Dr. Cherylynn Lee

Police Psychologist - Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office

Dr. Lee is a Police Psychologist and a full-time employee of the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office overseeing the Behavioral Sciences Unit (BSU). The BSU houses four mental health co-responder teams, provides Crisis Intervention Training, engages in behavioral threat assessment and management (BTAM), and houses the departments wellness unit and peer support team. Dr. Lee serves on the crisis negotiation response teams for both the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office and the Santa Barbara Police Department and is a member of the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (ATAP). Dr. Lee is contracted with The Counseling Team International as both the Clinical Operations Director for the Tri-Counties and as a practitioner. She offers individual counseling and emergency response services across the state of California and has led dozens of critical incident stress debriefings for OIS, LODD and natural disasters for local and state agencies. Dr. Lee maintains a private practice in the Santa Ynez Valley where she exclusively works with first responders and specializes in trauma and post-traumatic stress injury. Dr. Lee is a subject-matter expert with CA Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST), teaches officer wellness in the basic academy and also is a volunteer instructor for the FBI- 40 hour negotiators course Dr. Lee was named one of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) 40 under 40 award recipients for 2023 and is named Crisis Intervention Training International’s (CIT) Behavioral Health Practitioner of the Year for 2024.

Sessions