The NSRT Podcast

In this deeply personal episode of the NSRT Podcast, host Neil "The Media Giant" Haley speaks with retired police sergeant Richard Reyes about the hidden cost of a 26-year career in law enforcement. Richard served in investigations, led highly skilled detectives, worked with FBI task forces, investigated violent crimes, and interviewed children affected by abuse. He describes a career he loved and remains grateful for, but also the years of missed holidays, family sacrifices, disrupted sleep, and constant readiness that came with the badge.

During his career, Richard learned to separate himself emotionally from horrific cases so he could protect victims and complete the job. That ability helped him function under pressure, but he did not recognize what decades of suppression and hypervigilance were doing beneath the surface. About a month after retirement, the structure and adrenaline disappeared. Panic attacks began, fear took over, and the man who had always felt in control suddenly could not control his own thoughts.

Richard shares how he searched for relief through self-help, medical guidance, and different treatment options. A physician introduced him to NuCalm, and his first Rescue session gave him a sense of peace he says he had not felt in years. He began using the technology regularly as part of an effort to calm his nervous system and understand what was happening to him. The experience also changed how he viewed officers who were struggling, including a former colleague whose PTSD he admits he had once misunderstood.

The conversation then turns to grief Richard had buried for decades. His first daughter, Elizabeth, died shortly after birth, and he rarely spoke about her or visited her grave. During a medically supervised ketamine-assisted therapy session, while listening to NuCalm, Richard describes an intensely emotional and spiritual experience involving his grandmother, his daughter, and Jesus Christ. He says the experience transformed his faith, changed the direction of his life, and gave him a testimony he now feels called to share.

In This Episode

Why Richard believes law enforcement was a calling rather than simply a career

The family sacrifices behind investigations, task-force work, and leadership

How emotional suppression and hypervigilance can continue after retirement

Richard's experience with panic attacks and the loss of control

How a physician introduced him to NuCalm and nervous system recovery

The importance of replacing shame with understanding when officers seek help

Richard's account of grief, ketamine-assisted therapy, and spiritual transformation

Why he supports NSRT education for officers before they reach a crisis point

Richard's message is direct: officers should not have to wait until retirement or a personal crisis to understand what prolonged stress may be doing to them. He believes earlier education, practical regulation tools, honest conversations, and compassionate support can help officers protect their health, their families, and their future while continuing to serve others.

Learn more about Nervous System Regulation Training, watch additional episodes, and explore resources for first responders at nsrt.ai.

This episode discusses PTSD, infant loss, ketamine-assisted therapy, and spiritual experiences. It reflects one guest's personal story and is not medical advice. Anyone considering treatment should consult a qualified healthcare professional.

From Chronic Illness to Helping the Helpers

NSRT Podcast Episode 8 with Karen Hubert

In this episode of the NSRT Podcast, host Neil "The Media Giant" Haley sits down with Karen Hubert, Executive Vice President of NuCalm Public Safety, for a candid conversation about resilience, nervous system regulation, and the daily practices that helped reshape her life. Karen's story begins more than 30 years ago, when exposure to mold and mycotoxins was followed by serious neurological symptoms, memory loss, mobility challenges, and years of unanswered questions. Her search for answers led her into laboratory testing, herbal medicine, functional wellness, and a deeper understanding of how physical stress can affect the nervous system.

Karen explains why recovery was not one dramatic breakthrough, but a long process of research, self-advocacy, testing, detoxification, and rebuilding daily routines. She shares how practices involving hydration, nutrition, movement, prayer, gratitude, breathwork, and sleep became part of her everyday life. At 66, she says she feels healthier than she did at 36 - proof, in her view, that consistent habits can change the direction of a person's life.

The conversation also explores Karen's introduction to NuCalm through NSRT founder Ryan Layne. After initially trying the technology incorrectly, she describes the difference she felt when she followed the full protocol and allowed herself to truly disconnect. That experience helped inspire a larger mission: helping first responders and other high-stress professionals build practical recovery into their lives before chronic stress follows them into retirement.

