Q: Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, can you share some background on what SJSO is doing to support its employees?
A: Mental health is personal to me and our agency and it’s something we address every day. There are 57.8 million adults aged 18 and older in the US who experience mental illness each year. Additionally, on average 22 veterans die by suicide daily. I ask myself, how do we provide better service to St. Johns County? And that is to make sure that our employees ae mentally, physically, and spiritually fit and make sure that all services are available to all of our employees.
Q: What are some of the offerings of SJSO’s mental health initiative?
A: We have a number of things. First, I added a licensed clinical psychologist to our staff. She has 20 years of experience and is a Navy veteran and she is available to all of our employees, not just our deputies. Also, we partner with K9s for Warriors. We brought in two dogs, Simba and Sandy, who completed the program and are certified as station dogs. They work outside the agency, too, as well as providing therapy and wellness for our employees. We also have a robust peer to peer team and we are sharing what we do with agencies across the state.
Q: How do you address wellness?
A: For physical wellness, we offer memberships in gyms and have some gyms located on our properties. We offer things like boxing and yoga. Faith-based wellness is important and we have chaplains on staff. For financial wellness, we have financial advisors on staff. We have multiple community partners, including UF Health, Care Connect+ and EPIC. We recently partnered with Lakeview Health for bed space if needed.
Q: Can you tell us about the Cordico app?
A: This is a brand new, confidential app for all of our employees and their families as well as our retirees. It was set up specifically for SJSO and includes options like finding a therapist, self assessment, career wellness, family wellness, financial wellness, faith-based wellness, leadership, nutrition, peer to peer support, sleep deprivation and trauma. The app allows the user to get confidential information or immediate help if needed in each of these areas. We are trying to be open minded and innovative in our approach to mental health and wellness. We check out other agencies and what they are doing to see if we can duplicate and even make it better for our men and women.
Q: Do you have anything else to share in this area?
A: Mental health is as important to me as physical health and is a top priority at SJSO.
If a citizen is suffering from a mental health crisis, they can call 988 to receive help. Additional resources are available through the local chapter of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), (904) 827-7404 or www.namivfsj.org.
Q: What is the best way for our readers to contact you with any questions or suggestions about this article?
A: They can email me at sheriff@sjso.org or call me at (904) 824-8304. Also, our website, www.sjso.org has a wealth of resources.
