Elizabeth Bartholomew joins us on the podcast.

Liz worked as a police records clerk in Batavia Illinois where she met Joe Bartholomew, a paid on-call firefighter, they married in 1980. Joe was hired as a full time Firefighter in 1986. While their daughters were young Liz was able to be a stay at home mom. Later she drove a school bus part-time in Naperville, Illinois, became Band Booster President and was on the coaching staff at East Aurora High School. In 2005 Joe was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder from a response call, he later retired on a duty disability pension after 33 years as a firefighter. Seeing the reaction in the workplace to his PTSD diagnosis and watching him learn to live with PTSD she came up with the concept of Responders Retreat as a place to open a conversation and know that you are not alone.

For more information check out : https://www.firstrespondersretreat.org/home

Regan Faulk joined us on the podcast and shared the story of meeting her husband Kevin in collage, falling in love, starting a life together which included marriage, the birth of their twin boys, and Kevin joining the Philadelphia police department. She spoke about how much he loved the job in the beginning, she spoke about the changes she witnessed in his mood and personality over time, the impact those changes had on their family, and she spoke about the experience of losing her husband to suicide.

Keven Regan was a devoted husband and father who was passionate about serving his community. Regan founded the Keven Regan Family Foundation in October of 2022 following the tragic loss of her husband.

The Keven Regan Family Foundation is a non profit organization committed to helping families of fallen first responders, specifically those who have died by suicide, and those who struggle with mental illness.

The foundation provides not only financial relief, but also the mental health resources needed to support struggling frontline fighters and their loved ones.

The Kevin Regan foundation is dedicated to Suicide prevention, and treatment by improving mental health awareness and education throughout the first responder community.

For mor information, visit:

https://kevinreganfamilyfoundation.com/

Erin Maccabee joins us on the podcast.

Erin is an ICF trained integration coach who specializes in supporting First Responders, their partners, and departments. Erin has nearly a decade of experience, with almost half that time focused on trauma exposed populations. Erin is the creator of the Pressure System - A whole human framework for navigating high stress environments, and The Connection Code - A self guided program that helps responder couples strengthen communication on their own time. Erin also hosts the Flashpoint podcast - where high performance meets human healing.

Erin's mission is personal, shaped by the loss of her Firefighter boyfriend to substance misuse in 2011.

Erin details her journey into the work she is currently engaged in, shares openly about her loss, and her commitment to helping first responders heal, develop healthy coping mechanisms, recover from or avoid the pitfalls of addiction, and helps couples connect more deeply.

Contact Erin for more information @ ErinMaccabee@Gmail.com