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Crises rarely look like TV. Most calls aren’t bank robberies; they’re frantic welfare checks, neighbor standoffs over fences, a parent terrified for a missing teen, or someone hearing voices at 2 a.m. We sit down with Dr. Sarah Abbott, a pioneer of the police–clinician co-response model, to unpack how pairing a trained clinician with officers at the point of contact reshapes outcomes: fewer arrests, fewer injuries, and far more dignity for the person in distress.

Sarah shares the origin story from Massachusetts, where “jail diversion” began as a humane alternative for low-level offenses tangled with mental illness and grew into a comprehensive crisis response approach now spreading nationally and internationally. We get honest about the early skepticism and what changed minds: consistent data, strong command support, and the day-to-day reality that most police work involves behavioral health, not crime. We also go inside Section 12—involuntary transport in Massachusetts—and why sending officers with little background information is risky for everyone. The fix is coordination and clarity: share what you legally can, add a clinician to the response, and approach the door with a plan rooted in safety and rapport.

Training is the force multiplier. Sarah breaks down how academy curricula evolved to center practical de-escalation and communication, then explains why the biggest gains come later with advanced, scenario-driven refreshers once officers have real street context. We talk tactics for engaging someone in psychosis without lying or escalating, why 988 is essential but not a complete substitute, and how blending 988, CIT, and co-response builds a smarter, safer safety net. We close with Sarah’s work at William James College and the new Center for Crisis Response and Behavioral Health, designed to scale what works across departments and borders.

If you care about first responder mental health, public safety, and better outcomes for people in crisis, this conversation offers a clear roadmap. Listen, share it with your team, and leave a review so more agencies can find these tools and put them to work in their communities.

To reach Sarah, please visit her website at: https://www.abbottsolutionsforjustice.com

Sarah can also befound on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/abbott-solutions-for-justice-llc/?viewAsMember=true

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The silence after the last shift can be deafening. We dive into what really happens when the badge comes off and the calls stop, tracing the steep drop from team identity and adrenaline to isolation, substance use, and rising suicide risk. With honesty and urgency, we unpack why retirement hits first responders so hard and outline a practical safety net that works in the real world.

We talk through the addictive rhythm of police, fire, EMS, and corrections work—why the culture bonds like family, and why role loss feels like grief, not change management. From the “greatest show in town” to the long, quiet afternoons, we map the transition pitfalls: relationship strain, gambling, financial pressure, heavy drinking, and access to means. Then we move to solutions that stick: QPR training for everyone, union-led outreach to members on injury or IA, and a retiree association built on peer mentors, quarterly meetups, and easy referral to culture-competent clinicians and recovery coaches.

Therapy only helps when it respects the culture. We make the case for long-term, stigma-free care that starts at the kitchen table, not a clipboard wall. Leaders play a decisive role, too: fund peer teams, protect privacy, standardize evaluations, and create fair return-to-duty paths that treat mental health injuries like broken bones. Fire service models show how trust grows when unions hold the keys and chiefs clear the way. Our aim is simple—keep people connected, valued, and alive long after the radio goes quiet.

If this conversation resonates, share it with your crew, subscribe for more candid tools and stories, and leave a review to help other first responders find us. Your voice can pull someone back from the edge.

If you are interested, please visit the Onsite academy at https://onsiteacademy.org/

Visit the NEPBA at https://www.nepba.org/

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What does it take to build mental health care that first responders actually trust? We sit down with former Revere police officer Joe Rizzuti, whose journey from stacked line-of-duty trauma and alcohol use to peer support leadership strips away the clichés and gets to what works. Joe’s story starts with a tough childhood, a military turnaround, and a policing career shaped by high-stakes cases and a deep love for community. It also includes administrative betrayals, devastating calls, and the moment he walked into On-Site Academy expecting a firearms range and found a lifeline instead.

From there, Joe breaks down how cultural competence changes outcomes. If a clinician doesn’t understand roll call, shift work, gallows humor, and the weight of cumulative stress, trust collapses. He explains how he vets treatment programs—On-Site for acute resets, First Responder Wellness in California for intensive trauma work, and union-aligned options like IAFF Centers of Excellence—while calling out profit-first models that fail responders. We talk insurance constraints, travel realities, and why credibility is earned one referral at a time.

