This conversation is for anyone who’s fought unseen battles, for first responders and their loved ones—or anyone struggling to find hope.

Welcome back to The Rescue Room. In this episode, I’m sitting down with Tommy Bolin—a firefighter, survivor, and author—to have a raw and important conversation about emotional growth and battling PTSD.

Tommy spent thirty years in the fire service here in central Ohio, and his journey through trauma, chronic stress, sleep deprivation, and even a suicide attempt is both heartbreaking and inspiring.

We dive deep into what it’s really like to live with trauma—the tough moments, the self-medicating, the stigma around asking for help, and those slow paths toward healing that require honesty, vulnerability, and the courage to keep going.

Tommy shares how support from his family and fellow first responders made all the difference, and we talk about the patterns we carry from childhood, how easily we lose ourselves in pain, and what it takes to step into recovery with intention.

I hope you feel less alone as you listen and are reminded that healing is possible, especially when we choose connection and compassion, both for ourselves and others.

Read his book!

If you are looking for some resources to help yourself grow to heal from trauma, please go to my Facebook page. You'll find a set of links there. You'll also be able to see what Mindful Retreats is. It is an experience that helps you to learn more about these tools in real time, along with a little bit of luxury. These are quarterly events that you can sign up to be a part of, or you can join our free community on Skool, called Authentic Connection for Healing. We have space where you can go and find like-minded people who are on that same journey, who are just trying to learn some of these new concepts in order to better their lives.

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