The Code 9 Foundation

Mark "Trigger" Tregalas is a highly decorated Victoria Police veteran, is an ADF special forces veteran, spent years travelling the globe and among lots of other things, is a published author "Back up is three hours away".

Don Gillies is the first return guest on the podcast (Episode 3). In this chat with Tiff Cook, Don and Tiff take a dive into Don living with chronic pain, what he does to combat low moods, the idea of post traumatic growth, his experiences when he was at his lowest and a lot more on the mental health topic.

On Episode 45 of Conversations with The Code 9 Foundation, our awesome host Tiff Cook chats to Anthea about a life changing event that took place. The event was when she found out that her husband had sexually assaulted their two young daughters. In an extraordinary chat between Anthea and Tiff, Anthea spoke about the journey from trauma to advocacy and resilience, building a support system in the...

In the latest episode of Conversations with The Code 9 Foundation, we welcomed back the brilliant Deb Richardson. Deb was a guest (episode 31) where Deb recounted her days as a member of Victoria Police and being caught up in the Russell Street bombing, however we also learnt about Yuri, the young 11 year old Ukrainian boy who Deb hosted in 1993. Well it is fair to say that a pretty special bond w...

Bret has been through what very few go through. The effects of being diagnosed with the extremely rare Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) is truly confronting and for those that go through it, horrifying. GBS is a rare condition in which a person’s immune system attacks the peripheral nerves. For an active and healthy man, Bret was admitted to hospital on a number of occasions, whilst medical practitio...

In this episode, Tiff has a chat to Sarah U'Brien. Sarah is the partner of Matt, a police veteran and former fire fighter who was seriously mentally injured as a result of his service to the community. In this episode, Sarah details with incredible clarity what it is like for the partner of a member who is seriously injured. It is confronting as Sarah articulates so clearly what she went through,...

Episode 41 of Conversations with The Code 9 Foundation sees Tiff have a chat to Tim Peck. Tim is former member of Victoria Police whose mental health declined to such a low state that he had an intention to complete suicide. Fortunately for Tim and everyone that knows him, Tim survived this period of time and is now dedicating his working life to help those that live with mental health conditions,...

This is a cross post from Roll With The Punches, episode 771. In this episode, Kelly Humphries shares her powerful and deeply personal journey. Opening up about her experiences as a survivor of child sexual abuse, she reflects on the challenges she faced and overcame. The unfortunate reality is that in Australia, almost 30% of people experience sexual abuse by the age of 18. The conversation delve...

Rachel Berger is one of Australia's leading comedians, and being the daughter of holocaust survivors, she has an acute awareness of trauma, both in a physical sense and a mental sense. In this episode, Rachel talks about the use of humour to help people cope with their adversities and touches on her parents and what it was like for her growing up. Rachel further talks about what she does to help p...

Mick Cummins is the Godfather of police veteran peer support. A very humble man who had a policing career spanning several decades and a wide range of work units, including a few stints in Iraq training the locals. Mick started to dip his toes into the support of his colleagues pretty early on and then once he was done with policing, this accelerated. Along with brilliant Vicky Key, he founded the...

14 September 2018 at 2.18 pm, a moment in time that changed the course of so many other innocent lives. Victoria Police Detective Senior Sergeant Vic Kostiuk was taking part in the Wall to Wall ride, a charity ride to raise funds for Police Legacy. Riding with Vic was his son, Felix, who is also a Victoria Police member. What was meant to be a joyful experience, turned into complete tragedy, when...

This episode is a cross post from Tiff's pod, "Roll With The Punches". Brandon Griffith not only got a second chance at life, but also a second chance at being a guest on Tiff's podcast. Last time Tiff spoke to Brandon we heard about his 16.5-minute brush with mortality as he lingered in the space between life and death after experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest at home. Thanks to great CPR and ac...

On 23 September 2014, Officer B, and his colleague, Officer A, attended outside of the Endeavour Hills Police Station to speak to Numan Haider. A young man who was influenced by radical Islam. What happened next, literally in a matter of seconds, resulted in both Officer B and Officer A receiving serious stab wound injuries and Haider deceased, shot and killed by Officer A. Officer B takes us thro...

