Guns and Mental Health by Walk the Talk America

Dr. Matthew Miller is an Air Force veterans and the Director for Suicide Prevention for the U.S. Department of Veterans  Affairs, where he leads a team dedicated to the implementation and reinforcement of  evidence-based community and clinical interventions addressing suicide prevention,  intervention, and postvention for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).  

Having previously served as the Director of the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL), under his  leadership VCL became the world’s largest and most efficient suicide crisis call center. He  began his VA career as the Chief of Mental Health at Aleda E. Lutz VA Medical Center in  Saginaw, MI, where he later became the Deputy Chief of Staff.  

Dr. Miller received his PhD from Michigan State University and a Master of Public Health  (MPH) from the University of Michigan. He completed his professional residency in Clinical  Psychology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Medical Center and served as the Chief of  Mental Health at a Joint Services Pilot Training Wing. 

Dr. Miller was responsible for  overseeing outpatient mental health operations for all active duty service members and  dependents within the installation community. In addition, he was head of the installation’s  suicide prevention, alcohol and drug demand reduction, critical incident response and family  advocacy programs.

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Brooke Cheney is an accidental advocate. She had been around guns all her life but didn't really know anything about them. Once she had children, she decided to learn how to handle firearms safely. Learning how to handle firearms safely led her to competition, which taught her that a 10-round magazine ban is a gun ban. 

Her first time testifying - against the 10-round mag ban - was in 2010 in front of the Connecticut legislature.  On December 12th 2012, the Sandy Hook tragedy happened, and her kids were 5 & 6 years old at the time. Broken hearted, she started researching how to prevent violence. What she found is that there are many ways to approach violence prevention and none of the studies pointed to legislation, they pointed to programs that build communities.  Looking at reports, programs, and statistics from the CDC, Department of Justice, the F.B.I., and more, she learned that all the "gun violence deaths" people talked about were not primarily violence, but 66% were suicides.  Since then she has been actively engaged in the local and Federal legislative process asking our representatives to use the programs that work. Her goal is to get across the message, if we focus on suicide awareness imagine how many lives we could save.

Brooke currently owns and instructs at A Great Start Shooting School in Harwinton CT. She is an NRA Training Counselor, Chief Range Safety Officer and instructor, and an IDPA Safety Officer. She has competed in NRA Bullseye, USPSA, Steel Challenge, and IDPA.  You can also find her on Saturday nights on Facebook & YouTube doing a quick 10-minute spot on suicide prevention.  She started Suicide Prevention Saturday one night in 2018 not knowing if she would keep going and it is 2021 as this is being written, with the program still going strong.

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In this episode we discuss what it's like for mental health professionals to intervene in mental health crises with alongside law enforcement. Our outstanding guests come from two different programs in two different states, and they outline their experiences beautifully with regard to all the laws and policies that fold into and regulate this effort, including so-called "red flag laws."

Ryan has been a mental health co responder with the Estes Park, CO Police Department for two and a half years. He spent ten years working as an EMT on the Estes Park Health Ambulance Service before becoming a counselor. Ryan has also worked in education, both as a counselor and an instructor at Colby College in Kansas and continues to teach part time. He is also a PhD candidate in positive neuropsychology.

Christy is a military veteran currently licensed in Nevada as a Clinical Professional Counselor, and Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor, as well as being nationally certified as a Master Addiction Counselor. She is the mental health counselor supervisor for the Mobile Outreach Safety Team (MOST). She has worked with law enforcement in the capacity of MOST for eight years and is part of the Critical Incident Negotiation Team (CINT) with the Reno Police Department. Christy attends the CINT monthly trainings and is part of the team that is called out during critical incidents and negotiation is needed.  She is certified to ride a bike with the Downtown Enforcement Team (DET) to have that face-to-face interaction with the homeless and those struggling with severe mental illness who reside in the downtown Reno area. 

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Christian Conte, Ph.D., is a psychologist, author, Level 5 Anger Management specialist, former university professor, husband, dad, and creator of Yield Theory, which aims to revolutionize how we communicate with one another.

Dr. Conte has spent more than a dozen years helping people who have committed violent crimes and he is currently training the entire Pennsylvania Department of Corrections - including staff and inmates - in Yield Theory. In this interview he discusses violence, emotional functioning, the neuroscience of communication, and shares multiple tips and techniques for living a life of peace.

To learn about Yield Theory, pick up his book Walking Through Anger.
His incredible YouTube channel can be found by clicking here.
Also check out the Tackling Life podcast with co-host Ray Lewis.

Other books:
Mastering What you Practice
Zen Parent, Zen Child
Life Lessons
Teaching Stories

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Brandon Cassinelli is a 5th generation Nevadan and a Reno native.  Hailing from a law enforcement family, he followed his father and two uncles into work at the Reno Police Department beginning in 2007.  Throughout his 14-year career he has occupied numerous roles within the Department, including Tactical Flight Officer in the region’s helicopter response unit, detective with the family and sex crimes divisions, and downtown enforcement officer focusing on bicycle patrol for focus directed issues.  

