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Responder Resilience

Lt. David Dachinger (Ret.), Dr. Stacy Raymond, Bonnie Rumilly, LCSW/EMT

The job doesn't stop when the call ends. Neither does this podcast.

RESPONDER RESILIENCE: real conversations with firefighters, police, EMS, dispatch, and the clinicians who serve them. Trauma. Leadership. Culture. Retirement. Our Clinician's Guide series and the book Helping the Helpers, built from over 200 of these conversations, go further: real insight for first responders and the clinicians who serve them. Hosted by Lt. David Dachinger (Ret.), Dr. Stacy Raymond, and Bonnie Rumilly, LCSW/EMT. New episodes weekly.

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Wednesday · 51 min
S6 E34 Rising From Ground Zero: FDNY's 9/11 Path To Transformation
The response to Ground Zero didn't end in 2001. For the FDNY, it became a 25 year path through recovery, transformation, and choices most agencies will never have to make.5 Fewer than 600 of the 11,500 FDNY firefighters who were at the World Trade Center on September 11 remain on the job. In addition to the 343 members lost on 9/11, more than 400 additional members have since died from World Trade Center related illnesses. In this episode of Responder Resilience, retired FDNY Captain Paul Brown and executive coach Andre Kotzé join hosts Lt. David Dachinger (Ret.) to discuss their new book, Rising from Ground Zero: 9/11 and the FDNY's Path Through Crisis and Transformation. Built from 90 hours of raw testimony, the book documents the day of the collapse, the recovery, and the institutional transformation that followed, co-authored with Dr. Gregory P. Shea and Lauren Starkey. Paul, a third-generation FDNY firefighter, and Andre, a former mountain rescue operator and organizational development expert, discuss what it took to rebuild command, culture, and mental health support inside the busiest fire department in the world, and why they believe institutions can experience their own version of post-traumatic growth. The authors have committed 51% of the book's net profits to charities supporting FDNY members and their families. **Resources for Responder Wellness:** • Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q • Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com • Fitness: FightCamp (code RESILIENCE for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr Learn more about the book: https://www.risingfromgroundzero.org/ André Kotzé: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andre-kotze-b38a3617b/ Paul Brown: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-brown-54079b124/ Contact Responder Resilience: Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/
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August 19 · 36 min
S6 E33 How New York Built First Responder Wellness Policy — Terry Hastings
Terry Hastings didn't set out to become New York State's first Chief Wellness Officer. He built the case for the role one needs assessment, one training module, one hard conversation at a time. He partnered with the Institute for Disaster Mental Health and the Benjamin Center at SUNY New Paltz to survey over 6,000 first responders statewide, the first assessment of its kind in New York. What they found: 16% reported suicidal ideation, four times the general population. Among dispatchers, it was 21%. Now Terry's leveraging that data to lead the largest state-level wellness effort in the country. In this episode, Terry breaks down: Why dispatchers reported the highest rates of suicidal ideation at 21% The gap in culturally competent mental health care and what New York is doing to close it Why Brazilian jiu-jitsu became central to his own wellness practice, and the new course he's launching for public safety professionals What a Wellness Officer Roundtable actually accomplishes Guest: Terry Hastings, Chief Wellness Officer, New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Hosted by Lt. David Dachinger (Ret.), Dr. Stacy Raymond, and Bonnie Rumilly, LCSW/EMT **Resources for Responder Wellness:** • Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q • Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com • Fitness: FightCamp (code RESILIENCE for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr Contact Terry Hastings: Website: https://www.dhses.ny.gov/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/terry.hastings.12 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terry-hastings-8686b215/ Contact Responder Resilience: Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/
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August 12 · 54 min
S6 E32 Why First Responder Workers' Comp Fails — David Picone and Ramsey Ali
