Therapy for Veterans and Law Enforcement in Oklahoma
You held the line. Someone should hold it for you.
You are trained to run toward what everyone else runs from, and to keep your face flat while you do it.
Nobody trains you for what that costs later, when it is quiet. This page is for law enforcement officers, military, and veterans. That is who Paula Sophia works with here.
Paula Sophia spent twenty two years with the Oklahoma City Police Department and retired at the rank of Master Sergeant. She served in the U.S. Army as a commissioned officer, from second lieutenant to captain, including Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Then she went back to school, earned an MSW, and became a licensed clinical social worker. She is not learning about your job from a training module.
You can be off duty without ever being off guard. That is not a personality. It is a cost.
The weight you do not set down at end of shift.
- Trauma and PTSD, including the things you cannot unsee
- Hypervigilance and never quite being able to power down
- Sleep that does not come, or does not hold
- Moral injury, the calls that sit wrong long after
- The transition out of service, and who you are without the role
- Strain at home, and anger that shows up where you do not want it
- Depression and anxiety you have been managing by not looking at them
- Critical incident aftermath, including the ones nobody debriefed
You have probably already tried the version of this that comes with the job.
Peer support. The chaplain. The mandatory sit down after a bad call. Some of those are good, and for some people they are enough. The trouble is that those people live in the same building you do, and you will see them in the hallway on Monday.
This sits outside the organization. Paula Sophia is not on your department's roster and she is not on your unit's. She has no relationship with your chain of command and nothing to report up it. Nobody here is going to run into your lieutenant at a retirement party.
What stays here.
What you say here stays here, within the limits every therapist is held to. We tell you those limits up front: what is confidential, what is not, and the narrow situations where a therapist is legally required to act. We do not report to your command or your department, and this is not a fitness for duty evaluation.
Paula Sophia spent two decades inside a department. She knows what you are actually asking when you ask this question. You will get the real boundaries before you say anything you would want back.
The call that sits wrong, and the person you were supposed to be in it.
Some of what you carry is not fear. It is the thing you did, or the thing you did not do, or the order you followed, or the one you gave. Breathing exercises do not touch it, because it is not an anxiety problem. It is a question about right and wrong, and about whether you are still the person you thought you were when you signed up.
The clinical word for that is moral injury. It travels alongside PTSD and it is not the same thing. It needs somebody willing to sit in the actual question with you instead of steering you back to coping skills.
Paula Sophia works with the spiritual side of that as well as the psychological, including religious and spiritual trauma. She will not hand you scripture. She will not flinch if you are done with all of it.
The same goes for the other end of it. When you take the uniform off for the last time and find out how much of you was the uniform, that is worth somebody's attention. Paula Sophia made that turn herself, out of the department and into a different life.
The first session is not a test.
It is mostly you saying why you are here and Paula Sophia asking questions. Nobody reads a symptom checklist back at you. You can do it in a room with her in the Paseo Arts District in Oklahoma City, or by video from wherever you actually have privacy, including your truck in a parking lot.
Paula Sophia is a person centered therapist. In plain terms, she is not going to tell you what your experience was. She lets you say it and then helps you do something with it. She also describes herself as direct, and she means it.
You do not have to lead with the worst thing. You can come in and talk about your sleep for a month first. That is allowed.
Someone who has worn the uniform and the badge.
Paula Sophia retired from the Oklahoma City Police Department in 2014 at the rank of Master Sergeant, after twenty two years. She served in the U.S. Army as a commissioned officer, from second lieutenant to captain, including Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Then she earned an MSW from the University of Oklahoma and became a licensed clinical social worker here in Oklahoma.
She has also spent two decades doing advocacy and community education across Oklahoma, including running workshops inside police departments and state agencies.
Alongside all of that she holds an MFA in creative writing, has published two books, and is a contributor to the Handbook of Forensic Social Work from Oxford University Press. She is a fan of people's stories, which is worth something when yours is one most people cannot sit still for.
