Concordia University Ann Arbor to hold post-traumatic stress seminar

Event aims to help veterans and first responders

Photo: U.S. Air Force

ANN ARBOR – As headlines of American designer Kate Spade and chef and television personality Anthony Bourdain's untimely deaths shocked the world this week, concerning national statistics are also showing a sharp increase of suicides among law enforcement officers.

A seminar on Wednesday by Concordia University Ann Arbor's justice and public policy department will try to address the issue with a focus on helping veterans and first responders cope with trauma they experience on the job.

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Called "The Silent Partner: Identifying and Coping with Post Traumatic Stress," the event will take place from 9 a.m. to noon in Concordia's North Building Library at 3475 Plymouth Road.


(Courtesy: Concordia University Ann Arbor)

Ticket info:

  • $20 per person
  • Students and veterans are free

Register for the event at cuaa.edu/silentpartner. Cash-only tickets will be available at the door.  

The seminar is a joint effort of CUAA's justice and public policy department head, Dan Chlebos, and adjunct faculty member Frank Rubino. Between the two of them, the men have a combined 64 years of law enforcement experience. 

"There’s a real need to discuss this problem and to encourage people to find help," Rubino, a licensed clinical psychologist, said in a press release. "There’s been a real increase in suffering among our first responders that’s unnecessary, and there are untold numbers of people who are suffering from a whole spectrum of problems who can be helped."


Dan Chlebos and Frank Rubino (Courtesy: Concordia University Ann Arbor)

According to Officer Down Memorial Page, a nonprofit, more police officers were lost to suicide than violent felonies in 2016. 

The Silent Partner welcomes combat veterans, 911 dispatchers, firefighters, police officers, sheriff's deputies, medics and others who work in the public safety field.

Rubino will be giving presentations throughout the morning seminar and engage in discussion. During the final half hour, there will be a Q&A session.

This is the third seminar in a series run by Chlebos and Rubino for the Ann Arbor community.

Read about the first seminars entitled, "The Man Up Problem: A Harmful Approach to Raising Young Men."

The fourth and final event in the series, "Signs of the Times: Recognizing Indicators of Violence in School" will take place on Aug. 18.

About Concordia University Ann Arbor  

Concordia University is a nonprofit, Lutheran higher education community serving more than 8,900 students online, at two residential campuses in Mequon, Wisconsin and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and at 11 satellite centers. The school is affiliated with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and is part of the Concordia University System, a national network of colleges. Learn more online at www.cuw.edu and www.cuaa.edu.