Matthew and Elizabeth Fiorenza join us on the podcast .

Matty and Liz are husband and wife, they are both strong advocates for first responder and family mental health and well-being.

Matty is a retired firefighter paramedic with 22 years of service. His journey into the realm of mental health advocacy began a decade into his career when he began facing personal battles with anxiety, stress, and depression, which ultimately led to a diagnosis of PTSD. These experiences fueled his passion to help others in the first responder community. Matty speaks publicly and works with first responders directly to help address critical issues including PTSD recovery, addiction, mental health, and the importance of support within the first responder community. .

Liz is a dedicated professional with a deep commitment to supporting first responders and their families. Particularly spouses, who face the unique challenges associated with this high stress profession. As a mother, and the spouse of a retired first responder, Liz brings a personal understanding to her work, along with a passion to help others navigate the challenges of life in a first responder family. Liz currently serves as the office manager for the Anaheim firefighters association where she oversees day to day operations and organizes fundraising efforts that directly benefit the associations initiatives and support programs.

Matty and Liz share their story with raw, open, honesty. They talk about real issues like addiction and suicide, they discuss the pain they have experienced as individuals, together as a couple, how they overcame the challenges they faced, how they came back together as a couple, and the work they are doing to help other first responder families navigate their own challenges.

Retired Police Chief Neil Gang joins us on the podcast.

Chief Gang is a nationally recognized Law Enforcement Leader with over 36 years of service, he has a reputation for innovative leadership, transformational change, and a deep commitment to organizational wellness.

Chief Gang discusses his career in law enforcement, he openly shares about losing a friend and fellow officer early on in his career to suicide. In the wake of that loss, he pledged to one day improve the conditions for police officers reporting and seeking help for stress related injuries. Years later as the Chief of Pinole Police Department in California, Neil created the Asher model, a 7 point approach to creating a culture of wellness.

Chief Gang speaks to the benefits of improved wellness within a first response organization. He speaks to the conditions as they were when his friend Asher Rosinsky died by suicide. He speaks to the importance of first responders being able to request help and access services confidentially, He speaks to leaders, encouraging them to facilitate change within their own organizations.

Carrie Mathews joins us on the podcast.

Carrie is a retired police officer from from the Chicago Police Department, and comes from a family of service in law enforcement. Mental health has always been a focus of Carries. However, when her father - a retired officer himself - died by suicide, Carrie became an outspoken advocate for mental health in first response, and has become known for bringing attention to "the other side of suicide".

In this episode Carrie shares what it was like growing up in a law enforcement family, the pride, the challenges, and the influence her father had on her life. She talks about the experience of becoming a cop herself, her career with Chicago PD, and the devastating impact that losing her father had on Carrie and her family. She shares about her grief, the complexity of those emotions, how she moved forward, and converted her pain into purpose by advocating for first responder mental wellness.

Katie Carlson joins us on the podcast.

Katie is the director of wellness initiatives and peer support team coordinator for the Marion County Sheriffs office in Indianapolis Indiana. She also serves as an instructor at multiple law enforcement academies where she teaches meditation, yoga, breath work, and crisis intervention strategies to public safety professionals, with a focus on nervous system regulation and trauma recovery.

Katie shares with us about her background as the departments Public Information Officer prior to assuming her current role, and the work she did in the political arena prior to that. Katie also shares openly about her own trauma's, challenges she has faced, struggles she has endured, how she overcame those experiences, and how she has incorporated what she learned along the way into the delivery of wellness to her organization.

Donna Georgiana joins us on the podcast.

Donna lost her son Mitchell - a police officer, to suicide. After Mitchell's loss, and based on one of the last text messages he had sent, Donna felt a sense of duty to keep his name alive, and his memory served, so she founded the non profit "Gotcha Covered Blankets".

While she has always been involved with church and community, Donna now focuses on this foundation to keep her sons name alive, and hopefully, to make a difference in the community, the culture, and the lives of police officers.

Donna speaks openly about being a mother, having her son become a police officer, what she knew about his job, what she didn't, and her experience as a suicide loss survivor.

https://gotchacoveredblankets.com/

Retired Fire Chief David Rhodes joins us on the podcast.

David is a 39 year veteran of the fire service retired from the Atlanta Gorgia fire dept. He currently works for Clarion events as the Vice President of Education for Clarion Fire Rescue Brands, he is the Editor in Chief for Fire Engineering Magazine, and the educational director for the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC). He is a Chief Elder for the Gorgia Smoke Divers Program, served on the Fire Department Instructors Conference Executive Advisory Board, was the hands on training coordinator at the FDIC Conference, and author for Fire Engineering Magazine and Fire Apparatus and Equipment Magazine. Chief Rhodes has served as an adjunct instructor for the Gorgia Fire Academy, and is an advisory board member emeritus for Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Research Institute , and current board member of the Firefighter Air Coalition. He has served as an incident commander for the Gorgia Emergency Management Agency, Type 3 all Hazards Incident Management Team, and was a task force leader for the Gorgia Search and Rescue Team.

Chief Rhodes discusses his career, shares his knowledge, experience, and thoughts on the importance of educating and training first responders about the hazards and impacts of interacting with trauma.

Mike Morgan joins us on the podcast.

Mike transitioned from working as an accountant to a 30 year career of service in law enforcement. In this episode Mike reflected on those years, he spoke about his love for the job, shares with us about some of the difficult calls he responded to, including the incident that was most impactful for him. He shares his experience of coming to recognize that he had been affected by trauma, the steps he took to recover and heal, how he discovered his purpose to help other first responders during a psychedelic retreat, and how he carries out that purpose today.

To learn more about Mike, check out his podcast - The Resilient Warrior Nation.

Chris Michael is a retired Police Captain with 25 years of experience in law enforcement in a large Metro area Atlanta department. When he retired Chris was the departments peer support team commander. Chris discusses his career with us and some of the critical incidents he experienced, to include 2 officer involved shootings, his partner and backup being shot and wounded, being involved in an on duty fatal car accident, and another collision where Chris believed he was going to die. Chris shares that he saw countless other tragedies throughout his career, for many years he didn't realize these incidents had impacted him. Chris explains that his exposure to a fatal car accident/fire was the call that brought his many years of service, and all those critical incidents to the surface. Chris suffered with depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation before he finally reached out for help. After going through his own healing process, Chris began advocating for first responder and veteran mental health. Chris shares his experience of struggle, suicidal thoughts, and a return to wellness with departmental leaders to help other first responders and promote a positive change in culture.

Chris also shared about some of the non-profit organizations he is involved with, if after listening to this episode you would like more information about Gotcha Covered Blankets or Creed of Ink, follow the links below.

https://www.thecreedofink.org/

https://gotchacoveredblankets.com/