Karen and Neil discuss why NSRT is designed to be more than an app. The broader vision pairs nervous system education with usable guidance on sleep, hydration, food choices, movement, and recovery. The goal is simple: make wellness visual, accessible, and realistic for people working long shifts, responding to emergencies, or carrying the pressure of leadership. Karen believes training should meet people where they are - whether they are choosing food at a gas station, recovering after a demanding shift, or trying to create a healthier future for themselves and their families.

In This Episode

Karen's journey through mold exposure, neurological symptoms, and chronic illness

Why self-advocacy became essential when conventional answers fell short

The connection between stress, sleep, recovery, and nervous system balance

How Karen discovered NuCalm and joined the mission to help first responders

Why NSRT combines technology with practical lifestyle education

Simple routines involving hydration, nutrition, movement, gratitude, and rest

The importance of giving yourself permission to slow down and recover

Karen's message is grounded in lived experience: health must become part of the daily plan, not something addressed only after the body forces a stop. Her work with NSRT reflects a commitment to helping the helpers regulate stress, recover more effectively, and build a stronger life during service and beyond it.

Learn more about Nervous System Regulation Training at nsrt.ai. To share your story or apply to be a guest on the podcast, visit nsrt.ai/podcast. Connect with Karen Hubert on LinkedIn through NuCalm Public Safety.

This episode shares personal experiences and general educational information. It is not a substitute for individualized medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

In this episode of the NSRT Podcast, host Neil “The Media Giant” Haley welcomes Belton, Texas, Police Chief Larry Berg for a conversation about servant leadership, community trust, hiring for character, whole-person wellness, and recovery.

Chief Berg’s career began in the United States Army Military Police Corps. While stationed in Germany, he performed patrol and traffic-enforcement duties and discovered his passion for police work. After moving to Fort Hood, he became a DARE officer and worked in crime prevention. His outreach included “DARE on the Air,” a radio program, and Fort Hood DARE Day, which brought thousands of children together for positive interaction with law enforcement.

After leaving the military, Chief Berg joined the Belton Police Department in 1997. He explains how military service provided discipline, focus, maturity, and a smooth transition into civilian policing.

At the center of Chief Berg’s leadership philosophy is customer service. Everyone an officer encounters—including someone being arrested—is still a person who deserves dignity and respect. Officers may be entering the worst day of someone’s life, and communication can often resolve situations without unnecessary force.

Chief Berg also shares lessons from a recent statewide manhunt for a murder suspect. With helicopters, drones, and multiple agencies involved, he describes it as the “Super Bowl of law enforcement.” Leadership under pressure requires confronting self-doubt, relying on preparation, and remembering that difficult moments are when leaders must engage.

The conversation explores checking on officers beyond a casual “How are you?” Chief Berg may ask several times before someone admits they are struggling. His approach is to create honest dialogue, listen carefully, and understand that people may first need someone willing to hear them.

When hiring, Chief Berg looks for character, humility, service, and problem-solving ability. Technical skills can be developed, but attitude and integrity matter from the moment an applicant enters the building. After officers are hired, the department assigns mentors, builds culture intentionally, and emphasizes coaching and professional development.

His understanding of wellness has evolved. Early in his career, wellness meant martial arts and physical fitness. Today, he sees sleep, nutrition, mobility, faith, mental health, financial peace, and family stability as connected. The old “suck it up” culture often pushed officers toward unhealthy ways of numbing pain.

Chief Berg met NuCalm CEO Jim Poole through a Texas peer-support connection and later formed a friendship with Ryan Layne. Seeing police chiefs relax during 20-minute Rescue sessions at a conference showed him how deeply the profession needs tools that help officers turn off constant alertness.

Chief Berg shares a personal health change. After previously experiencing blood-pressure readings as high as 200/100 despite medication, he says a recent medical visit—after nearly a year of using NuCalm—recorded 120/70. He also uses Deep Sleep, Rescue, Power Nap, and Ignite to support sleep, recovery, and exercise.

His closing message is direct: people get one life. Invest in sleep, nutrition, mobility, family, and recovery now—because there are no do-overs.

