The Firefighter Deconstructed Christy Warren

Gary Hayes comes to us all the way from the United Kingdom! He is the Co-Founder of PTSD999, a charity organization that raises money to provide therapy and services for first responders. They also provide training to help educate and spread the word that PTSD is real and can affect anyone. He is a former police officer and constable in London, United Kingdom and he was a member of the 3rd Battalion Royal Green Jackets. He was a semi-pro football player. After spending most of his life being a “roughy toughy bloke”, the years of trauma began to add up and brought him within inches of taking his own life. Now he shares his story with his fellow officers and first responders and works his butt off to help those who are struggling. Gary is an amazing man who you don’t want to miss. 

PTSD999
Gary Hayes on LinkedIn
Gary Hayes on IG

This episode is with the amazing Nicki Impastato! Nicki and I sit down and talk about her life working as a dispatcher while raising two kids with her Battalion Chief husband. And then we talk about doing all this while struggling with PTSD. Nicki also worked in a system that didn’t know what to do with her when she started struggling. She says, “There was something seriously wrong with me, and they knew about it, and nobody took care of me.” We so often depend on those around us to point out that we are struggling because sometimes we cannot see what is going on around us when we are just trying to survive. Nicki also talks about finding a life and purpose after a long career as a dispatcher. One place she landed was in an equine therapy program called Zenerosity and she became an equine specialist. This woman is truly amazing - I promise you will feel better about everything after listening to her.

nickii@me.com
Zenerosity Equine Therapy
Christy's article about Equine Therapy at Zenerosity
Christy's Website and Link to book Flash Point: A Firefighter's Journey Through PTSD

Veteran firefighter Egan DeLosCobos sits down with the firefighter deconstructed and talks about how the body holds on to stress and what happens to our bodies if we don’t deal with it. Egan and his 3 year old son somehow survived a crazy car accident and although they both walked away with only a few bumps and bruises, the stress of it all ended up attacking Egan’s body. After going round and round with doctors, he finally learned that the key to becoming healthy again was to deal with his PTSD. Using everything he’s learned, he is now a wellness coach making incredible impacts in people’s lives.

@eganfirstwellness (Instagram)
www.firstwellnesshealth.com (Website)
@EganFirstWellnessHealthCoach (YouTube)

Pirate to stuntman to paramedic/firefighter to podcaster and back to stuntman. He’s traveled and worked around the world. He saw the fire culture's damaging effects on its members and that with becoming a single parent, he decided to choose his son over finishing his career. I find this very brave as so many of us say we would choose our family/kids over anything in the world, being a firefighter fulfills a deep need we have that the fear of leaving the job is too overwhelming. I remember wondering who in the hell leaves this job by choice? It’s almost like I didn’t even know that was possible. James shows what a firefighter who grew up learning good coping skills looks like versus those of us who grew up just trying to survive as a kid and are still currently using coping mechanisms that just don’t serve us anymore as adults. We talk about sleep deprivation, and what the fire service needs to do to make us healthier and have better longevity on the job.
jamesgeering.com
Behind The Shield Podcast
One More Light By James Geering

Josh and Olivia sit back down with the Firefighter Deconstructed and talk about having to put their marriage and their lives back together for the second time and why they are so much stronger because of it. This episode embodies how marriage really is about two imperfect people who refuse to give up on each other. The insights they share are inspiring and applicable to everyone's lives and relationships. Below are links to each of their previous episodes on this show and tell the back story of this episode. I HIGHLY recommend listening to these episodes also. But you don't need to understand this episode.

Josh first episode
Olivia first episode

Front Line Strong Together - First responder 24/7 Crisis line

Rob Weisberg is a volunteer firefighter in the state of NY. He happened to work across the street from the World Trade Center. When the Towers were hit, he made his way to a nearby fire station and offered his help. He ended up managing a fire station packed full of the injured and lost. Rob developed PTSD and after realizing how much his, “…family took it on the chin,” he decided to do something about it. He took on a mission of hiking the Appalachian Trail by himself. Rob shares with us his incredible “behind the scenes” story at 9/11 and his own personal aftermath. He also tells his incredibly and healing journey on the Appalachian trail. This one is a must listen, all the way to the end. And after, check out his incredible pictures of this journey on his facebook page listed below.

www.facebook.com/RobWeisbergAppalachianTrailHike
rgw164@outlook.com
pawsofwar.org