Blue Grit Radio : the Police Wellness, Leadership, Culture and Mindset podcast

In this episode, I riff off of a prompt where I and many of you on the socials discuss three pillars we talk about often: Wellness, Culture, and Leadership.

All are crucial for our personal and organizational health and success- so what’s MOST important? Listen in and let me know what you think!  

Don’t forget to like, SHARE and subscribe to Blue Grit Radio on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and more! This is the best way you can support this podcast, our message and support in the topics we discuss!

Please help us grow the positive conversations and community by liking, reviewing, and giving us a solid rating to help others find the show. Be well and stay gritty!

You can follow along with the most updated content on IG: @bluegritwellness ! Leave a comment, ask your questions at IG or email me at [email protected] !

We are always talking about police and first responder wellness, how to be a cop, self development, career development, organizational culture and development and so much more! This isn't just to uplift the policing community and profession, but THE Community. Let's do it one conversation at a time!

music credit: Drive by AShamaluevMusic

I've gotten comfortable sharing my story on different occasions and platforms.  It's all been in the effort of helping others reduce stigmas, self-judgement in themselves and others in first responder careers ripe with a multitude of stressors.  My story is unique, and it's also not.  So many of us may not experience the exact same circumstances, but the overlap is often huge.

I was connecting with my good bro in blue from up north, Mark Bouchard (RCMP).  You may recognize his name from such episodes as #59 and #68 (must listens!) In our conversation, he shared that although I have told my stories on many other podcasts, I have shared different stories and pieces on my own show.  He wanted to hear someone interview me to expand on these events: from my OIS to hostage rescue*, to my own struggles and lessons in trying to address health amongst the rollercoaster of police work.

As always, my stories, experiences, opinions and reflections are shared with you in hopes to keep growing positivity, growth and resilience for our police profession and first responder community.  

*If you want to hear me chat with some guys that were in those situations with me, check out #17 with fmr. Officer Trevor Wolcott, #51 with ret. Sgt. Joe Gagner, and #88 with ret. Det. Tom Riener.

Don’t forget to like, SHARE and subscribe to Blue Grit Radio on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and more! This is the best way you can support this podcast, our message and support in the topics we discuss!

Please help us grow the positive conversations and community by liking, reviewing, and giving us a solid rating to help others find the show. Be well and stay gritty!

You can follow along with the most updated content on IG: @bluegritwellness ! Leave a comment, ask your questions at IG or email me at [email protected] !

We are always talking about police and first responder wellness, how to be a cop, self development, career development, organizational culture and development and so much more! This isn't just to uplift the policing community and profession, but THE Community. Let's do it one conversation at a time!

music credit: Drive by AShamaluevMusic

We talk about living outside of the blue world, over-identity and today we will talk about a huge practical application of that.  Frankly, we don’t get to choose how much time we have in this job: between injuries, burnout, family decisions, and other countless circumstances.

Former officer Jess Flores of Next Shift joins me to discuss transitioning careers out of law enforcement: from her story, challenges, fears, and what things officers can do early on and ongoing to prep not only a back up career- but be the best, most well-rounded cops and individuals they can be. 

—

Jess Flores started her Law Enforcement career at just 21 years old and had it abruptly taken away at 31, due to injury and a failed surgery. She battled through feelings of unworthiness as she attempted to find new purpose. 

After TWO very long years and just going through the motions with seemingly meaningless jobs, she began a fitness journey that turned into an entrepreneurial opportunity. She discovered her love of coaching and realized she could still serve others, just in a different way. That journey eventually led to her creating Next Shift, LLC, a transition coaching business for Law Enforcement officers. Through her business, she helps LEOs REdiscover their identity, REdefine their purpose, and REignite their passions as they prepare for and adapt to life after law enforcement. 

Jess is also the host of the Next Shift Podcast, where she shares lessons learned through her own transition journey, as well as conversations with others who’ve made the transition, as well as their spouses. She is now transitioning from 1:1 coaching to a group coaching membership, Next Shift Academy. Through Next Shift Academy, she provides the tools, support, and community officers need to create their Next Shift, whether it’s a new career, side hustle, or simply embracing life after Law Enforcement.

You can find Jess on LinkedIn at http://linkedin.com/in/jessica-flores-a53a10100 and Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/_nextshift_

You can check out the Next Shift Podcast here https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-next-shift-podcast/id1693161975?i=1000636903434

Don’t forget to like, SHARE and subscribe to Blue Grit Radio on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and more! This is the best way you can support this podcast, our message and support in the topics we discuss!

Please help us grow the positive conversations and community by liking, reviewing, and giving us a solid rating to help others find the show. Be well and stay gritty!

