"Unfortunately, we've sort of bred an environment when it comes to this profession of suppressing those traumas and experiences that you deal with on a daily basis. And that's not good, because eventually they will manifest themselves. Those experiences you go through, if you suppress it long enough, it's going to manifest itself and in unfortunate circumstances," Ray told Fox .
Ray spent a decade as an officer in Las Cruces, New Mexico, before retiring and launching his country music career. Despite no longer working in law enforcement, he remains committed to his policing family, which was underscored recently when the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund named him honorary chief ambassador of the fund’s ambassador program
The former officer, known for the song “Country’d Look Good on You,” is now using his platform to spread awareness of officer mental health and how officers can reclaim their happiness and well-being. He launched a campaign this year named FRAY to reflect "first responders' mental clarity" and is working with members of Congress to expand the campaign and get more police departments and officers talking about mental health.
"After walking a mile in those shoes for 10 years, I know the stuff that keeps me up at night. And so I knew that I couldn't be the only one. And, fortunately, I had music to kind of turn to as therapy and to be able to kind of put these experiences into a song. But a lot of people don't have that," Ray said.