NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — As families gather for the holidays, many in Nashville will face the season missing someone they love. Metro Police chaplains are often the first ones to deliver that devastating news, and one chaplain has done it more than 300 times this year alone.
For nearly 40 years, Marsha Brown has worked for Metro Police. Twenty-seven of those were spent as an officer on patrol, crime scene investigation, adult sex abuse, and general investigations. Today, she serves in the Metro Nashville Police Department's Wellness Unit.
"It's nice that we have a unit that is dedicated to the mental health and physical health of our personnel," Brown said.
Inside this unit, Brown and her team check on officers after traumatic calls, walk precinct hallways to offer comfort, and bring along Toby, the department's therapy dog, when an extra moment of peace is needed. Brown says the job is simple: take care of the people who take care of Nashville.
"The thing that I love about it is that we are paying attention to our own and loving on our own, and encouraging for us to take care of ourselves and to be around for a long time," Brown said.
But wellness isn't only about officers. Sometimes, it means standing with families at the very moment their world breaks.
This year, Metro chaplains have made more than 850 death notifications. And over 300 of them came from Chaplain Marsha Brown. It can be notifying a loved one of a death from natural causes, a fatal hit-and-run at a busy crosswalk, or young victims of homicide.
"One thing is for sure is they will never forget how you tell them whether it's good or bad," Brown said.
Brown says it's not about religion—just presence, compassion, and sometimes tears.
"I get teary-eyed thinking about it. I mean, there's a lot of emotion in this job, and to not feel doing this, then I would question, why would you," Brown said.
And as holiday lights shine across Nashville, they illuminate families who will face this season with an empty seat at the table—families who first learned of their loss from a chaplain's knock or phone call.
"I'm not gonna say I've never cried on a scene because I have, and even in patrol, I did," Brown said.
For hundreds this year, Chaplain Marsha Brown and the team have been a steady voice guiding them through the darkest moments of their lives.
"We are there to comfort and console," Brown said.
The Metro Police Volunteer Chaplain Program began in 2005 with just one full-time chaplain. Since then, the program has really grown. The program's strength is not just in its staff chaplains, but in the 30 volunteer chaplains who now partner with the Metro Nashville Police Department to support its personnel and their community.
Brown says they are looking for more volunteers. So if you have the heart to help, please give them a call at 615.880.3193 or email Chaplain Coordinator Andrew Ivey at Andrew.Ivey@Nashville.gov
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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