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Resilience Development in Action
Steve Bisson
246 episodes
1 day ago
Send us a text Some conversations ask you to sit up a little straighter. This one asks you to relax your shoulders, tell the truth, and feel what you’ve been carrying. We dive into the messy overlap of trauma and grief in first responder and military cultures, where silence is rewarded and honesty is too often punished, and we share a different path built on authenticity, peer support, and practical skills. Blythe Landry joins us to map the line between privacy and secrecy, and why crossing ...
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Mental Health
Education,
Self-Improvement,
Health & Fitness,
Science,
Social Sciences
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All content for Resilience Development in Action is the property of Steve Bisson and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Send us a text Some conversations ask you to sit up a little straighter. This one asks you to relax your shoulders, tell the truth, and feel what you’ve been carrying. We dive into the messy overlap of trauma and grief in first responder and military cultures, where silence is rewarded and honesty is too often punished, and we share a different path built on authenticity, peer support, and practical skills. Blythe Landry joins us to map the line between privacy and secrecy, and why crossing ...
Show more...
Mental Health
Education,
Self-Improvement,
Health & Fitness,
Science,
Social Sciences
Episodes (20/246)
Resilience Development in Action
E.228 What Happens When We Stop Keeping Pain A Secret
Send us a text Some conversations ask you to sit up a little straighter. This one asks you to relax your shoulders, tell the truth, and feel what you’ve been carrying. We dive into the messy overlap of trauma and grief in first responder and military cultures, where silence is rewarded and honesty is too often punished, and we share a different path built on authenticity, peer support, and practical skills. Blythe Landry joins us to map the line between privacy and secrecy, and why crossing ...
Show more...
6 days ago
50 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E.227 How A Trilingual Clinician Bridges Police, Families, And Mental Health
Send us a text The hardest conversations often happen in the quiet minutes between calls. We sat down with clinician and co-response partner Amanda Rizoli to explore how real support for first responders is built—on language, trust, and the discipline to show up when services are thin and the need is loud. Amanda works alongside the Milford Police Department’s Family Services Unit and partners with Community Impact, Chris’s Corner Recovery Resource Center, and New England Medical Group to cre...
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1 week ago
30 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E. 226 First Responder Burnout: See, Notice, and Stop Strategies
Send us a text In this continued collaboration with Milford TV, we explore how burnout rarely makes a scene—it slips in as irritability, isolation, and the quiet urge to shut out the world. This episode is the conclusion of episode 225 and we open the door on how those whispers grow louder inside the fire service and EMS, why “just call this number” isn’t care, and what it really takes to protect crews before a bad day becomes a disaster. Our guest, Renea Mansfield, shares honest, lived exper...
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2 weeks ago
32 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E.225 Inside the Firehouse: Burnout, Betrayal, and Building Real Leadership
Send us a text Burnout doesn’t just come from the calls—it grows in the silence after, inside a culture that either catches you or drops you. We sit down with Renae, a former firefighter-paramedic who now coaches first responders on burnout recovery and nervous system regulation, to unpack how leadership betrayal, union politics, and the loss of seasoned mentors quietly shape morale, retention, and the quality of care on scene. Renae walks us through two starkly different departments: one wi...
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3 weeks ago
29 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E.224 High-Functioning Doesn't Mean You Don't Need Help
Send us a text How do we treat our physical health versus our mental health? Former London Metropolitan Police officer Jonathan Kemp spent 12 years in law enforcement while battling undiagnosed bipolar disorder, depression, and dyslexia—yet refused to seek professional help until his late 30s. "I was determined to fix myself on my own," Kemp reveals in this powerful conversation. "I saw it as an insult to go and see a doctor. It was a weakness or admission of defeat." This mindset, particula...
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1 month ago
43 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E.223 When Trauma Comes Home: A Therapist's View
Send us a text The weight of trauma doesn't stay at work—it comes home. For first responders, this reality shapes not just their professional lives but transforms family dynamics, relationships, and personal wellbeing in profound ways that most people never see. In this revealing conversation, therapist Erin Sheridan shares her unique perspective as both a mental health professional specializing in first responder care and someone who understands the lifestyle intimately through personal con...
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1 month ago
51 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E.222 Sweating It Out: Fire Boots to Therapy Couch
Send us a text When a fellow firefighter confessed suicidal thoughts to Adam Neff one night at the firehouse, it changed everything. Despite his decades of experience handling emergencies, Adam found himself unprepared for this particular crisis. That moment became the catalyst for his remarkable transition from assistant chief of operations to licensed professional counselor specializing in first responder mental health. During our conversation, Adam reveals the profound disconnect between ...
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1 month ago
1 hour 11 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E.221 From Survival Mode to Sustainable Service: A First Responder's Guide to Wellbeing
Send us a text The weight of caring for others can become unbearable when we forget to care for ourselves. This powerful conversation with Deidre Gestrin, a licensed clinical professional counselor and certified health coach, takes us deep into the reality of burnout among first responders and helping professionals. Deidre shares her profound personal journey through burnout - a harrowing experience that led her doctor to deliver the stark warning: "Your job is killing you." With remarkable ...
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1 month ago
37 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E.220 Not Your Typical Shrinks: Real Talk for Real Heroes
Send us a text Steve Bisson welcomes Bill Dwinnells, a licensed mental health counselor with over 30 years of experience and a background as an EMT, to discuss their joint venture, Gambit Counseling, and its innovative approach to first responder mental health. The conversation explores why traditional mental health services often fall short for first responders. As Dwinnells eloquently explains, "First responders see a very unique slice of American life that the vast majority of people know...
