Officer Kendra Marsteller has been the mental health officer for TXST UPD since late Fall 2021. Kendra and her newest furry sidekick, Pawfficer Brady, are on a mission to help support the mental well-being of the Bobcat community! When off the clock, you can expect to find Kendra outdoors kayaking and hiking, or somewhere playing her favorite video game: Escape from Tarkov. Read below to learn more about UPD’s focus on mental health.
Q: Why is having a mental health officer important to maintaining a stigma-free TXST?
A: I love that I’m able to educate people and get away from that stigma. Mental health and illness has had such a negative stigma for so long, I think UPD is leading the charge head-first to combating it! I think this program sends the message “Hey, it’s okay to not be okay”.
Q: How can someone contact you if they are having a mental health issue? Or do you show up to as many general police calls as you can?
A: It’s usually specific calls, any welfare check, suicidal subjects, mental health investigations, and PAWS alerts from the Dean of Students. Those are the calls I would typically show up for. I complete follow-ups, and I try to make them in-person as much as possible with our students.
Q: What’s Pawfficer Brady’s Story? What was his journey to TXST campus like?
A: We got Brady from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office. Brevard County started the Paws and Stripes program by taking dogs from their local shelter and training them to become Therapy Dogs. Paws and Stripes have their inmates train the dogs. Brady is specially a Therapy Dog and helps individuals going through crisis, victim services, or someone who just needs some comfort.
Police Departments fill out an application with the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office in Florida. They’ll go through the applications and pair you with a dog. We traveled to Florida for training, and we met our dog (Brady). Throughout the whole week you’re there, you get to train with them and create a bond. They already trained Brady, so basically, they were just training me the whole time.
Q: Where did the name “Brady” come from?
A: Well, Brady’s owner surrendered him because she just could not take care of him anymore. Brady is named after Tom Brady. His previous owner reached out to us and sent some photos of him as a puppy and wearing a New England Patriots scarf. Brady’s brother is “Tebow” obviously named after Tim Tebow was also surrendered. Brady came to us, and Tebow, from what I was told, will be going to a veteran.
Q: What kind of services does Brady provide? What does he do when he joins you for a mental health visit?
A: Well, obviously if there’s a dangerous call or situation, I’m not going to take him out of the car. But if, say, it’s a visit, or follow-up, he’ll come with me, and anyone can pet him. The cool thing is that sometimes he’ll pick up on things that I don’t. I remember while in training we were visiting a mall in Cocoa Beach, FL., he walked up to two ladies having lunch. I had no idea they were having a bad day and going through a troubling time, but he picked up on it and went straight to them. There will be times he’ll just sniff out when someone’s having a hard time and walk up to them.
Q: Can Brady be requested to show up to campus events such as Orientations? Athletics games?
Absolutely! We set up a link on our website so that people can request him for visits. There are some guidelines, like no feeding him human food and if people do want to feed him, I’ll have dog treats on me. The link is up and ready to use. I’m hoping to get with Athletics and get him some Bobcat gear to wear at games. He already has a graduation cap and bowtie to wear at commencement ceremonies. And obviously we have an outfit for him for Christmas and our Giving Tree program.