Episode 60 - Lt. Sarko Gergerian, Reformative Policing in the Psychedelic Age

Recorded live in Austin thanks to The Psychedelic Society of Texas! Sarko's wisdom, heart and intellect will take you through what it's like to be an active police officer who has set forth on a course of police reform, mental health advocacy and has done MDMA via the MAPS MDMA training program. Yes, really. This is an incredible opportunity to change your mind and find the tools needed to come together as a community in this challenging time.

Lieutenant Sarko Gergerian began his career in 2010 as a patrol officer withWinthrop Police Department. In 2016, he received the Outstanding Service and Contribution award; in 2019, Lieutenant Gergerian was subsequently awarded the Department of Mental Health & Law Enforcement Award.

Lt. Gergerian is a founding member of the Community and Law Enforcement Assisted Recovery Program (CLEAR). CLEAR is a network of community partners, theWinthrop Police Department, and theWinthrop Health Department that ensures individuals seeking support for substance use disorders or mental health are connected to community-based service providers. Lieutenant Sarko Gergerian serves as a police peer support officer, community outreach officer, and health & fitness officer. In this role he manages a shift of officers,reviews policies and procedures related to mental health, and supports a multidisciplinary team response to mental health response.

Sarko Gergerian is certified in adult and youth mental health first aid,recovery coaching, motivational interviewing, individual and group critical incident stress management (CISM), and critical incident training (CIT). He holds a BA in philosophy from Northeastern University and a MS in mental health counseling and psychological services from Salem State University