As Hector Matascastillo trains law enforcement officers in how to handle calls of people in crisis, he tells his own story of being a combat veteran who had a breakdown before he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Matascastillo went on to get help, and he became a clinical social worker/therapist. Now, he’s also using his experience to relate to officers about why they should be taking care of their own mental health.

Earlier this year, the St. Paul Police Department had every officer go through Matascastillo’s training about trauma and resiliency. On Thursday, as law enforcement gathered in St. Paul for a symposium on officers responding to mental health emergencies, they also talked about mental health in their own ranks.

“It directly impacts how officers engage the community,” Matascastillo said. “I explain if you’re calm, other people are going to be calm around you, even if they’re not calm at first. If you are stressed out, people are going to pick up on your stress.”

Thursday marked the second year the St. Paul Police Department’s Community Outreach and Stabilization Unit hosted a workshop for law enforcement and social service providers to learn from each other and receive training, said Sgt. Jamie Sipes, who oversees the St. Paul unit that pairs officers with social workers. More than 80 people gathered from across Minnesota.

In addition to hearing from Matascastillo, Russ Turner, director of People Incorporated Training Institute, led a discussion about trauma-informed care and how it relates to policing.

“Instead of saying, ‘Why did you do that?,’ we’re asking the question, ‘What has happened to you throughout your life that brought you to this event today?,'” Sipes said.

FROM CRISIS TO HELPING OTHERS

Matascastillo, who is a director at Life Development Resources in Lakeville and Woodbury, has been training law enforcement for about 10 years. Sipes recognized Matascastillo on Thursday for his long-term commitment to police and the community.

“For me, it’s giving back to the people who gave me the opportunity to give back,” said Matascastillo, who is the husband of Ramsey County Commissioner Trista Matascastillo and lives in St. Paul. “I wouldn’t be speaking in front of them if Lakeville PD had responded any differently.”

He served as a U.S. Army Ranger and, when he went through a breakdown years ago, was a Minnesota National Guard staff sergeant. He was deployed 13 times over 18 years.

RELATED: Post-traumatic stress disorder left a Twin Cities veteran with a criminal conviction

On a January day in 2004, Matascastillo was armed with two unloaded pistols when he initially faced what he thought was an enemy combatant with a gun aimed at him outside his residence, which was in Lakeville at the time. It ended in a standoff with officers before he surrendered and was taken into custody.

That’s the story Matascastillo tells as he trains St. Paul officers in crisis intervention team training. He’s also focused this year on teaching officers how to become more resilient to the trauma they experience in their work, which he is sees as paralleling the horrible things soldiers see at war.

“Officers typically try not to let things bother them,” Sipes said. “But this is about getting officers to recognize that it’s OK to say, ‘That was a tough call, that was a rough situation to see’ and to say, ‘I want to talk to somebody about it, so that it doesn’t have to live in my head and in my heart.”