My name is Tiffany C. Brown, and I am a Doctor of Clinical Forensic Psychology in Chicago, Illinois. I am seeking support for this petition that I hope will eliminate a barrier that Chicago Police officers encounter when they seek mental health services from mental health providers that are independent of the Chicago Police Department's EAP program.  

In the last few months there have been several suicides amongst Chicago Police officers. As many of us know, community policing is a stressful, dangerous, and thankless career. In Chicago, officers are subjected to systematic injustice, governmental rules created to assist criminals in committing crimes, and a lawless city. Frankly, Chicago Police officers are in war like conditions as community members have lost respect for police. Their mental health is being significantly damaged. Officers often seek the solace of an independent mental health provider to ensure they can freely and confidentially discuss their stressors without the fear of losing their job, without the fear of being judged, and without fear of being labeled by the Chicago Police Department. I applaud the officers who seek support!

Problem:

The City of Chicago has contracted with Telligen for mental health utilization reviews. A mental health utilization review is a review performed by employees (in the case of Telligen it's a nurse) to determine if the insurance company should continue to pay for services and how many therapy sessions the individual is allowed to do before the mental health provider has to submit another review. 

The biggest issue is Telligen has the RIGHT to decline services thus halting mental health services. There is a superficial appeal process for which they continue to deny the request. 

Let's flush this out:

If Chicago Police officers continues to be police officer and continues to experience the same level of stress and trauma, or more, how does Telligen tell a qualified mental health provider that the officer no longer needs mental health support? The officers are still in the same conditions! The sheer fact that officers' careers are extremely stressful should warrant free access to whatever mental health provider they want to work with. This includes substance treatment, couple's therapy, family therapy, and of course individual therapy. 

I am seeking signatures to petition the City of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department to dissolve their contract with Telligen, thus removing the barrier for Chicago Police officers to seek mental health supports outside of EAP services.