Get ready for another fascinating, powerful, and insightful episode of The Bend Don’t Break podcast! This week, Chief Neil Dubord is joined by Vancouver Fire Lieutenant Jenn Dawkins. Jenn has some incredible experience both in and out of her role as a firefighter and a powerful story of resilience that anybody can learn from.

Jenn’s story is one that anyone could relate to. She speaks about the challenges of being one of seven women that were a part of an 800-person organization, her firefighting career, the health challenges she has faced and overcome, and the strategies she has put in place to keep her physically and mentally well. No matter what your journey in mental health and wellness may look like, Jenn’s story is one not to miss.

Today, Chief Neil Dubord is joined by Glen Fenimore, former member of the Calgary Police Service, and currently a Constable with the RCMP. Glen was with the Calgary Police for 14 years before leaving policing to be closer to his family. His service with Calgary included a role in the Priority Crimes Unit which involved being part of undercover operations.

On November 13th, 2011 a horrific crime occurred in Calgary that would eventually have a big impact on Glen’s career and life. In this episode, Glen shares details of the undercover operation he was part of, his trauma that followed, and how he overcame these difficulties both in and out of policing.

Welcome back to the Bend Don’t Break podcast! Chief Neil Dubord is welcoming RCMP Sergeant Major Sebastien Lavoie to this episode.

Sgt. Major Lavoie’s career highlights include the Canadian Air Carrier Protective Program and the Lower Mainland District Emergency Response Team.

In their conversation together, Sgt. Major Lavoie talks about his career journey, the lessons he has learned through difficult experiences and the recovery plan that he developed to ensure people on his team were provided with enough support through critical incidents. He also shares how to build resilience without trauma, and how to build your emotional IQ.

If you’re a leader or colleague of someone who is going through a difficult time right now this episode will be particularly impactful for you.

This episode is part two of the two-part series with Lt. Joshua Bitsko from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

In the first part of the series, Josh recounts the day of the October 1st, 2017 Las Vegas shooting as one of the first responders on the scene. He took listeners moment-by-moment from when he first received the call up to finding the shooter deceased in his room.

In this episode, Josh shares further insight into his mindset, emotions, and mentality during and post-incident. He also speaks about the key lessons he learned about resiliency, and the pieces that played the most important roles in helping him heal and move forward.

His body cam footage from the incident can be found here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlrwOaQTuFw

Today is a special episode for the Bend Don’t Break podcast. Chief Neil Dubord is joined by Lt. Joshua Bitsko from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, who recounts the day of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival.

Lt. Bitsko takes listeners moment-by-moment from when he first received the call, to finding the shooter deceased in his room.

Be sure to tune in to our next episode, where Josh shares further insight into his mindset, emotions, and mentality during and after the crisis.

*This episode contains graphic language.* In this episode, Cst. Mike Willford of the Abbotsford Police Department joins the podcast to share his personal story on compassion fatigue.

Mike and Chief Neil Dubord discuss Mike’s experience of being the ‘helper’, but not seeking help for himself and how that led to physical symptoms he could not ignore.

His story is a unique but common one in the sense that there was no one, single event that stood out or led to his symptoms; it was the small incidents that added up over time.

In this episode, Chief Neil Dubord is excited to be joined by two guests who are both long-time Edmonton Police Service members, Colleen Mooney and Glen Klose. In this episode, Glen and Colleen discuss how Edmonton Police look after their members after traumatic events on the job, and how for the past 11 years, the department’s Reintegration Program has been helping police officers get back to work.

On this episode of Bend Don’t Break, host Chief Neil Dubord speaks to the founder of the Vancouver chapter of Beyond the Blue about the need for more peer support for family members of police officers.

As the spouse of a Vancouver Police officer, Erica McKeddie founded Beyond the Blue after tragedy touched her family and her extended police family. Erica shares her story about how Beyond the Blue is working to strengthen and support law enforcement families.

Metro Vancouver Transit Police Constable (Cst.) Josh Harms joins the podcast to discuss his recovery after he was shot while on duty in early 2019. After going through this traumatic event, Cst. Harms returned to work, concentrating not on the number of days it took to return, but the work he put into his recovery, resiliency, and mindset.

A 20 year RCMP officer, Rob Farrer recognized the need for more awareness associated with post-traumatic stress disorder amongst first responders. Rob took it upon himself to hike 1 kilometer for every fallen officer of the RCMP -  239 kilometers in 56.5 hours, over the course of three straight days.

Rob shares his process of why he decided to do the walk, what the walk was like, and what happened as a result.