Calhoun County Chief Deputy Retires, starts consulting and counseling practice
By WBRC Staff | August 12, 2019 at 5:23 PM CDT - Updated August 12 at 5:23 PM
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Calhoun County’s longtime mental health officer and chief deputy, is taking his expertise on the road.
Jon Garlick will formally retire from the sheriff’s office September 1. Garlick is a licensed counselor, and with that degree, was also employed as the county's mental health officer. Garlick is now starting a private practice in which he'll not only provide counseling, but will do consulting work for businesses.
"Skills like de-escalation skills, and how to handle difficult people, all port really well to the business community," Garlick says. "You have sales and marketing folks who are having a hard time closing the deal, or having problems in customer service, then those types of skills, I can do some training in that or consulting in that."
That consulting even includes coming up with plans to deal with active shooters. "I tend to think that a lot of your active shooters, have reached a point in their life that they've reached a crisis stage. And, they are probably diagnosable. But certainly an intervention would be nice before that happens," Garlick told us.
Garlick says in his new role, he won’t stop advocating for mental health awareness, and for changes in how Alabama deals with mental health issues.
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NIJO Dedication to Excellence Award
(aka Overworked and Underpaid Award)
Jon Garlick, Calhoun County, AL
Awarded to a detention officer, supervisor, or administrator who in the past year has gone above and beyond normal expectations by working extra hours, making extra effort to ensure the safety and security of staff members, inmates, and the general public.
This year, NIJO was pleased to award the “Dedication to Excellence” to Jon Garlick. Chief Deputy Jon Garlick has made significant contributions to the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office Law Enforcement/Jail Operations as well as for the entire state of Alabama.
Jon was instrumental in starting the Mental Health Officer Program in Alabama and worked daily in mental health efforts and passing legislation in 2007 creating a funding stream through a local mental health board to enable them to employ a full time mental health officer.
He was promoted to Lieutenant over Sheriff’s Office operations and assisted with creating a mental health court, drug court and veterans court. Among his accomplishments, Jon has completed FBI National Academy, is a Certified Hostage Negotiatior with Jail Certification, Certified Juvenile Treatment Specialist, Crisis Intervention Specialist. He is a highly respected Law Enforcement Professional who has shared his knowledge and expertise with the Alabama Jail Training Academy, National Institute for Jail Operations, attorney general law enforcement summits and many other events in Alabama and the nation.