Smith, LCSW is a former law enforcement officer who is now a licensed mental health clinician. He has previously worked as a Deputy Sheriff for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and as a Police Officer with the Madison, WI Police Department. He has extensive experience working as a mental health counselor for military and combat Veterans at the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Paul is currently the owner of Code-3 Counseling & Consulting, LLC, where he specializes in providing counseling services to law enforcement officers and their families, as well as providing mental health and wellness training to law enforcement agencies. Paul’s unique background, as both a law enforcement officer and as a mental health clinician, has provided him with a knowledgeable and credible level of insight into the interplay of the law enforcement culture and the utilization of mental health services. During his career in law enforcement and as a volunteer Firefighter/EMT, he was exposed to a wide array of critical incidents and traumatic events, including his involvement in two fatal officer-involved shootings. His experiences as a law enforcement officer taught him, first-hand, about the difficulties of coping with the numerous traumatic events that come with a job in law enforcement, as well as the inherent day-to-day stressors that the job creates. These professional experiences, combined with his journey of personal struggles to overcome their impact, have worked together to lay the path which has led him to his current profession. His uniqueness as a trained mental health professional, together with his personal knowledge of “survival” within the profession of law enforcement and EMS services, make him a powerfully credible and respected trainer and therapist among these occupational populations. Paul received his Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin- Madison and his Master’s Degree in Clinical Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Graduate School, Helen Bader School of Social Welfare. He is currently a mental health trainer/consultant and POST Team consultant for Green Bay PD, Appleton PD, Brown County SO, Outagamie County SO, and the Brown County Public Safety Communications Center. He is also a mental health clinician on the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Death Response (LEDR) Team, conducts Critical Incident Debriefings and Defusings, is an adjunct faculty member of Fox Valley Technical College’s Public Safety Training Center, and is a subject matter expert and certified instructor for the WI Dept.
