Responder Resilience

One survived the towers. One went to war because of them. One gave them a sound.

Twelve men sat down to breakfast at FDNY Rescue 5 on 9/11. Only Bill Spade came home. Jaymes Poling carried that morning through three combat tours in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne. Jazz trumpeter Dominick Farinacci listened to both of them for hours, then wrote the music their stories needed.

Together they built Behind the Lines: A 9/11 Story, a live performance of story, music, and light now touring the country. The piano holds a chord when Bill needs an extra breath. The drums bring the North Tower down. And audiences, from New York firehouses to college kids born after 9/11, are walking out ready to talk.

We get into how the show came together, the counselor who failed Bill and the one who didn’t, Jaymes’s long road home, and why the band feels like an engine company: everybody’s got your back.

GUESTS
• Bill Spade: Retired FDNY firefighter (1985 to 2003), former NYPD officer, sole survivor of Rescue Company 5 on 9/11, longtime docent at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, featured in National Geographic’s 9/11: Reunited.
• Jaymes Poling: U.S. Army veteran, three tours in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne, co-founder of Modern Warrior LIVE.
• Dominick Farinacci: Jazz trumpeter, former Global Ambassador to Jazz at Lincoln Center (Doha, Qatar), director of the Tri-C JazzFest Academy, co-founder of Modern Warrior LIVE.

Tour dates and tickets: https://modernwarriorlive.org
Florida: Nov 8, Arts Garage, Delray Beach | Nov 10, Phillips Center, Gainesville | Nov 11, The Sharon, The Villages

Contact Responder Resilience:
Phone: +1 844-344-6655
Email: [email protected]
Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/

★ Resources for Responder Wellness ★

• Fitness: FightCamp (code RESILIENCE for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr

• Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com

• Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q

This show is for educational purposes only and does not provide medical, psychological, or professional treatment. Views expressed are those of the individuals, not any affiliated agency or organization.

In an emergency, call 911. For mental health support, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).

You can build the best wellness program in the world, and your department will still say, “The hell I will.”

Retired police officer Rodger Ruge knows why. After two decades in law enforcement and a hard-won recovery from complex PTSD, he spent 30 years testing what actually builds resilience. Today, as Chief Resilience Officer at Pathfinder Resilience, he works with first responder leaders on culture change that lasts beyond any one chief.

Rodger joins Lt. David Dachinger (Ret.) and Bonnie Rumilly, LCSW/EMT, to talk about:

• The honest leadership assessment some chiefs throw away
• Why sharing hard feedback with the whole agency lowers resistance
• Leadership at every rank, from the line to the top
• How a clear “why” transformed recruiting for an RCMP communications center
• Honor the Temple, his new book with Dr. Renee Thornton
  
  

Contact Rodger Ruge:

Website: https://www.rodgerrugeresiliencecoach.com

Pathfinder Resilience: https://www.pathfinderresilience.com

Pre-order Honor the Temple: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HLLSSB12

Contact Responder Resilience:
Phone: +1 844-344-6655
Email: [email protected]
Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/

★ Resources for Responder Wellness ★

• Fitness: FightCamp (code RESILIENCE for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr

• Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com

• Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q

This show is for educational purposes only and does not provide medical, psychological, or professional treatment. Views expressed are those of the individuals, not any affiliated agency or organization.

In an emergency, call 911. For mental health support, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).

Fire Lieutenant Doug Hexel has spent 13 years running calls, pulling patients out of rubble, and training the next generation of paramedics. He loves the job. He just refuses to let it become his whole identity.

Doug is a career fire officer, urban search and rescue specialist, paramedic, and sworn New York State peace officer. He is a fire, EMS, and law enforcement instructor for New York State, sits on the state’s Pediatric EMS Advisory Committee, and holds technician-level certifications in hazmat, rope, confined space, trench, swiftwater, and collapse rescue.

