Here, I share some cases where we applied non-violent crisis intervention tactics to de-escalate persons in emergency situations, avoiding the need for police intervention.  One situation was during a major overdose, where the client was combative while he was in respiratory failure, the other features someone locked in a bathroom threatening staff.
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The last month has been very difficult on the frontlines of the pandemic and opioid crisis.  Healthcare workers are experiencing high rates of clinical depression and many other frontline workers are feeling burnt out.  Lets catch up on some self care and making sure we are meeting our needs in this episode.  What self-care are you doing that fits physical, mental, social, and emotional/spiritual well-being?
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I finish up with some advice on using medical cannabis to calibrate your nervous system, while avoiding negative effects or dependency.  Various cannabis strains affect people differently, so its important to find which strains you respond best to and what terpene profile they hold.

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Website:

flightofthoughts.blog

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Instagram:

@jake_flightofthoughts

Facebook:

The Psychedelic Society of First Responders and Emergency Workers

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This podcast covers many topics considered “taboo” or difficult for some individuals. We do not condone any illegal activities, as this is a platform for harm reduction and open dialogue.  

Paramedic and podcaster, Chad Bartalone, joins me from Indiana  to talk about some of the more surreal and heavy topics surrounding emergency medical services.  We talk about how to take away the negative stigma of inevitable death, learning to appreciate and embrace it instead of fear it.  How do we normalize the conversation and bring more education and autonomy to patients?  Our discussion also covers how to bring order to chaos through radical acceptance and preparation for challenges.  We talk about how emergency services can do more for mental health training and integration of spirituality.  As healthcare providers and first responders we must challenge our own trauma and biases to reduce stigma, and systemic discrimination.  We also talk about The Big Lebowski and Chad's podcast that references how to use the ideals presented through the character, The Dude, to better handle the stressors and challenges that life throws at you.   Chad Bartalone is a board certified and state licensed Paramedic in South Bend, IN. He has been practicing emergency medicine for 16 years, 10 of which as a firefighter/paramedic for the fourth largest fire department in the state of IN. He is a former adjunct faculty member for Ivy Tech Community College, the largest in the state, and the former program chair of the health science department at South Bend Community School Corporation.  During his time as a student at university, his focus was towards human behavioral psychology and that has informed his position in education, medicine, and advocacy.   Chad is the host of the Abiders Urban Achiever Podcast, loosely based on the “Dudeism” following and more closely related to the tenets of Daoism and old animist tradition.   Boots On The Ground is a 24/7 peer support service for first responders.  Visit their website for resources and more information: https://www.bootsontheground.ca/   Flight of Thoughts Website:

flightofthoughts.blog

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Instagram:

@jake_flightofthoughts

Facebook:

The Psychedelic Society of First Responders and Emergency Workers

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This podcast covers many topics considered “taboo” or difficult for some individuals. We do not condone any illegal activities, as this is a platform for harm reduction and open dialogue.  

Here comes another solo flight of thought I was having about how we can be better human beings by being "trauma-informed".  This leads into how to identify prejudice in ourselves and how it is programmed into us.   A major point focuses on the "mental health continuum" model that many first responders and healthcare workers have been introduced to.  Being aware of your mental health continuum and the signs that you are struggling can help you avoid falling into crisis, as well as empower you to maintain your most optimal functioning.

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This pandemic and the civil rights movements happening simultaneously have shaken the foundations of many around the world.  This is the perfect time to pay attention to your mental health and build up your most effective self care rituals and become aware of when you are healthy, reacting, injured, or ill on your mental health continuum.

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Website:

flightofthoughts.blog

Instagram:

@jake_flightofthoughts

Facebook:

The Psychedelic Society of First Responders and Emergency Workers

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This podcastcovers many topics considered “taboo” or difficult for some individuals. We do not condone any illegal activities, as this is a platform for harm reduction and open dialogue.  

Kai Carlsen has clinical experience as a Paramedic, Flight Respiratory Therapist, as well as building experience in clinical development and education.  He has worked in various settings from controlled hospital environments to the chaos of ambulance and aircraft response.  Kai has been growing through a journey of mindfulness, self-awareness, and peer support that allows him to remain optimal through his career.  We worked together early in my career and I always felt he had the perfect energy and intellect for emergency medicine.  On this episode we go deeper into some topics like controlling your mind during emergencies, staying healthy in a high-stress profession, and how we can make peace with the idea of death and human suffering.