We also tackle the retiree cliff and why too many officers and firefighters struggle within five years of leaving the job. Joe’s answer: a coaching model adapted from recovery support that restores purpose, routine, and community long before the badge comes off. The takeaway is clear—care must be team-driven, ego-free, and relentlessly practical. If you lead, remove barriers. If you treat, learn the culture. If you’re a peer, keep checking in long after the headlines fade.

If you are interested, please visit the Onsite academy at https://onsiteacademy.org/

Visit the NEPBA at https://www.nepba.org/

Subscribe, share with a teammate who needs it, and leave a review to help more first responders find this conversation.

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A culture that actually protects first responders doesn’t happen by accident—it’s built on day-one expectations, family inclusion, and leaders who tell the truth even when the news is hard. We sit down with Doug Wyman to map what real organizational wellness looks like and why “Inside the Box” has become a powerful framework for shifting identity, policy, and practice in policing.

We start where most programs fail: leaving wellness to HR or EAP and forgetting families. Doug explains how to onboard spouses and partners with the same care we give new hires, and why a 10–15 minute decompression ritual at the door can prevent years of resentment at home. From there, we dig into the mentorship pipeline—how great FTOs set career goals, normalize therapy, and keep officers engaged long after field training. As rank rises, the view widens; without peer networks and rank-specific training, command staff unintentionally import narrow worldviews into complex events like suicide, deepening stigma and pain.

The episode unpacks procedural justice for the inside of the house—dignity, voice, clear motives, and follow-through—to counter “administration betrayal.” We name the Man Box and the Cop Box, exploring how rigid ideals make therapy, medication, or simple human tenderness feel like violations. Doug shows how emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, and the Four Agreements become everyday tools that change culture one conversation at a time. And we get practical: field officers should carry the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale, because at 3 a.m. on a bridge you need the right questions, not another search tab.

If you lead, supervise, dispatch, or love a first responder, this conversation offers a blueprint you can use tomorrow—family education, mentorship, internal fairness, and tools that save lives. Listen, share with your team, and tell us what belongs outside the box. If this resonated, subscribe, leave a review, and pass it to a colleague who needs a better way forward.

Go to Doug's LinkedIn website at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-wyman-6b80852a/details/featured/

The Class Inside the Box - Focuses on Organizational Wellness and Post Traumatic growth and is for first line supervisors and command staff.

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The story begins where many first responder lives converge: relentless calls, court dates, and a small department that never truly sleeps. Then the personal hits. Former New Hampshire police chief Doug Wyman opens up about parenting through a son’s addiction at the height of the opioid crisis, supporting a younger child through identity shifts, and the morning that changed everything—when his wife died by suicide with his duty weapon. What follows is a rare, unguarded look at procedure meeting grief, and how systems can protect evidence while still protecting people.

We walk through what real support looks like after the casseroles stop—peer teams that actually call, clergy who listen more than they preach, and a therapist with true cultural competency. Doug explains why a mind body spirit triangle isn’t fluff; it’s the backbone of resilience for first responders and families. Spirituality here is practical, not preachy—whether you find it in church, Stoicism, or a clear atheist ethic. Acceptance becomes the turning point. It’s not agreement. It’s the doorway to choose constructive over destructive, to convert pain into purpose, and to build post-traumatic growth one small habit at a time.

We also dig into the cognitive traps that keep people stuck on if and the simple language checks that interrupt self-blame. From there, the focus widens to culture. Strong wellness programs don’t live in binders; they live in people. Informal leaders—the ones who can get fifteen colleagues to show up on a Saturday—are the engine. When departments design with those influencers, recruitment and retention rise, and the holdouts become a minority. If you want a team to thrive, build a house you’re proud to invite others into.

If this conversation resonates, follow the show, share it with a teammate who needs it, and leave a review so more first responders and families can find these tools. And if you or someone you love is in crisis, call 988 right now. You’re not alone.

Go to Doug's LinkedIn website at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-wyman-6b80852a/details/featured/

The Class Inside the Box - Focuses on Organizational Wellness and Post Traumatic growth and is for first line supervisors and command staff.

