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United States of PTSD
Season One: Mental health concerns are on the rise in the United States. This podcast will look at the influencing factors contributing to the decline of our culture. With the rise of school shootings, political divisiveness, increasing levels of hate, and a chronic war of peoples' rights, we have entered a domestic war that never ends. Our podcast will look at whether this is done by design or is it an abject failure. We will discuss it from a clinical and common-sense perspective. Secondarily we will discuss ways to protect yourself from being further traumatized. Hosted by Matthew Boucher LICSW LCDP (licensed in RI) who has over 20 years of experience working with people who have addictions and trauma with a specialty of pregnant/postpartum women. Co-host Wendy Picard is a Learning and Development consultant with 15 years of experience, lifelong observer of the human condition, and diagnosed with PTSD in 1994.
Season Two: Is joined by Donna Gaudette and Julia Kirkpatrick BSW. Julia is currently working on obtaining her MSW and her LCSW. She is a welcome addition to the podcast.
Season Three: Cora Lee Kennedy provided research and worked as a temporary co-host. Dr. Erika Lin-Hendel joins as a co-host for season 3.
United States of PTSD
S 3 E:10 Walking Across Canada for Mental Health Change
Chad Kennedy's journey from trauma to transformation sheds light on mental health challenges faced by first responders and veterans. Through his Sea to Sea for PTSD initiative, he shares insights into finding the right therapy, the importance of connection, and the power of community in navigating mental health struggles.
• Chad shares his background and battle with PTSD
• The necessity of trauma-informed therapy and finding a good match
• Importance of connection and relationship in therapy for healing
• Effects of cumulative trauma among first responders
• Key strategies for advocating for personal mental health needs
• Sea to Sea for PTSD initiative: walking across Canada for awareness
• Insights on the stigma surrounding mental health and addiction
• A call to support and elevate conversations around mental health
If you'd like to support Sea to Sea for PTSD, please consider donating through their website to help raise awareness and provide resources for those struggling.
https://www.seatoseaforptsd.ca/
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/hartzmann/no-time-to-die
License code: S4CEQWLNQXVZUMU4
Artwork and logo design by Misty Rae.
Special thanks to Joanna Roux for editing help.
Special thanks to the listeners and all the wonderful people who helped listen to and provide feedback on the episode's prerelease.
Please feel free to email Matt topics or suggestions, questions or feedback.
Matt@unitedstatesofPTSD.com
This podcast is not intended to serve as therapeutic advice or to replace any professional treatment. These opinions belong to us and do not reflect any company or agency. Hello everybody, and welcome back to another episode of the United States of PTSD. This is Matt, and I have a guest speaker with me today Chad Kennedy. Chad, you are from Canada. I am Great white. North, you are the second Canadian I've had on the show, so welcome, well, awesome. North, you are the second Canadian I've had on the show, so welcome, well, awesome. And you have an organization that I really want you to talk about. It's called C2C for PTSD, correct? Yes, so can you talk about what that is and how it came about?
Speaker 2:Sure, I'll go all the way back to 1991. I'm a Canadian Armed Forces veteran. Yeah, I played around a lot in the world with different career choices. After I left the Armed Forces in 92. 2004, I got into law enforcement so followed my dad's footsteps in the law enforcement world Dad, I know it's pretty exciting down your way was a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman, so the big Mountie and the Red Surge. I did eight years as an auxiliary constable with the RCMP and then found my niche in the Alberta Sheriff Highway Patrol, which you know we'll leave it easy terms kind of like the state troopers. So provincially, we're out on the highway making lots of friends. Obviously, 2018, after accumulated traumas, I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, continued to work after receiving some therapy. That was not a good fit for me. It was not trauma-informed therapy, so I continued doing my position with the Highway.
Speaker 1:Patrol Chad. Can I just jump in right there, because I saw that on your website you had said that you had intensive therapy with it sounds like a couple of different providers, and because you brought up trauma-informed care, and I'm a huge proponent of trauma-informed care. One of the things I've noticed and I don't know if this is your experience is that it has, on some level, become a buzzword where people are all just saying they're practicing trauma-informed care but they're really not. So can you tell me a little bit about what, before you finish the story, like what that part was like for you?
