LISA BEECHER is the author of a bestselling memoir, Living with Mr. Fahrenheit: A First Responder Family’s Fight for a Future After a Mental Health Crisis. She is an advocate and speaker in support of prioritizing mental health care for people in the many first responder professions.

Lisa is a former chief of police with thirty-three years in law enforcement. Before signing on for twelve years as chief of the University of Southern Maine police department, she was a career detective with the Portland, Maine police department, specializing in relationship violence and hate crimes.

Throughout her career, Lisa was heavily involved in improving community safety, serving on the Rape Crisis Board of Directors, Portland Task Force on Bias Crime, and the Cumberland County Violence Intervention Partnership. While chief at USM, she was a member of the institution’s Behavioral Intervention Team, Relationship and Sexual Violence Task Force, and Suicide Intervention Task Force.

Lisa was appointed to the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in Washington, DC, served as president of the Maine College and University Security Directors Association, and was an adjunct faculty member at Southern Maine Technical Institute. She received the inaugural Police Services Award bestowed by the Family Crisis Shelter, and was recognized with a Breaking the Glass Ceiling Award by the National Center for Women and Policing.

Lisa holds an associate degree in law enforcement technology, a bachelor’s in psychology, and is a graduate of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy. She is a life member of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association.

When not working on her next book, she can be found reading fiction novels, enjoying nature, and cooking fabulous meals for family including her sumptuous mashed potatoes.

She lives and writes in Maine.