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Our Team

The WELL Training program is created by Christie Jackson, Ph.D., a licensed clinical psychologist and Paul M. Smith, MSW, LCSW, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a former police officer.

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Christie Jackson, Ph.D.

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Christie Jackson, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist and Clinical Assistant Professor at the NYU School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry. She currently serves as Director of the PTSD Clinic at the Manhattan Veterans Administration Medical Center. Dr. Jackson also provides counseling to law enforcement personnel in her private practice in New York City. Prior to joining the Manhattan VA, Dr. Jackson worked at the New York University Trauma and Resilience Research Program and the Columbia University Anxiety and Traumatic Stress (CATS) Program. Through CATS, she provided treatment and conducted outreach programming for NYPD and FBI employees who were affected by the 9/11 World Trade Center Attacks.

Dr. Jackson completed a postdoctoral fellowship in trauma and dissociative disorders at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, as well as other specialized training in the area of post-traumatic stress. She served as Program Co-Chair for the 2011 International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) Conference, has published articles and book chapters in the area of traumatic stress, provided clinical supervision to mental health professionals, clinical psychology interns, externs, and psychiatry residents, and presented widely on PTSD and similar topics.

Dr. Jackson’s clinical expertise with traumatized individuals spans across numerous populations, including law enforcement personnel, veterans, political refugees, survivors of the 9/11 Attacks, rape and assault survivors, and individuals affected by childhood trauma.

Paul M. Smith, MSW, LCSW

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Paul M. Smith, MSW, LCSW is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He 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, where he also served as a firearms instructor and was awarded the Medal of Valor from Cops Helping Cops. He currently works as a mental health counselor at the Milo C. Huempfner Green Bay VA Health Care Center providing counseling services for military veterans and their families and is the HUD/VASH Coordinator in the Homeless Veterans Program. Paul is also Vice-President and Co-Founder of WELL TRAINING, INC., a company committed to pre-incident mental health training for law enforcement officers. Recently, he also began private practice counseling, specializing in providing counseling services to law enforcement officers and their families.

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 provides. 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 Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Graduate School, Helen Bader School of Social Welfare. He is also certified by both the Red Cross and Salvation Army as a facilitator for CISM interventions.