Shining the Light on Mental Illness, Trauma and Suicide

Tony Campbell became a certified Mental Health First-Aid (MHFA) Instructor in 2016 while on active duty military for his U.S. Army Reserve unit.  He has trained military, civilian law enforcement and government personnel in this valuable training.  He became a MHFA National Trainer, responsible for mentoring and certifying prospective MHFA instructors, in September 2019. 

Tony was the first certified MHFA instructor for his civilian DoD agency and one of, if not the first, MHFA instructors in the U.S. Army Reserves.  His civilian agency Leadership understood the importance and relevance of MHFA training and sponsored the certification of seven additional instructors with a goal to train over 1100 agency law enforcement and supervisory personnel by the end of 2020.  Tony became a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) officer in 2015 and has attended numerous additional training topics related to assisting those experiencing mental health problems and proactively helping those potentially contemplating suicide.

In March, 2019, Tony took the initiative to locate a board certification program for operating workplace violence programs and conducting workplace violence prevention investigations.  He received a scholarship and completed the program with a 99% on his final exam.  Tony became the first certified Threat Management Detective for his agency and paved the way for others to follow by providing his agency Leadership with an assessment of the certification benefits.  

Tony has served 32 years as a Combat Engineer, Military Police Officer, and is currently serving as a Criminal Investigator (CID Special Agent) in the U.S. Army Reserves.  In 2019- March 2020, Tony served as the U.S. Army Threat Management Unit (TMU) Team Chief supporting the U.S. Army Protective Intelligence Branch at Quantico, VA.  He is a Major for his DoD civilian agencies Police Department and responsible for all law enforcement actions for multiple facilities in the St. Louis area.  Prior to his current role, he was a TMU Detective, conducting hundreds of investigations related to the potential for workplace violence (bullying, intimidation, harassment, mental health concerns, threats of violence, and acts of violence towards self of or others).  Since joining his agency in 2010 he has served as a Counterintelligence Officer, Police Officer, Detective and promoted to Police Major in 2020