B-CU College of Liberal Arts Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences Delivers Mental Wealth Seminar for Chicago Police Department

Dr. Daniel L. Hollar, Department Chair of B-CU’s Behavioral and Social Sciences Studies in the College of Liberal Arts, and Dr. Inger M. Daniels, Visiting Professor of Finance from Florida A&M University delivered a 2-day seminar, Mental Wealth: A Seminar on Minding Your Money, January 27-28, 2020 for the Chicago Police Department in Chicago, Illinois.  

The seminar was attended by approximately 220 sworn officers and 20 personnel who learned the importance of maintaining one's mental health and the interaction between stress, executive functioning and financial wellness. Officers received in-depth financial literacy and management training with personalized workbooks and activities for solutions to self-monitor their mental wellbeing as well as techniques to successfully plan and manage their individual financial responsibilities.  

Mental Wealth: A Seminar on Minding Your Money, is part of a yearlong effort designed by Drs. Hollar and Daniels to decrease the stigma of mental illness and increase resilience among police officers in Chicago and the surrounding area. In 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice reported that the Chicago Police Department had the highest rate of police officer suicide in the nation.  

This spurred a series of mental health workshops between 2018-2019, led by Dr. Hollar who holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with a specialization in suicide risk assessment, prevention and reduction.  The workshop series, “Bridging the Gap,” was covered by the Chicago Tribune and included top suicide researchers from academia, including Dr. Hollar's mentor, Dr. Thomas E. Joiner, Jr., national suicide research expert at Florida State University.  Mental Wealth is the latest in this series and attempts to help law enforcement officers understand the interaction between financial stress and mental wellbeing.  

Dr. Hollar is currently working to bring this series of mental health workshops to the Daytona Beach Police Department later in 2020 and is collaborating with Chief Capri and Deputy Chief Jakari Young, a B-CU alumnus with a Master of Science in Criminal Justice.

L to R: Thank you Chief Barbara West, Sergeant Shawn Kennedy , the officers in the Bureau of Organizational Development and all of the EAP staff at Chicago PD.