Senator Donnelly takes police officer to SOTU

U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly, D-Ind. is bringing a police officer from Lebanon, Indiana as his guest to the State of the Union Tuesday evening to highlight a subject that he is passionate about.

Officer Taylor Nielsen has been very vocal about her mental health journey after working a crime scene where she had to investigate the murders of a young mother and her 4-year-old son.

Her openness about her feelings following that investigation helped Senator Donnelly advance his Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act.

It was signed into law earlier this month.

"What it does is helps to provide grants for peer mentoring so that police officers from the various departments across the country and state can help each other. It also provides for the Department of Homeland Security to make sure they are training our mental health professionals to deal with the special challenges our police officers face every day," Senator Donnelly said.

"We've had a very positive response all the way from Australia and the UK and people along those lines. So it's definitely an issue that needs to be addressed," Officer Nielson said.

Donnelly said he hopes the president's message will be a bi-partisan one. He added he's looking forward to the president discuss the fight against opioids.