Officer Family Wellness Podcast Series

Lois James, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Washington State University (WSU) College of Nursing, where she focuses on bias, stress, sleep, and performance in “high stress” populations such as police officers, military personnel, nurses, and top tier athletes. 

Cyndi Doyle is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor in Texas, National Certified Counselor, and Certified Daring Way Facilitator for Dr. Brene Brown. She is the co-owner of Pecan Branch Counseling in Denton, Texas. Cyndi is certified in Critical Incident Stress Management and serves on local CISM teams as well as the Dallas/Fort Worth regional team. Cyndi's passions include serving the first responder community and other mental health professionals. In 2017, Cyndi's passion for first responders and their spouses inspired her to found Code4Couples, a company dedicated to support and increase resilience in first responders, their spouses, and their relationships. Through her Code4Couples podcast, Cyndi normalizes experiences of first responders and their spouses by sharing her own journey and stories as a Law Enforcement spouse, educates them on related mental health and relationship difficulties, empowers them with tools, techniques, and resources, and promotes connection within the First Responder community.  

Chief Daniel Scesney (Grand Prairie, Texas Police Department) came to Texas in 1998 after serving his country in the United States Marine Corps as a Military Police Officer. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice Administration from Columbia College and a Master of Science in Criminal Justice and Criminology from Texas Christian University (TCU). His career with GPPD began in 2001 during which time he served in a variety of capacities including Patrol Officer, Directed Patrol Unit, SWAT Team Leader, Narcotics, Property Crimes, Domestic Crimes, Major Crimes (including adult and child homicide investigations), Patrol Supervisor, and has commanded both the Special Operations and Investigative Services Bureau as the Assistant Chief of Police.  

Deborah Marson teaches the financial wellness lesson of IACP’s Women’s Leadership Institute course, in which she discusses retirement, investments, estate planning, and other pertinent financial topics to law enforcement professionals from around the globe. Ms. Marson has over 12 years of experience specializing in comprehensive financial planning.  Her professional expertise in financial planning includes the areas of Budgeting, Investments, Tax Planning, Retirement, College Planning and Life, Disability and Long-Term Care Insurance.  

Dr. Robert J. Cipriano Jr. has been working with the community professionally within the field of psychology for 22 years. His undergraduate training in psychology was completed at Florida State University and he completed a doctoral program accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) in clinical psychology at Carlos Albizu University in Miami, Florida. He completed his doctoral internship at one of the largest state hospitals that housed the “criminally insane” within the Central United States. He currently owns and has developed his training and consulting business, SIMCIP GROUP Forensic-Psychological Consultants, located in Pembroke Pines, Florida. 

During her 21 years with the Columbia Police Department, Dianne Bernhard rose from patrol officer to deputy chief, supervised the Youth Services Unit, and served as the president of the Missouri School Resource Officer Association. 

Bernhard retired from CPD to take a job as executive director of Concerns of Police Survivors — a national organization that supports the families of officers killed in the line of duty. Bernhard knows what it's like to lose a colleague. She said the hardest day of her career was when Officer Molly Bowden was killed during a traffic stop in 2005. 

Bernhard joined CPD in 1992 as a patrol officer. Five years later, after serving as a detective and a community police officer, she was promoted to sergeant. In 2007, she was promoted to lieutenant and was responsible for daytime and evening patrols. She was promoted to deputy chief in 2012.

As executive director, Bernhard leads an organization whose programs have helped 32,000 people. 

Sergeant Kevin Kinney is a Headquarters Sergeant with the State of South Dakota Highway Patrol. Kevin has been with the agency for over 17 years. One of his roles is working on officer and staff wellness and helping the officers learn how to be resilient in this type of job that tends to wear people out. 

Megan Kinney has been married to Kevin Kinney for 20 years. She is very passionate about Officer Wellness and how the family is involved in supporting their officer. Megan and Kevin have four daughters that keep them pretty busy.