My name's Andy O'Hara and I'm a retired police officer.
My career ended at 24 years with severe PTSD and a near suicide. After a lengthy recovery, I felt the need to do something, share something, work with someone, to help officers avoid my same fate. From that came the non-profit organization, "Badge of Life." The primary mission of the Badge of Life Program is to assist law enforcement officers in the United States and Canada to maintain the highest possible quality of life in their careers. Our goal is to provide free assistance and materials from which officers can be trained to deal effectively with stress and emotional trauma long before reaching a crisis level.
141 police suicides occurred in 2008 (O'Hara/Violanti). We believe this number can be reduced. But we also believe it's "Not just about suicide." For every suicide, we believe, there are hundreds of other officers out there still working and suffering from the pain of their experiences and trauma.
Please visit our website at http://www.badgeoflife.com/ Your thoughts and your help are welcomed.
My name's Andy O'Hara and I'm a retired police officer.
