The Overwatch Collective Podcast

James Boomhower joined via zoom from Rhode Island to share his experiences in the EMS profession for over 20 years and the mission behind Stay Fit 4 Duty, an LLC which he founded to help healthcare providers treat their mental health with the same passion and tenacity as the patients and populations they treat every day. James is a Lead Peer Support Director w/ Boston Medflight of Bedford, in Mass...

Welcome back Rebecca as she was on SZN 3 EP 4 where we discussed the high amount of stress and burden that our community faces in regards to finances.  Rebecca recently became a certified financial coach and runs Blue Line Money Coach, who's mission is to help our first responder community break the cycle of working a great amount of overtime in order to pay off debt and/or rely on overtime a...

Joining us from Illinois is Ariana, who founded Limitless Momentum, a clothing brand, with the intent to normalize mental health for not only first responders, but for all.  Having been a police officer for 7 years and a field training officer for 2 1/2 years, Ariana had been exposed to critical incidents, stress/burnout, depression, and anxiety which was her biggest hurdle.  We discussed how the...

Chuck is a retired Police Sergeant after 28 years followed by 6 years at his local Southern California Sheriff's Department. Chuck discusses the stigma behind mental health when he first started and how it has changed for the better recently. In addition, Chuck explains the the affects that our professions have on our families. Chuck shared a story of an Ex Marine that was at his department f...

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a terminal diagnosis that is affecting several first responders and service members on a daily basis that does not get discussed enough. In this episode, we are changing that, as we bring awareness that first responders and veterans are 2X as likely to be diagnosed with ALS. When a veteran is diagnosed, the veteran is 3X as likely to die by suicide. Mandi, Ti...

*TRIGGER WARNING-DARK HUMOR*   The Overwatch Collective 🎙 Had the pleasure of talking with Joe about his officer involved shooting and how he was able to mentally push through the hardship that followed along with discussions on therapy. Joe talked about his family dynamics with his wife and kids while being a first responder. Joe also talks about his response to a suicide call. After retiring Joe...

In this episode, Mike shares how three of his family members passed away in one year and how he was able to push through and be strong for his wife and four kids. Mike explains how he was married at a young age and had young children while starting out his career in the United States Marine Corps (USMC). Mike has been in the for 12 years and his MOS is Motor Transport (Motor T).   Knowing the impa...

Welcome back to T.O.C. Podcast Mark as we were joined by his better half, Christina! Mark was our guest on SZN 1 EP 19 in November of 2021 and discussed the First Responder Support Network West Coast Post Trauma Retreat and shared traumatic stories that led to his complex PTSD diagnosis.  On this episode, Mark and Christina openly discuss how Mark's lowest point in his life affected her and t...

This podcast with Bri, V.E.T.S. Vice President, breaks down the struggles that our service members face transitioning from active duty to being a student on a college campus. Their mission is to serve veterans, dependents, and active duty members at San Francisco State University in order to create a smooth process to obtain a degree.  In addition, we discussed the challenges that Bri faced as her...

This episode is full of great content and important information for our community. Matt, a retired LEO after 15 years, is now an associate marriage and family therapist and is almost at the 3,000 hour mark in order to test to be a licensed therapist in California.  We started off by discussing the stress while in the field training program as an LEO and how there is little to no training on how to...

In this episode, Greg and Destiny discuss the sex scandal involving Meaghan Hall, a former Tennessee Police Officer, and 5 other male officers. After breaking silence, there have been an abundance amount of insulting memes, lengthy news articles, and personal information shared.  Greg and Destiny discuss cyber bullying, the mental health aspect from all parties involved, the Police Chief's in...

Enjoy this episode as we give you a complete up to date run down on where T.O.C. is currently at in regards to therapy sessions paid for and the process to obtain therapy through T.O.C., past/future events, buddy program, grants, fundraising, phone application, sponsors, therapists, etc.  After listening to this episode, you'll be 100% up to speed on all that is T.O.C.! Enjoy the episode and...

