About Us
Dr. Matthew J. Stiehm is a dynamic and highly engaging public speaker known for delivering presentations that bridge the worlds of mental health, law enforcement, leadership, trauma, and operational performance. Drawing from decades of experience as a retired police officer, licensed therapist, educator, and nationally recognized trainer, Dr. Stiehm brings a rare level of authenticity, credibility, and practical insight to every audience he addresses. His presentations are direct, evidence-informed, and operationally grounded—combining clinical expertise with real-world experience in policing, corrections, crisis response, and organizational leadership. Whether presenting to command staff, clinicians, first responders, attorneys, educators, or national conference audiences, he has a proven ability to translate complex psychological and behavioral concepts into practical strategies that resonate with professionals working in high-stress environments. Audiences consistently describe his speaking style as compelling, tactical, relatable, intellectually rigorous, and immediately applicable to real-world practice business offers?
Speaking Engagements 2026
AELE - Jail and Corrections Conference
AELE - Use of Force Seminar
Wisconsin Corrections Association
Justice Clearing House
November MN Corrections Association Monthly Seminar
Speaking Engagements 2025
Invisible Wounds Project – Wellness Summit – Topic Anxiety
2025 Minnesota Law Enforcement Wellness Summit – Suicide
Justice Clearing House Supporting Officers with Anxiety: A Guide for Supervisors, Managers and Trainers
MNCA Submitted (3) Proposals to Yearly Conference. (1) Anxiety (2) Understanding LE and (3) Per. Safety
MN Emergency Managers Conference – 4hrs understanding Anxiety
Justice Clearing House Understanding Anxiety for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Professionals
MnCA: Webinar: Personal Safety – Minnesota Counseling Association
National FOP Wellness Conference – Topic: Law Enforcement and Anxiety
AELE Jail and Corrections Seminar Jan 2026
Presentation 1 Understanding Anxiety
•This 90-minute presentation offers corrections professionals an in-depth exploration of anxiety—how it develops, how it shows up in corrections environments, and how it impacts both individual performance and organizational culture. Through clinical insights, interactive discussion, and real-world case examples, participants will examine the physiological, cognitive, and behavioral patterns of anxiety within high-stress occupations.
•Attendees will learn some potential early warning signs in themselves and others, understand how anxiety influences judgment and tactical decision-making, and explore evidence-based strategies to manage and mitigate its effects. The session highlights leadership’s role in fostering psychological safety, reducing stigma, and creating systems that promote resilience and peak performance. •By the end of the session, participants will leave with actionable tools to strengthen officer and organizational wellness, improve team functioning, and build a culture where acknowledging and addressing anxiety is seen as a strength—not a weakness.
Presentation 2 - Clinical Tools and Law Enforcement Mental Health.
•Using clinical tools to help first line supervisors, command staff and executives to address mental health.
•Corrections professionals face unique psychological stressors that can impact their mental health, job performance, and overall well-being. The use of psychological clinical assessment tools can help identify early warning signs of mental health issues, support officers, during training, on-going field work and enhance officer resilience. This 90-minute lecture provides an introduction to key clinical assessment tools used in law enforcement mental health, offering insights into their purpose, administration, interpretation, and ethical considerations for law enforcement professionals. Expanded information: on diagnoses, treatments and historical information.
•Participants will learn how these tools can be integrated into proactive mental health strategies, improve officer wellness programs, and support officer driven decision-making processes for individuals experiencing mental health challenges.
AELE Use of Force Seminar May 2026
Presentation 1- Tactical, Practical De-Escalation i
Tactical, Practical De-Escalation is an informational based course focused on real-world de-escalation strategies that are operationally realistic, legally sound, and immediately applicable in high-risk encounters. Street cops are expected to make clinical diagnosis at the seen of tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving scenes, and are expected to get it right. The course reframes de-escalation not as avoidance or hesitation, but as a deliberate tactical skill used to slow situations, improve decision-making, and reduce unnecessary force without compromising officer or staff safety. Utilizing and providing a foundation in a 4th Amendment Standard of use of force
Participants will examine how subject, and individual stress physiology, perception, communicate on, positioning, time, distance, and team dynamics influence escalation and de-escalation during rapidly evolving encounters. Instruction integrates legal standards, officer safety principles, and behavioral science to demonstrate when de-escalation is appropriate, when it is not, and how to transition effectively between de-escalation and control. This is not a CIT related course. While CIT is effective, it can over simplify responses, generate tactical dis-advantages and replete with protocol that potentially diminishes Graham.
Presentation 2 : Understanding PTSD and Officers as it relates to force
This course offers law enforcement professionals a focused examination of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and its specific impact on officers and agency culture. Through a blend of clinical knowledge and occupational insight, participants will explore the causes, symptoms, and behavioral manifestations of PTSD in policing. The training emphasizes early identification, risk factors unique to law enforcement, comorbid conditions such as depression or substance use, and barriers to seeking help. Officers using force may or may not get a mental health condition, this can impact return to duty, future calls for service, and their career.
Participants will learn how trauma can accumulate over time, and be a sudden event in the law enforcement profession and how untreated PTSD can influence performance, personal life, use of force, and decision-making. The course also provides strategies for peer and supervisory support, evidence-based treatment pathways, and ways agencies can build trauma-informed systems of care.