TOPICS INCLUDE:

• Military police and civilian law enforcement
• Customer service, dignity, and community trust
• Leadership during a statewide manhunt
• Listening when officers are struggling
• Hiring for character and building culture
• Professional development and police technology
• Whole-person officer wellness
• Chief Berg’s experience with NuCalm

LEARN MORE ABOUT NSRT™ AND NUCALM:

https://nsrt.ai/

APPLY TO BE A GUEST ON THE NSRT PODCAST:

https://nsrt.ai/podcast

#NSRTPodcast #NSRT #ChiefLarryBerg #LawEnforcementLeadership #OfficerWellness #NuCalm

FROM HYPERVIGILANCE TO RECOVERY: CHIEF TRICIA THEIN ON OFFICER WELLNESS

In this episode of the NSRT Podcast, host Neil “The Media Giant” Haley welcomes Decorah, Iowa, Chief of Police Tricia Thein for a candid conversation about leadership, cumulative stress, family, nervous-system recovery, and protecting the people behind the badge.

Chief Thein’s path into law enforcement was not traditional. After raising four children and becoming a single parent, she returned to college and discovered a police-science program. A negative early experience with an officer inspired her to help restore trust when someone tarnishes the badge.

She began her career in 1997 in a small Iowa town, becoming the first female officer in the agency and county. Six years later, she moved to the larger Marshalltown Police Department, gaining experience in gang investigations, crisis negotiation, school-resource work, and bike patrol. She later became Marshalltown’s first female sergeant and was promoted to lieutenant.

Chief Thein explains that the sergeant’s position is one of the most overlooked roles in policing. Sergeants must support administrative expectations while ensuring leaders understand what frontline officers experience. The position taught her the difference between managing people and leading them.

Her journey continued at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, where she trained with law-enforcement professionals from around the world. After graduating in 2022, a mentor encouraged her to apply for the Decorah chief position. She became chief in July 2023.

The conversation turns personal as Chief Thein describes the effect of compartmentalizing trauma. Officers place difficult experiences into mental boxes, but those boxes do not disappear. She began second-guessing decisions, reacting emotionally, losing sleep, experiencing physical pain, and feeling isolated after moving away from her longtime professional network.

Doctors offered treatments for individual symptoms, but she continued searching for the source. Her introduction to NuCalm came at an FBI National Academy Iowa Chapter conference in April 2026. Skeptical but curious, she tried a recovery session and later spoke with Ryan Layne and Karen to understand the science.

Chief Thein began a free trial and documented her experience daily. Before NuCalm, she experienced repeated cortisol and adrenaline surges within minutes of waking. After her first night, the first surge did not occur until 11:00 a.m. On the second day, it was delayed until midafternoon. By the fourth day, the episodes had stopped. She says improved sleep helped restore her clarity, decision-making, and confidence.

Today, she uses Deep Sleep, Deepest Sleep Plus, Rescue, Recovery, and Power Nap sessions. She also brought nervous-system recovery into her department through a private room with a zero-gravity chair, headphones, and an eye mask so officers can complete short sessions while on duty.

Her larger wellness strategy includes financial responsibility, family-friendly events, exercise on duty, fitness equipment, an infrared sauna, open communication, and boundaries that send officers home when their shifts end. Her message is simple: an officer’s family deserves the best version of them—not only the stressed version left after the job.

TOPICS INCLUDE:

• Entering law enforcement as a second career
• Becoming a female leader in policing
• Managing versus leading officers
• Compartmentalized trauma and isolation
• Anxiety, hypervigilance, and fight-or-flight
• Chief Thein’s first NuCalm experience
• Sleep, recovery, and decision-making
• Building a whole-person wellness program
• Protecting officers’ health and families

LEARN MORE ABOUT NSRT™:

https://nsrt.ai/

APPLY TO BE A GUEST ON THE NSRT PODCAST:

https://nsrt.ai/podcast

#NSRTPodcast #NSRT #ChiefTriciaThein #OfficerWellness #LawEnforcement #MentalHealth #NuCalm

In this episode of the NSRT Podcast, host Neil “The Media Giant” Haley welcomes Sergeant Eric McCants, founder of McCants Leadership, for an honest conversation about leadership, mental health, training, and recovery in law enforcement.

Eric found his way into law enforcement after leaving college and working at a grocery store. A special-duty officer told him police officers would always be needed, inspiring him to enter the profession at just 20 years old. Although Eric loved the work, he did not yet understand the responsibility that came with the badge.

