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A new memoir by a former Maine police chief and detective chronicles a crises no family — let alone a law enforcement family already dealing with its own challenges — wants to face.
Lisa Beecher released “Living with Mr. Fahrenheit: A First Responder Family’s Fight for a Future After a Mental Health Crisis” earlier this month, drawing on decades of experiences in criminal justice and how she and her husband Jamie’s lives unfolded after he had a psychotic break.
“The book follows, in often heartbreaking detail, the emotional and traumatic road … and reveals the shame and secrecy that too often prevent first responders from receiving the mental health care they need,” according to a statement about the book release.
Beecher’s memoir chronicles her family’s myriad struggles to cope with her husband’s harrowing battle with bipolar and PTSD he suffered from his work as a first responder.
In what sounds like an exhausting, never-ending dance, Beecher has to be ever-vigilant in monitoring her husband's moods and medications, juggle her own career first as a detective with the Portland Police Department, then as chief of the University of Southern Maine’s police force. The unpredictability of bipolar, its accompanying depression and Jamie’s outbursts take its toll on the whole family, but especially on Lisa.
“Living in the house that PTSD and bipolar 1 built came with a requirement that I lessen the impacts and facilitate as many soft landings as I could,” Beecher writes. “The kids and I had learned that little could be left to chance. Sailing through was something other people did.”
“When I dared to wish for something that seemed beyond the bounds of possibility—when I prayed for what would surely be a miracle — it was that the holes in their hearts be mended. And, if not asking for too much, that the ache in their mother’s heart be soothed.”
Beecher spares no detail, from allegedly inadequate treatment Jamie received at Jackson Brook Institute to the label “sick leave abuser” pinned on him towards the end of his career.
Beecher herself is accused by a coworker of "milking her time off" during a period when her husband needed her constant supervision and support.
But “Living with Mr. Fahrenheit” has its positives as well. Some colleagues were supportive and understanding, including most of the supervisors, such as former Portland Police Chief Mike Chitwood. Jamie and Lisa also experience a reprieve, although it’s not permanent.
Jamie eventually reached the point where he couldn’t work as a police officer anymore. Moreover, the lithium he was taking damaged his kidneys, adding another side effect to the list that already included hand tremors, intestinal upsets, hypothyroidism and weight gain. His mental illness would eventually have an impact on his physical health that was almost as debilitating.
“It’s Jekyll-and-Hyde quality — harming while helping — was worrisome,” Beecher says.
Then, in a twist of fate, Beecher also faces her own unimaginable health crises, leaving the reader stunned by the unfairness of it all.
Beecher has been praised by first responders, civic leaders, and mental health professionals in Maine and beyond for “her courage in sharing a deeply personal story and helping to lift the stigma of mental health care for law enforcement that is still too prevalent.”
Her work has drawn more than 15 positive reviews, including Kirkus Reviews, which said, “Beecher ably depicts the difficulties of toggling between the roles of police detective and mother and spouse/caretaker. She also captures the emotional stresses first responders try to bury.”
“The question is no longer will our law enforcement calling affect us, but how and when?” said retired Portland Police Chief Michael Sauschuck, now the commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Lisa Beecher is a former chief of police at the University of Southern Maine and retired detective at the Portland Police Department with more than three decades in law enforcement. She received the inaugural Police Services Award from the Family Crisis Shelter for dedication to justice for domestic abuse victims and was recognized by the National Center for Women and Policing with a Breaking the Glass Ceiling Award.
“Living with Mr. Fahrenheit” is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and through lisabeecher.com.
Hey Harold!
Guess you’ve not worked in public safety- there IS a stigma to talking about or getting help! Thank god
For this book. It’s gotten the community of public safety openly talking and changes are being made. Sorry you aren’t of a mind to support but thank god most are!
I am not of a mind to support in print or in conversation claims that there is a stigma to mental health issues. Promulgating that prejudice does far too much harm.
Harold A Maio
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Learn moreThe Giving Guide helps nonprofits have the opportunity to showcase and differentiate their organizations so that businesses better understand how they can contribute to a nonprofit’s mission and work.
Work for ME is a workforce development tool to help Maine’s employers target Maine’s emerging workforce. Work for ME highlights each industry, its impact on Maine’s economy, the jobs available to entry-level workers, the training and education needed to get a career started.
Few people are adequately prepared for all the tasks involved in planning and providing care for aging family members. SeniorSmart provides an essential road map for navigating the process. This resource guide explores the myriad of care options and offers essential information on topics ranging from self-care to legal and financial preparedness.
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