The injury gets treated. The claim gets filed. The responder gets lost in between. Retired Battalion Chief David Picone spent years inside a system that's supposed to cover everything: prevention, behavioral health, cancer, rehab, the claim itself, and watched it fail at the seams. So he rebuilt it. Thirty-four integrated policies. Injury rates down. A wellness center built like a Division I athletic program. Now, as CEO of the Health & Safety Leadership Alliance, he's taking that blueprint national. Dr. Ramsey Ali sees what happens when the system fails. As Director of the First Responder Institute and PTSD IOP at Institutes of Health, he treats the complex cases: PTSD tangled with chronic pain and substance use, that siloed care left behind. One built the system. One treats its casualties. In this episode, they expose where first responder wellness actually breaks down and what it takes to fix it at the system level, not just at the individual level. In this episode: Where individual resilience ends, and organizational failure begins What workers' comp gets wrong about mental health claims What a department doing this right actually looks like The one thing Picone and Ali would change about how employers approach responder health **Resources for Responder Wellness:** • Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q • Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com • Fitness: FightCamp (code RESILIENCE for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr Contact David Picone and Ramsey Ali: Learn more about HSLA: http://hslalliance.org First Responder Institute at Institutes of Health: https://institutesofhealth.org Contact Responder Resilience: Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/
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August 5 · 47 min
S6 E31 Inside the 343-Mile Ride for 9/11 First Responders — Suzanne Stone, Livestrong CEO
Twenty-five years later, 343 still means something. It's the number of FDNY members lost on 9/11. Now it's also the number of miles a five-day ride will cover, from Boston to the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. Suzanne Stone, President and CEO of Livestrong, joins Responder Resilience to talk about the First Responder Ride for Resilience: why it exists, who's riding, and what it means for a first responder community still absorbing the cost of that day, and every day since. Livestrong has spent almost 30 years working the "soft side" of survivorship, the part that isn't clinical. For first responders, that means occupational cancer risk baked into the job itself, families left without a playbook, and a culture that doesn't always know how to ask for help. Suzanne breaks down what Livestrong is building specifically for fire, police, and EMS. That includes a culturally competent survivor's guide, Ellis (their AI-powered survivorship companion), and a fertility preservation discount network covering 150+ clinics nationwide. The ride itself runs September 6 to 10, 2026, gathering in Boston and finishing at the 9/11 Memorial and Battery Park in New York. It arrives September 10 so active-duty riders can be back at their firehouses on the anniversary itself. **Resources for Responder Wellness:** • Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q • Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com • Fitness: FightCamp (code RESILIENCE for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr Contact Responder Resilience: Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/ LIVESTRONG: 🔗 Ride details & registration: https://911ride.org 🔗 Learn more about Livestrong's work: https://livestrong.org 📫 Questions or want to get involved: 911Ride@livestrong.org
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July 29 · 41 min
S6 E30 Clinicians Guide to Cultural Fluency and Moral Injury with Dr. Brooke Bartlett
"Cultural competence" gets thrown around a lot in mental health circles. Dr. Brooke Bartlett has a harder definition: specialized, ongoing training paired with hands-on experience- not a one-hour class, not having an uncle who's a firefighter, not a personality trait you either have or don't. Bartlett, licensed clinical psychologist and founder of the Center for Trauma, Anxiety, and Stress, joins Responder Resilience to unpack what it actually takes for a clinician to earn - not perform - fluency with the first responder population. She breaks down the fastest ways clinicians lose trust in a first session, why overcompensating with jargon backfires faster than admitting what you don't know, and why leading with curiosity beats leading with credentials every time. To ground the conversation, she uses moral injury as the case study - walking through its three pathways (acts of commission, omission, and institutional betrayal), the neuroscience that separates it from PTSD, and why "should have, could have" is the phrase she hears most from first responders. It's a clear example of why cultural fluency isn't optional: you can't treat what you don't understand. Dr. Bartlett offers live and on-demand continuing education courses for clinicians on cultural competency for first responders and on assessing and treating moral injury - details at centertas.com/events. Subscribe for more conversations with the people building a stronger, more resilient first responder culture. 🚒 YouTube: Responder Resilience 📱 Facebook: ResponderTV 💼 LinkedIn, Apple Podcasts, Spotify 🌐 respondertv.com Connect with us: 📘 Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram ★ Resources for Responder Wellness ★ • Fitness: FightCamp (code RESILIENCE for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr • Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com • Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q CONNECT WITH RESPONDER RESILIENCE Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week. https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience 📩 Sign up for our newsletter: https://ResponderTV.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/responderTV/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ DR. BROOKE BARTLETT 🔹 Website: centertas.com 🔹 Instagram: @doctorbrookephd