Greg was recently a guest on Real Talks On The Rocks Podcast hosted by Michael Acosta. Michael is a fellow Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) and has worked a few details with Greg on the Police motorcycle.  During the episode, Michael and Greg talked about our mission at The Overwatch Collective (T.O.C.) and a quick update of where T.O.C. is at currently in regards to podcasts and therapy sessions bei...

Introducing Lena, the Associate Director of First Responder Therapy Dogs and her amazing therapy dog, Birdie. Birdie is trained to bring comfort to our first responder community during difficult times that we endure on a daily basis. Birdie is well known in the community after having attended several departments, communications centers, funerals, events, and large fires.  Founded in 2020 in San Ra...

Donna's husband, a California Highway Patrol Officer, died by suicide one morning after displaying zero signs of depression or making any suicidal statements/cries for help.  Donna shares what life was like being a Police Dispatcher, relationships with an LEO, and breaks down the days leading up to him dying by suicide and following. This is the first podcast with a spouse/significant other o...

The last episode of SZN 3 is with two U.S. Marines, Dana and and Dan, mixing it up a little bit with the content.  In this episode, Dana and Dan discuss a mission while serving in Iraq on July 6, 2006. During the mission, their convoy was struck by multiple Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's). The most senior U.S. Marine, SSgt. Victor Quinones, was wounded by both IED's and suffered a b...

On this podcast with Hieu, a retired San Jose Police Officer, we discussed the stigma behind mental health amongst first responders and his healthy coping mechanisms, which involved cooking.  Hieu shared his personal story of a vehicle collision, which resulted in a traumatic brain injury, and discussed the medical retirement process which followed. Also, Hieu shared a story in great detail involv...

The Nothing Off The Table Podcast is hosted by a United States Navy Retired Chief, Andy, who talks about anything and everything under the sun. Greg explains where The Overwatch Collective (T.O.C.) is currently at and provides a full summary of how T.O.C. started, how many therapy sessions we'd paid for, and future plans.  We also discuss healthy coping mechanisms, the best therapy in the wor...

The Lighthouse Experiment Podcast hosted by Jim Parkin had Greg on as a guest in order to discuss what T.O.C.'s mission is and how we can work together to help our community in times of distress.  Jim Parkin (a Veteran) has been a Paramedic in Michigan for several years and understands what our first responder community experiences on a day to day basis. We discusses critical incident debrief...

Tyler Graves has been a firefighter for about 8 years and started at the age of 20. At the young age of 20, the new firefighter was finally ready to be in a fire engine and do the job. Tyler didn’t know that only 4 weeks into the profession, he would experience a major critical incident that was an Officer Involved Shooting (OIS) where he performed life saving measures on the wounded Deputy, who u...

Destiny is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist primarily working with first responders and spouses/significant others of first responders. She is trained in EMDR and specializes in trauma. Destiny hosts her sessions via zoom out of her residence with her puppy along side of her.  Destiny hosts a First Responder Partner Group Therapy via zoom with patients in the state of CA. In addition, De...

Get safe is a non profit with the mission of helping our community interact with our law enforcement. Community and vice versa. There are courses individuals can attend to ensure there are less negative interactions with the community and law enforcement.  In addition, Get Safe raises awareness and assists with burnout, emotional and physical self-care, and substance abuse to name a few.  Thank yo...

We raised $65,935 at our 2nd Annual Fundraiser!!! We are BLOWN away by the amount of support from all of you. Thank you for working alongside with us as we are working our butts off to help our first responder and veteran community.  Thank you to Brian at Old Princeton Landing for donating the venue for us. Thank you to our guest speakers Tim Lodgen and Sue Farren for speaking and sharing their st...

Thank you to Dashon for tuning in from Texas to share her story of her suicide attempt at a young age. Dashon explains the signs and “cries for help” to her friends and family in person and via social media, yet no one caught on. Also, she wore a mask hiding said emotions and feelings, which we see far too often.  Unitedd Fighters is a mental health awareness organization dedicated to the fighters...

Mike, a current LEO, retired U.S. Military, author of his new book, goes into great depth in regards to the challenges that come along with being a first responder, in the military with multiple deployments, in a relationship, losing close friends to suicide, and losing a friend to being killed in the line of duty.  Mike specifically goes into detail about two of his close friends who died by suic...