Aug. 24, 2022

Last Responder: Matters of Life And Death | S2 E34

Katharine Pope is a renowned Forensic Investigator and Crime Scene Specialist, whose resilient career and path through PTSD and Alcohol Use Disorder is remarkable. Pope shares how she was able to overcome betrayal trauma, burnout and alcohol use to ultimately continue her forensics career working on the missing and unidentified persons crisis.

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Responder Resilience

Katharine Pope is a renowned Forensic Investigator and Crime Scene Specialist, whose resilient career and path through PTSD and Alcohol Use Disorder is remarkable. Death investigation is a challenging field that requires a unique personality, work/life balance, and a wide range of skills to be successful. 

In this episode, we follow Katharine Pope as she describes her own journey in death investigation, from her work as a police Crime Scene Specialist to her time working cold cases as a Death Investigator. Pope shares how she was able to overcome betrayal trauma, burnout  and alcohol use to ultimately continue her forensics career working on the missing and unidentified persons crisis. Kat shares how she became a “This Naked Mind" coach and how she helps others struggling with alcohol.

Katharine PopeProfile Photo

Katharine Pope

Forensic Investigator | Death Investigator | Alcohol Recovery Coach

Kat’s experience includes working as a Crime Scene Specialist for the Austin Police Department, a WWII Casualty Analyst for the Department of Defense Missing/POW Personnel Office, and a Forensic Investigator in Texas, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware medical examiners’ offices. She now works on the missing and unidentified persons crisis. She volunteered with Operation Identification excavating unidentified migrants on the Texas/Mexico border and responds to mass fatality incidents when needed with DMORT. She is the chair of the Society of Forensic Anthropologists. She has been happily alcohol free since February 2021!