The Firefighter Deconstructed

Tim Grutzius is a 25+ year fire service veteran and a team member of the Illinois Firefighter Peer Support . He understands the detrimental effect stress can have on the overall wellbeing of our mind, body, and spirit. He is also a Certified Personal Trainer and Health Coach, he has a diploma in Holistic Health Practice, a certificate in Wellness Consulting and is a certified Usui Reiki Master Pra...

Tom and Tessa Dunn sit down with the firefighter deconstructed and talk about what it's like to work as a resident police officer in the middle of nowhere in Alaska. Tom Dunn is the founder of RESET Training and Consulting. He is a recently retired Lieutenant for the Alaska State Troopers (May 2020) who served the citizens of Alaska for over 25 years and is an FBI National Academy graduate of sess...

Eric Weaver is a retired sergeant with the Rochester, NY Police Dept., where he served for twenty years from 1985-2005. He was a police sergeant for the RPD for the last 13 years of his highly decorated career. Prior to his employment with the RPD, he served as a Corrections Officer from 1983-1985 with the Ontario County, NY Sheriff’s Department. While with the RPD, he served in numerous positions...

Kristi Tausinga sits down with the firefighter deconstructed and talks about being a female cop, getting addicted and then unaddicted to painkillers. This woman is one strong lady! She was diagnosed with PTSD and survived a suicide attempt. And on top of all that, she was totally abandoned by her administration. She was sexually assaulted at work by a supervisor and then was written up for engagin...

THE Tom Satterly and his wife Jen sit down with the Firefighter Deconstructed. Who are these people? Well Tom spent 20 years in Delta Force, the most elite special forces unit there is. Tom is a legend even among other Tier One special operators. He was in the Battle of Mogadishu (Black Hawk Down) and the capturing of Saddam Hussein. He survived incredible feats of war but he almost didn't survive...

Super kind and fun Scott Medlin sits down with The Firefighter Deconstructed and talks about the toll the job takes and strategies to get and be healthy. Scott has 17 years of experience in the military and law enforcement. Scott shares his own struggles with mental health and addiction from trauma experienced while in combat in Iraq and on the job as a police officer. He has authored two books ab...

Kaia Downing is married to Brad Downing, who was on last week. Kaia was a police officer for ten years and is now a parole officer. Kaia shares her story of being married to someone with PTSD. We discuss what it’s like raising children when your spouse is angry, irrational, and detached. Kaia has the unique understanding of what it’s like to be a police officer and be the spouse of one. This discu...

Retired police officer Brad Downing was a long time “stuff it” guy and never talked about his feelings. He suffered in silence because of that stupid stigma that can be attached to someone when they ask for help. Brad talks about how stuffing it affected his job, his family and himself. He now works to smash that stigma and let others know it’s ok not to be ok. He has started up a first responder...

Rob Hindley is a Medically retired police officer from the United Kingdom. He went through PTSD twice and speaks to how getting PTSD the second time is even worse than the first time. Rob now works to prevent police suicide and promote police physical and medical wellbeing. He has started peer support groups. We talk about PTSD and the effects it can have on the kids. We also talk about the lack o...

Bill Pepitone, City of New York Mayoral Candidate and former New York Police Officer, sits down with The Firefighter Deconstructed and talks about the heavy toll police work takes on officers and their families. He is a big, strong, tough guy born and raised in the Bronx and HE says it’s ok to not be ok. He says it’s so important to ask for help before you get the point of suicide. If a long time...

Former Dispatcher Ryan Dedmon sits down with the Firefighter Deconstructed and talks about his co-worker’s suicide and his own downward spiral. And most importantly, how he climbed back out of it. Ryan is a great speaker and has important information that will help all first responders. He now trains dispatchers and is the Outreach Director for the 9-1-1 Institute, The 9-1-1 institute works to bri...

Sue M, all the way from Ireland. Sue M is an extraordinary person. She served as a paramedic and then a police officer in the United Kingdom for 14 years and experienced PTSD and several personal hardships and now she devotes her life to helping others get help when they are hit with PTSD. She’s written a book, started a support network, and answers phone calls all day from first responders and th...