While at the Department, he returned to the University of Nevada and received his bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies in 2015, followed by his Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy in 2019 and began his Nevada state internship in counseling the same year.

His current position with the Department—the Embedded Resource Officer—was established in 2019 and is a full-time role directed toward the reduction of stigma surrounding and engagement with mental health services in first responders, one-to-one & group peer support provision and inter-agency community behavioral health project management.  He has also been a critical incident negotiator for the Reno Police Department for more than 10 years and has performed successful de-escalations with suicidal people in mental health crisis, armed and barricaded subjects and active assailants.

To practice his own mental health; when he isn’t working he enjoys writing, narrating audiobooks and woodworking.

Yes, that is Irvin Yalom in his picture.

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John Petrolino is a United States Merchant Marine Officer, writer, firearms instructor, and author of Decoding Firearms: An Easy to Read Guide on Basic Gun Safety & Use.  He matriculated at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, where he received a BS in Marine Engineering.  John's call to write developed towards the end of high school and he has continued to develop both his style and the scope of content he covers.

His exposure to the shooting world occurred when he was a youth, learning the fundamentals with a pellet gun in his back yard.  Hunting and shooting became activities that John and his father began to do regularly starting around the age of eight.  John's involvement in shooting sports grew further through the Boy Scouts and he spent some time as a shotgun shooting, rifle shooting, and archery instructor at a Boy Scout camp when he was 16.  While attending Massachusetts Maritime Academy, he spent a season on the varsity Rifle Team.

With literary interests deeply rooted in the Beat Generation, through the 2000's, John buried himself in literature and writing exploring the concepts behind that turbulent time in American history.  Through the 2010's his work primarily focused on the actual rights surrounding the literature he loves and freedom represented in those works.  Taking a closer look at what American rights are and the true and earnest preservation of them became part of his creative process.  His work on the Second Amendment has appeared in The Truth About Guns, AmmoLand, Bearing Arms, Save New Jersey, the JM4 Tactical blog, and The Shore News Network.

John has been a National Rifle Association certified firearms instructor in Basic Pistol, Shotgun, Rifle, Personal Protection Inside the Home, and Refuse to be a Victim for several years and recently became a United States Concealed Carry Association instructor.  

He believes that learning is a life-long journey and an important part of leading an enriched life.

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Ed Gardner and Lara Smith of The Liberal Gun Club join Mike and Jake for a conversation about core concepts of Second Amendment rights.

The Liberal Gun Club provides a voice to gun owners who do not subscribe to the right-wing rhetoric surrounding firearm ownership by engaging the public on important firearms issues,  allowing liberal and moderate views to be expressed and actively debated.  They encourage well thought out and reasoned positions and discourage personal attacks and emotionally reflexive tirades.

In addition to the dialogue, the club hosts regular shooting events to promote marksmanship and safety and offers several training programs, including a Range Safety Course, Firearms Familiarization, Defensive Pistol, and responsible ownership.

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Andrew Langlois spent many years as a law enforcement officer and is now in graduate school for public health doing research on firearms policy and its effect on preventing negative outcomes. He is a Second Amendment advocate and continues to make leather rifle slings, a hobby he has been doing for many years. 

Having traveled the world, Andy has learned many lessons on economics, social policies, policing, and mental health treatment that inform his interactions with the world. We are pleased to have him on discussing all of these things and particularly how to help those struggling with mental illness while preserving rights and freedoms. 

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Jason Griego is a retired Air Force C-130 & C-17 Loadmaster with 24 years of service. He flew combat missions in Bosnia, Saudi Arabia, Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan. Jason is the Founder of Vegas Veterans Hockey Foundation and President of Community Outreach. 

Jason is on the Board of Directors for Warrior Suicide Prevention Foundation, and is a member of the Las Vegas Mayor’s Veteran Suicide Challenge Team. He is also a USA Hockey Level 4 certified coach with handicapped and sled hockey certifications.  He coaches the Vegas Junior Golden Knight Girls travel teams as well as many hockey development programs. Jason also is on the Board of Directors of Miracle League Las Vegas, a nonprofit that works to engage youth with special needs and disabilities in sporting activities. 

He has lived in Las Vegas for over 10 years with his wife, kids and six rescue pets.  

And no, he is not Hugh Jackman's face double in the X-Men movies. But he could be...

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Rob Morse: designer/analyst by day, civil rights advocate by night.

He hosts the Self-Defense Gun Stories podcast and co-hosts the Polite Society podcast. He has written for many years about guns and gun safety, with his articles appearing at the SlowFacts blog, Ammoland, and Clash Daily, and is a frequent guest on Gun Freedom Radio. 

He enjoys exploring the deeper psychological and sociological concepts and motivations behind human behavior, including mental illness and social interactions. 

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