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July 22 · 56 min
S6 E29 Ibogaine Treatment for First Responder Addiction — Carmine Fiore & Candace Maisel, LCSW
What happens when every traditional treatment fails — and a first responder is still drowning? Retired FDNY-EMS paramedic and Army combat medic Carmine Fiore survived 30 treatment centers and 15 heroin overdoses before trying something the first responder world rarely talks about: Ibogaine-assisted treatment at Ambio Life Sciences in Tijuana, Mexico. In this episode, Carmine joins host David Dachinger and psychedelic-assisted therapy provider Candace Maisel, LCSW, for a candid, deeply personal conversation about what it took to finally heal — and what that healing actually looks like. In this episode: What cumulative trauma looks like when it's been suppressed for years — and why it doesn't just disappear Carmine's Ibogaine journey: the childhood memories, the generational trauma, and the moment Ibogaine delivered a message about his late father The neuroscience behind psychedelic healing — BDNF, GDNF, neuroplasticity, and why the brain's post-treatment window matters Why psilocybin's 6-8 hour duration gives it an edge over ketamine for deep trauma work What integration really looks like — and why the medicine is only the beginning What Carmine would say to the first responder white-knuckling it right now, afraid to ask for help The Casey Skudin 343 Fund — and how it's helping first responders access treatment they couldn't otherwise afford Responder Resilience is an informational podcast. The experiences and perspectives shared in this episode are not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Psychedelic-assisted therapies carry real risks and are not appropriate for everyone. Please consult your physician or a licensed mental health professional before pursuing any treatment options discussed here. Subscribe to Responder Resilience: 🎧 Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube Connect with us: 🌐 ResponderTV.com 📘 Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram ★ Resources for Responder Wellness ★ • Fitness: FightCamp (code RESILIENCE for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr • Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com • Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q Contact Candace Maisel, LCSW https://ct-psych.com/candace-maisel-lcsw https://www.linkedin.com/in/candacemaisellcsw Contact Carmine Fiore https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmine-fiore-241a701a8/ https://www.instagram.com/carmine12285 https://www.thetravelagency.co/ Contact Responder Resilience: Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/
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July 15 · 44 min
S6 E28 Grief and Suicide Loss in Law Enforcement — Dr. Erie Crawford
She lost him. Then she found a way through. Lt. James Crawford (Ret.) of the Chicago Police Department was a pastor, a mentor, and the man everyone leaned on. Months after retiring, he died by suicide. His wife, Erie S. Crawford, LSW, PhD — a licensed social worker who saw the signs — made a decision in her darkest hour: this loss would not take her too. She buried him on a Saturday. By Monday, she was in therapy, fighting for her own healing. What she built from that fight is now helping suicide-loss families across the country find their way back to life. In this episode, Dr. Crawford joins hosts Lt. David Dachinger (ret.) and guest co-host Lynette Shaw-Butler for a conversation about loss, love, and the long road back. In this episode: ▪ Why the "strong ones" carry pain silently — and how families can gently open that door ▪ The warning signs she saw, and what she wants other spouses to know ▪ The retirement transition: why a plan for what's next matters as much as the pension ▪ What suicide-loss families need after the funeral, when the initial support fades ▪ The S.U.N.R.I.S.E. Healing Journey: Surrender, Understand, Nurture, Reconcile, Integrate, Strengthen, Engage ▪ Her guiding truth: when night ends, the sun rises If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). Healing is possible — and you don't have to walk it alone. Watch on YouTube | LinkedIn | Facebook | Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Full archive: ResponderTV.com 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week. https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience ★ Resources for Responder Wellness ★ • Fitness: FightCamp (code RESILIENCE for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr • Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com • Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q