Speaker 2:Well, initially, I think, like most of us and most of us that get scared away from visiting a psychologist we don't know what a fit is. We go to a psychologist expecting help for what we are going through A lot of psychologists that don't do the trauma, the trauma portion that is fitted for us veterans and first responders. So my therapy I think three sessions before I got scared was all about my upbringing. You know what was life like when you were three years old. Well, dude, I'm one of those generational people. I survived the wooden spoon. I survived getting screamed at and spanked when I stepped out of line. So there was, you know, even when I brought up the fact I'm here to deal with the traumas that I have faced on our highways and the messes I've had to clean up when I get into my real healing journey, and I was asked by our workers' compensation board up here, what kind of help would you like? And I just threw it out there, I need to deal with somebody who has dealt with first responders and our veterans, so somebody who's familiar with trauma and that you know.
Speaker 2:I think when you ask specifically, the universe works in mysterious ways. There's actually people out there that practice this trauma stuff. They may have never gone through the traumas that we have, but they know what the f*** they're doing. I've called it witchcraft, I've called it sorcery, I've called it magic, but it's that stuff. That geez would be a foreign language to anybody else. You know you go into EMDR ketamine. Ketamine is becoming a big thing up here.
Speaker 2:Exposure therapy I had no idea what exposure therapy was. It really sucks, but it really helps you out. So there's all these weird magical formulas that people are becoming educated in. You know and I talk to a lot of people if you're not sure if your therapy is the right fit for you, don't be afraid to ask questions from somebody who has gone through that stuff and we can say you know this person is like that. You know they're going through from town to town and selling snake oil. You know they want the business. But what are they doing to us? Are they hurting us or are they helping us? And you know, a lot of times the Google knows a lot of things and we can research our therapists and go into detail as to what their credentials are. So it's, unless you can ask for that specifically man, you're probably not going to find it.
Speaker 1:I do want to add one thing to that. Where the research is really strong when it talks about what is really important in terms of clinical connections between a client and a therapist or a social worker or a psychologist, is that it actually doesn't matter what the form of treatment is, as much as it does the relationship between the two. So if somebody is a terrible, terrible therapist but they have a great relationship with the client, the client can actually make significant gains from it. Just like if there is a person who in the book knows every possible theory that there's, that's out there and they know they're very skilled, but they have a terrible relationship.
Speaker 2:There's not going to be a lot of progress, right, it's uh yeah. And exactly what I went through um back in 2018 was just like there's no connection, there's no bond. Um, just dealing with a very cold person and as you go through, when, when you find the right clinicians, that person will remind you or correct you. When I would always say thank you to my clinicians, you know a lot of these clinicians will say no thank you, Because you're putting forth the effort, you're putting in 110%.
Speaker 2:They're our coaches, they, you know we're as much a part of the team as our clinicians are kind of like you know, well, heck, we're going into Super Bowl, so any quarterback has a series of coaches and those coaches and that quarterback have to have that bond to make winning plays. So if you can't find that relationship with your clinicians, that is not a good fit. You need that coach. So it's it's. You know, when you look at everything that you go through and you say, wow, you know I would have never thought, I thought this person's doing all the magic, but really they're just coaching us to put in the work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean you are the. I mean as, as anybody that comes into the office, you are the expert of your own life, so everybody else that comes in is also the expert of their own life. I think what you are talking about is super important because, well, first of all, you leaving and saying this isn't a good fit, that's a skill right there, because a lot of people can't do that. So sometimes they'll stay in in a relationship that they know is not working, because the idea of leaving and finding somebody else can actually be really scary or it can be retraumatizing, and you know you don't. I think the other thing people think is they don't want to go from bad to worse. So if their experience is this person is really bad, I don't want to go get another person, because what if they're even worse than the person before that? So what you did is a really brave and I think it's a testament to really you wanting to get better, because you're saying like, okay, this is not working, I need to find somebody better.
Speaker 2:Right. Oh, even then, you know I was. I was scared, hence continuing work. I got put on medication, I kept going to work and July 18th of 2020, uh, we had a mass casualty.
