt and emotional burden after critical events.
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