Jodi Gleason Earned Her Doctorate to Improve Police Response to Mental Health

Unlike many of her peers who earned a Doctor of Education (EdD) alongside her, Jodi Gleason '17G '22EdD didn't have a background in the field prior to starting her degree.

"It wasn't a typical journey because I'm not in the education field," she said. "I work in law enforcement."

Gleason earned her doctorate in educational leadership from Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) while working as a dispatcher. She was inspired by her job and her daughter, Madison, to study the intersection of disability and police work.

"Madison has autism, and I wanted to do something that works with autism and law enforcement," Gleason said. "So, I worked on critical incident training."

According to Gleason, critical incident training teaches officers how to interact with people who have mental illnesses and other conditions. "It cuts down on injuries for the officers and injuries for the person involved," she said.

The degree opened doors for Gleason to teach, train officers and talk about her research. "And, hopefully," she said, "help change someone's views, tactics, thoughts on mental health and law enforcement."

She noted that she became close with her cohort throughout her doctoral program, which involved a combination of online and in-person learning. "We met once a month on campus and had a class that was all day long," she said.

The class also had Zoom meetings throughout the month and worked independently between classes.

Now that she's finished her doctorate, Gleason is ready to go even further. "I really want to teach so I can give back to the community," she said at Commencement.

Gleason's daughter — her inspiration for earning her doctorate — was also there to take part in the celebrations. "Last night, we had the hooding ceremony," said Gleason. "Madison came on stage and put my hood on."

She hopes this accomplishment will inspire Madison, just as Madison inspired her studies.

Mars Girolimon '21 '23G is a staff writer at Southern New Hampshire University where they earned their bachelor’s and master’s, both in English and creative writing. In addition to their work in higher education, Girolimon’s short fiction is published in the North American Review, So It Goes by The Kurt Vonnegut Museum & Library, X-R-A-Y and more. Connect with them on LinkedIn.