Louise Lowe, husband of John and mother to two young boys was tragically taken from this world in 2014. This is her story, as told by John. John takes us through the sudden and unexpected death of Louise and the days after where organ donorship was discussed and agreed to, because that what Louise wanted. Whatever we write here will not do this episode justice, it is just an incredible conversatio...

This episode is cross share from Tiff’s “Roll With The Punches” podcast. Dr Sandy MacQuarrie offered up a hearty conversation on his PhD research into the physiological health status of paramedics and the correlation between health status, job performance and of course mental health. A subject that is very close to our hearts here at the foundation. A career paramedic (ground and flight) since 199...

In this episode of the series, Tiff chats to police veteran Cam Hardiman. Cam authored the book, "Ten foot tall and not quite bulletproof" where he talks of his experiences in Victoria Police and the Australian Federal Police. Cam is diagnosed PTSD which largely stemmed from his time spent at the Victoria Police Air Wing over several years. Cam talks in incredible detail about his experiences when...

In the latest episode of the podcast series, Tiff chats to Victoria Police veteran, Deb Richardson. It is difficult to fully explain the incredible life Deb has had so far but a few points: - Deb was in the Russell Street Police Building when on 27 March 1986 a bomb was detonated that tragically took the life of Constable Angela Taylor. Deb was incredibly lucky to not lose her life in this event a...

Lisa Hardeman is a Commander with Victoria Police and a pioneer and leader in women's football, as in a significant leader. Lisa has challenged and succeeded in two male dominated industries and in the process has influenced and caused significant positive change. Some of Lisa's achievements: - Victoria Police Sporting Hall of Fame in 2017 - Australia Police Medal in 2018 - Victorian Honour Role o...

22 April 2020. It is a day that Victoria Police suffered their greatest ever single day loss of life from a single incident in their history. Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Constable Glen Humphris, Senior Constable Kevin King and Constable Josh Prestney were all taken from us in an instant on the Eastern Freeway. The grief was substantial, the families of Lynette, Glen, Kevin and Josh faced a ci...

In the latest episode of Conversations with The Code 9 Foundation, Tiff has a chat to Pat Stuart and Jas Whiting. Both Pat and Jas were members of the Australian Defence Force and both suffered physical injuries that saw their ADF careers cut short. What is traditionally a very dangerous period of time, transitioning out of the military, (same with first responders), Pat and Jas transformed themse...

Dean Yates is a no-nonsense old journalist. He’s just finished writing a book about healing from PTSD and moral injury. It’s set around Ward 17, a Melbourne psych unit that treats veterans and first responders. Pan Macmillan Australia will publish the book in mid-2023. In the meantime, Dean has launched the next stage of his New Narrative: putting into practice what he’s learnt from six years writ...

Childless not by choice. More and more couples these days are turning to IVF and fertility clinics in order to have a family. It's a tough, expensive and an emotional roller coaster. But what happens when couples play in that space for a decade more, never to get the outcome they desire. Russell and Suzanne know this experience all too well. They've invested their time, money, emotions and energy...

Carmen is a Detective Sergeant from the Northern Territory Police, however this is not what this episode is about. Carmen was involved in a horrific accident in Egypt in 2006 where she received equally horrific injuries. After being told shortly thereafter that she would never walk again, Carmen went on to represent Australia in rugby and play several other sports. In June this year, she trekked t...

In this pod, A/Commissioner Weir has a chat to Tiff about policing and how Glenn has navigated his way through 41 years of policing.

In this episode, Tiff chats to David Buttifant. Dave was Collingwood FC's sport science director for 13 years, which included the 2010 AFL Premiership season. Dave went on to fulfill the same role at Carlton FC before starting "The Resilience Builders" with Nick Farr. (Ep 21). Incredibly though, David and his wife responded to the tragic loss of their son, Nicholas who took his own life, by creati...