Former Maine Police Chief Writes Memoir of Husbands Battle With Mental Illness

Lisa Beecher is a former police chief at the University of Southern Maine and a retired detective at the Portland Police Department with thirty-three years in law enforcement. She also happens to be the mother of Karen Goldberg and mother-in-law to Lee Goldberg of News Center Maine along with being the grandmother to more kids than we can count in this article.

In that busy life of hers, Beecher has found the time to write a memoir of a very personal experience of hers and her family. The recently published book Living with Mr. Fahrenheit chronicles her family's struggles with her husband Jamie's mental illness.

Lisa and Jamie were both first responders and totally devoted to their life-saving work and of course their family until Jamie had a psychotic break. Living with Mr. Fahrenheit chronicles the rollercoaster ride of emotions and trauma the family experienced on the path to recovery for Jamie. It's something that can understandably happen easily to anyone who works as a first responder.

The book has gotten praise from the Commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety and former Portland Police Chief Michael Sauschuk who said, “The question is no longer will our law enforcement calling affect us, but how and when? This hard-hitting real-life journey is told by a cop’s cop and epitomizes the strength that love and a warrior’s spirit give us in the toughest of times. I want to thank the Beecher family for sharing their trauma and resilience so that our profession may evolve.”

We sometimes forget the toll that can be taken on those that deal with crises on a daily basis. This book opens the door for a look at what toll that takes on these brave men and women and their families.