Twenty two years with the Oklahoma City Police Department, retired as a Master Sergeant. U.S. Army commissioned officer, second lieutenant to captain, Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Licensed clinical social worker in Oklahoma.
View ProfileIf you are the one who lives with it, this page is also for you.
You can tell what kind of night it was by which door they come in.
Spouses, partners, and grown kids of law enforcement and military carry a version of this that nobody debriefs and nobody thanks them for. Paula Sophia works with military and veteran families, and she sees them on their own, not as an appendix to somebody else's treatment. You do not need permission from the person who served, and you do not need them to come with you.
You can also come together. Paula Sophia works with couples and with families, so if what needs to happen is the two of you in one room, that is on the table. So is family of origin work, which is where you sort out how much of this you were already carrying before the job ever showed up.
If you are here because you are trying to get them to go, bring that in. It is often the first conversation.
Self-pay for now. Insurance soon.
The Money
Paula Sophia is still completing credentialing with our insurance panels, so sessions with her are self-pay until that clears. $125 for an individual session, $155 for a relationship session. Sliding scale is available for individual therapy. You only have to ask.
The Clock
Mornings, midday, and early evenings on weekdays, plus Saturday mornings. She does not book afternoons. If that does not fit your rotation, we would rather tell you now than after you have filled out three forms.
Paula Sophia sees clients in person in the Paseo Arts District, and by video anywhere in the state. She is the only clinician here who does in person in Paseo. If you would rather not sit in a waiting room where somebody might recognize you, that option is still on the table.
Would rather wait and use your insurance? Say so on the contact form and we will tell you the moment her credentialing clears. If you want to start now with someone already in network, the other clinicians here are, and you can see who takes what.
Before you reach out.
Law enforcement officers, military, and veterans, plus the spouses, partners, and grown kids who live alongside the job. Everyone she sees is eighteen or older.
Yes. Paula Sophia works with individuals, couples, and families. If one of you wants to start alone and bring the other in later, that is fine too.
We do not report to your command or department, and this is not a fitness for duty evaluation. Paula Sophia is not on your department's roster or your unit's, and she has no relationship with your chain of command. We will be straight with you up front about what is confidential and about the narrow situations where any therapist is legally required to act.
Paula Sophia retired from the Oklahoma City Police Department after twenty two years, at the rank of Master Sergeant. She served in the U.S. Army as a commissioned officer, from second lieutenant to captain, including Desert Shield and Desert Storm. She is a licensed clinical social worker in Oklahoma.
Peer support and department resources have their place, and for some people that is enough. For others, the problem is that those people live in the same building you do. This sits outside the organization entirely.
Trauma and PTSD, hypervigilance, sleep, moral injury, the transition out of service, strain at home, anger, depression, anxiety, and critical incident aftermath, among others.
The first one is mostly you saying why you are here and Paula Sophia asking questions. Nobody reads a symptom checklist back at you. You do not have to lead with the worst thing.
Mornings, midday, and early evenings on weekdays, plus Saturday mornings. She does not book afternoons. Tell Jessie what your rotation looks like and she will tell you straight whether it lines up.
Paula Sophia is self-pay until her insurance credentialing clears. $125 for an individual session, $155 for a relationship session. Sliding scale is available for individual therapy. You will know what a session costs before you book anything, in writing, no guessing. If you would rather wait and use your insurance, tell us and we will let you know the moment she is in network.
Either. Paula Sophia sees clients in person in the Paseo Arts District in Oklahoma City, and by video anywhere in Oklahoma. If you would rather not sit in a waiting room where somebody might recognize you, take the video. If getting out of the house is the point, take the drive. You can also switch.
Reach out through our contact form and we will set up a time to talk.
Paula Sophia also works with LGBTQ+ and gender diverse clients, religious and spiritual trauma, and family of origin patterns. See our work with trauma, religious trauma, growing up in dysfunction, LGBTQIA+ affirming care, or anxiety and depression.
Let someone carry some of it with you.
You spent a career being the one who shows up. You are allowed to be the one who gets help. When you are ready, reach out.