The Kenshō Way

Our guest, Thiago Leao, is a psychologist and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu martial artist who combines these two worlds to help first responders build resiliency. While martial arts helps to build confidence and fighting abilities, it also hones the mind to a razors edge for being able to move through life challenges with flow, ease and grace. We discuss this concept, how the culture of the Hero Community must change to deal with the PTSD and suicides and much more. If you want to learn more about Thiago, check out his website, www.theprimarywitness.com

No one ever wants to think about preparing for the end of their career. Whether you find yourself just starting out, or nearing the end of your career, giving some thought to how to gracefully transition out of the Hero Community is something most of us simply don't want to face. That's understandable and unacceptable, because if you have not built in a resiliency plan for leaving the job you are going to be in a crapload of trouble when you discover you are no longer part of the club. 

On today's episode we take a look at the best practices to have in place and well established, not only for when you leave via injury, retirement or new directions, but for building significant resiliency while you are still in service. Time to face the inevitable heroes...I've been there, done that and never got the t-shirt, so I'll be sharing with you my own experiences of transition...what I did right and what I F'd up so you can set yourselves up for success. 

On today's episode we explore first responder suicide, the future of fully integrated resiliency training and one of the most successful programs for supporting First Responders and their communities through Chaplaincy.

I've interviewed front line personnel and administrators across the country and they all agree on one thing, when it comes to the various support services, Chaplaincy programs consistently outperform EAP and Peer Support. Our guest is one of the hardest working professionals I've ever known, Sr. Chaplain Ken Schlenker, and his expertise and insights on this critical aspect of supporting the Hero Community is going to blow your mind.  

You can learn more about our guest at www.careforce.us.  

On Today's Episode we take a deep dive into a critical aspect of resiliency, knowing your why. Understanding why you do what you do is a foundational element that defines your services as a First Responder. When we start out on the job we have a general idea to 'protect and serve' but most of us never really defined our reasons for becoming Heroes. And, as time goes by, and cynicism and job fatigue or burnout assert themselves, we can completely lose touch with our why and that hijacks one of the essential aspects of being human...to know our purpose, to gain meaning from our service and ultimately to leave a legacy. 

Not only will we kick around this important topic, at the end there is an exercise that will help you to discover, or rediscover your why...and my coaching clients and classroom students have told me that this is among the most powerful of the exercises we do to get them back on track and motivated toward their career.  

On this episode we are talking shit..literally. Turns out what you put in the bowl is one of the best indicators of your health or lack thereof. We are going to take a deep dive (yuck) into how to analyze your stool and how to work toward perfect digestion, no bloating or gas, and a significant upgrade to all aspects of your physical health. It's not what you think and you will learn some amazing stuff on today's show. 

Dr. Mason, the best selling author of "The Guide to Stress Reduction", is a special interview for me personally because he is also my mentor who originally certified me in as a stress management trainer and later we co-presented to first responders in the classroom. A great friend who is the founder of the Stress Education Center and facilitator of his new endeavor, Masters of The Journey. Dr. Mason has an amazing array of insights into stress, including PTSD and its relationship to our Heroes, as well as some simple yet powerful hacks for building resiliency. You can learn more about Dr. Mason at his website, www.dstress.com.  

Resilience is born from cultivating mental strength. In the world of First Responders we do a pretty good job training the body and very little to train the mind, unless we do so on our own, agencies by-and-large are not going to provide that type of outside the box training. 

In today's episode we are going to cover 7 key principles associated to being mentally strong, in other words, we are going to make your brain buff! Why does that matter? Because it will dramatically improve your field performance, improve your odds of mitigating the effects of stress and post traumatic stress, while also improving your relationships.

In this episode we take a look at how to maximize performance by enhancing your most important organ, the heart. Turns out the heart has its own brain, and is responsible for generating the chemicals that cause your actual brain to react with certain emotions. For years we thought it was the other way around, so this is profound information. We take a look at heart rate variability (HRV), what causes heart incoherence and distress as well as how to, IN ONLY 60 SECONDS, achieve heart coherence, one of the keys to living a balanced, happy life as well as obtaining peak performance in the field. 

In this podcast we interview world renowned PTSD subject matter expert Dr. John A. King, a best-selling author of #dealwithit, star of numerous documentaries including the award winning film, Light In The Darkness and founder of Give Them A Voice.

Get ready to strap on Heroes, this is a bit of a wild ride in that Dr. King tells it like it is when it comes to PTSD. No holds barred in this conversation which addresses the stigma surrounding PTSD, the connection between childhood sexual abuse and how that relates directly to the Hero Community and increased risk for developing PTSD, how porn addiction (which is very common in the Hero Community) feeds into PTSD, and some best practices for building resiliency and recovering from trauma.  

Dr. King has provided our listeners with a 20% discount on his book, #dealwithit...use coupon code S2S at checkout and here is a link to access the various forms of this book:

 https://www.drjohnaking.com/product-category/books/

This podcast features retired police officer and psychologist, Dr. Joel Fay, Psy.D, the Clinical Director of the West Coast Post Trauma Retreat Center, and subject matter expert in psychological treatment for emergency responders, critical incident stress response and PTSD. In this episode we discuss why EAP programs are not meeting the needs of first responders, how police suicides are vastly underreported and estimated to be 3 to 4 times greater than current statistics reflect as well as what Dr. Fay has seen as the best practices for building resiliency to critical incidents.  

Dr. Fay is a down to earth person who has dedicated his life to helping his brothers and sisters within the Hero Community of First Responders...and what I respect most about him is he walks his talk. I've known Dr. Fay for 30 years, in fact, we started police work together at the same agency. This man's knowledge and compassion are clear...you will definitely want to hear what he has to say Heroes!