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Website:

flightofthoughts.blog

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Instagram:

@jake_flightofthoughts

Facebook:

The Psychedelic Society of First Responders and Emergency Workers

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This podcast covers many topics considered “taboo” or difficult for some individuals. We do not condone any illegal activities, as this is a platform for harm reduction and open dialogue.  

After an intense month with a car accident and a stressful work injury, I update everyone on how I have been coping with these and the growing pressure on the front lines of the pandemic.  Learning to identify your responses to stress can be an effective tool for overcoming challenging times.  How does stress activate certain thought patterns you have?  How does stress store as tension or discomfort in your body?  Learning your symptoms and how to work through them can push your from distress to optimal function  in your window of tolerance.  I also talk about monitoring your mental health and self-care during the Covid-19 pandemic.  The collective stress, trauma, and uncertainty we are all feeling can make isolation a catalyst for psychological crisis, so it is important to maintain social connection and wellness routines to avoid struggling with your mental health.  Finally, do not use cannabis to escape or avoid emotional discomfort.  Cannabis is most effective when used as a reward for psychological discipline, enhance self-care, or as a tool to work through overwhelming symptoms.  To avoid any negative impacts from cannabis its best to balance your use with other methods of self care to allow your cannabinoid system to avoid depending on cannabis as its primary means of activation.  Regulated sleep, nutrition, and exercise help in doing this!

Website:

flightofthoughts.blog

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Instagram:

@jake_flightofthoughts

Facebook:

The Psychedelic Society of First Responders and Emergency Workers

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This podcast covers many topics considered “taboo” or difficult for some individuals. We do not condone any illegal activities, as this is a platform for harm reduction and open dialogue.  

  

I'm joined by my friend, Kai Carlsen, a former paramedic with experience on the ambulance, in a correctional facility, doing hospital triage, and as a medical communication officer.  He is currently certified as a respiratory therapist and worked in a large teaching facility, mostly in intensive care and transitioned to critical care flight respiratory in the arctic.  We talked about staying sane during pandemic isolation, various ways of coping with mental health struggles, and managing your own internal crisis as a healthcare worker.   We also discussed his experiences in the field and how they have helped him grow as a first responder/healthcare worker.  Kai currently works in medical education with physicians.  One big point that keeps coming up is that we all respond differently to stress and often require personalized strategies to be resilient.

I apologize for the audio quality as I am still mastering recording the audio from virtual meetings!  It improves at 13 minutes into the conversation.

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Website:

flightofthoughts.blog

Instagram:

@jake_flightofthoughts

Facebook:

The Psychedelic Society of First Responders and Emergency Workers

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This podcast covers many topics considered “taboo” or difficult for some individuals. We do not condone any illegal activities, as this is a platform for harm reduction and open dialogue.  

In this episode I talk about how first responders and safe injection sites are continuing to battle the opioid crisis through this coronavirus outbreak in Toronto, Canada.  I also discuss self-care and how to avoid burnout while working on the frontlines.  The growing Covid-19 pandemic has started to put massive strain on healthcare systems and public health initiatives.  First responders and healthcare staff put themselves at risk to keep life-saving services running strong, despite how personal protective equipment supplies are running low and the stress of catching the illness is an ever present fear.  The safe injection sites that I work at have strong protocols in place to keep our clients safe and help compy with Public Health's recommendations of social distancing.  We are continuing to serve our communities with harm reduction, overdose response, and social services to help vulnerble populations remain as safe as possible.

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Instagram:

@jake_flightofthoughts

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The Psychedelic Society of First Responders and Emergency Workers

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This podcast covers many topics considered “taboo” or difficult for some individuals. We do not condone any illegal activities, as this is a platform for harm reduction and open dialogue.  

Pete Tripp is an Advanced Care Paramedic with experience in many fields of paramedicine including as a flight medic.  Pete's journey is a powerful story from his start as a Janitor at his local emergency hospital to his spectrum of expereince he built as a paramedic.  He is open about his struggles with childhood trauma and finding his way as a troubled youth.  Through building up personal resiliency and never giving up, Pete was able to become an excellent paramedic and carry on through an incredible career.  He uses what he has learned over these years of experience to shed light on some of the dark sides of mental health stigma in emergency services, along with ways we can improve the atmosphere to make it safer to address these issues in the workplace.  If every first responder knew how to cry, knew how to be mindful, and knew how to connect with compassion things would become much easier over time.   

