Jason obtained his Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology from Loyola University Chicago (2006) and a Master’s of Education in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Lindsey Wilson College (2024). Jason started his career as a police officer in 2007 in northern Illinois where he worked for over 10 years in various positions. In 2018 he relocated to southern Illinois with his wife where he started a therapy K-9 unit within the Marion Police Department where he and his therapy K-9 paw-tner Gary help address mental health within the community. Jason is also the team coordinator for the Williamson County Hostage and Crisis Response Team.
After responding to a 2015 double-homicide involving a baseball bat, Jason learned the value of mental health, and more importantly, of taking care of his own. After entering counselling for compound PTSD, he began the journey of progress to further his education to help more people with their traumas, starting with a peer support team while up north. Jason eventually went back to school in 2022 for counseling and has been seeing clients at the Stress and Trauma Treatment Center, Inc. while still working at the police department.
With his experience and education, Jason looks forward to working with first responders and those with personal traumas in order to help end the mental health stigma in society, and believes that talking about issues a person is going through is vital to understanding that it is okay to not be okay.