Early mistakes led to repeated write-ups and eventually being asked to resign in lieu of termination. Instead of allowing that experience to define him, Eric used it as a turning point. A former chief saw his potential, challenged him to grow up, and later brought him back to work under his leadership. That mentor encouraged Eric to pursue education, certifications, and professional development.

Those experiences shaped Eric’s philosophy of leading with grace. He remembers supervisors who corrected him without tearing him down. Today, he uses that approach with younger officers: remain firm and fair, explain why a correction is necessary, and show people how to improve. Accountability matters, but discipline without communication rarely creates lasting change.

Eric also speaks openly about mental health. Like many officers, he once feared that discussing emotional struggles could cost him his gun and badge. It took several years before he began therapy. He now meets with a therapist regularly and values speaking with someone outside his immediate law-enforcement circle. Therapy helped him address overthinking, self-doubt, past experiences, and concern about how others viewed him.

The conversation examines how personal stress can follow an officer into work. Leaders who cannot regulate their emotions may create an atmosphere where employees avoid them. Eric encourages officers and supervisors to recognize when they are overwhelmed, step away briefly, breathe, regain control, and return with a clearer mindset.

Eric founded McCants Leadership after seeing a widespread leadership gap. High-performing employees are often promoted without being taught how to lead people. His training focuses on communication, emotional awareness, employee development, and recognizing when declining performance may be connected to problems at home.

Generational leadership is another major topic. Eric explains that younger employees want to feel heard, valued, and connected to the organization’s future. Recognition, communication, and opportunities for growth can matter as much as pay. Leaders who invest through mentorship, education, and training are more likely to retain strong talent.

Eric also shares how he connected with Ryan Layne through LinkedIn and was introduced to NuCalm. After years of accepting four or five hours of sleep as normal, he began using the app and noticed better sleep, greater energy, and improved recovery. His experience reinforces an important message for officers working long shifts and off-duty jobs: quality sleep is essential to performance, health, and life at home.

TOPICS INCLUDE:

• Growing into the responsibility of the badge
• Turning early mistakes into leadership lessons
• Leading with grace and accountability
• Therapy and mental-health stigma in law enforcement
• Preventing personal stress from affecting the team
• Communication across generations
• Retaining officers through recognition and development
• Investing in education and professional training
• NuCalm, sleep, and nervous-system recovery

LEARN MORE ABOUT MCCANTS LEADERSHIP:

https://mccantsleadership.org/

LEARN MORE ABOUT NSRT™ AND THE NSRT PODCAST:

https://nsrt.ai/

#NSRTPodcast #NSRT #EricMcCants #McCantsLeadership #OfficerWellness #LawEnforcement #MentalHealth #NuCalm

FROM WALL STREET TO NERVOUS SYSTEM RECOVERY: JIM POOLE ON THE MISSION BEHIND NUCALM

In this episode of the NSRT Podcast, host Neil “The Media Giant” Haley welcomes Jim Poole, CEO of NuCalm, for a conversation about the transformation, neuroscience, business risks, and mission that shaped the company.

Before NuCalm, Jim studied psychology, worked inside state mental-health institutions, entered a medical-school sponsorship program at Harvard, earned an MBA from Babson College, and spent a decade leading mergers, acquisitions, and portfolio companies on Wall Street. He was successful and driven—but also impatient, overly critical, drinking too much, and pushing himself toward burnout.

Everything changed in 2009 when neuroscientist and quantum physicist Dr. Blake Holloway introduced Jim to a technology he said could quickly relax the mind and body without drugs. Jim was skeptical. After ten weeks of calls, he traveled to San Antonio to experience it. A 30-minute session left him relaxed, mentally clear, and convinced the technology deserved serious investigation.

Jim describes turning an invention into a company. He assembled an unpaid medical advisory board of 52 doctors and scientists, pursued independent testing, studied heart-rate variability, evaluated the patent landscape, and committed himself financially to the mission. He went more than four years without a paycheck while building the company.

The conversation explains the idea behind NuCalm: the brain operates through measurable frequency ranges connected to different mental and physiological states. Jim says the technology uses inaudible signals beneath music to guide the brain toward specific frequencies. Rescue is designed to move users toward a restorative state, while other programs support sleep, focus, creativity, energy, and performance.

