Behind The Shield

James Geering
  • 4.9 (656)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Semiweekly

Bringing the greatest minds in mental and physical wellness to the men and women who serve our communities.

  1. Mitch Dryer (Surviving a Near Fatal Fire, Adaptive Athletes and the Burn Injured Community) - Episode 1

    1d ago ·  Bonus

    Mitch Dryer (Surviving a Near Fatal Fire, Adaptive Athletes and the Burn Injured Community) - Episode 1

    Mitch Dryer was a Firefighter for the City of Oneida, NY and also a member of the New York State Air National Guard, 174th Fighter Wing at Hancock Field, Syracuse, NY. His brief career included a 2006 deployment, taking part in Operation Iraqi Freedom. On April 22, 2007 he was injured when responding to a structure fire, in which the roof collapsed, causing 3rd & 4th degree burns over 20% of his body. These injuries resulted in the amputation of his right arm. Today Mitch lives in Crested Butte, CO with his wife Aimee and their twins Daniel and Emeri. They enjoy skiing, hiking and climbing together. Mitch also volunteers with the Adaptive Sports Center and is a peer supporter for the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors. Mitch has completed the Washington, D.C. Fire Fighters Burn Foundation's Burn Awareness Program, "It Happened in Seconds." He has shared his story around the country at FDIC, with the Burn Prevention Network (PA) and several Fire Departments across New York State.Mitch Dryer was a Firefighter for the City of Oneida, NY and also a member of the New York State Air National Guard, 174th Fighter Wing at Hancock Field, Syracuse, NY. His brief career included a 2006 deployment, taking part in Operation Iraqi Freedom. On April 22, 2007 he was injured when responding to a structure fire, in which the roof collapsed, causing 3rd & 4th degree burns over 20% of his body. These injuries resulted in the amputation of his right arm. Today Mitch lives in Crested Butte, CO with his wife Aimee and their twins Daniel and Emeri. They enjoy skiing, hiking and climbing together. Mitch also volunteers with the Adaptive Sports Center and is a peer supporter for the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors. Mitch has completed the Washington, D.C. Fire Fighters Burn Foundation's Burn Awareness Program, "It Happened in Seconds." He has shared his story around the country at FDIC, with the Burn Prevention Network (PA) and several Fire Departments across New York State.

    1h 27m
  2. Tara Cornett (Firefighter Decon, the Cancer Epidemic and the True Cost of War) - Episode 1262

    4d ago

    Tara Cornett (Firefighter Decon, the Cancer Epidemic and the True Cost of War) - Episode 1262

    Tara is the Founder of FLAME Natural Decon. She is also a Navy Veteran and the sister of a San Diego firefighter. Tara founded FLAME when she realized there was a need for a product developed specifically for firefighter personal decon. After a year of extensive R&D, Tara launched FLAME in 2020 with their bar of Soap and Shampoo + Body Wash and since then she’s developed decon Hand Soap, Laundry Detergent, and Shave Soap. The power behind FLAME’s products is their proprietary blend of activated charcoal, which removes the smoke smell and carcinogens so they’re no longer detectable on the skin. Tara’s passionate about working with firefighters to reduce their risk, so they can have long, healthy careers and be around for their families. https://flamedecon.com/

    1h 15m
  3. Tom Beaver (SAS Selection, Training the Tactical Athlete and Fitness in Austere Environments) - Episode 477

    5d ago ·  Bonus

    Tom Beaver (SAS Selection, Training the Tactical Athlete and Fitness in Austere Environments) - Episode 477

    Tom Beaver is an elite endurance athlete, welder and the founder of BeaverFit. We discuss farm life, bridge building, SAS selection, creating strength and conditioning equipment elite tactical athletes, bringing solutions to strength and conditioning space challenges, his incredible endurance feats, rhinos and so much more. Tom has always had a passion for exercise. He has competed in some of the world’s most difficult and challenging ultra-distance foot races and triathlons from the Sahara Desert to the streets of Paris, motivated by endurance, distance and discovery. Having been brought up in the family bridge building business, Tom is an experienced welder and metal worker with a passion for pushing the limits of fitness. Initially building a few bits of functional exercise equipment to help him work out on the farm, he found himself with the opportunity to create a functional training rig for the British Army. The success of the first commander training rig lead to more requests and BeaverFit was born. https://beaverfiteu.com/

    1h 10m
  4. Tyler Grey (Hostage Rescues, Veteran Mental Health and the Industrial Military Complex) - Episode 1261

    6d ago

    Tyler Grey (Hostage Rescues, Veteran Mental Health and the Industrial Military Complex) - Episode 1261