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As we continue the conversation with Lisa, Trusas. Stigma is a quiet siren—it keeps people from asking for help, and it teaches the rest of us to look away. We open up about what addiction really looks like inside emergency services and at home, from dispatch centers and correctional facilities to ERs and patrol rooms. We talk about growing up in households where chaos felt normal, why “functioning alcoholic” gets a pass while heroin use gets a scarlet letter, and how the words we choose either build bridges or burn them.

You’ll hear how one honest admission inside a department transformed the room: jokes faded, questions surfaced, and colleagues started asking how to help their loved ones. We unpack the trap of “it’s legal, so it’s fine,” whether it’s alcohol, vaping, benzos, or 3 a.m. sports betting. We also dig into the system-level barriers—insurance limits, AMA discharges, closed youth detox beds—that make recovery harder than it needs to be. And we highlight practical steps anyone can take: use person-first language, speak privately when you’re worried, leverage peer-to-peer centers, and know the basics of getting someone into detox or a civil commitment when it’s the safest option.

Addiction doesn’t care about uniforms or titles. It shows up as compulsion, secrecy, and a deep fear of being seen. Recovery shows up as patience, multiple tries, and small moments of courage—the text that arrives months later, the hand held at the right time, the story that makes someone feel less alone. If you’re ready to trade labels for listening and shame for support, this conversation offers tools, perspective, and hope. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review to help more people find real help without the noise.

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The first voice on a 911 call carries a lot more than a headset. In this candid, unfiltered conversation with veteran dispatcher and recovery coach Lisa Trusas, we pull back the curtain on what really happens at the console: juggling multiple emergencies at once, coaching panicked parents through CPR, catching danger in a whisper, and making judgment calls with lives on the line. Lisa’s story reframes dispatch as the heart of public safety—where police, fire, and EMS meet—and where the weight of uncertainty often lingers after the line goes dead.

We dig into the human cost of the work and the culture that shapes it. Lisa lays out the “double stigma” dispatchers face—expected to be as tough as sworn personnel while being dismissed as civilians when they seek help. We compare how fire and police approach debriefs and mental health, why dispatchers are too often left out of critical incident reviews, and how Massachusetts’ mandatory behavioral health training is a step forward. Along the way, we discuss the “300-call syndrome,” the risk of missing red flags after too many routine hang-ups, and the practical skills that matter most: active listening, reading background noise, trusting instincts, and knowing when to insist on a second unit.

This conversation also honors the rare moments of closure that keep people going—the infant saved over the phone who grows up and stays in touch—and the quieter calls that reveal unmet needs, like elders who call because they’re lonely. If you care about first responder mental health, emergency communications, crisis intervention, and trauma-informed practice, this is a grounded, real-world look at where help truly begins: the first call. Subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a review to support more honest conversations about the people who hold the line before anyone arrives.

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Change that lasts doesn’t come from a one-time high or another sleepless night patched by a pill. It comes from disciplined, daily work that your brain can actually keep—paired with leadership that people trust when it matters most. Steve sits down with Marine veteran and CEO Tony Crescenzo to unpack how audio-driven brain signals can turn short-term “state” shifts into month-later “trait” changes, especially for first responders who need real restorative sleep, calmer stress responses, and sharp, on-demand focus.

Tony explains why many sleep aids trade consciousness for quality, and how targeted signals—played on speakers, no headphones required—help nudge your brain into restorative rhythms you can retain. We talk timing and caution with upregulation tools, creative research that mimics ketamine-like EEG states without the drug, and why a practical 28 to 31 day window is fast when you’re aiming for durable change. Therapy isn’t sidelined; it’s strengthened. Cultural competence, honest fit, and doing the work between sessions matter as much as any technology.

Then we move from personal resilience to organizational resilience. Tony draws from the Marine Corps to break down four levels of leadership, from positional authority to field effect, where mission, vision, values, and culture guide action even when you’re not in the room. He favors bad news because it’s actionable, builds systems that surface hard questions, and sets expectations so clearly that people don’t have to guess. Management keeps metrics on track; leadership gives the plan meaning and keeps teams aligned under pressure.

If you’re a first responder, veteran, or leader trying to build a healthier, higher-performing team, this conversation offers tools you can use today and habits you can keep for the long haul. Subscribe, share this episode with a teammate who needs better sleep or better leadership, and leave a review to help others find the show.

How to reach Jonathan:

1) https://www.IntelligentWaves.com
2) https://www.PeakNeuro.com
3) https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonycrescenzo/

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