Beyond the 1st Response

In this episode of Beyond the 1st Response, Christy and Robyn talk to Calvin Paries, DR, PH, LMFT, CEAP, who oversees a Profile EAP for Centura Health.

The Myth About EAP

“Why would you call the EAP? Now HR is going to know that you are struggling.” This is often a misconception for many, but especially in the first responder world. The truth is, HR doesn’t have access to who uses the EAP, just the number of people that do. Who is privy to the information that you may have contacted EAP is really totally up to you. 

Vetting the EAP

This can feel a little overwhelming, especially when in crisis. So the recommendation is to start now before you need it. Understanding the program that your department has is vital to add the tools to your duty bag. Most EAPs now have different options to contact; in person, through telehealth, over the phone, or by text. According to Calvin, Centura Health has partnered with BetterHelp to increase the reach of employees’ comfort levels. Whether you are calling because of marriage issues, financial issues, or work-related stressors, make sure to ask for a licensed therapist that is knowledgeable on the first responder mindset. 

LERF

For whoever you confide in, one trait they should have is the ability to Listen with Empathy, Respond, and Follow up. Another trait is if they are not professional, it’s ok, they don’t need to try and fix the issue; they just need to listen for curiosity, not listen to fix. Often, just talking to someone you trust, will help you through. 

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BetterHelp

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EP 29: Robert Swiderski- 22 Districts 48 hours #BT1R

In this episode of Beyond the 1st Response, Christy and Robyn talk to Robert Swideraski, a son of a Chicago Police officer. He has started Running for Blue Lives after seeing the effects of living in a first responder home firsthand.

22 Districts

Chicago PD has 22 districts and 12,000 police officers throughout the city. Robert's Father and Uncles served on the Chicago PD, so his mission is to thank all the police officers for what they do. All while reminding them they are not alone and that we understand the mental struggles the job brings. Robert walked to all 22 districts in 48 hours, 104 miles. To show he understands the job's weight, he wore a weighted vest and belt carrying 12,000 pennies in them. 

Child of a First Responder

Robert understands all too well how the first responder's work takes a toll on families. As a child, he saw how difficult it was for his father to process the work day and often coped with alcohol and a short fuse with the kids. As a young man, Robert struggles with some mental health issues himself; living in the dark part of depression, he was able to bring himself out to see the light on the other side by discovering running. This has helped him through the tough times that life throws at him. 

Challenge Coins

After handing out pennies to the officers along the way, he promised that he will be back to hand every officer a unique challenge coin that they could carry and remind them they are appreciated and don’t have to carry the weight alone. Operation Serve and Protect is a GoFundMe fundraiser to help raise funds to purchase 12,000 challenge coins for the officers. 

PTSI

Not every person exposed to trauma will develop PTSI. Still, the environment of first responders can cause more PTSI than other careers as we learn to remove the stigma of mental well-being and start having more conversations, we look forward to seeing the positive effects replace the pushing everything under the rug effect. 

Cards for First Responders

Along with the challenge coins, Robert is still collecting cards for the police officers. Please take a little time and show your appreciation today.

Send the cards:

Robert Swiderski

P.O. Box 3672

Barrington, IL. 60011

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Operation Serve and Proctect

Running For Blue Lives

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First H.E.L.P. 

In this episode of Beyond the 1st Response, Christy talks with Mike Marotta, the First H.E.L.P. Training Coordinator. Mike is a former San Antonio Police Officer.  

20 Months 8 Suicides

After six officers died by suicide in the past six months, with eight officers in 20 months, the problem could not be dismissed anymore. Fox 29 News in San Antonio helps to give a voice to officers and their families. The Public Safety Advisory Board called a meeting and questioned what the mental health protocol is for the police and fire departments. First H.E.L.P.’s tracking of first responder suicides is helping to show change is needed. 

What Next

According to Mike, this is the start of a change that will occur sooner than later. The Public Safety Advisory Board has plans to reconvene after allowing the Fire and Police Departments to put a strategic plan in place. 

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In this episode of Beyond the 1st Response, Christy and Robyn talk to retired Chicago police Sgt Danny McGuire Jr. Now a professor at Calumet College and intern therapist at Augustine Wellness Center, he hosts his own podcast, Everyday Warriors.