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July 8 · 40 min
S6 E27 A Retired FBI Agent on Why First Responders Should Tell Their Story — Jerri Williams
After 26 years as an FBI Special Agent — investigating fraud, corruption, and the schemes that cost people everything — Jerri Williams could have walked away quietly. She didn't. She entered the Bureau in 1982 as one of the first Black female agents in FBI history. She worked the cases. She learned the truth. And when Hollywood started telling a different story, she wrote the book to correct it — literally. Now she hosts FBI Case File Review, a true crime podcast with over 10 million downloads, and she's on a mission to preserve the real stories of the men and women who served. In this episode, Jerri, David, and Stacy sit down to talk about something every first responder needs to hear: why your story matters, why telling it protects the profession, and why silence is the real threat to your legacy. In this episode: Why Jerri has spent 10 years sharing FBI stories — and what she's learned How authentic storytelling shapes public trust in law enforcement What gets lost when first responders don't preserve their experience Why your personal legacy deserves to be told — on your terms The cases that changed how she sees the mission of storytelling itself Watch on YouTube | LinkedIn | Facebook | Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Full archive: ResponderTV.com 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week. https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience ★ Resources for Responder Wellness ★ • Fitness: FightCamp (code RR10 for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr • Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com • Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q Connect with Jerri Williams: 🌐 jerriwilliams.com 📘 facebook.com/JerriWilliamsAuthor 📸 instagram.com/fbicasereview 💼 linkedin.com/in/jerriwilliamsauthor 📚 FBI Myths and Misconceptions: jerriwilliams.com/books Contact Responder Resilience: Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/ #ResponderResilience #FirstResponders #LawEnforcement #FBI #MentalHealth #Storytelling #FirstResponderWellness #TrueCrime #Leadership #LegacyBuilding 🎙️ Responder Resilience is built for first responders, mental health professionals, and anyone committed to the long-term health of those who serve.
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July 1 · 43 min
S6 E26 The Truth About American Fire Culture — Dr. Burton Clark, Fire Service Educator
The United States has one of the highest fire death rates in the industrialized world. Not because the firefighters aren't good enough. Not because the apparatus isn't fast enough. Because of culture. Dr. Burton Clark has been saying that since 1970. He became a volunteer firefighter that year, a career firefighter two years later, and spent the next fifty-five years working at every level of the fire service — from neighborhood firehouses to the National Fire Academy to the halls of Johns Hopkins University. He has studied more firefighter fatalities than most people have had shifts. And the conclusion he keeps reaching is the same one nobody wants to write in the after-action report. Something went wrong. It always does. And most of the time, it didn't have to. In this episode of Responder Resilience, Dr. Clark gets into the culture behind the casualty. Why America emphasizes suppression over prevention while other countries do the opposite — and why that choice shows up in the death toll. Why fire deaths are still treated as inevitable when the data says they aren't. What the social, political, economic, and technological forces shaping fire culture actually look like from the inside. And what it's going to take — at the company level, the chief level, and the community level — for anything to actually change. This is not a comfortable episode. It's not supposed to be. If you wear a badge, lead a department, or care about bringing every firefighter home — this conversation is for you **Resources for Responder Wellness:** • Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q • Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com • Fitness: FightCamp (code RR10 for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr Contact Dr. Clark: americanfireculture.com Contact Responder Resilience: Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/
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June 24 · 48 min
S6 E25 Spiritual Survival for Law Enforcement — Chaplain Cary Friedman, FBI Behavioral Science Consultant