Doug joins hosts Lt. David Dachinger (Ret.) and Bonnie Rumilly, LCSW/EMT, to talk about:

• The line between resilience and suffering in silence
• Hypervigilance and what years of bad calls do to us
• “Death by rescue” and why medical comes first in technical rescue
• How leaders build mental readiness into every shift
• Telling a crew “it’s not your fault,” and meaning it
• Training rescuers for outcomes they can’t change
• Loving the job without living it

Contact Doug Hexel:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglashexel

Don’t miss EMS Fire Pro Expo. October 22 through 24. Mohegan Sun. Register today at https://emspro.org/

Contact Responder Resilience:
Phone: +1 844-344-6655
Email: [email protected]
Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/

★ Resources for Responder Wellness ★

• Fitness: FightCamp (code RESILIENCE for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr

• Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com

• Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q

This show is for educational purposes only and does not provide medical, psychological, or professional treatment. Views expressed are those of the individuals, not any affiliated agency or organization.

In an emergency, call 911. For mental health support, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).

How do you build a fire service wellness program, and what does it actually cost?

In this Visionary Leaders episode of Responder Resilience, Assistant Chief Jason Corthell of Cypress Creek Fire Department explains how his team built a program on three pillars (chaplaincy, peer support, and professional counseling) and why it costs far less than most chiefs assume. A fourth-generation firefighter, U.S. Marine Corps veteran, and founder of Ironclad Wellness, Jason also talks about his new book, Freedom Found: A Mental Health Memoir, and why leaders who own their story build stronger departments.

We cover:

• Leading through change as a new assistant chief
• Why your social circle shrinks as you promote, and what to do about it
• How to pick a peer support team that mirrors your department
• Insurance vs. self-pay for counseling
• Why women in the fire and police service may be more guarded than men
• Scaling an embedded clinician model across multiple departments

Contact Jason Corthell, Asst. Chief:
Freedom Found: A Mental Health Memoir on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Found-Mental-Health-Memoir-ebook/dp/B0H1D92RHK

Ironclad Wellness: https://ironcladwellness.com

Don’t miss EMS Fire Pro Expo. October 22 through 24. Mohegan Sun. Register today at https://emspro.org/

Contact Responder Resilience:
Phone: +1 844-344-6655
Email: [email protected]
Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/

★ Resources for Responder Wellness ★

• Fitness: FightCamp (code RESILIENCE for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr

• Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com

• Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q

This show is for educational purposes only and does not provide medical, psychological, or professional treatment. Views expressed are those of the individuals, not any affiliated agency or organization.

In an emergency, call 911. For mental health support, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).

Twenty-five years ago, Nancy Carbone walked into a Brooklyn firehouse and asked one question: what can I do for you? That question became Friends of Firefighters, a free, confidential, and independent mental health nonprofit for FDNY members and their families, built on trust decades in the making.

In this episode, founder Nancy Carbone and incoming Executive Director Chrissy Neafsey talk about why confidentiality and independence from the department remain the organization's core promise, how the Aaron Clark Peer Support Team gets a struggling firefighter a call back within 24 hours, and the new partnership with Livestrong, including this year's 343-mile Ride for Resilience from Boston to Ground Zero and a culturally competent cancer resource guide for first responders facing occupational cancer.

Friends of Firefighters marks its 25th Anniversary Resilience Gala on October 15, 2026.

Learn more or get help: https://www.friendsoffirefighters.org
Follow Friends of Firefighters: @friendsoffirefighters

Don’t miss EMS Fire Pro Expo. October 22 through 24. Mohegan Sun. Register today at https://emspro.org/

Contact Friends of Firefighters:
Website: http://www.friendsoffirefighters.org/
Gala Link: https://friendsoffirefighters.org/2026-gala
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/friendsoffirefighters
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendsoffirefighters/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/friends-of-firefighters/

Contact Responder Resilience:
Phone: +1 844-344-6655
Email: [email protected]
Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/

★ Resources for Responder Wellness ★

• Fitness: FightCamp (code RESILIENCE for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr

• Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com

• Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q

This show is for educational purposes only and does not provide medical, psychological, or professional treatment. Views expressed are those of the individuals, not any affiliated agency or organization.

In an emergency, call 911. For mental health support, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).