Jim also shares how NuCalm evolved from a $6,000 medical device into a mobile application. Beginning in 2016, the company invested six years and $14 million to make the technology easier and more accessible, expanding one original outcome into eight programs.

Sleep becomes a major focus. Jim emphasizes that NuCalm is not intended to replace healthy sleep. Instead, he describes it as a tool that may support recovery when travel, work, stress, or irregular schedules make sufficient rest difficult. He explains how he uses Rescue and Deep Sleep while traveling across time zones.

For public-safety professionals, the mission is personal. Jim describes how years of hypervigilance, poor sleep, trauma exposure, caffeine, alcohol, and unhealthy coping mechanisms can affect officers’ health, relationships, judgment, and longevity. Officers are not broken because they are weak—they are human beings whose nervous systems were never designed to remain activated for decades.

NuCalm’s work with military personnel, law enforcement, first responders, athletes, medical professionals, and people facing trauma reflects Jim’s larger goal: make nervous-system recovery practical and accessible. The technology cannot help people who do not know it exists.

Jim’s message is direct: the human body is the miracle. NuCalm is intended to create conditions that allow the body and brain to recover, rebalance, and perform more effectively.

TOPICS INCLUDE:

• Jim Poole’s path from psychology to Wall Street
• Meeting inventor Dr. Blake Holloway
• Turning neuroscience into a viable company
• Brainwave frequencies and nervous-system regulation
• Rescue, Deep Sleep, Focus, Flow State, and Ignite
• Transforming a medical device into a mobile app
• Sleep, travel, recovery, and performance
• The physical cost of public-safety careers
• Serving law enforcement and veterans

LEARN MORE ABOUT NSRT™:

https://nsrt.ai/

EXPLORE THE NSRT PODCAST:

https://nsrt.ai/podcast

#NSRTPodcast #NSRT #JimPoole #NuCalm #NervousSystemRegulation #OfficerWellness #LawEnforcement #FirstResponderWellness #Sleep #Recovery

WHEN THE JOB BECOMES YOUR NORMAL: JEFF SPIVEY ON AI, OFFICER WELLNESS, AND RECOVERY

In this episode of the NSRT Podcast, host Neil “The Media Giant” Haley welcomes Jeff Spivey, retired police chief and Vice President of Business Development at SWORN.ai, for a candid conversation about law-enforcement stress and how technology can help officers recognize when the job is affecting their health.

Jeff entered policing at 21 after growing up around officers in his small hometown. Becoming chief was never part of his original plan, but his interest in leadership grew as he advanced through the ranks.

Jeff explains that some of the greatest pressures officers experience do not come from confronting danger on the street. Organizational stress, assignments, policies, leadership decisions, and internal politics can wear people down because frontline officers may not understand everything behind those decisions.

As a young officer, Jeff believed he was nearly invincible—joking that the “S” on his vest stood for “Spivey-Man.” That confidence eventually collided with the reality of trauma exposure. He brought stress home, withdrew from his wife and children, buried difficult emotions, and sometimes released them through anger. Looking back, he recognizes that traumatic calls changed how he viewed the world and treated those closest to him.

Jeff saw officers being told to “deal with it,” often by following unhealthy examples around them. Alcohol misuse, burnout, cynicism, divorce, job loss, and suicide showed him that the old approach was failing. His commitment to wellness continued after retirement through his work with the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute and the Texas Law Enforcement Peer Network.

That mission eventually led Jeff to SWORN.ai. The platform connects biometric information from wearable devices with workload data to help users understand how their experiences may affect sleep, nutrition, fitness, heart rate, and heart-rate variability. Its AI looks for changes and alerts users when something appears off.

Jeff uses the example of an officer responding to repeated domestic calls or a child death investigation. Those experiences may later appear in disrupted sleep, changing food choices, reduced exercise, or other biometric patterns. SWORN.ai is designed to recognize those connections and suggest practical resources before an officer reaches a breaking point.

The conversation also explores the partnership between SWORN.ai and NuCalm. When the system detects poor sleep or a highly stressful event, it can recommend a relevant NuCalm resource and direct the user to it. Jeff describes using Rescue to reset after demanding days and Ignite during workouts.