A senior FBI agent heard Chaplain Cary Friedman deliver a eulogy. He was struck by something he couldn't quite name — the message was spiritual, but it wasn't religious. Universal without being hollow. A week later, Chaplain Friedman was at the FBI Academy in Quantico. He's been consulting to the Behavioral Science Unit ever since. For more than two decades, Chaplain Friedman has been working with law enforcement officers across the country on something the behavioral sciences triad left out: the soul. Not religion. Not doctrine. The deeper thing that gets a person out of bed and into a patrol car every morning, and the thing that quietly erodes when the job takes more than it gives back. In this episode of Responder Resilience, we get into all of it. The distinction between spirituality and religion, and why it matters more than most cops think. Moral injury. The inner critic that replays every call with the word "should." The nobility of policing and what happens when officers lose sight of it. The interconnectedness principle. The personal mission statement that changes everything when you actually write it down. And yes, Batman. Chaplain Friedman is the world's foremost authority on the Dark Knight, and he uses that to powerful effect with law enforcement audiences. The adverse childhood experiences. The pain turned into mission. The "What Would Batman Do?" exercise that lands differently than you'd expect in a room full of cops. If you wear a badge, work with people who do, or care about what this profession does to the human beings inside it — this episode is for you. **Resources for Responder Wellness:** • Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q • Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com • Fitness: FightCamp (code RR10 for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr Contact Chaplain Cary A. Friedman: Website: http://spiritualsurvivalforlawenforcement.com/ Contact Responder Resilience: Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/
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June 17 · 46 min
S6 E24 The First Responder Wellness Program Other Agencies Are Adopting — Dr. Carla Moore
Most psychologists who work with first responders come from the outside — and spend years earning trust. Dr. Carla Sutton Moore built her career from the inside out. Twenty-five years in mental health. Over twenty devoted exclusively to law enforcement, firefighters, corrections officers, and 911 operators. Named Psychologist of the Year by the Fire Service Psychology Association in 2024. Vice-Chair of the IACP Police Psychological Services Section. Recipient of the City of Atlanta's 2025 Woman of Impact Award. And one of the most respected voices in public safety behavioral health working today. In this episode, Dr. Moore pulls back the curtain on what it actually takes to build wellness programs that change lives — not because a flyer went up in the break room, but because someone did the slow, patient, relationship-driven work of making it real. We get into how clinicians embed with agencies. How programs are developed from the inside of a major city government. How to earn trust in a culture built to keep outsiders out — and what it costs agencies and the workforce when culturally relevant care doesn't exist. If you work in public safety, lead a department, provide mental health services to first responders, or are trying to build something that actually lasts — this conversation is for you. **Resources for Responder Wellness:** • Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q • Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com • Fitness: FightCamp (code RR10 for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr Contact Moore to Life Counseling and Consulting: Website: www.mooretolifecc.com Contact Responder Resilience: Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/
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June 10 · 52 min
S6 E23 UnStuck: A Retired Firefighter's Framework for Breaking Reactive Patterns — Daniel Sundahl
Daniel Sundahl ran calls for twenty years. As a career firefighter and advanced care paramedic in Alberta, Canada, he saw what the job builds in you — and what it quietly destroys. He didn't leave the profession when it got hard. He went deeper into it, earning credentials as a Registered Counselling Therapist and Trauma Specialist, and then wrote a book about what he learned. UnStuck — now a bestseller — is a roadmap built specifically for people who've been trained to suppress, push through, and move on. In this episode, DanSun breaks down the Emotional Diagnostic Tool (EDT), explains why the Default Mode Network makes boredom dangerous for first responders, and lays out a clinical framework for moving from reaction to response. This is the conversation the academy never gave you. Topics covered: The neuroscience of trauma response · Why suppression isn't strength · The EDT framework · Boredom, the Default Mode Network, and harmful coping · Post-traumatic growth vs. post-traumatic stress · Building a lasting foundation of inner peace 🎙️ Responder Resilience is built for first responders, mental health professionals, and anyone committed to the long-term health of those who serve. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week. https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience 📩 Sign up for our newsletter: https://ResponderTV.com ★ Resources for Responder Wellness ★ • Fitness: FightCamp (code RR10 for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr • Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com • Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q Contact Daniel Sundahl: Art/Main site: dansunphotos.com Linktree (aggregates all links): linktr.ee/DanSun UnStuck — amazon.com/dp/B0GX5NVXVL Instagram: @dansunphotoart Facebook (art page): facebook.com/DansunPhotos LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dansunphotoart Contact Responder Resilience: Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/
