Presenter Bio - Dr. Meggen Tucker Sixbey

Dr. Meggen Tucker Sixbey is the Assistant Director at the University of Florida’s Police Department, overseeing the Behavioral Services Division which includes a mental health support team of clinicians who respond with law enforcement officers to calls that are determined to present as mental health related. Additionally, she is one of 12 clinical-law enforcement learning site partners who were selected by the Bureau of Justice Administration’s Council for State Governments to provide content expertise in informing law enforcement-mental health collaboration policies and procedures nationally.

Dr. Sixbey provides training in Psychological First Aid and Crisis intervention Team (CIT) training to law enforcement around the country. She is a Master Trainer in Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management for the Department of Homeland Security and serves as a lead member on UF’s multidisciplinary threat assessment team where she offers mental health consultation regarding individuals who pose potential safety risks to the campus community.  Prior to receiving her doctorate in Marriage and Family Therapy from the Department of Counselor Education at the University of Florida in, with a specialization in crisis intervention and suicide prevention in 2005, she began studying crisis intervention and suicide prevention with the Alachua County Crisis Center in 1998 where she remained actively involved in on-site response and training for a decade.  Dr. Sixbey has provided local, state and national on-site responses and trainings related to suicide prevention and intervention, crises, disasters, emergencies, threat assessment, and other traumatic events in many other roles since that time.  Her clinical and research interests include post-trauma recovery through a trauma informed lens, suicide intervention, and interpersonal relationship dynamics. She has written on topics such as: help seeking behaviors, family resilience factors after a trauma as well as the implications for therapists’ when working with individuals in crises.  Dr. Sixbey is also an affiliate faculty member in the College of Education where she teaches graduate counseling courses in areas such as Trauma and Crisis Intervention, Professional Identity and Ethics, and Introduction to Counseling.