Support

Danny wants to talk to you when you are in trouble, regardless of what it is. Understanding that this is just a moment in time, support is everything; working through the emotions with someone who is there to listen is important. McGuire can accomplish this at Augustine Wellness Center

Too Many Hats

Police Officers are expected to multitask many jobs

• Medic
• Social worker
• Psychiatrist
• Marriage counselor
• Traffic Specialist 

Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Renowned American psychologist Abraham Maslow theorized only 1% of people will reach self actualization. Interestingly enough, basic needs are at the bottom, and safety needs are next. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs lays out why police officers struggle with belonging and loving needs because they find it hard to find the safety needs being met due to the stressors of the job and lack of support from the community. Trust is a big issue for first responders because of what they see on a daily basis. Family doesn’t always understand because of lack of communication. This loss of transparency with the significant others can change by having a simple conversation. 

S.A.L.L.I.D- Six Things that Frustrate your most Productive Employee

• Self-serving agenda
• Acceptance of mediocrity 
• Lack of transparency
• Lack of communication
• Indecisive 
• Disorganization

Public Safety Officer Act 2022

What does this mean for families that have lost first responders to suicide? Anyone that has not a family member to suicide from January 1, 2019, and later will be able to get restoration with certain steps that will need to be taken. 

Beyond the 1st Response Show Links:

Public Safety Officer Act 2022

Calumet College

Augustine Wellness Center

Everyday Warriors Podcast

Abraham Manslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

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In this episode of Beyond the 1st Response Christy and Robyn talk to Debbie Green, a retired Public Safety Dispatcher 2 who wants to let everyone know the time has come to not stay quiet about mental health.

The Headset

Debbie admits that she would often picture the scene much worse than it was. Dispatchers don't deal with just one call, they could be listening to up to 100 calls a day, rarely having the peace of mind knowing the outcome. The industry still does not recognize the amount of training it takes to prepare for a dispatching career. 

Information Processing

Each call has two dispatchers assigned. The "Call Taker" is speaking with the caller and the "Radio People" are relaying pertinent information to the police or fire. Most everything is communicated via text making it even more difficult to assure they are processing the information needed for the call. It's a legal document so you have to remove your emotion to get through the call. Talk about stress….

During the time of "suck it up and move on" no tools we offered to help their mental state after a call. Debbie goes on to share an example; after an officer was shot, her attempts to relieve the dispatchers on the call allowing them to take a break and walk away were met with an emphatic no and to make matters worse, the dispatchers were back at the job the next day. Debbie's only way to cope was to simply sit back, take a deep breath, and move onto the next call. “That is not processing, that is removing the emotion.” 

Peer Support Now

According to Debbie, peer support has come a long way than when her department first implemented the team in 2015. Back then, they called the debriefing a kumbaya and even that was days later. Dispatchers would have to request peer support resources, it wasn't automatically offered and definitely frowned upon to accept.

Quiet No More

Debbie's breaking point was in 2019 when she dispatched a call on which one of her officers was shot and killed. The events that followed are what prompted her to take the motto of being quiet no more. Now an outspoken advocate for first responder mental health she makes sure to focus on dispatchers, the often forgotten ones.  

What Should we do Different?

• Give dispatchers the tools to properly process the emotions that come with the calls
• Find a therapist in your area. Check out 1st Help Resources
• Create a routine to help you decompress before and after a call
• Implement a wellness program within the department 

Beyond the 1st Response Show Links:

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In this episode of Beyond the 1st Response, Christy and Robyn talk to Tracy Vitalo-Harwell CPH-T, from Inspired Change Hypnosis and coaching about how hypnosis can “shift that space” and how it helps first responders.

What Happened To You When You Were A Child?

It doesn’t start when you become a first responder. That changes you, yes. The true question is, what happened to you when you were a child? The root of most struggles is what happened earlier in life. We become angry, and start holding on to the hurt, disappointment, and failure as if it’s the last life jacket. Sit here for a minute… it’s not what you do wrong. Now, breathe… life happens to us, we are just along for the ride. 