Speaker 2:Uh, bus crash up at one of our tourist spots in in jasper, alberta. One of these crazy buses with oversized tires goes driving up glaciers and anyways rolled off the side of a mountain. So, as you know, a lot of people can't envision this. You know, when you go across a normal collision scene, you see police cars, you see firefighters, you see ambulances, you see this whole big machine operating to deal with a bad event, but we're up on the side of the mountain. We just happened to. Six of us happened to be in the right place at the right time, but we didn't have fire and medical resources. They were all an hour and 22 minutes away.
Speaker 2:So your grip with not having the tools to do your job. You feel helpless, your job, you feel helpless, yeah, and I can't imagine any worse feeling in life, being out there doing my job, than being helpless. I cannot help somebody, especially when you're dealing with a mass casualty event where, sure, you've got a few fatalities, but the people that are screaming in pain, that are battered and broken. There's no comfort, but they need you to be strong. You're there in uniform and you're safe. You're a safe space for them. Well, shit, that takes a toll. Thankfully, after other emergency services showed up, I was able to leave the scene and set up a staging area for ground ambulance crews and for for our we call it stars up here, our Medi helicopters.
Speaker 2:Um, and wasn't really able to process anything that I had seen and, uh, eventually not being able to talk about things for uh, just about two weeks to the day, um, my PTSD had spiked. Um, I didn't know how to deal with it because I had bad help at the beginning. I wasn't given resources or tools, and that was August 2nd of 2020. I sat in the backyard and got the biggest bottle of Captain Morgan Spice Rum I could grab, got the backyard fire going and developed my suicide plan. Fortunately, my brain kicked into. My dad as a mounted policeman and his complex PTSD and his story of survival and my mom's story of survival hanging in there with him swayed me to say I need to do something more about PTSD. This is stupid. If I die tonight, I didn't, man, I really didn't give a shit about anybody else in my life. I was worried about letting my parents down and in a drunken stupor I went to social media and said I'm going to walk the country to raise awareness of PTSD. And I'm still here telling my story now.
Speaker 1:So I you know I made the right decision so many things come to mind when you, when you talk first. I just wanted to ask one clarifying question first. Okay, and again also thank you for the work that you do. I think with first responders people forget that a uniform doesn't prevent people from getting traumatized and I don't think people really lay people don't have any concept of that. But was that the incident that happened with the bus? Was that the cause of PTSD or was that? Was there already PTSD and that was kind of the added, or was there already PTSD and that was kind of the added.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's one of those great questions in the psych world because 2018 being diagnosed and then just I put on that mask for another two years and just kept going. Was it the bus crash? That was that can of worms two weeks before Christmas, that, that same year, where I avoided a single vehicle collision because I was so I was, I was scared. I'm like what am I going to be seeing? And if I'm there by myself, um, or even with another person, I'm helpless. So I avoided going to something until I knew more help was just seconds out. So it's what was the tipping point? I wish I knew.
Speaker 2:You know that are down there your state troopers, same as up here our traffic members we go to and not to take away from inner city policing and and homicides. Um, but man, every, every shift we're, we're gonna be exposed to something horrible. Um, so many good parts of our job, but there's gonna be those things. So you know I've geez I think it was close to 14 years of just highway patrol work. That just built up inside of me and a lot of things were used to dark humor and think it's funny. You can still joke about certain situations, but those were things that came up in my trauma therapy where you know it really wasn't that funny.
Speaker 1:Right, but humor is certainly a coping skill.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's actually a very good coping skill in many different circumstances. So you probably needed it at that time. And the other thing that resonated with me is, you know, when I talked to Dave Dave had talked on the couple episodes ago Dave had brought up the whole maid program, which I hadn't heard of before. Well, I had heard of it but I didn't know the nuances of it until he told me about it. It was horrifying.
Speaker 1:So I think about you talking about being by this fire and having this suicide plan. Had the MADE program existed at that point in time, you know how that could have really gone a different way. So I'm glad it didn't exist and I'm glad that you were able to talk yourself out of that. Because now what you're doing is providing more information to other people who are in similar situations. And I don't know if you had I don't know if you would listen to some of the previous episodes, but I had a captain, a police captain, talking about very similar circumstances, where he had a critical incident on his job and when he tried to get help for having PTSD and being kind of aware that hey, look, I've got some mental health issues going on, he was punished and now he is, you know. Obviously he has made some great strides and is doing this wonderful program where he is now.
