The Things We All Carry

In the first episode of the new year, "The Things We All Carry" revisits an impactful conversation with Diane Cotter, a name that resonates strongly within the firefighting community. The host pays tribute to Diane's unwavering dedication and resilience in the face of adversity, as she fought for awareness and change after her husband's cancer diagnosis linked to firefighting gear. Diane's relentl...

In this episode of "The Things We All Carry," Stack reflects on the aftermath of Christmas and the emotions that come with it. Sharing personal experiences, Stackdiscusses the blend of anticipation and letdown that often accompanies the holiday season. Keeping the introduction short due to a recovering voice, Stack reintroduces Marshall, a newly promoted fire captain and a colleague with a unique...

This week's episode is from the vault. I'm re releasing episode 37. Tyler is from Wisconsin, he is a firefighter for 18 years and 12 of those he's been in EMS  Tyler is currently a paramedic and a captain in his department. He has one of those stories where the personal is intertwined with the professional. He was married, he was divorced, and then tragedy struck. He shares his story of not only t...

Bobby is out of Raleigh, North Carolina. He joined the fire service as a  part of the junior program in 2008. He turned 18 and he was hired as a career firefighter. He is what you would call your prototypical black cloud. Any, as he said, any fucked up call in the department has happened when he's been on shift.  He's had  numerous traumatic calls. In 2018 he had a brush with death He brushes it o...

Welcome to Episode 94 of The Things We All Carry. Today, I'm joined by sisters Lauren and Renee.  Lauren and Renee are both nutrition and health coaches and they go by the term of biohackers. You can find them on Instagram under @biohackerbabes. They talk about biohacking, they talk about about health, nutrition, fitness, everything that you can think of that is going to benefit you and change you...

I want to welcome you to episode 93 of The Things We All Carry. It blows my mind that I said 93. I'm creeping up on 100 episodes, and I didn't know where this show was going to go But coming up on 100 episodes is fantastic in my mind. Jordan Hood started as a volunteer firefighter in 2002 in Pennsylvania in a very small volunteer company. He moved on to York PA in 2008, taking a step up to about 6...

 Today, I have the pleasure of bringing to you a gentleman who goes by the name the Angry Viking Therapist. You can find him under Dr. Trevor Wilkins on Instagram. Dr. Trevor Wilkins is a licensed professional clinical counselor and he lives in Kentucky.  He specializes in symptoms related to trauma, depression, anxiety, and post traumatic stress disorder. He works with us, this, this first respon...

Episode 91 Curtis reached out to me a while ago. He was in a bad spot and he wanted information. He wanted to know how he could get help if he was in a department that's not union and he wanted to get into the Center of Excellence. He didn't know how to do that and he and I went back and forth. He also went back and forth with the guys from Next Rung who run an amazing program there. If you haven'...

Welcome to Episode 90 of The Things We All Carry. This week I sat down with Adam from Ohio. Adam's been in the fire service a little bit over 10 years. He's been active in the union and some of that has kind of come back and bit him in the ass a little bit. He'll tell his side of that story and you kind of figure out why. Adam's a father and a husband. He has an addiction that we haven't covered y...

Welcome to Episode 89 of The Things We All Carry. This is a podcast I recorded with Mike Nasti of Tip of the Spear Leadership. He was gracious enough to let me use the recording as a standalone episode for The Things We All Carry. He reached out to me to talk about mental health and how it affects leadership, especially in the fire service. I think you can apply that to leadership in general. So h...

This week I welcome Kevin Easley. Kevin is out of San Diego City. He's been he's been a firefighter for 30 plus years He's coming to the end of a career. I guess you could say an illustrious career, he's seen a lot of things. He's been through a number of traumatic events. He's had victories and  he's had losses quite frankly.....and he has learned how to deal with both of those. He's learned how...

Today's guest is Charlie Collins. Charlie is a singer songwriter out of Northern Virginia who also happens to be a firefighter. He's a firefighter in Loudoun County. He picked up the guitar recently as a way to recover and as a piece of therapy, actually. And from there, between TikTok, YouTube, friends and co-workers, his stuff got out on the internet and he was picked up by a producer in Nashvil...