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2 months ago
40 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E.219 The IAFF Center of Excellence: A Lifeline for Firefighters in Crisis
Send us a text The IAFF Center of Excellence stands as a sanctuary for firefighters navigating the complex terrain of mental health challenges. In this revealing conversation with Hannah Elmore, Clinical Outreach Coordinator, we explore how this specialized treatment facility has become a lifeline for nearly 4,000 firefighters across North America. Hannah takes us behind the scenes of this unique 15-acre campus in Maryland, explaining how every aspect—from the station house-style sleeping qu...
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2 months ago
36 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E.218 Behind the Scenes at the IAFF Center of Excellence with Hannah Elmore
Send us a text In this powerful conversation, Hannah Elmore, Senior Clinical Outreach Coordinator for the IAFF Center of Excellence, reveals the critical role of culturally competent care in supporting firefighter mental health. Drawing from her extensive background in clinical social work and deep immersion in fire service culture, Hannah illuminates the often-overlooked nuances of how mental health challenges uniquely manifest in first responders. The discussion takes us behind the curtain...
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2 months ago
35 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E.217 Bouncing Back: A Cop and Counselor Spill Their Marriage Tea
Send us a text What happens when a police officer and a counselor not only share their professional expertise but also their marriage journey? In this candid, powerful conversation, Ashley and Dustin Wright bring a unique dual perspective to the challenges facing first responder marriages. Marriage requires resilience for everyone, but for those in law enforcement, the stakes are particularly high. "Resiliency in law enforcement is super important," explains Dustin, "because we're going to h...
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2 months ago
28 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E.216 Building Resilience as First Responder Couples: Lessons from Dustin and Ashley Wright
Send us a text What happens when a police sergeant and a therapist build a life together? Dustin and Ashley Wright open up about their 13-year journey as a first responder couple in this vulnerable and insightful conversation that challenges conventional thinking about trauma, communication, and resilience. The conversation takes an unexpected turn when Dustin shares how a seemingly routine cardiac arrest call triggered a trauma response that affected his intimate relationship with Ashley. T...
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3 months ago
36 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E.215 From Fear to Connection: How Men Heal Through Community
Send us a text What happens when men are finally given permission to explore their full emotional range? In this eye-opening conversation that concludes episode 212 with Lee Povey, we delve into the hidden emotional landscapes that many men navigate alone, often without the tools or language to understand their experiences. The discussion challenges fundamental misconceptions about emotions, particularly for men. "There is no negative emotion," Lee explains. "An emotion is just telling you a...
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3 months ago
40 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E.214 Behind the Badge: Cultural Competency in First Responder Therapy
Send us a text What happens when a first responder walks into a therapist's office and shares a traumatic experience so dark that the therapist needs "a few minutes" before responding? For most first responders, this confirms their worst fear: no one can handle their reality. That's why cultural competency isn't just helpful—it's essential. In this powerful conversation with the founding members of "Behind the Badge and Beyond," we explore the critical importance of specialized mental health...
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3 months ago
52 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E.213 Finding Strength Through Relationships: Lessons From Five Decades
Send us a text Turning fifty isn't just about crossing an age threshold—it's about recognizing the human connections that build resilience throughout a lifetime. In this deeply personal episode, therapist Steve Bisson reflects on the relationships that have shaped his capacity for strength, growth, and recovery across five decades. Steve begins by honoring his parents, whose contrasting yet complementary influences established his foundation. His father, who lacked a paternal role model yet ...
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3 months ago
20 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E.212 Beyond the Hero Complex: How Learning to Ask for Help Transforms Men's Lives
Send us a text What does authentic masculinity look like in a world that teaches boys to hide their emotions from an early age? Leadership coach Lee Povey takes us on his transformative journey from needing to be the hero in every relationship to discovering the profound power of vulnerability. Growing up with a narcissistic father who saw Lee's achievements only as extensions of himself left him with a deep question that persists even at 52 years old: what does it really mean to be a man? H...
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3 months ago
33 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E.211 Grief Never Ends: Navigating Trauma in First Responder Life
Send us a text Gordon Brewer, a licensed marriage and family therapist with over 25 years of experience, joins Steve to unpack the complex relationship between trauma, grief, and emotional resilience in the first responder community. Their conversation touches on a critical but often overlooked barrier to mental health care—the fear that therapists can't handle the horrific realities first responders face daily. "Sometimes people forget about how trauma manifests in different ways," Gordon e...
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4 months ago
31 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E.210 The Mental Men Return: Exploring Life After Career
Send us a text What happens when your career ends but your life continues? The Mental Men, Andy Kang, Pat Rice, Chris Gordon, Dennis Sweeney, and Bob Cherney return in this deeply personal exploration of retirement, identity, and finding purpose beyond the job that defined you. Bob Cherney, recently retired after decades as a therapist, shares his raw experience of waking up each morning still feeling "there's supposed to be stuff I'm supposed to do." This sentiment resonates powerfull...
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4 months ago
52 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
E.209 Goats, Firefighters, and Philosophy: Becky Schmooke's Unconventional Path
Send us a text Strength isn't the absence of weakness—it's how we transform our challenges into growth. In this riveting conversation with leadership coach and author Becky Schmooke, we explore stoic philosophy as a misunderstood yet powerful tool for navigating life's inevitable obstacles. Becky shares her personal journey of using stoicism to overcome a twenty-year battle with bulimia, developing the STOA framework (Success, Targets, Obstacles/Opportunities, Action steps) that now helps ev...
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4 months ago
45 minutes

Resilience Development in Action
Send us a text Some conversations ask you to sit up a little straighter. This one asks you to relax your shoulders, tell the truth, and feel what you’ve been carrying. We dive into the messy overlap of trauma and grief in first responder and military cultures, where silence is rewarded and honesty is too often punished, and we share a different path built on authenticity, peer support, and practical skills. Blythe Landry joins us to map the line between privacy and secrecy, and why crossing ...