Dr. Stephanie Conn (Fairrel) is a 1990 graduate of Mineral Wells High School. She followed in her
father’s (Don Fairrel) footsteps, who was also a police officer and graduate of Mineral Wells High
School. After 12 years of working in public safety as a 911 operator/dispatcher, and then police
officer, she saw the need for improving mental health services for first responders. She left
policing to earn a doctorate in Counseling Psychology and became a licensed police psychologist.
Dr. Conn owns a private practice, First Responder Psychology, in Portland, Oregon. As a
psychologist, she treats first responders and their families. She also supports first responder
agencies to develop mental health policies and programs so that first responders are better able
to recover from their daily exposure to trauma and stress. Dr. Conn also offers her expertise at
the national level, providing policy recommendations for police peer support programs and
mental health training. She travels across North America speaking about first responder mental
health and is sought regularly for interviews, webinars, and podcasts. Dr. Conn has written a
book, Increasing Resilience in Police and Emergency Personnel, as well as multiple articles and
book chapters on the topic of first responder mental health. She also contributes articles to
American Police Beat. She has sold thousands of books internationally. Her research and writings
are also cited around the world. Multiple agencies, police academies, and university training
programs have adopted her book for training and educational purposes. Currently, Dr. Conn is
assisting other first responders in their transition from public service to becoming mental health
clinicians in her advisory role for their master’s thesis and doctoral dissertations. Dr. Conn credits
Mrs. Mooney from Mineral Wells High School for her writing techniques.