Shelley’s life turned upside down that day. And the following days and weeks were complete turmoil.

“It’s hard to wrap your mind around why. It’s hard to come to closure, especially when the case is open. But I just quickly found myself… I think everybody goes through grief differently, but I was just finding myself swinging from extreme sadness to just being mad as hell… in extreme anger. And those swings are really difficult,” Shelley told LET in an exclusive interview.

She knew that the cycle would be unhealthy and may lead to a destructive pattern. So she found a way out of it – by starting a nonprofit organization.

“I kind of knew the process and it was really, truly the way to channel some of that energy into something positive and really being intentional about making something good come out of something that was just so evil and senseless,” she said. “It’s 100% been my grieving process because it gives you something to do that you feel is bringing meaning, purpose.”

And the nonprofit organization Project Never Broken was created.

“The organization’s mission is to boldly support law enforcement through hope, help, and healing while honoring the resiliency of humanity,” she said. “It was really important for us to rally behind those that are continuing to protect that very, very thin blue line now. They always take care of everyone else.”

Shelley and Project Never Broken have already organized and participated in several functions aimed at helping law enforcement officers and their families as well as educating members of the public about the challenges of police work.

“We always ask our speakers to do a session for our law enforcement, and we also ask them to do one for our public because we really want the public to start getting an idea of the other side of policing,” she said.

Shelley wants to remind everyone in law enforcement that there is strength in asking for help. She wants people to know that’s why Project Never Broken is there. In fact, this help isn’t only available to law enforcement professionals, but to family as well.

“The spouses just don’t always understand what their officer is going through because the officers don’t want to bring that into their own families. Often they’re dealing with the underbelly of society and they want to leave that of their own home,” Shelley said.

She continued, “So when they come home, they will kind of barrier themselves or put a silo so that it doesn’t come into their home. But that also, unfortunately, creates a silo sometimes with communication with your spouse.”

Project Never Broken has offered workshops to help law enforcement families connect and communicate. And they’ve been quite helpful to both many families and individual officers.

They are also researching and implementing ways for law enforcement officers to seek help without going through insurance and, hence, not having it formally going through the official channels. The goal is to eliminate any reasons for an officer to seek help.