亚洲AV

To Help Fellow Police Officers Deal with Trauma, She Needed Knowledge. Now She鈥檚 a Master鈥檚 Student at the Schar School

In This Story

People Mentioned in This Story
Body
A woman with short dark hair smiles broadly as she stands in the doorway of an ancient stone building.
Corinne Dopp stands at the doorway of the Bodleian Library at Oxford. The Schar School student, a police officer in North Carolina, is spending a semester abroad studying master鈥檚-level curriculum designed specifically for police.

鈥淚f you have turned on the television in the last few years, or even the last few days, you are very aware the relationship between police officers and their communities is suffering,鈥 said Corinne Dopp, reflecting on the seemingly daily news stories involving violence between law enforcement officers and the public they are sworn to protect.

While many in the public-at-large see police as antagonists, even calling on officials to 鈥渄efund the police,鈥 Dopp sees things from a different angle. She serves as a police officer in the Town of Glen Alpine Police Department, in Morganton, North Carolina, and as such, she鈥檚 aware of the trauma鈥攊nduced by hypervigilance, violence, and working shifts in hazardous environments鈥攖hat law enforcement officers suffer as a result of daily interactions with domestic turmoil, mental health issues, and criminal activity.

In March 2021, she cofounded a business, with colleague Gregory Snider, to assist police officers address with mental health struggles鈥擭avigating Pathways Home鈥攂ut the 2021 public health graduate from Appalachian State University realized she needed more knowledge and skills in order to achieve her goal of helping police in jurisdictions other than her own.

To accomplish this mission, Dopp enrolled in the (ODKM) master鈥檚 program at 亚洲AV鈥檚 . ODKM is a cohort-based, integrated learning experience that deviates from higher education pedagogies: Students act as a team to learn and apply essential leadership proficiencies, creative problem-solving, and advanced analytical skills to a range of professional fields. Many come to the program to advance their careers; others, such as Dopp, learn methodologies not available in traditional degree programs that they immediately apply to their own organizational concepts.

In Dopp鈥檚 case, 鈥I have聽found the answer for how聽it is possible聽to build a聽system聽that will address the problem [of police mental health issues] in a preventative way from within each police department,鈥 she said. She said she has a plan for an 鈥渋nternal wellness framework鈥 for every police force, at no cost.

That advanced learning does not come without sacrifice. Dopp enrolled in the Schar School鈥檚 ODKM program knowing it would mean leaving her three children鈥攁ges 13,11, and 4鈥攁t home 400 miles away, with her Army active-duty husband Joshua, a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne, for the 12-hour round-trip drive for weekly in-person classes at Mason Square in Arlington.

But it also afforded her an unexpected opportunity: Late last year she was accepted into Mason鈥檚 Global Education Office鈥檚 semester abroad at the U.K.鈥檚 University of Oxford, where she is being exposed to that country鈥檚 master鈥檚-level curriculum designed specifically for police. She鈥檚 also been a guest lecturer at Cambridge鈥檚 Anglia Ruskin University.

鈥淭he 12-hours-plus round-trip is the longest we鈥檝e had in the ODKM program,鈥 said professor and program founding director . The drive, he suggested, 鈥was also her opportunity for reflection about the changes she wanted to create for the mental health of her own law enforcement community. She understands the emotional turmoil that comes with law enforcement and wants to think outside the box to enhance the well-being of fellow officers.

鈥淲ith that determination, she is now learning from the best practices of officers around the world in a program at Oxford. Corrine鈥檚 indefatigable efforts are one of the best examples of the positive changes ODKM students have been making for social justice and well-being.鈥

Dopp鈥檚 service to her fellow police鈥攈elping process trauma, building resiliency, and underscoring community鈥攊s important, she said, because as of now, 鈥渢he way we are treating police officers is ineffective, and we can see this in their average number of pension withdrawals.鈥 She cites World Health Organization figures that show the average citizen experiences one to two 鈥渃ritical incidents鈥 in their lives, outside of normal loss and grief. 鈥淎 career police officer experiences 600 to 800,鈥 she said.

鈥淭his has a health cost. Most officers don鈥檛 last five years in the聽profession,聽and those who make it to retirement聽meet that accomplishment at the highest risk of death within their first聽two years.聽

鈥淭he average life expectancy of a citizen in the United States is 74 years. The average life expectancy of a law enforcement officer is 53 years.鈥

Additional reporting by Anduela Nika Johnson.