Retired Police Officer, Christopher Hoyer is a protector, survivor and advocate for mental, physical and emotional wellness. After 20+ years as a street cop, having been faced with the worst horrors imaginable, he has turned his focus to sharing his story with others, helping the law enforcement community prepare for the trauma that comes with the job. He has spoken to thousands, including first r...

Today we have Fire District Chief Jason Corthell. Another amazing guy from Texas. Jason is another guy who feel into that dark hole and found a way out. Then he built an incredible peer support team that he shares all over the country. This guy is a 4th generation firefighter and started his firefighting career as a volunteer with Cypress Creek Fire Department in 2004. Jason served in the U.S. Mar...

Josh’s 13 year firefighting career was cut short by PTSD and department betrayal. His attitude and resilience is nothing short of inspiring. No matter how tough everything became he just kept putting one foot in front of the other. If you listen to this episode you will find yourself rooting for him. And if you can root for Josh, you should be rooting for yourself! Department leadership can learn...

I love Texas!! Police Chief Gary R. McHone, from Texas, shares how to truly be strong on both sides of the job, as a subordinate and management. He believes the people are the most important resource of an organization, so it will pay great dividends to take care of them both physically and mentally. He talks about how to truly change the culture of a department so talking and investing in mental...

This is an episode of discovery and hope. Dr. Lorie Hood joins The Firefighter Deconstructed and shares her incredible breadth of knowledge of trauma. Dr. Lorie Hood is a leading expert in trauma, PTSD, Neuroscience, and human potential. She has focused her research and clinical work on first responders, victims of mass trauma and high performers. She is the host of the podcast, “The Traumatic Sta...

This week Police Chief Daniel Smith shares his story with the firefighter deconstructed. He talks about his childhood and coming to the point in his life that he could go either way, positive or negative. He chose positive and accomplished some amazing things. He also talks about the importance of taking care of yourself on the job and not talking about what bothers you is a road straight to self-...

Battalion Chief Jacob Johnson shows true leadership by talking about the tough stuff, showing vulnerability as a leader. Chief Johnson discusses how important it is for agency leadership to start and continue on the conversation that we are all just human beings, and that vulnerability is the key to true connection and brother/sisterhood. He also talks about building a successful Peer Support Prog...

Retired Captain Brenda Berkman of the FDNY sat down with The Firefighter Deconstructed and discussed healing from the job and 9/11 and the added trauma of working in a hostile working environment. Brenda is known as the leader of the first women firefighters for FDNY. In 1982 she was hired with 40 other women but was the sole named plaintiff in the lawsuit against the city of New York and FDNY to...

The Firefighter Deconstructed sits down with 14 year firefighter/paramedic and combat veteran Ryan Mains. Why Ryan Mains? Because he ran 130 kilometers for every firefighter who killed themselves in 2019. That’s 80.77 miles for all of us non metric people. Ryan dealt with his own demons and is still working his recovery. We talk about Ketamine treatments, financial problems that face so many first...

This is such an important episode!! The Firefighter Deconstructed sits down and talks with an amazing woman who has made it her life’s passion to take care of fire responders in an area we never thought we’d could end up, in the legal system. Lisa Houle served as a Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney for 15 years before starting her own practice as a criminal defense attorney. When we firs...

Captain Dan Willis (ret), Author of Bulletproof Spirit, served as a police officer for the La Mesa Police Department near San Diego for nearly 30 years as a SWAT Commander, crimes of violence-sexual assault-child molest and homicide detective. He has provided emotional survival and wellness training in 35 states and in Canada to over 5,000 peace officers. This guy really knows his stuff. We discus...

Melanie Mikeska, who is a total badass, and I sit down and talk about being a sheriff’s deputy in a large county that goes through several budget cuts and has some poor leadership. Having PTSD was hard enough but the department betrayal she experienced was unfathomable. Melanie went through hell and came close to suicide. But she is doing great now and loving retirement. Listen to how she got ther...

All the way from Nova Scotia we have quite a guest, Jeffrey Hosick. He is a firefighter, a chaplain, therapist, trauma specialist, author and a professional speaker. We sit down and talk about when not addressing mental health can create a toxic work environment. He explains how the key to recovery is grace. Dr. Jeffrey Hosick is committed to finding ways to have accessible mental health support f...