One of our most-downloaded episodes was our first conversation with Dr. Stacy Raymond, PsyD, on treating veterans who transitioned into first responder roles. This is the deeper dive.

In this Clinician's Guide Masterclass, Dr. Raymond returns to go past the overview: distinguishing moral injury from PTSI, working with a veteran's military identity as it collapses or adapts, the real function of hypervigilance, and how to address firearms and suicide risk without breaking the therapeutic alliance.Required listening for clinicians treating this population, and for the veterans sitting in their chairs.

Check out Part 1: Clinician's Guide to Working with Veterans (S4 E32): https://www.respondertv.com/s4-e32-clinicians-guide-to-working-with-veterans-with-guest-stacy-raymond-psyd/

Responder ResilienceFull archive: ResponderTV.com

Join Thousands of First Responders at the EMS & Fire Pro Expo Oct. 21-24 at Mohegan Sun.  https://emspro.org/

Contact Dr. Stacy Raymond:

Website: https://www.drstacyraymond.com/

Contact Responder Resilience:
Phone: +1 844-344-6655
Email: [email protected]
Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/

★ Resources for Responder Wellness ★

• Fitness: FightCamp (code RESILIENCE for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr

• Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com

• Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q

This show is for educational purposes only and does not provide medical, psychological, or professional treatment. Views expressed are those of the individuals, not any affiliated agency or organization.

In an emergency, call 911. For mental health support, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).

Nobody radios in "I'm not okay." You just push through the next call, and the one after that.

Gary Roberts has pushed through calls for more than twenty years, as an active firefighter and paramedic in Fort Lauderdale. He's also built an AI company on the side, between shifts, on no sleep, because he got tired of watching guys wait too long to say something.

His company is called Neurovus, and the AI agent is NAVI. It doesn't diagnose you. It doesn't talk to your chief. It watches what your wearable already tracks: sleep, heart rate variability, recovery, and tells you when you're drifting from your own baseline. Before you feel it. Before it becomes a problem with a name.

We got into it with Gary:

• Why "resilience" might be the wrong word, and what it's costing us
• How you sell an AI to a culture that doesn't trust apps, doesn't trust outsiders, and definitely doesn't trust anything that reports up the chain
• Where a wellness tool stops and a medical device starts, and why that line matters
• What winning actually looks like in five years, not in dollars

Neurovus is a wellness awareness tool. It is not therapy, a diagnosis, or a crisis service. 

Gary Roberts: Helping fire departments spot burnout before it becomes a crisis | 20 Years, Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue | Founder & CEO, Neurovus | Built NAVI to track each firefighter’s drift from their own baseline

Subscribe for more conversations on first responder mental health, leadership, and culture.

Contact Gary Roberts:

Neurovus: neurovus.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GRoberts.Neurovus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/groberts_neurovus/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neurovus/

Contact Responder Resilience:
Phone: +1 844-344-6655
Email: [email protected]
Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/

★ Resources for Responder Wellness ★

• Fitness: FightCamp (code RESILIENCE for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr

• Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com

• Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q

#FirefighterMentalHealth #ResponderResilience #FirstResponders #Neurovus #FirefighterWellness #FirstResponderWellness #AIinHealthcare #PublicSafety #Firefighter #WearableTech

This show is for educational purposes only and does not provide medical, psychological, or professional treatment. Views expressed are those of the individuals, not any affiliated agency or organization.

In an emergency, call 911. For mental health support, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).

Assistant Chief Manny Almaguer draws a distinction most fire departments have never heard: cultural competency and cultural empathy are not the same thing. One checks a box. The other earns trust. In this conversation, he breaks down what that difference actually looks like on the ground.

Before he ever put on turnout gear, Almaguer spent years working in psychiatric institutions, and that background shapes everything about how he leads. In 26 years, he's held nearly every role in the Denver Fire Department and spent the last 15 as a national voice on first responder mental health, invited to speak at the White House, the Pentagon, and NATCON.

