Trish Buchanan's husband, Paul Buchanan, was a decorated East Hartford police officer who took his life in March 2013 after months of struggling with depression.
He had feared the repercussions that seeking help for mental illness might have on his career, Trish Buchanan said. When they finally called some mental health professionals, they were asked whether Paul was at immediate risk, otherwise the soonest he would be able to see someone would be six weeks later. When they did find someone who could see him in a week and a half, even that proved to be too long a wait.
His sister, Laura Kearney of Rocky Hill, said the family worried that Trish —who had been with Paul since high school and married nearly 29 years — would never be the same or able to raise their two sons alone.
But since Paul's suicide, Trish Buchanan has dedicated herself to helping police, firefighters and other first-responders confront and deal with the threat of depression and PTSD, break through the stigma of mental illness and get the help they need.
[For more of this story, written by Anabelle Orlando, go to http://www.courant.com/hometow...-20160924-story.html]
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