You can follow along with the most updated content on IG: @bluegritwellness ! Leave a comment, ask your questions at IG or email me at [email protected] !

We are always talking about police and first responder wellness, how to be a cop, self development, career development, organizational culture and development and so much more! This isn't just to uplift the policing community and profession, but THE Community. Let's do it one conversation at a time!

music credit: Drive by AShamaluevMusic

We talk about the importance of wellness in our first responder culture- and often times I wonder if employers lose sight of “the why” we should care. Listens and followers understand the impacts of supporting our front line workers in this critical work, but what information do we need to bring to the bosses and Lead UP effectively?

In this episode, I am joined by Ethan Jule and Jason Drinkwater. We discuss the importance of stress management and reduction, specific impacts to nervous system health and ability to show up better at work as well as at home.  Ethan and Jason discuss their backgrounds coming into the wellness space through Infinity Massage Chairs, and how the company is making a marked difference in how we can care of first responders.

Make sure you download and listen to the end to find out what freebie you will get- and how to get it. Hint: it’s valuable, useful, and beneficial to your personal health and performance!

To learn more, go to infinitymassagechairs.com or better yet, contact Jason at:

https://meetings.hubspot.com/jason-drinkwater

Don’t forget to like, SHARE and subscribe to Blue Grit Radio on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and more! This is the best way you can support this podcast, our message and support in the topics we discuss!

Please help us grow the positive conversations and community by liking, reviewing, and giving us a solid rating to help others find the show. Be well and stay gritty!

You can follow along with the most updated content on IG: @bluegritwellness ! Leave a comment, ask your questions at IG or email me at [email protected] !

We are always talking about police and first responder wellness, how to be a cop, self development, career development, organizational culture and development and so much more! This isn't just to uplift the policing community and profession, but THE Community. Let's do it one conversation at a time!

music credit: Drive by AShamaluevMusic

I found Jason's social media and it resonated with me- how he talked about mindset, ownership, and the importance of fitness for first responders.  He spoke about the sometimes uncomfortable truth that we in emergency services have trouble recognizing in ourselves and our peers:

Many first responders are unfit (double entendre there) to actually perform their jobs to the level we ought to be able to do.  He said something at his workplace as a medic which someone found offensive, which led to his termination.

We've talked about obesity in cops and other first responders on this show before, with guests like Rod Wisser and Joe Gamaldi- and we've talked about fitness and nutrition a host of times.  It is often much more nuanced than that.  Conversations like these aren't meant to tell people to push people out, rather LIFT THEM UP.  We need great first responders, and physical ability is a non-negotiable.  Think about those who are helpless in the most dire of situations, and there is isn't much more to discuss.  Time to take ownership of yourself, with grace and positivity, and let's GO.

In our conversation, Jason shares about not only his battles with adversity and trauma in and out of the job, but his own struggle with obesity as a first responder.  It goes beyond the physical, as we explore strengthening mental fortitude for a meaningful and purpose-driven life.
--
Jason Warn is a dedicated first responder, paramedic, and resilience advocate who has spent over a decade serving on the front lines of high-stress environments. 

Drawing from his own transformative journey overcoming personal adversity, including struggles with mental health and physical fitness, Jason has become a passionate voice for building resilience in mind, body, and spirit. 

As the founder of Mindfulness Medic, he provides actionable strategies for first responders and healthcare professionals to cultivate inner strength and thrive in the face of life's challenges.

Through his coaching, speaking engagements, and apparel brand, Jason shares his mission of empowering others to break free from self-limiting beliefs, step into their highest potential, and create lives filled with purpose and vitality. His work is deeply rooted in his philosophy of resilience, encouraging individuals to embrace discomfort as a pathway to growth.

Don’t forget to like, SHARE and subscribe to Blue Grit Radio on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and more! This is the best way you can support this podcast, our message and support in the topics we discuss!

Please help us grow the positive conversations and community by liking, reviewing, and giving us a solid rating to help others find the show. Be well and stay gritty!

You can follow along with the most updated content on IG: @bluegritwellness ! Leave a comment, ask your questions at IG or email me at [email protected] !

We are always talking about police and first responder wellness, how to be a cop, self development, career development, organizational culture and development and so much more! This isn't just to uplift the policing community and profession, but THE Community. Let's do it one conversation at a time!

music credit: Drive by AShamaluevMusic

In this solocast, I explore a "kind of" solo episode. Sure it's just me talking, the script and content was generated mostly by you!

I have been asked several times lately, between followers and folks I'm coaching what they should focus on as new officers.  Surely, there is a HOST of things, from hard and soft skills, tactics, the BOOKS (case law, criminal law, and on and on...)