    Tyler Grey spent the better part of a decade operating in environments most people will never see. As a member of Delta Force, a US Tier 1 military unit, he deployed multiple times during the War on Terror. On a night raid in Sadr City, Iraq, an IED explosion left him approximately twenty seconds from bleeding out. He survived, by what came after the survival was harder. The recovery involved years of surgeries, chronic pain, and an addiction to the medication prescribed to manage it. Tyler has spoken about that period with the kind of honesty that is rare in any industry, and especially rare in his. He didn’t frame it as weakness. He framed it as data. Information about what happens when the environment that built you disappears and leaves a gap nothing else is designed to fill. That insight became the foundation of LTSD, Lack of Traumatic Stress Disorder, a theory Tyler developed to explain something that traditional PTSD frameworks consistently miss: that for many warriors, the struggle isn’t caused by a specific event. It’s caused by the absence of the environment they were neurologically shaped to operate inside. Calm feels wrong. Chaos feels like home. Today, Tyler is the founder and president of Saberdyne Systems, a Purple Heart recipient, a speaker on veterans’ mental health, and the author of Forged in Chaos: A Warrior’s Origin Story, co-written with Lauren Ungeldi and published by Knox Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. He has also spent years in Hollywood as a military technical advisor, producer, actor, and director, with seven seasons on the CBS and Paramount+ series SEAL Team and work on productions including The Gray Man and Suicide Squad. Tyler chose to be what he calls Patient Zero: someone who battles his own trauma publicly, so that fellow warriors can see it is possible to come through it. That same philosophy drives Saberdyne Systems. No pretense, no unnecessary steps. Build the thing that actually works. https://saberdynesystems.com/

    2h 14m
  5. Justin Eaton (Hollywood Stunts, Martial Arts and the Future of Movie Making) - Episode 1260

    Jun 30

    Justin Eaton (Hollywood Stunts, Martial Arts and the Future of Movie Making) - Episode 1260

    Justin Eaton was born in Lawrence, MA. After years of Gymnastics and Martial Arts Justin found himself doing live shows out of Southern California and in the early 2000’s got introduced to the idea that “stunts could be a real job”. Since then he has managed to double for some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt to name a few. Spending over half of a 20 year career doubling for on screen super hero’s like Daredevil, Punisher & Captain America has given a unique experience and perspective. Justin hopes to continue to make films and tv shows that inspire.

    2h 49m
  6. John Nittolo (School Nutrition, Childhood Obesity and Restoring Physical Education in Schools) - Episode 1259

    Jun 28

    John Nittolo (School Nutrition, Childhood Obesity and Restoring Physical Education in Schools) - Episode 1259

    John Nittolo has spent 31 years inside public education proving a thesis most of the field only theorizes about: that healthy bodies and disciplined minds aren’t enrichment — they’re the foundation everything else is built on. He has served at nearly every level of a school system along the way — classroom teacher; Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment; Director of Personnel and Staff Development; Director of Early Childhood Education; Principal; and Superintendent — a breadth of vantage few in the field ever earn. As Superintendent-Principal of Oxford Central School District in Warren County, New Jersey, he led a small PreK–8 district to two distinctions unmatched anywhere in American public education — the nation’s first STSI (Systems Thinking Standards Institute)–certified public school, and the world’s first school-based MetFix affiliate. Under his leadership, systems thinking became not a program but the cognitive architecture of the school, and metabolic health became the precondition for learning rather than an afterthought. Working in close partnership with Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera and the Cabrera Research Lab on the systems-thinking side, and with Emily Kaplan and the MetFix / Broken Science Initiative team on the metabolic-health side, he built an innovation ecosystem years before the frameworks existed to name it — and his former school district became the only traditional public school featured in the award-winning RE:Thinking documentary. His influence now reaches well beyond his district: formal comment shaping New Jersey’s State Learning Standards, an election as Vice President of Education of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, and his forthcoming book, STOLEN FIRE: A Manifesto on Thinking, Thumos, Education, and the Future of the American Mind. A Professional Systems Thinker, CrossFit Level 1 coach, and Architect of MetFix School Programs, with a Master’s in Educational Leadership, John works from a single conviction: that the purpose of education is to create the best version of every child. As he steps beyond the superintendency, he carries that conviction outward — to every school, every family, and every community willing to build it. https://www.instagram.com/themetfixsuperintendent/

    2h 1m
  7. Jeffrey Schwartz (School Safety, Use of Force and First Responder Burnout) - Episode 1258

    Jun 27

    Jeffrey Schwartz (School Safety, Use of Force and First Responder Burnout) - Episode 1258