Pete now has been focusing on helping first responders recognize signs of post-traumatic stress and acheiving post-traumatic growth.  He has been involved in his own initiatives like Navigate Change, an initiative to raise awareness and support for first responders struggling with PTSD.  He feels the work he was able to do with Project Trauma Support was a major factor in his resiliency and post-traumatic growth.  It was a pleasure hearing his story and his valuable perspectives on the state of emergency services and mental health stigma.  Together, we discuss our own experiences with mental health struggles as paramedics and where we hope to see changes to improve the longevity of this wonderful career.  We will be working together on initiatives to train new and current first responders in addictions/mental health awareness, with tools and knowledge to prepare them for a career that inevitably exposes you to major psycological trauma.

First responders must build an extensive toolkit of self-care and support for there ongoing continuum of wellbeing.  Everyone will be different and an open mind will allow you to explore many avenues to improve your resiliency and ability to cope with the stressors of the career.  What are the biological, psychological, emotional, social, and other factors that protect you or put you at risk for mental health distress?

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Instagram:

@jake_flightofthoughts

FaceBook:

The Psychedelic Society of First Responders and Emergency Workers

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This podcast covers many topics considered “taboo” or difficult for some individuals. We do not condone any illegal activities, as this is a platform for harm reduction and open dialogue.  

For this episode Daniel Greig joins me to explore themes surrounding trauma, darkness, and the complexity of the human experience.  He teaches me how dark imagery fits in to human cognition and how altered states relate to healing.  Daniel discusses how he is writing a book with Dr. John Vervaeke about the journeys we take through our lives on gaining insight, remaining grounded, and the various pathways to enlightenment!  The book is called "The Cognitive Continuum: From Insight to Enlightenment".

Daniel is an educator, organizer and artist living in Toronto. He studied Cognitive Science and Philosophy at the University of Toronto, specializing in wisdom, consciousness, and spiritual belief and experience. In 2015, he founded the Mapping the Mind conference, which raises much needed funds for psychedelic research. Daniel regularly host lectures and workshops, on topics in cognitive science. He is currently writing a book with Dr. John Vervaeke on the science of enlightenment, which will be published in 2020. When not contemplating the realm of the intellect, Daniel delves in the sonic perturbations of music, writing and producing progressive metal.

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Visit Daniel Greig's website: www.sonofdawn.com

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Contribute to his book's Indiegogo campaign for some great perks! Indiegogo - The Cognitive Continnum: From Insight to Enlightenemnt

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Instagram:

@jake_flightofthoughts

FaceBook page:

The Psychedelic Society of First Responders and Emergency Workers

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This podcast covers many topics considered “taboo” or difficult for some individuals. We do not condone any illegal activities, as this is a platform for harm reduction and open dialogue.  

 

After experiencing some burnout and my first needle-stick injury, I am back on track and ready to share what I have learned.  Harm Reduction and other frontline workers of the opioid crisis are a section of first responders that are often forgotten about.  Harm Reduction Workers, Overdose Response Workers, and Community Mental Health Workers are underpaid and overworked because there is a lack of support and funding that other essential services are otherwise afforded.   Just how paramedics used to be misfit first responders, cast aside as mere "ambulance drivers", frontline overdose prevention and mental health workers are not yet recognized for their effectiveness in our society.

In this episode I talk about what some of the busier days have been like in a Safe Injection Site, some of the skills and expertise Harm Reduction Workers have, and some improvements that would make them more effective if given more resources.  I share how I recognized that I was having signs of burnout and how an injury at work caused me to re-evaluate how I monitor my balance between work and self care.  My goal is to remind listeners that its easy to neglect your own wellbeing when stress builds up, how important it is to maintain strong support structures, and what signs you can look for to self monitor for compassion fatigue or "burnout".  Practice mindfulness and reaching out to friends/family for help monitoring your mental health continuum.  Aside from practicing what I've learned to overcome these struggles, exercising with maintaining good nutrition and sleep habits has helped me bounce back faster than I would ever have thought possible.

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Instagram

@jake_flightofthoughts

The Psychedelic Society of First Responders and Emergency Workers:

https://www.facebook.com/PsychedelicFirstRespondersAndEmergencyWorkers/

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Check out my website for more content: https://flightofthoughts.blog/

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This podcast covers many topics considered “taboo” or difficult for some individuals. We do not condone any illegal activities, as this is a platform for harm reduction and open dialogue.