Selected Courses:
Anxiety within your agency/officers
Understanding Anxiety Within Your Agency and Officers
A comprehensive training designed to educate officers, supervisors, and wellness coordinators on how anxiety manifests in law enforcement settings, its impact on performance and agency culture, and strategies for building a psychologically safe and resilient organization.
Course Description:
This course provides law enforcement professionals with a comprehensive understanding of anxiety and its impact within policing environments. Participants will explore the physiological, psychological, and behavioral dimensions of anxiety as it presents in officers, staff, and organizational culture. Through real-world case studies, clinical insights, and peer-driven discussions, the course addresses how anxiety manifests in high-stress roles, the barriers to seeking help, and the often-unspoken stigma surrounding mental health in law enforcement.
Participants will learn to identify early warning signs of anxiety, understand its connection to performance and decision-making, and develop strategies to support officer wellness and resilience. Leadership-level content will emphasize building agency-wide awareness, integrating wellness initiatives, and promoting psychologically safe work environments.
Ideal for officers, supervisors, command staff, peer support team members, and agency wellness coordinators, this course empowers participants to move from reactive to proactive mental health support.
PTSD and Force
Course Description:
This course critically examines the intersection of anxiety and the use of force within high-stakes environments such as law enforcement, corrections, and emergency response. Participants will explore how acute and chronic anxiety can influence decision-making, perception, and behavior during force encounters, and how the physiological stress response may impact both professionals and civilians.
Through real-world case studies, psychological research, and tactical analysis, this course investigates the consequences—legal, professional, and personal—that arise when anxiety is left unrecognized or unmanaged in force-related situations. The curriculum also addresses the long-term psychological aftermath for all parties involved, including post-incident trauma, organizational response, and the broader societal implications.
Investigation of Force - Corrections or Law Enforcement
Course Title: Understanding, Investigating and Analysis of Use of Force – for corrections, police/probation
After a re-examination of the Constitutional standards, state standards and civil rights laws, the training, lecture and content will focus on managing confrontations, interpretations of video based evidence events, and the writing the use of force reports. Attendees will be provided with incident that have occurred across the United States to include the most recently settled case, filed cases, media cases, and seminal cases. Attendees will be provided with examples on how to communicate with supervisors, and managers on how to handle use of force incidents to ensure that incident is completely investigated, document, and reviewed to protect those involved as well as the agency. Attendees will also be provided with examples on how to modify polices, and training to ensure that they can mitigate any potential civil litigation
Tactical, Practical and Realistic – Mental Health for Cops
Tactical, Practical De-Escalation is an informational based course focused on real-world de-escalation strategies that are operationally realistic, legally sound, and immediately applicable in high-risk encounters. Street cops are expected to make clinical diagnosis at the seen of tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving scenes, and are expected to get it right. The course reframes de-escalation not as avoidance or hesitation, but as a deliberate tactical skill used to slow situations, improve decision-making, and reduce unnecessary force without compromising officer or staff safety. Utilizing and providing a foundation in a 4th Amendment Standard of use of force
Participants will examine how subject, and individual stress physiology, perception, communicate on, positioning, time, distance, and team dynamics influence escalation and de-escalation during rapidly evolving encounters. Instruction integrates legal standards, officer safety principles, and behavioral science to demonstrate when de-escalation is appropriate, when it is not, and how to transition effectively between de-escalation and control. This is not a CIT related course. While CIT is effective, it can over simplify responses, generate tactical dis-advantages and replete with protocol that potentially diminishes Graham.
Using clinical tools to help fto address mental health.
Criminal Justice Professional (law enforcement, corrections, probation and parole) face unique psychological stressors that can impact their mental health, job performance, and overall well-being. The use of psychological clinical assessment tools can help identify early warning signs of mental health issues, support officers, during training, on-going field work and enhance officer resilience. This 90-minute lecture provides an introduction to key clinical assessment tools used in law enforcement mental health, offering insights into their purpose, administration, interpretation, and ethical considerations for law enforcement professionals.
Participants will learn how these tools can be integrated into proactive mental health strategies, improve officer wellness programs, and support officer driven decision-making processes for individuals experiencing mental health challenges.
MN POST Board Approved Peer Support Course
This 30-hour in-person Peer Support Training Program is designed specifically for law enforcement personnel. The curriculum integrates evidence-based practices, operational realities, and legal defensibility standards. The program emphasizes wellness, resilience, crisis response, and ethical peer support boundaries.
Curriculum Structure
The program consists of 11 modules totaling 30 instructional hours, including lecture, facilitated discussion, applied scenarios, and skills-based training.
Instructional Methods
• Lecture and guided discussion
• Scenario-based training
• Case study analysis
• Skills demonstration
• Peer role-play exercises
Evaluation Methods
• Scenario performance evaluation
• Instructor observation
• Participation tracking
• Knowledge checks
• Applied competency demonstrations/Knowledge Test
Legal and Compliance Statement
This training adheres to applicable legal standards governing confidentiality, duty to warn, and limitations of peer support roles. Peer supporters are trained to operate within clearly defined boundaries and refer to licensed professionals when appropriate.
Documentation and Record Keeping
Attendance, performance, and completion records will be maintained in accordance with agency policy and POST requirements. Documentation supports audit review and program defensibility.
Conclusion
This program is designed to meet and exceed POST-aligned expectations for peer support training. It integrates operational relevance, clinical insight, and legal defensibility into a comprehensive training model.