Speaker 1:When we think of Canada, we think of, at least I think, our stereotype of Canada and the United States is that Canada is this like wonderful place where everybody's like super nice and everything is just, you know, fantastic and wonderful. Clearly that's not the case. So is it? Is it the same stigma up there in?
Speaker 2:terms of getting mental health treatment. Absolutely, we, you know, I've I've been honored to have met people from right around the world. It's very eye-opening when you can chat with, you know, a commandant of some elite force in Europe and then you can talk to somebody in australia. You talk to, uh, people I've met in the states and and you think, man, this is, this is a global epidemic we have with mental health. The stigma is the same right around the world and you know, for for a lot of us, you know where I am, in a small community in in uh, southwestern alberta, um. You know every major center I've been to, um every small community I've been through. I'm meeting veterans, active members of of our armed forces, whether the canadian or or us. I'm meeting all these amazing people and the conversations are all the same and they all surround stigma. And so it's there.
Speaker 2:I received a letter, just side note. I received a letter a couple of years ago. I was in Eastern Canada doing my first walk and I had a fellow highway patrol member write me this letter and email it to me stating you know, we've got your back and what you're doing. This is awesome and and the emergency services in my community really support you, but watching what you have gone through with with the Alberta Sheriff Highway Patrol program is we're afraid to ask for help because of the person that was the bully. You know, the manager, not the leader. The manager and the way I was ousted from the department after asking for help and announcing I was going to walk the country. So it's. You know it's the same story, sadly, right across the board, and when I use the slogan or the hashtag Never Alone, it's just to remind people everywhere. You know you're not the only one going through this, you're not the only department with this type of bullying going on and the narcissists that are in that totally wrong position, but it's everywhere.
Speaker 1:You could argue that the narcissists are actually in the right positions. Because I think unfortunately again, I don't know how it is in Canada and I'm glad that we have the chance. I mean, I'm glad that we have the opportunity to talk, not just you and me, but like people across the world, to kind of share stories, because it's super important. But I do think there's a there's a certain amount of profitability in keeping people disenfranchised and sick and it also helps people not band together If you can just keep people more divided. So I mean it's, if you look at big CEOs and companies, a lot of them have personality disorders because that's by design. They want people like that so they can fire you the night before christmas and not feel bad about it.
Speaker 1:But I'm serious I never thought of it like that, so I think that that's all by design, but the so just because I also want the listeners to know. So you're the c2c for ptsd. You walk the country from one side of canada to the other. Yes, to raise mental health awareness. I can't even fathom how long that would of a walk that that would take. Number one Is that months.
Speaker 2:It was, you know, the. We split it the first go around, we split it within two years and, and by mistake, my, the, the fellow that operated my safety vehicle had a medical issue and we had to get him back to Western Canada. So, combined it was 33 and a half weeks. Yeah, and we're going to do the same. Kicking off in April 28th, I'll be out in Eastern Canada and Newfoundland, where do you stay?
Speaker 1:Do you stay at hotels along the way? Stay like how does that work?
Speaker 2:it's all trial and error, man. The first year we were out, we had a motor home with us, uh, along with my tow behind trailer plus our safety truck. Um, so we're, you know, we could camp anywhere, stay on the side of the road, we can hit campgrounds. Uh, 2023, we said, well, what could, what would the cost difference be if we stayed in motels and hotels? Well, shit, that's even more expensive. So, uh, this year, when we we kick off, myself and uh afghan veteran friend of mine, uh, out in eastern canada, we'll be doing a lot of camping, you know, with the truck. I've converted the back of the truck into as cozy it can be bed for Luke, for me, I've got my hammock tent and I've got my tent. If the weather is really bad, I'll sleep in the cab of the truck. So, you know, anything that saves us money is uh, obviously a bonus, um, and then we can get back to uh, some of the programs that uh, we stand beside in Canada here.
Speaker 1:Now, how many people do this Cause? You said we, so I know that there's more than one.