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June 3 · 50 min
S6 E22 Training First Responders to Perform Under Pressure — Khalil Zahar, FightCamp
Most fitness products make you a promise. And most of the time, six weeks later, they're collecting dust in a corner. Khalil Zahar built something different. He was finishing his master's degree in Toronto when he walked into a boxing gym and fell completely in love — training four or five times a week, getting into the best shape of his life. Then he noticed something almost absurd: even elite-level boxers were still counting their punches with a clicker. An engineer saw a problem. FightCamp was born. What started as punch-tracking technology for Olympic and professional athletes became one of the most talked-about connected fitness platforms in the world. Today FightCamp has raised nearly $100 million in funding, backed by Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather, Georges St-Pierre, and Francis Ngannou. Two-thirds of its users had never boxed a day in their life. But that's not why we called him. We called him because of the first responders — the firefighters, cops, paramedics, and dispatchers who found something in FightCamp that a gym membership and a treadmill never could give them. Training that doesn't just build a body. Training that prepares the mind for chaos, processes stress instead of storing it, and builds the kind of composure that keeps you steady when everything around you isn't. In this episode, we hear directly from first responders who train with FightCamp — and we sit down with the man who built it to find out why it works, where it's going, and what it could do for you. If you know you should be training but haven't found the right thing yet — this one's for you. Responder Resilience is produced for first responders and mental health professionals. New episodes on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Facebook, and LinkedIn. All past episodes at ResponderTV.com. ★ Resources for Responder Wellness ★ • Fitness: FightCamp (code RR10 for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr • Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com • Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4QFightCamp: Contact FightCamp: Website: https://joinfightcamp.com/shop Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/joinfightcamp/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fightcamp/ Contact Responder Resilience: Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/
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May 27 · 40 min
S6 E21 Community, Connection, and Burnout in EMS
They respond to the worst moments of people's lives — every single shift. Then they clear the call, restock the rig, and do it again. Nobody asks if they're okay. The system just keeps moving. In this episode of Responder Resilience, we sit down with two people who decided that wasn't good enough. Whitney Wilkerson (MDiv, BCC, NBC-HWC) is a board-certified chaplain, ordained interfaith minister, and trauma-informed wellness coach with 25+ years of experience supporting people through crisis — from pediatric hospitals to trauma centers to military burnout. Lucas Isola is a 15-year EMS veteran and Chief of the Irvington Volunteer Ambulance Corps in New York, who got tired of waiting for someone else to fix the problem. Together, they built Pups and Cups — a resilience initiative that brings therapy dogs, coffee, games, and stress-relief tools directly to EMS stations. No pressure. No clinical setting. Just real support, on the crew's terms. We get into why suburban EMS agencies are more psychologically vulnerable than most people assume, why spiritual care has nothing to do with religion, why the simplest interventions often land the hardest — and what happens to patient care, team culture, and retention when you actually invest in the people doing the job. This one hits different. 🎙️ Responder Resilience is built for first responders, mental health professionals, and anyone committed to the long-term health of those who serve. Contact Whitney Wilkerson and Lucas Isola: Website: https://www.irvingtonvac.org/ Website: http://pupsandcupsproject.com/ Website: https://reverendwhitney.com/ Website: https://whitneywilkerson.com/ Contact Responder Resilience: Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/ ★ Resources for Responder Wellness ★ • Fitness: FightCamp (code RR10 for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr • Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com • Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q
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May 20 · 35 min
S6 E20 Visionary Leaders: Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz on Making History
Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz made history the moment she took office — the first elected Sheriff of Miami-Dade County in nearly sixty years, the first woman to hold the role, and the first Latina sheriff in Florida history. But making history was never the point. What she did next was. In this episode of the Visionary Leaders series on Responder Resilience, we sit down with Sheriff Cordero-Stutz to talk about what it takes to lead the largest law enforcement agency in Florida — and how she's working to build a culture where asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. We cover: Her journey from patrol officer in 1996 to Sheriff of Miami-Dade County The mental health and wellness infrastructure she's building for her deputies Her role in the Florida Sheriffs Women's Leadership Academy alongside Sheriff Michelle Cook What every first responder leader needs to understand about sustaining their people for the long haul Whether you lead a team of five or an agency of five thousand, this conversation is worth your time. 🎙️ Responder Resilience is built for first responders, mental health professionals, and anyone committed to the long-term health of those who serve. ★ Resources for Responder Wellness ★ • Fitness: FightCamp (code RR10 for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr • Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com • Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q Contact Sheriff Cordero-Stutz: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miamidadesheriffsoffice/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/miamidadeso/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosanna-cordero-stutz-6b7414151 Contact Responder Resilience: Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/
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May 13 · 51 min
S6 E19 Burnout in First Responders: Signs You're Checked Out in Uniform with hosts Bonnie, Stacy and David
Burnout in first responders doesn't announce itself. It doesn't look like a crisis. It looks like a paramedic who still shows up, still runs the calls, still does the job — and feels absolutely nothing while doing it. In this episode of Responder Resilience, Lt. David Dachinger (ret.), Dr. Stacy Raymond, and Bonnie Rumilly, LCSW, EMT have the conversation that first responder culture has spent decades making almost impossible to have. What burnout actually is — clinically, culturally, and personally. Why the stoicism and dark humor that help providers survive the job can quietly accelerate its damage. How moral injury, powerlessness, and the erosion of empathy compound over years of service. What untreated burnout does to families. And what it actually takes — beyond a hotline number and a mandatory training — to come back from it. This episode is for providers, for leaders, and for anyone who loves someone who wears a uniform. Because the quiet collapse is real. And it doesn't have to be the end of the story. Contact Responder Resilience: Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/
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May 6 · 43 min
S6 E18 What It Actually Takes to Heal From Trauma and Loss — Christopher Littrell
Every LEO has a version of the glory days. The calls that reminded you why you signed up. The moments where the job felt like exactly what it was supposed to be — meaningful, necessary, alive with purpose. Chris Littrell had those days. But the other calls came too. They always do. The ones that don't debrief cleanly. The ones that follow you home in the dark and take up residence somewhere behind your eyes. Twenty years of them. And somewhere in the accumulation — the weight of the badge, the silence of the locker room, the culture that confused suffering with strength — the bottle started making more sense than asking for help. Chris Littrell is a retired police sergeant, Air Force veteran, and the author of Echoes from the Street — a book that required him to walk back through everything he'd spent years trying to outrun. The trauma calls. The PTSD he didn't name until it had already taken things from him. And then — the loss that broke the framework entirely. The kind of grief that doesn't respond to willpower, rank, or any coping mechanism a twenty-year veteran thinks he has. In this episode, Chris talks about all of it — the good, the broken, and the long, uncertain road back to himself. Not because it's easy. Because silence has already cost this profession too much. This one stays with you. ★ Resources for Responder Wellness ★ • Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q • Fitness: FightCamp (code RR10 for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr • Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com Contact Christopher Littrell: Website: https://christopherlittrell.com/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/chris.littrell.5 Instagram: https://instagram.com/chris.littrell.5 LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/gravitychris Contact Responder Resilience: Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/
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April 29 · 46 min
S6 E17 Charting The Future Of EMS — Donnie Woodyard, Jr.
