Heather and K-9 Harlee

My name is Heather, I am 39 and a mother of 2 boys with Autism . We live on a couple acres just north of the twin cities.
At 15 years old I applied to be a Police Explorer for a metro county, from that point on I was hooked, there was nothing else I wanted to do. Following High School, I went straight into college and obtained my Associates degree in Law Enforcement. While in college, recruiters from the Minneapolis Police Department came & spoke about the Community Service Officer program. I applied and became a CSO in 2007, then sworn in 2009.
Working for a major city for 17 years has weighed heavily on my mental health.” Death by a thousand cuts “ as they say; from seeing the worst of people day in and day out, coupled with shift work, and only immersing yourself in the culture of Law enforcement. When I started as a LEO you didn’t talk about your feelings, or how the calls impacted you, you just met up for choir practice after shift and stuffed it down.
I had my children early on in my career, but that quickly became more challenging when not one but both were diagnosed with autism. The children’s father was also a cop for the same department, but tragedy struck our family for the first time in 2013 when he was involved in a fatal squad accident that took the life of a motorcyclist. I learned what PTSD,alcoholism and depression looked like, as a spouse first before ever knowing it firsthand. In 2016 he left the department due to mental health, and soon after we were divorced.
The events of 2020 left me broken. I was at ground zero. I Still have flash backs to the chaos on the radio, the smell of fire still brings tension to my chest, and knowing a precinct that I had called home for much of my career was given up as a trophy- it was so much more then “brick & mortar” as relayed by our leadership. An FTO and a classmate were both in prison & the rookies who had been on my shift , forever have their lives changed. As I watched hundreds of my brothers & sisters in blue walk away, I shoved down my demons, not wanting to be seen as another quitter. This instead only fueled my love affair with alcohol. In 2021 I was working a property protection detail where I was the supervisor attached to a group of National Guard to prevent looting. At 4 am, my convoy was ambushed and we were fired upon, one of rounds went through the Humvee window but missed all 4 soldiers seated in it. The suspect was caught and later admitted his only goal was to kill a cop. I was targeted simply for the uniform I wore.
In 2023 attacks on Law Enforcement had grown exponentially, and after attending the funeral for one of our own, along with 3 from a nearby agency, I started to question how long I could sustain in this profession. We had become handcuffed and operated under optics rather than safety, and my calling to serve felt like more of a burden than a passion, I was once so driven by. I hated going to work, my heart would race at the city limits. I became angry, irritable, and isolated. In 2024 my children’s father was killed while out on his motorcycle. Everything that I had been trying to hold together bubbled to the surface as this only exacerbated all the wounds I had kept tucked away for years. 2 weeks later, at my wits end, I was arrested for a DWI. Feeling at my bottom I started seeing a therapist. My DWI saved my life as it forced me to get the help I so desperately needed. May of 2025 I took a leave of absence from Law Enforcement to focus on my mental health. However in doing so, I felt as though I had lost my identity and purpose in life. Who was I if I wasn’t a cop? Things only got worse before they got better as my depression consumed me and I required a higher level of care. I enrolled myself in the Chateau; a program in Utah for first responders & Veterans to navigate trauma. Soon after returning home I sent a letter of interest to Soldiers 6 to help me on my path to recovery. I purchased Harlee and started training her, but knew there was only so much I could accomplish on my own. After receiving a call from Soldiers 6 I was elated to be extended the invitation to start training her as my service dog! I am ready for the next chapter of my life with Harlee by my side and I am forever grateful for this opportunity! Thank You Soldiers 6!