However, when I brought this to the socials, the responses from experienced cops, supervisors, and law enforcement professionals were overwhelmingly directed toward themes of health, relations, balance, and items more attune to self-regulation.  So many responses were more about what to do when off the clock- and/or how to manage your LIFE, not just your career.

Listen in and hear the anecdotes and insights from veteran officers, sergeants, LTs, and more- along with my break down and added perspectives to their valuable tips and reflections!

Don’t forget to like, SHARE and subscribe to Blue Grit Radio on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and more! This is the best way you can support this podcast, our message and support in the topics we discuss!

Please help us grow the positive conversations and community by liking, reviewing, and giving us a solid rating to help others find the show. Be well and stay gritty!

You can follow along with the most updated content on IG: @bluegritwellness ! Leave a comment, ask your questions at IG or email me at [email protected] !

We are always talking about police and first responder wellness, how to be a cop, self development, career development, organizational culture and development and so much more! This isn't just to uplift the policing community and profession, but THE Community. Let's do it one conversation at a time!

music credit: Drive by AShamaluevMusic

If you didn't catch Ep. 98- download, listen, and promptly return to this one.  In that, I chat with my coworker, Detective Tessa Melville; we discuss her background, her growth through military service and lessons learned and resilience tested and solidified in her patrol work for years- and her recent entry into detective work with the Special Assault Unit.

We hinted at a part two, and much of that was in planning.  One of the things I appreciate most about Tessa is her openness in a matter of fact way- how she is emotionally and self-aware and is willing to share that with others as we all can learn for our own emotional survival and continual efforts to support our wellness.  
Where in part 1, we talk about a lot of the significant events that tested and shaped Tessa's resolve, in this episode we converse about some of the dynamics we continue to work through and balance- at different stages in our careers and different roles.  Tessa flips the script- so to speak- and picks my brain on my reflections on perceptions, work culture, and wellness.

Don’t forget to like, SHARE and subscribe to Blue Grit Radio on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and more! This is the best way you can support this podcast, our message and support in the topics we discuss!

Please help us grow the positive conversations and community by liking, reviewing, and giving us a solid rating to help others find the show. Be well and stay gritty!

You can follow along with the most updated content on IG: @bluegritwellness ! Leave a comment, ask your questions at IG or email me at [email protected] !

We are always talking about police and first responder wellness, how to be a cop, self development, career development, organizational culture and development and so much more! This isn't just to uplift the policing community and profession, but THE Community. Let's do it one conversation at a time!

music credit: Drive by AShamaluevMusic

Years ago, I had the privilege of hearing then active firefighter Mike Washington speak at wellness conferences.  He talked about his traumas through life- from childhood to his experience in the Marine Corps, at work in his life as a Seattle Firefighter, and losing his adult son in combat.  

He talked about his downward spiral, self-destructive warpath, and coming to recognition that such a path, such an ending was not his path and not his ending.  He shared about utter resilience, the love and compassion from his wife and circles- and how he allowed himself to feel that love and compassion, and thus embrace and pay it forward.

Years later, as part of a large-scale joint peer support effort (coordinated by Deputy Chief McCurdy (see Ep. 125!)), I came to connect with Mike again.  He was now a full-fledged mental health counselor, having retired from Fire and I had the honor to co-facilitate a stress debrief with him in the service of our Pierce County and Edgewood PD brothers and sisters following the death of Deputy Dom Calata.  

I remained connected and watched Mike continue to inspire others and crush life with utmost positivity- which didn’t slow one bit when he shared publicly about his cancer diagnosis and updates.  

We talk about trauma, stumbles, resilience and serving others in his experiences and for our first responder and military communities at large.  Mike is an absolute treasure, and I’m grateful not only for his acquaintance but his sharing time and space on the show.
—
Mike’s mission is to assist veterans and First Responders to identify, understand and react to the forces of stress as a means to combating the forces of PTSD and suicide.

Mike is a retired Seattle Firefighter with over 32 years of operational experience. In addition to his ordinary assignment as a firefighter, Mike was a member of the fire departments Peer Support Team as well as a Critical Incident Stress Debriefer, assisting firefighters around the country and now works as a psychotherapist in Seattle specializing in trauma and PTSD issues.

Mike Washington is a retired Marine Corps Master Sergeant with 23 years of service (7 active, 16reserve). Mike served as a Platoon Sgt in Desert Storm and served as a Counterintelligence Officer in Bosnia, Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan as well as numerous other real-world missions. He also spent 18 months at the National Counter terrorism Center in Washington DC. 

Mike also provides mental health services to various first responder and military entities around the Seattle and Puget Sound area. Mike is a keynote speaker using his own story presents on the topics of stress, depression, PTSD and suicide, but most importantly PTG or Post Traumatic Growth.

