On April 13, 2020, chest pains forced Kenneth Bennett to pull to the side of the road. Bennett, a sergeant at Metro Corrections, had just clocked out for the day and was having a heart attack.”Some of the same guys that work here came and rescued me. There’s a particular officer that doctors say, if she wouldn’t have done what she’d done, I would have died,” Bennett told WLKY.During his 21 years in corrections, he saw people after they committed suicide and overdosed and his stress and anxiety were off the charts. A few months after his heart attack, plagued by PTSD, he decided to retire. But the father of four refused to saddle his family with one more bill so he skipped out on counseling. The jail’s director is now changing that. Director Jerry Collins has made counseling available to staff two times a week, at the jail and during their shifts. He is now expanding those appointments to include retirees.”Because it was never available we had folks that did 25 years and then it was cut off and then all that trauma hits because it’s never been dealt with,” Collins told WLKY.Up until about 18 months ago, when Collins took over, anyone wanting help would have had to leave the jail. There was also a co-pay and with that, a limited number of visits covered by insurance.”The stories of navigating through that, it became too much for folks and they would just not do it, Collins said.That is why he and the jail staff want to make it easier to ask for help. That’s help Kenneth Bennett says he is ready for.”I need it. I deserve it, my kids deserve it and my wife deserves it,” Bennett said.Metro Corrections has also launched the state’s first-ever Jail Peer Support Team. Those with issues, concerns, or just needing someone to talk with can reach out to a colleague on that team.