WINNEBAGO COUNTY, Ill. (WIFR) – A personal connection is what led Ashley Kohanyi into her new role with the Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Winnebago County State’s Attorney adds on-site counselor to support mental health(wifr)
“Being married to a Rockford police detective, I have a huge heart and passion for helping people in these high-exposure roles,” said Kohanyi.
Now she’s bringing that passion to a program that’s rare across the country.
Kohanyi is a licensed clinical social worker with 18 years of experience. She has been hired to provide on-site counseling for staff inside the state’s attorney’s office.
“Knowing that there’s only two other programs like this in the entire country, I just thought ‘What a privilege to be able to be the person to be instrumental in helping the staff and improve their overall mental health, wellness and functioning,’” said Kohanyi.
Her role is to provide free, confidential counseling resources and training to employees who are regularly exposed to traumatic cases.
Winnebago County State’s Attorney adds on-site counselor to support mental health(wifr)
Kohanyi specializes in vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, burnout and secondary traumatic stress, all of which can impact people working in high-stress professions like law and public safety.
“I am here to provide any support that they may need to stay in their job and to be able to do this work with more resiliency and also to improve their lives in general,” said Kohanyi.
Research shows that lawyers are particularly vulnerable to burnout and stress, and as a group, face higher risks of depression, substance abuse and suicide.
“I really appreciate the opportunity to normalize the impact that this work can have so they realize it doesn’t have anything to do with personal or moral failing or anything about their strength, but that any human is going to benefit asking for help and receiving tools to help them develop resiliency,” she said.
Kohanyi will also provide training to employees regarding how stress and trauma impact the body and nervous system.
“Another training that I developed over the years focuses specifically on compassion fatigue and understanding how that wears on a person over time and what we can do to develop compassion fatigue resiliency,” she explained.
State’s Attorney J. Hanley says the new position will help his team better seek justice.
“Our mission is to seek justice and really to work for victims and having a more resilient office, more resilient, happier, healthier prosecutors and staff will directly affect our mission in a good way,” Hanley explained.
Long term, Hanley says by adding this new service, they hope to see less turnover and happier employees.
“Everybody loves being a prosecutor; it’s the best job in the world. Our staff generally are very happy in our office,” he said. “They don’t leave it because they fall out of love with being a prosecutor, they often leave like for secondary trauma, burnout. It just impacts their life in a negative way that it’s hard for them to continue working in the office despite their love for our mission.”
Hanley says the idea for the position came after hearing from employees about the toll the job can take on their mental health.
The program has been about a year in the making and already there are signs of demand. According to Hanley, all appointments for April have been booked.
Kohanyi’s therapy dog, River, will also be on site helping take care of clients.
River is a 1-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel(wifr)
“Animals have an amazing way of lowering our stress levels very physiologically,” Kohanyi said.
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