The technology began in law enforcement and is being explored for firefighters, corrections, 911 telecommunicators, nurses, pilots, private security, and others working high-stress shifts.

Jeff addresses a major adoption challenge: officers may fear that biometric technology is another way for departments to monitor them. Earning trust is essential. Once users understand its purpose, they can use the information to improve recovery, readiness, decision-making, and performance.

TOPICS INCLUDE:

• Organizational stress inside law enforcement
• Trauma, anger, and the effect on family life
• Why “just deal with it” is not a wellness strategy
• Sleep, nutrition, fitness, heart rate, and HRV
• Connecting workload data with biometric patterns
• AI-powered wellness alerts and resources
• The SWORN.ai and NuCalm partnership
• Trust, recovery, and operational readiness

LEARN MORE ABOUT SWORN.AI:

https://www.sworn.ai/

CONTACT JEFF SPIVEY:

[email protected]

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE NSRT PODCAST:

https://nsrt.ai/podcast

LEARN MORE ABOUT NSRT™:

https://nsrt.ai/

#NSRTPodcast #NSRT #JeffSpivey #SWORNAI #OfficerWellness #LawEnforcement #FirstResponderWellness #ArtificialIntelligence #NuCalm

LIVE LIFE ANYWAY: CRAIG PETERSEN ON GRIEF, RECOVERY, AND CONTINUING TO SERVE

In this episode of the NSRT Podcast, host Neil “The Media Giant” Haley welcomes Craig Petersen, retired deputy chief of police and co-founder of TGR Technologies, for a personal conversation about law enforcement, grief, recovery, entrepreneurship, and finding purpose after retirement.

Craig began his law-enforcement career at age 30 with the Gulfport Police Department. During 25 years of service, he spent approximately 18 years in criminal investigations before moving into administration and retiring as deputy chief. The profession demanded long hours, missed holidays, interrupted family time, and the pressure of always being on call.

Behind the badge, Craig was confronting an extraordinary personal crisis. His wife, Ann, survived Hodgkin’s disease as a teenager, but the radiation that saved her life caused severe complications years later, including breast cancer, heart problems, mini-strokes, sepsis, and eventual heart failure.

In 2013, Ann received word that a donor heart was available. After traveling to the hospital and preparing for surgery, doctors discovered that extensive calcification made the transplant impossible. With everyone devastated, Ann walked to the hospital’s dry-erase board, erased the day’s plan, and wrote three unforgettable words:

“Live life anyway.”

Craig and Ann followed that message for the final ten months of her life.

Craig speaks honestly about how caregiving, police work, and grief changed him. He became negative, disengaged, and unhappy with his career and himself. After Ann’s death, a trusted friend recognized that Craig was struggling and encouraged him to attend a Post-Critical Incident Seminar.

Craig initially resisted because he had not experienced what he considered a traditional critical incident. His friend reminded him that losing his wife was a critical incident. During three difficult days at the seminar, Craig shared his story, listened to others, and discovered he was not alone. He began rebuilding through gratitude, exercise, faith, self-reflection, and the understanding that it is okay not to be okay.

After retiring in 2022, Craig partnered with Matt Leszynski and Mike Wilson to establish TGR Technologies. TGR stands for “The Golden Rule,” reflecting the company’s commitment to treating employees, partners, customers, and law-enforcement agencies with respect. The company provides public-safety technology supporting investigations, digital evidence, video analytics, open-source intelligence, and artificial intelligence.

Craig also describes his introduction to NuCalm and NSRT™. Initially skeptical, he agreed to experience a 20-minute session at a law-enforcement conference. Craig explains how daily recovery sessions and nighttime sleep tracks have helped him feel calmer, sleep more consistently, and preserve more energy for his family.

This episode reminds us that officers are trained to function under pressure but are not always taught how to recover. Craig’s journey demonstrates that asking for help is not weakness, grief is a legitimate critical incident, and service does not have to end when the badge comes off.

