DR. CHERYLYNN LEE is a police psychologist who works full time for the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office and manages the Behavioral Sciences Unit (BSU), which houses four mental health co-responder teams, provides crisis intervention training, assesses and manages cases of targeted violence (BTAM), and houses the department’s wellness program and peer support team. Dr. Lee serves on the crisis negotiation response teams for the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office as well as 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 training, individual counseling, and emergency response services across the state of California and has led dozens of critical incident stress debriefings. Dr. Lee is also a subject matter expert with CA Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST), teaches wellness in the basic academy, and is also a volunteer instructor for the FBI 40-hour negotiations course. Dr. Lee was named one of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) 40 Under 40 award recipients for 2023, was named Crisis Intervention Training International (CIT) Behavioral Health Practitioner of the year for 2024, and was named the Forensic Mental Health Association of California Law Enforcement Professional of the year for 2024.