Here’s A Tissue

Tracy explains that those of us who are Generation X and older were taught to suck it up, not talk about it, and hide it under a rug. Then, just brush the dirt off and move on. Is this why we don’t open up about feelings? The word feeling is an emotional state or reaction. There are 135 words to describe feelings, yet we only use a few of them and they are usually the society-accepting words we think we are feeling in the heat of the moment. So here is a tissue, use it when you are ready.

The Body Keeps Score

Changing the mindset is hard. The good news is that we can be taught the tools to do it ourselves. Let’s face it, if we don’t start changing our mindset it will be our body that does it for us. The body keeps a tally of the years you have self-sabotaged yourself. So if things don’t change the dis - ease in the body will cause your disease.

Healing of the Internal Space

Hypnosis is taught to you via someone guiding you. However, you are the one running the show. It’s up to you whether you are ready to deal with the wounds of the past and present. 90% of your emotional mind is done self- consciously, which leaves only 10% for someone else to help you. 

We Are People Who Like To Hold Onto Self-Judgment

We as humans have this superpower of holding onto things that we should have let go of a long time ago. The internal judge or bully doesn’t let you forget this stuff. It waits until you are in dis-ease and then bam hits you over the head. The tool that Tracy Vitalo-Harwell and other hypnosis therapists and coaches give us is learning to take that inner peace back. Even if we don’t think we have it, it’s there waiting inside.

Beyond the 1st Response Show Links:

Inspired Change Hypnosis and Coaching

Feelings Wheel

135 Words That Express Emotion

In this episode of Beyond the 1st Response, Christy and Robyn talk with Ashlee Gethner LCSW and first responder daughter who has her own private practice, Calming Waves Therapy. 

First, I am a First Responder Daughter

Ashlee is currently working on her doctrine, focusing on first responders and their families. As a child of a now-retired police officer, she can see both sides of the badge and the struggles that occur.  She carries pride and honor with her knowing the difference first responders make and understanding the toll it takes on the responder and their families. Not only does she work with first responders in a private setting, she is also contracted to go out during critical incident calls with the Kenosha Police Department, Kenosha County, and surrounding cities. 

Dissertation - Impact of Civil Unrest in Law  Enforcement

• Social work
• Law enforcement focus
• Research of the impact on law enforcement and civil unrest
• What does it look like through the eyes of law enforcement

Motivation

“I was listening to the first responder's stories regarding what the environment is doing to their mental well-being.” Ashlee on recognizing that there are more first responders struggling.

First Responder Kids

Social media is fueling the confusion about who their parent is and what they really do for a living. Kids hear little bits and pieces of what other people say about police officers and this has caused them to question the morals and ethics of their parent. It’s not that they are embarrassed about what their parent does, they are scared. As the child of a first responder, Ashlee wishes she would have known when her Dad had terrible days at work. 

What we can do to change that mindset:

• Have a conversation about what they do at work
• Give them tools to know it’s ok to open up and talk
• Make it a safe place to have conversations about what others are saying
• Never be afraid to talk with your children, no matter how bad the event.

 
KYPCIS- Kentucky Post Critical Incident Seminar

Ashlee attends as a therapist in this three-day seminar. During the three days, first responders participate in both large and small group events and see a therapist one-on-one. They come out understanding that they are not alone, which helps open the conversation to change for them. KYPCIS, is sponsored by Kentucky’s Department of Criminal Justice. Officers like Officer #2 tell their stories of why they got here, to how they can now see the other side. 

Beyond The 1st Response Show Links:

Calming Waves Therapy

KYPCIS

In this episode of Beyond the 1st Response, Christy and Robyn talk with Jim Marshall, CEO of 911 Training Institute. 

Just Jump Right In

Jim Marshall has a fantastic insight into what is happening inside our heads. With a Masters in Psychology and years of counseling couples under his belt, he began to focus on dispatcher wellness along with his sister Deborah, a retired dispatcher. Together they identified a training gap on how to keep themselves grounded after the 911 calls pile up.