In this conversation, Chief Almaguer covers:

• Cultural competency vs. cultural empathy, and why the distinction changes how training actually lands
• His "kick the tires" audit: personally calling 988 and local recovery resources before recommending them to his crew
• His definition of psychological safety, and how to explain it to someone who's never heard the term
• How his years as a psychiatric nurse and technician transferred directly into fire service leadership and scene safety
• The story behind Denver Fire's 2013 mental health training program, and the 1,100+ members it reached
• What a battalion chief or company officer needs to know at minimum to catch something early

Subscribe for more conversations on first responder mental health, leadership, and culture.

Don’t miss EMS Fire Pro Expo. October 22 through 24. Mohegan Sun. Register today at https://emspro.org/

Contact Responder Resilience:
Phone: +1 844-344-6655
Email: [email protected]
Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/

This show is for educational purposes only and does not provide medical, psychological, or professional treatment. Views expressed are those of the individuals, not any affiliated agency or organization.

In an emergency, call 911. For mental health support, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).

Twenty-five years after 9/11, more than 600 FDNY members have died from Ground Zero-related illness, nearly double the number lost in the collapse itself. Retired FDNY Deputy Chief Richard Alles arrived 20 minutes after the second tower fell and spent nine months on-site. Today, as Director of 9/11 Community Affairs for Barasch & McGarry, he works full-time helping first responders and survivors access the WTC Health Program and Victim Compensation Fund.

In this conversation, Chief Alles covers:

• What leadership looked like in the chaos of Ground Zero's first hours
• How detective James Zadroga's autopsy became the forensic evidence that passed the Zadroga Act
• The current FDNY and nationwide illness death toll, now surpassing 9,000 across all WTC-related illness
• Who qualifies for WTC Health Program and VCF benefits, and the exposure-hour requirements by date
• Why skin cancer, not respiratory illness, is the most common Ground Zero-linked condition
• His own two cancer diagnoses, and why he tells everyone with 9/11 exposure "it's not if you'll get sick, it's when"

Subscribe for more conversations on first responder mental health, leadership, and culture.  

YouTube: Responder Resilience
Facebook: ResponderTV
LinkedIn, Apple Podcasts, Spotify: Responder Resilience
Full archive: ResponderTV.com

Contact Richard Alles:
Website: https://www.post911attorneys.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BaraschMcGarry/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baraschmcgarry/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/barasch-mcgarry/

Contact Responder Resilience:
Phone: +1 844-344-6655
Email: [email protected]
Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/

This show is for educational purposes only and does not provide medical, psychological, or professional treatment. Views expressed are those of the individuals, not any affiliated agency or organization.

In an emergency, call 911. For mental health support, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).

Dr. Johnny Torgeson opened a top-grossing fitness franchise at 25, served as an Army sergeant, and now commands operations at a federal fire department. Along the way he identified a gap most fire officers never get taught: how to actually build a team, not just staff one.

He wrote Forging Your Team: Demystifying Team Development for First Responders. Then he built Forging Teams AI, a 24/7 leadership coaching agent trained on his own research and experience, designed to help officers diagnose team dysfunction, low morale, and stalled performance in real time, without the cost of traditional executive coaching.

In this conversation, Johnny explains how the tool works, what it catches that emotional decision-making misses, and why he believes the fire service needs to move past outdated 1990s leadership models.

Learn more: forgingteams.com

Responder Resilience is produced by Mind Health Media, LLC, hosted by Lt. David Dachinger (Ret.), Dr. Stacy Raymond, and Bonnie Rumilly, LCSW/EMT.
 Subscribe for more conversations with the people building a stronger, more resilient first responder culture.

**Resources for Responder Wellness:**

• Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q

• Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com

• Fitness: FightCamp (code RESILIENCE for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr

Contact Johnny Torgeson:
Website: forgingteams.com

Contact Responder Resilience:
Phone: +1 844-344-6655
Email: [email protected]
Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/responder-resilience-podcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/responder.tv/

This show is for educational purposes only and does not provide medical, psychological, or professional treatment. Views expressed are those of the individuals, not any affiliated agency or organization.

In an emergency, call 911. For mental health support, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).