Seminole County Sheriff trying to prevent suicides...starting with his own

Seminole County sergeant speaks candidly about suffering from PTSD, suicidal thoughts

WFTV 9 ABC News
By: Katy Camp , Lauren Seabrook
Feb 23, 2019

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. - In the mid-'80s, Sgt. Mark Dibona decided on a career. He decided to go into law enforcement, joining the Seminole County Sheriff's Office.

"I've been on the job now almost 34 years," he said.

That's more than three decades of seeing people at their worst, day in, day out. Exposed to tragedy, violence and - at times - overwhelming sadness - Dibona took the advice of those before him and developed a tough guy mentality.

"We were told to toughen up, walk away, have a beer," he told WFTV reporter Lauren Seabrook.

But that hard shell was just that - a shell. The truth of his heart reveals a man who is deeply caring, deeply empathetic and devoted to the people he is committed to protecting.

"A family pulled up next to me about two or three o'clock in the morning and handed me their baby and said, 'My baby's not breathing,'" he recalled. "It seemed like it took forever when I was doing CPR. Unfortunately the baby didn't make it. But to this day, I can still feel the baby on my arm. And that took a toll on me."
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