    Jeffrey L. Schwartz is a University Professor in Criminal Justice. Dr. Schwartz has numerous certifications and ongoing practical experience in the law enforcement and security field. He is a retired police officer, served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, a former Department of Defense contractor as a manager of a guard force and instructor, an approved trainer with the Federal Protective Service, the General Services Administration, the Department of Defense, the National Rifle Association (both as a civilian training counselor and as a law enforcement division instructor), the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, and has been certified by the New Jersey Police Training Commission as an instructor since 1989, teaching at police academies and in service training. A certified lethal weapons instructor (including baton, handcuffing, defensive tactics, and firearms) for the Pennsylvania State Police and an instructor for the Delaware State Police (baton, handcuffing, pepper spray, firearms). Professor Schwartz is a recognized firearms instructor for the New Jersey State Police (NJSP) and Maryland State Police (MSP) and the Department of State. Dr. Schwartz has taught martial arts for over thirty-five years. He has authored three books and has spoken at numerous conferences. Dr. Schwartz has been the director of training for a close protection detail for a billionaire, is a recognized court expert and has taught hundreds of instructors, trained countless basic users in baton, pepper spray, handcuffing, self-defense, low light tactics, firearms, executive protection, and take down techniques. Professor Schwartz is a subject matter expert in terrorism, use of force, supervision, and tactical training. Professor Schwartz is an instructor trainer in pepper spray, handcuffing, baton, defensive tactics, and firearms. He is a private detective, Delaware security instructor, and a Pennsylvania Lethal Weapons instructor in academic, skills and firearms. He has instructed at various police academies, security training academies, consulted with public and private schools, as well as, consulted with numerous private businesses on safety and security. Further, Dr. Schwartz is an instructor trainer in many facets of trauma, first aid, CPR, AED, and emergency response. Dr. Schwartz also is a concealed carry instructor for Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and many other states. Dr. Schwartz has been awarded by the college and university, being recognized by the law and justice department and the honor society. He is the only professor to have received the college Excellence in Teaching and Excellence in Service awards, the distinguished alumni award, the Gamma Phi Excellence in Law Enforcement award, the university Joseph Barnes Excellence in Service award, and is this years inductee in the Law and Justice Hall of Fame.

    1h 41m
  8. Tim and Angela Houweling II (How Psychedelics are Saving First Responder Lives) - Episode 1257

    Jun 26

    Tim and Angela Houweling II (How Psychedelics are Saving First Responder Lives) - Episode 1257

    Tim Houweling and Angela Graham-Houweling are two firefighters with almost 40 years of experience combined in emergency services including Fire, EMS, and Search & Rescue. They have witnessed firsthand the growing mental health challenges faced by first responders. Over the years, they have lost several friends and family members to depression and PTSD. After navigating their own mental health journeys, they felt compelled to create a path to support others. Angela Graham. is the Co-Founder of The S.I.R.E.N. Project. IShe was a Firefighter/Engineer/HAZMAT Spec. for almost 20 years with Santa Clara County Fire Dept. in Silicon Valley. Prior to that she was a D1 & professional softball pitcher. She has a loving husband, who is a Fire Capt., and a 7-year-old son. For the first five years of her son's life she was a single mother. For years she struggled with mental health trying every modality available. A friend of hers, who happened to be a special forces operator, connected her to providers of Entheogenic Medicines. It completely changed her life. The change was so profound that Angela and her husband decided to start The S.I.R.E.N. Project to make these medicines available to all First Responders and their Spouses. Tim Houweling works as a Fire Captain, Paramedic, and Hazmat Technician on a Type 1 Heavy Rescue for a San Francisco Bay Area Fire Department. Tim has also been a professional dog trainer since 2004. Tim is also co-founder of the S.I.R.E.N Project which helps first responders access sacred medicine served by indigenous people. Tim began his career with search and rescue dogs in 2005 and has certified six dogs: Deuce, Tater, Georgie, Charley, Carl and Rory in various disciplines from wilderness area search to US&R live-find and human remains detection. He is the Canine Coordinator and a Canine Search Specialist with one of the 28 FEMA Urban Search & Rescue teams in the United States. In that role, he has deployed eighteen times to various US&R environments including post-fire searches, debris flows, floods, explosions, and hurricanes. He is also a member of the canine component of the Yosemite Search and Rescue team (“YODOGS”). In addition to being a Canine Search Specialist, Tim is qualified as a Search Team Manager, Technical Search Specialist, Rescue Specialist, and Finance Specialist. He is a FEMA Evaluator and FEMA instructor. He has served on the Board of Directors of the California Rescue Dog Association, which has the most search wilderness dogs in the United States. He founded a non-profit, HD Search Dog Fund, Inc., that provides training and gear to our nation’s search and rescue dogs. He graduated with a Master’s Degree in Extension Studies/History from Harvard University with his thesis on “The Origin and Evolution of Search and Rescue Dogs in California.” He also serves on the Board of Directors of First Responder Therapy Dogs, Inc., and is on the Executive Board of his local IAFF Union. In addition, he is passionate about improving first responder mental health. With his wife Angela, he co-founded The S.I.R.E.N. Project to help first responders access sacred medicine served by indigenous people (www.thesirenproject.org). These medicines have proven more effective than western medicines in treating post-traumatic stress injury (PTSI.) https://www.thesirenproject.org/news-events/announcement-the-415-gala-september-2026

    55 min
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4.9
out of 5
656 Ratings

About

Bringing the greatest minds in mental and physical wellness to the men and women who serve our communities.

Information

  • Creator
    James Geering
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2026
  • Episodes
    1K
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    Behind The Shield

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