Mikes motivation derives from his own personal experiences with PTSD from childhood to the fire service and war including the death of his son Sgt Michael T Washington while serving with the Marines in Afghanistan in 2008.

Don’t forget to like, SHARE and subscribe to Blue Grit Radio on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and more! This is the best way you can support this podcast, our message and support in the topics we discuss!

Please help us grow the positive conversations and community by liking, reviewing, and giving us a solid rating to help others find the show. Be well and stay gritty!

You can follow along with the most updated content on IG: @bluegritwellness ! Leave a comment, ask your questions at IG or email me at [email protected] !

We are always talking about police and first responder wellness, how to be a cop, self development, career development, organizational culture and development and so much more! This isn't just to uplift the policing community and profession, but THE Community. Let's do it one conversation at a time!

music credit: Drive by AShamaluevMusic

Here’s a solocast episode in follow up and coordination with my newest Police 1 article, where I answer the prompt on whether youth is a “problem” as a new cop. Yes and no… and all that comes with it.

Beyond that factor, there’s every other thing. What about “being old” as a new guy or gal? What about being small, though fit and skilled? What about having no formal post high school education.. or truthfully- too much life in academia and not in the traditional workplace?

With all that, we talk about Imposter Syndrome- what it is, how it affects many of us- especially high achievers- and what to do about it.

For the full article, check out @policeone , hit the link in the bio (IG or LinkedIn or the blog at bluegritwellness.com) for my article list or google Police 1, Eric Tung and you’ll find your way there!

As always, let me know what YOU want to see me write, post or hear me talk about.

Stay gritty! 👊🏽

#impostersyndrome #newcops #rookies #policeofficer #policecareer #learningcurve #newassignment

Don’t forget to like, SHARE and subscribe to Blue Grit Radio on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and more! This is the best way you can support this podcast, our message and support in the topics we discuss!

Please help us grow the positive conversations and community by liking, reviewing, and giving us a solid rating to help others find the show. Be well and stay gritty!

You can follow along with the most updated content on IG: @bluegritwellness ! Leave a comment, ask your questions at IG or email me at [email protected] !

We are always talking about police and first responder wellness, how to be a cop, self development, career development, organizational culture and development and so much more! This isn't just to uplift the policing community and profession, but THE Community. Let's do it one conversation at a time!

music credit: Drive by AShamaluevMusic

As someone who has self-experimented with most very diet at least for some time, it’s always intriguing to talk to someone who found something that truly works for them!  Enter Eric (spelled the right way)!  Retired LEO, who, through keto/carnivore approach reversed his metabolic issues and is now thriving!

We chat diet, but truly go much farther into lifestyle, service, trauma, and purpose - as he took an unconventional path to not only self-healing, but assisting and fostering recovery in others through community!
—

Eric Reynolds, aka "KetoFiveO," embodies resilience and transformation. After a distinguished law enforcement career and surviving a harrowing gunfight with an armed suspect, Eric faced and overcame significant challenges, including PTSD, heart disease, and other metabolic issues. He achieved an impressive 80-pound weight loss and now champions metabolic health, especially for first responders, through KetoFiveO Sports Nutrition. 

As a Licensed Primary Sports Nutritionist, Health Advocate, and Personal Trainer, Eric is committed to promoting wellness.  Eric’s family legacy is deeply rooted in law enforcement, with his mother, June Hawkins, and stepfather, Al Singleton, featured in Netflix’s Griselda. His mission extends through “Cops and Campers,” a non-profit providing a sanctuary for first responders to heal amidst nature. 

In a remarkable personal journey, Eric through DNA reconnected with his long-lost brother, Dave Stull, a fellow police officer. This new relationship inspired Eric to embrace a full-time RV lifestyle, traveling the country with his family while homeschooling his kids, working on farms, and volunteering in the communities they visit. This lifestyle enriches their lives and reflects Eric’s unwavering commitment to service and community.  Eric’s story is one of service, advocacy, and resilience, serving as a beacon of hope for all.

Don’t forget to like, SHARE and subscribe to Blue Grit Radio on YouTube, Spotify, Apple and more! This is the best way you can support this podcast, our message and support in the topics we discuss!

Please help us grow the positive conversations and community by liking, reviewing, and giving us a solid rating to help others find the show. Be well and stay gritty!

You can follow along with the most updated content on IG: @bluegritwellness ! Leave a comment, ask your questions at IG or email me at [email protected] !

We are always talking about police and first responder wellness, how to be a cop, self development, career development, organizational culture and development and so much more! This isn't just to uplift the policing community and profession, but THE Community. Let's do it one conversation at a time!

music credit: Drive by AShamaluevMusic