This week I had the pleasure of speaking with Alex Potter. One of the first things Alex told me when we spoke was that she always knew hers would be a travel centered life. Travel along with living and working abroad changes and enlightens, anyone who chooses to do so. You can't help, but change a little, at least a little once you're exposed and immersed in a culture other than yours.  Anthony Bo...

"Well behaved women rarely make history"  Marilyn Monroe, Eleanor Roosevelt, Anne Boleyn, even Princess Leia, you take your pick that line has been attributed to all four and more. Credit actually goes to Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, an American professor  Stephanie White is trying her best to make some history. Attempting to change a culture  requires you to step on toes and irritate the keepers of th...

Soren Kierkegaard wrote "The greatest hazard of all, losing oneself, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly, any other loss, an arm, a leg, $5, a wife, et cetera, is sure to be noticed. " In our day-to-day lives it's very easy to lose ourselves and our sense of self. We are often the last to notice. Alex is a firefighter from a nearby...

David is a retired firefighter medic from the Pacific Northwest. He spent 28 years on the job between volunteer time and career. His story is one filled with trauma on the job to include numerous pediatric codes and death. Those traumas led him to anger, to drinking, to rehab, and eventually to recovery. Today David is retired and he's retrained as a welder. He makes his recovery the priority in h...

Tom Mitchell is a hero. I don't throw that title around often or easily, but in this case, it's the truth. Better known as Tattoo Tom, Tom is a self-described and appropriately anointed aggressive and unapologetic activist for children with cancer and their families.  From a personal tragedy was born a dogged determination to do basically anything and everything for these kids and their families....

Gandhi said that the "best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." Jess Rambo is a creative force behind the Painted Buffalo. She's a Marine Corps veteran who has taken her artistic skill and passion and applied it to the veterans community. Her love of art and love for veterans meets in the middle to create opportunities for vets to tell their stories. It doesn't matte...

 Dostoevsky wrote "You will burn and you will burn out. You'll be healed and come back again." Those words resonate with me. In some manner, small or large, we burn every day. Day-to-day life alone burns us and then we add traumas, work schedules, irregular sleep, poor diet, and numerous other stressors. I'm not sure if burnout is inevitable but in the first responder world, it's hardly rare.  The...

Destiny Morris is a licensed marriage and family therapist from California. Her practice centers around first responders, spouses, and relationships. She is certified as a first responder counselor as well as being trained in the practice of EMDR and trauma informed. She works with individuals, couples and holds first responder partner groups. In this conversation, we discussed the idea of hyper-v...

Welcome to Episode 78 of The Things We All Carry.  Macklemore said..... "Music is therapy. Music moves people. It connects people in ways that no other medium can. It pulls heartstrings. It acts as medicine." Sarah Thrash is a Texan, a daughter, a sister, a fighter, and a survivor. Music is a passion and a therapy of sorts for her, whether playing piano, listening to music as the sun sets, or shar...

Ryan is a firefighter in Washington, DC. His experiences with work and life demonstrate a need for a global approach to mental health. We can't only worry about the calls we need to be in tune with all aspects of life for a firefighter. Knowing what trials and tribulations a firefighter's living through and dealing with allows us as peers and leaders to better serve our people.  Ryan dealt with ca...

"My purpose in life is to alleviate suffering." That's the mission statement of this week's guest. Deana, also known as CopShrink on Instagram, is a licensed marriage and family therapist in the state of California. Her focus is working with cops, firefighters and the spouses of both. In addition she responds to large-scale or significant incidents requiring CISM.  In other words...she sees the fi...

Mike is a 15 year career firefighter and has 17 years as a paramedic. He started his career at a young age as a volunteer. He's also a husband and a father of two young children.  I was scrolling through Facebook one day when I happened upon a post from a firefighter in Central Virginia. He was asking for donations to raise money for the Center of Excellence. He wasn't simply asking for money thou...

Some of y'all might recognize this week's guest from Episode 52, as I welcome back Brad from the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Brad is a third generation firefighter with 22 years of service. He first started as a volunteer and is now approaching 18 years with his career department. Brad reached out to my request for impromptu interviews and it intrigued me since I'd already heard his life story in a...