Word To The Wise

• Humans are a special breed and are designed to avoid emotional pain, NOT just physical pain
• PTSD is treatable and you can heal from it
• You don’t know what you don’t know
• You don’t have to limp along fighting through PTSD
• You did the best you could with what you learned at the time
• Resolution of trauma doesn’t mean you won’t have a return of trauma. It does  mean you will feel it through your body as you release it. 

Life Changing

Through tragedy, we often learn who we are and what we are capable of doing. Talking about what we have been through is a gift to our first responders and their families. Inviting people to open up to their family in a way that sets boundaries yet helps you process the events of the day is life-changing. 

Who Are Your Go-To’s

• Understand that they will not always come to you and open up about everything
• Have a system in place to know when they walk through the door. Example: How was your day 1-10?
• Don’t want to talk to me; let’s take a walk, but I am holding your hand.
• If not me, then who? Tell your partner at home the list of people you are willing to go to and talk about it.

Beyond The 1st Response Show Links:

911 Training Institute

 In this episode of Beyond the 1st Response, Christy and Robyn talk with retired police officer and 1st Responder Conferences founder Shawn Thomas and her husband Jeff Thomas on what inspired her to form her company.

I Don’t Care What People Think

 Jeff grew up in the culture where drinking is what you do as years on the job begin to mentally take their toll. Over time, he realizes that his drinking is likely being perpetuated by department culture and internal decision making. Jeff knew he couldn’t continue down the path of self-medication and destruction. Searching for help he quickly realized he had no idea where to turn. 

1st Responder Conferences is Born

Shawn started 1st Responder Conferences while simultaneously working full-time at the Sheriff's department. This experience really allowed her to understand the varying struggles that families face. 1st Responder Conferences is unique in that it brings together health and wellness training for everyday heroes. It's a place where first responders and their families can be in one room for two training days. There are no 'breakout sessions' where groups are pulled apart. Everyone hears the same message, same questions and are able to connect through common experience. Their first conference had 150 in attendance which told Shawn that the need was definitely there. Since then, there have been 30 more across the country.


Karen Solomon: A Meeting of the Minds

 Shawn met Karen and discovered the mission of Blue H.E.L.P., which is now under the umbrella of First H.E.L.P.. First H.E.L.P partners with 1st Responder Conferences to provide speakers, booths, etc. Shawn has become a part of the First H.E.L.P. by bringing her expertise to assist as a volunteer for our family programs.  

In this episode of Beyond the 1st Response, Christy and Robyn talk with retired Police Sargeant/Firefighter-Paramedic Jim Schlicher current training instructor for Calibre Press on what it is like to experience death on the job and off the job. 

Don’t Be Afraid Of Death

As First Responders, we deal with death, weekly on the job. Often not even blinking an eye, it’s part of the job that becomes a normal occurrence. Death is a part of life, but normalizing it as just another day at work should not be. Schlicher adds: The one thing we know is death, but we often don’t know how to process it. We are afraid of it, so we don’t process it. American Culture has fallen away from any spirituality and now we don’t know where to go when we need to process a normalized traumatic event.

You Gotta Buy All In

Reflecting on failures in life as a parent, spouse/significant other, child, sibling, and coworker, the one constant that is missing is Living by your words. The belief system can’t be solely on you, let go of that fear of what others think, and open up if you are not confident in the subject. We need to start taking care of others. Whether you are talking to a complete stranger or someone you know, starting a conversation, you are going to learn something new, or even help someone you didn’t know needed it. Something changes inside a person when you start talking to them, they start opening up and this is an opportunity to help people be in a better spot in their heads and hearts. Starting over and learning again to be all in, can feel daunting, but we are made to communicate, and revisit how we talk to people. The Art of Conversation is simple. 

Don’t Forget Your Friends and Family

Finding Christ again for Jim has been truly what helped ground him and get him back on track. It’s not an easy road, especially after trauma, and trauma that occurs personally. Schlicher was in an officer-involved shooting in 2012, in which he received a medal of valor from The Hundred Club of Dupage. Each thing you learn after a trauma helps you grow in some ways. One thing to remember, your friend and family are there with you and by your side. Don’t forget them, they are part of the healing process.

Beyond the 1st Response Show Links:

Calibre Press

Instructor for Calibre Press

Art of Conversation, by frontier for young minds

The Hundred Club of Dupage

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