The Washdown Podcast

In this episode of the podcast Jeremy sits down with Nick Binder and Scott Bond to talk about their perspective of mental health and the fire service. Nick is a paramedic with about 5 years experience and Scott was  3.5 year active duty army infantry, 5 years army reserve firefighter, 2 years with current department, 5 years emergency medical experience.    thewashdownpodcast@gmail....

Jason Spreitzer is a full-time professional Firefighter with over 19 years in a large fire department in Missouri. He graduated from Park University with a Bachelor's in Criminal Justice. He is pursuing his Graduate Degree in Leadership at the University of Arkansas. He served as a police officer in Glendale, Arizona, for four years.  Jason also is a consulting partner in an employee and inde...

Joey, Leon, Ian, Rob and Jeremy sit down while on a Swel Mission in California to talk about their experiences with the program.  www.theswel.org  @theswelmission   thewashdownpodcast@gmail.com   #Neveralonealwaysforward

Dr. Tania Glenn is the president of Tania Glenn and Associates, a clinical practice in Central TX that is focused on promoting resilience and providing critical care to first responders and veterans. As a leading national clinician in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Dr. Glenn specializes in creating effective programs designed to mitigate traumatic stress and to assist pati...

Travis Gribble is a retired law enforcement officer from the Mesa, AZ PD. He has been a guest speaker at several law enforcement conference's with presentations regarding PTSD in law enforcement and also posting video's to his instagram to raise awareness about PTSD in first responders.  @My_.Arena Instagram  thewashdownpodcast@gmail.com #neveralonealwaysforward

Kelsey Helfrich is an Air Force veteran, previously worked for KCPD and currently is a Police Officer for Mesa, Arizona PD.    thewashdownpodcast@gmail.com  #neveralonealwaysforward

In this episode James and I talk about the current state of mental health issues in the first responder world and some failures that need to be addressed.  thewashdownpodcast@gmail.com   #neveralonealwaysforward

In this episode we speak with Police Officer Joe Guinn. We talk about his journey from a very rough childhood in east St. Louis and the mental health struggles that it brought, to him becoming a police officer and breaking that cycle. thewashdownpodcast@gmail.com #NeverAloneAlwaysForward

On this episode we sit down with Tabitha & Cory Parrot to discuss what led them to being First Responders and how they keep their relationship strong while dealing with the unique challenges these careers bring.    thewashdownpodcast@gmail.com   #NeverAloneAlwaysForward

I was born to 2 military parents in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. My siblings and I started school there and soon moved to Hawaii. After a few years on these 2 beautiful islands, our family of 5 decided to settle down in Texas where my brother and I finished our high school years. Moving so much throughout my childhood had made my family extremely close. For most of our years, it has always been just the...

Lauren is a Veteran who served in the Army as a Combat Medic for 14 years. They are the Director and a Founder of Hippie and a Veteran Foundation, a 501c3 dedicated to spreading awareness and speaking out against systems that limit access to alternative PTSD treatments for Veterans. She is a Medical Access Activist who advocates and advises on legislation at both the State and Federal level for Ve...

Brent Fenton AKA: Firefighter Fenton   Brent is a Captain/Paramedic with 19 years in the fire service, serving in Arizona. He has been married to his wife Stephanie for 12 years and together they have 4 children. Brent has amassed nearly 1 million followers across his multiple social media platforms which gives viewers a peak behind the curtain of the fire service, and highlights the com...

Sheriff Will Akin has over 27 years of combined experience in the military and law enforcement. With over 8 years of active duty service in the United States Army, Will gained leadership and management experience as both a Non-Commissioned Officer and as a Chief Warrant Officer. He enlisted in the Army in October 1994 and after working four years as a Parachute Rigger; he attended the Army’s fligh...

Zach Poe who is a 12 year Marine Corps Veteran with multiple deployments all over the world. This includes several Combat Deployments and Bi Lateral Training Deployments. Zach is currently working as a Full Time Waterfowl Guide and in the process of starting his own Guide Service. He has helped establish The Fallen Outdoors Team North Carolina, which is a Veteran Non Profit organization that conce...

Katy grew up in Minnesota, just south of Twin Cities.  After high school she attended the University of Wisconsin-Stout where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design and later worked as a commercial interior designer.  In 2010, she was laid off from the architecture firm she worked at, she went back to school for law enforcement and attended the police academy.  She se...

Jason Patton is a 15 year Firefighter/Paramedic and Driver Engineer. Jason is also the creator of Fire Department Chronicles, a popular social media channel which has amassed over 3.8 million followers.  Jason is a strong supporter Mental Health in the First Responders.   https://www.facebook.com/firedepartmentchronicles   thewashdownpodcast@gmail.com  #NeverAloneAlwaysFor...

John Young has been in the fire service for 21 years. Specialty training 12 years in our rescue division. Been a driver for 8 years. There is still a huge stigma about mental health in the fire service. More people need to step up and be more vocal about it. We are failing each other by not talking about it.   thewashdownpodcast@gmail.com   #neveralonealwaysforward

Dr. Vawter is the owner and operator of Industrial Athletics, a fitness testing, movement screening and psychological testing company that targets public safety professionals and healthcare workers. After being a paramedic for 5 years and struggling with injuries and mental health the parallels between sports performance and public safety are were undeniable. In 2016 he quit his full time paramedi...

Patrick Bainbridge Employed with the Kansas City VA for over 6 years with the last 3 ½ years working as a Suicide Prevention Coordinator. Prior to coming to the VA, had worked 9 years in Corrections as a Mental Health Professional. Graduated from University of Kansas with an MSW in 2007. Cara Hall Current position at the KCVA: Suicide Prevention Coordinator, worked 12+ years with Homeless Veterans...

Matt returns to the podcast to talk about events after his last guest spot and how he ended up in out patient treatment and the positive impact it has had on his life.  thewashdownpodcast@gmail.com  #NeverAloneAlwaysForward

Today's guests are Billy Clark and Craig Cumpton. Both served in the Air Force before coming in to the fire service and both of have gone through The Battle Within. They share their stories and how going through that program helped them and how important it is for first responders to take care of their mental health.   https://www.thebattlewithin.org/   thewashdownpodcast@gmail.com ...

Steve Pope Captain (11 years) Kansas City, Kansas Fire Department (total time 26 years) High School Golf Coach for Piper High School Boys and Girls teams Founder of the Firefighter Golf YouTube channel, instagram, Twitter.  This is the brand that started the PTSD Awareness mission using the game of golf. Led to the founding of the First Responder Golf Foundation to help raise money to get fir...

James, Chris and Jeremy talk about the rising cost of gas and inflation and the possible impacts on first responders and their mental health. thewashdownpodcast@gmail.com #NeverAloneAlwaysForward

Bear enlisted in the Army  infantry in 2005 attended infantry school at foxtrot 1/50 in FT Benning GA. After graduation he was assigned to the second battalion 6th infantry regiment and immediately deployed to Baghdad. After the deployment returned to Germany for a year then deployed to Salmon Pak Iraq. left the army after this deployment and joined the police force. He spent 4years in Harris...

Military Matters is a program that fills the gap in legal services available to service members and  veterans living in the greater Kansas City Metropolitan area. Military Matters collaborates with support  agencies serving the service members and veterans in the area to identify the most needed legal  services and provide assistance to those who do not qualify for aid from other ag...