UCF partners with Lake County to provide mental health support to deputies

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Dealing with the death of someone close is always difficult, and that pain reaches a different level when it comes to the law enforcement community.

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“They think of each other as brothers and sisters, they are there to support each other. They also know that they will lay down their life for the other person. This type of traumatic event is quite personal,” said Dr. Deborah C. Beidel, Executive Director at UCF Restores.

According to mental experts, the impact of losing a fellow member of law enforcement has immediate and long-term impact – and it is no different in the case of Master Deputy Link, who was killed in the line of duty in Lake County on Friday.

“There is going to be a hole in this agency where the officer who was killed will no longer be, and this makes it a traumatic event that is off the scale with response to other types of traumatic events that people have in their lives,” said Dr. Beidel. “We are working with Lake County Sheriff’s Office and also the surrounding communities to provide what we call psychological first aid.”

Read: Lake County Sheriff’s Office provides updates on injured deputies

With the help of technology, the team here recreates whatever experience first responders or law enforcement agents go through and uses that as a tool. 

“We use virtual reality to enhance our exposure therapy and help them immerse in it. We can use exposure therapy so they can habituate and, therefore, cure or reduce or remove their PTSD symptom,” said Quinton Keith Smith, licensed clinical social worker at UCF Restores. “We use, essentially, a heart rate monitor here to tell us how quickly the patient’s heart rate is beating and so forth again, to give us that physiological kind of readings to match up with that.”

UCF Restores has provided help to countless members of law enforcement and first responders following some of the country’s worst events.

Read: How to help Lake County deputies’ families following deadly ambush

“We’ve responded to Pulse, we’ve responded to Parkland, we’ve responded to the Surfside building collapse,” said Dr. Beidel. “We have seen people here who were at the Las Vegas shooting, and I’ve personally worked with the FBI after the Uvalde shooting to work with first responders there.”

Nearly 1,000 veterans have been treated at the location—most of them, about 76% —have been able to return to work in a matter of weeks.

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