Donnie Woodyard has spent his career believing EMS can be better — and working to prove it. If you've ever held multiple state licenses just to do your job, watched a talented medic leave because relicensing wasn't worth the hassle, or struggled to staff a mutual aid response with people you couldn't legally deploy across a state line — this conversation was made for you. And if you're a supervisor trying to keep the lights on while the conversation around you keeps shifting to innovation — you'll want to hear this too. As Executive Director of the U.S. EMS Compact, Donnie is working to remove the barriers that have quietly cost this profession some of its best people. Licensing walls that make relocation feel like starting over. A system built in 1966 that was never designed to carry the weight EMS carries today. In this episode, he breaks down what the Compact actually means for your staffing model, your retention strategy, and your people. Then we go further — into AI, cognitive load, and the clinical decision support tools that are already reshaping the landscape. Into why the providers and leaders who are most stretched right now may have the most to gain from what's coming. The future of EMS is here. The conversation starts now. Donnie Woodyard is ready. **Resources for Responder Wellness:** • Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q • Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com • Fitness: FightCamp (code RR10 for 10% off) https://joinfightcamp.com/shop/ Contact Donnie Woodyard, Jr: Website: http://www.emscompact.gov/ Website: http://www.ems-history.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donnie.woodyard LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donwoodyard/ Contact Responder Resilience: Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/
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April 22 · 43 min
S6 E16 Embedded Wellness: A Psychologist Inside a Sheriff's Office — Dr. Cherylynn Lee
Most psychologists who work with law enforcement do it from a safe distance. They consult. They advise. They hand over a report and drive home. Dr. Cherylynn Lee doesn't do that. She works inside the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office. Full-time. Every day. She's not observing the culture — she's inside it, earning trust in a world built, brick by brick, to never ask for help. She responds to active crises in the field. Sits on the crisis negotiation team. Has debriefed more than forty critical incidents — line-of-duty deaths, officer-involved shootings, mass casualty events — and then comes back the next day and does it again. She also helped build Santa Barbara County's first law enforcement mental health co-response team from scratch. And now she's shaping wellness standards for the entire state of California. This is someone so embedded in law enforcement that when something terrible happens — and in this work, something terrible often happens — she's already there. On this episode of Responder Resilience, we ask the questions that don't get asked enough. What does trust look like inside a culture that was never designed to be vulnerable? What patterns does she see in the officers who finally walk through her door — and what took them so long? How much of the cultural shift around mental health in law enforcement is real, and how much is performance? The answers are not comfortable. They're not meant to be. This is what embedded support actually looks like. Not from the outside looking in — but from inside the wire Contact Dr. Cherylynn Lee: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylynn-lee-phd-6a1420120/ Contact Responder Resilience: Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/
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April 15 · 48 min
S6 E15 No One's Coming: Kevin Hazzard on the Rogue Heroes Our Government Turns To
Kevin Hazzard spent a decade running calls in the worst sections of Atlanta — and what he learned there is at the core of everything he's written since. Three books. One relentless refusal to let the people who run toward the worst of it go unwitnessed. He brought to light the buried legacy of Freedom House EMS — the Black men who invented modern paramedicine, set the gold standard for emergency medicine worldwide, and were then discarded from the story they authored. And then he took us 40,000 feet above the Atlantic, to the most dangerous air-medical rescue in history. Picture this: a crew locked inside a plane with two Ebola-infected Americans, somewhere over the ocean — no protocols to guide them, no precedent to follow, treating one of the most infectious diseases on earth at cruising altitude. A real-world Mission Impossible. Except someone took the mission anyway. In this episode, we talk about what the work does to you, what gallows humor is actually for, when it's time to hang up the radio, and why the people who built emergency medicine are still being discarded — just like the Freedom House medics were. In this episode: • How Kevin found his way into EMS — and what kept him there for a decade • What dark humor in A Thousand Naked Strangers reveals about survival — and what clinicians misunderstand when they pathologize it • The moment Kevin knew it was time to walk away from the ambulance • Locked in a plane with Ebola, no protocols, 40,000 feet over the Atlantic — what that rescue actually looked like from the inside • Freedom House EMS: the forgotten architects of emergency medicine, and what their erasure says about how we still treat first responders today **Resources for Responder Wellness:** • Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q • Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com • Fitness: FightCamp (code RR10 for 10% off) https://joinfightcamp.com/shop/ Contact Kevin Hazzard: Website: http://kevinhazzard.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kevin.hazzard.96 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goes_by_hazzard/ Contact Responder Resilience: Phone: +1 844-344-6655 Email: info@respondertv.com Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/
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