TOPICS INCLUDE:

• The sacrifices of investigative police work
• Supporting a spouse through severe illness
• Ann’s message to “Live life anyway”
• Grief as a critical incident
• Peer support and honest conversation
• Rebuilding through gratitude, faith, and self-care
• Creating TGR Technologies after retirement
• Artificial intelligence in law enforcement
• NuCalm, NSRT™, sleep, and intentional recovery

LEARN MORE ABOUT TGR TECHNOLOGIES:

https://tgr-tech.com/

SHARE YOUR NSRT™ STORY OR LEARN ABOUT THE PODCAST:

https://nsrt.ai/podcast

LEARN MORE ABOUT NSRT™:

https://nsrt.ai/

#NSRTPodcast #NSRT #CraigPetersen #OfficerWellness #LawEnforcement #FirstResponderWellness #TGRTechnologies #LiveLifeAnyway

WE TRAIN FOR STRESS—BUT NOT RECOVERY: SHERIFF ROBERT JONSEN ON OFFICER WELLNESS

In the inaugural episode of the NSRT Podcast, host Neil “The Media Giant” Haley and co-host Ryan Layne welcome Santa Clara County Sheriff Robert Jonsen for an honest conversation about the hidden physical and psychological toll of a career in law enforcement.

Sheriff Jonsen reflects on nearly 40 years in the profession and the warning signs he once accepted as “part of the job”—high blood pressure, digestive problems, chronic sleep deprivation, cumulative stress, and an unhealthy reliance on alcohol. His experience reveals a serious gap in traditional law-enforcement training: officers are taught how to survive critical incidents, but rarely taught how to recover from the career itself.

The conversation examines the stigma that still prevents officers from admitting they are struggling. Sheriff Jonsen explains why asking for help is not a sign of weakness and shares how a 2015 introduction to mindfulness changed the direction of his life and leadership. That experience eventually led him to work with Stanford University and the Compassion Institute to help develop Courageous Hearts: The Human Behind the Badge.

Sheriff Jonsen also shares the origin of the Roll Call Listening Campaign. The idea began after he watched an academy class use an original song to communicate the emotions of its training experience. Recognizing the power of music to reach people differently, he began creating songs about the difficult subjects officers regularly face—including suicide, alcohol use, sleep deprivation, trauma, hypervigilance, relationship problems, burnout, and retirement.

One of the first songs, “The Toll,” generated more responses from Sheriff Jonsen’s workforce than a decade of traditional wellness emails. The music gave officers a way to recognize themselves—or someone they knew—without forcing anyone to publicly identify as the person struggling.

Ryan Layne explains how Nervous System Regulation Training, or NSRT™, can help public-safety professionals understand stress activation, intentional recovery, sleep, and operational readiness. Law-enforcement academies teach officers how to turn their stress response on. Ryan argues that recovery training should begin on day one so officers also learn how to turn that response off.

The Roll Call Listening Campaign brings these conversations directly into agencies through weekly songs, discussion resources, personal reflection questions, and mobile access. The campaign is free for participating agencies and is designed to support honest conversations without requiring supervisors to become therapists.

Sheriff Jonsen closes with a direct message to officers: caring for yourself is not self-centered—it is essential. The people you serve, the people who love you, and the people who will need you tomorrow are depending on you to take care of yourself today.

The episode ends on a surprising note as Sheriff Jonsen reveals his connection to Star Wars. Before entering law enforcement, he worked on Return of the Jedi as an Imperial biker and was thrown from a vehicle by Chewbacca—proof that every sheriff has an origin story.

TOPICS INCLUDE:

• The cumulative stress of a law-enforcement career
• Suicide, alcohol use, burnout, and sleep deprivation
• Breaking the stigma surrounding officer wellness
• The human nervous system and operational readiness
• Why recovery should be trained from the academy forward
• Using music to begin difficult conversations
• The Roll Call Listening Campaign
• Supporting the human behind the badge
• Sheriff Jonsen’s role in Return of the Jedi

ENROLL YOUR AGENCY IN THE FREE ROLL CALL LISTENING CAMPAIGN:

https://nucalm.co/agency/

LEARN MORE ABOUT NSRT™:

https://nsrt.ai/

#NSRTPodcast #NSRT #OfficerWellness #LawEnforcement #PublicSafety #RollCallListeningCampaign #NervousSystemRegulation #OperationalReadiness #MentalHealth #FirstResponderWellness #NuCalm #SheriffRobertJonsen