Exclusive | NYPDs former top shrink forced to quit after reporting unethical practices: lawsuit
The former head psychologist of the NYPD claims he was forced out of his job in retaliation for blowing the whistle on the department’s mental health practices — including allegedly being ordered to turn confidential therapy records of police officers into disciplinary files.Dr.Matthew James Graziano resigned as the director of the department’s health and wellness section in April after he was accused of collecting overtime while moonlighting as a psychotherapist, and the city is now seeking reimbursement, sources told The Post. But the certified psychologist said that the NYPD made up these accusations and launched numerous baseless complaints against him as revenge for advocating for quality mental health care for police officers, according to a lawsuit filed on June 23 in Manhattan Supreme Court. He is seeking an unspecified amount of damages.“Once he started doing that, then they started retaliating against him because suddenly complaints started appearing against him,” his lawyer Nicole Brenecki told The Post. Graziano, 45, who sees clients privately in New Jersey, joined the NYPD in 2022 as psychologist and was promoted to the executive role in 2024 — a position with a cushy starting salary of $180,000, according to the city’s official job site.In his leadership position, he started sounding the alarm about ethical concerns — including allegedly being forced to breach confidentiality with police officers seeking help from the health and wellness section. “There’s some things that you would confide in a psychologist that would normally be held confidential …but the NYPD was trying to turn it from confidential to disciplinary,” Brenecki said.
“So the files that were confidential before would become part of a disciplinary file.”Graziano also said he called out alleged gender discrimination within the department, which only resulted in him allegedly being targeted because he is a gay man. “Once he started actually complainin...