Speaker 2:So, how many people? Yeah, there's our logistics officer, lisa, amazing woman. She is a police dispatcher in Ontario and has been kissed with PTSD, but she, she's amazing. She just shows up in places across the country and spends time walking with us. She is, yeah, she keeps a smile on her face, she keeps us on our toes everything positive and obviously my safety guy. And you know the people that just show up in the middle of nowhere and put in a few steps with us. So it's, it's never a me thing. Few steps with us? So it's, it's never a me thing. The me is, yeah, it's a part of my healing journey.
Speaker 1:But it globally it's a we thing it's.
Speaker 2:I'm just one guy, a pebble in the ocean. I've just I've just jumped into the ocean. There's a ripple going across. How do we keep that ripple going and keeping the conversation going? Start the critical conversations Just keep them rolling.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I 100% agree with you. So to you it sounds like you also do education along the way. Do you stop and talk to people about the impact of PTSD?
Speaker 2:Absolutely Every chance we get, whether it's a fundraising event at one of our legions, or we're stopping in at fire halls, police stations. For a lot of people, it's like I need to go just walk with Chad on the highway because he's a safe place. And it's not about talking mental health. It's, I think, the connection, that there's that PTSD connection. We're not there to talk about our traumas, we're not there to compare traumas. We're just there as a couple of people walking down the highway.
Speaker 2:Hey, what's the weather going to be like? Or let's talk hockey, let's talk football. Let's you know where's good fishing around here. Where's a weather going to be like? Or let's talk hockey, let's talk football. Let's you know where's good fishing around here. Where's a great place to eat? Oh, most importantly, where can I get a good cold pint, because I love having my sips at the end of the day? But it's, you know, for anybody out there that thinks, well, chad's just this great being that's just going to hammer into my head about mental health. No, it's about me being a person and being able to relate. I don't know everybody's battle. I'm not inside your head, but it's you know, certain things I can really relate to. You know isolation, what it's like to lose loved ones, what it's like to lose friends to suicide. You know there's the relation and you know my motto has been from the beginning if I can just help save one soul, my mission is accomplished.
Speaker 1:You brought up isolation and I recently read a study it was particularly for men about how loneliness can be a bigger killer for men than many other things like heart disease and other physical symptoms, because of the impact of it. Now, I don't know what the what the drug world in terms of, like the problems of drugs in canada, is. I think it's pretty, pretty significant, because I remember looking at moving there one time and they were specifically looking for substance abuse counselors. But I know here every year we meet record highs, right. So, like this year, we have a record high amount of overdoses. This year, our homelessness hit an all time higher, suicides hit an all time high, like it. Just it keeps going up, right. So when we provide education about how do we get people to use less drugs, I think the question is why are people using drugs in the first place? Why are people committing suicide? Why is all this happening?
Speaker 1:And you know I don't know how much you follow politics here, but I saw Bernie Sanders is trying to. He was he was trying to pass a bill about putting warning labels on foods that are really bad for you. So if they you know they're high in cholesterol, there'll be a warning label that'll say something about you know this, this is linked to heart disease or you know whatever. And you know, if you look at it from a really superficial point of view, it's like, okay, that's really great. But if you actually do some critical thinking, okay, it didn't work with cigarettes, it didn't work with alcohol, it didn't work with the DARE program, it didn't work with Just any of these kind of like information programs that we're using. So why are we doing it again? Why is an educated person putting through a bill that we know historically is never going to work because he's not going after the food companies? Right, right, and that's and that's so. I would imagine Canada is very similar. Right in terms of keeping the people oppressed and then kind of blaming them for it.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, you know, I think really the only thing that separates us is that invisible line. Man, we're all on the same chunk of land and we're going through the same shit. And you know what, to me, a lot of it is. It's quite comical, it's you know. You pick up a package anywhere. It's like, okay, now we've got this in three different languages, but I can't read any of it because the warning label on it and everything's broken down into nutrients and oh, if you really want to know, here's the negative side effects to this product. It's like, my god, people, I want to go buy a vacuum. I, you know, I smoke cigarettes. I we've got all these funky pictures on our cigarette packs now of I'm like these are like trading cards. So you know, yeah, I knew the risk when I was 11 years old and I started smoking cigarettes.
Speaker 1:I know the risk now, at my old, wiser age and yeah, I, you know I joke, I joke about I think I said this in another episode in my town is a very small town. We have about 1,400 people. The only functioning business we have is a liquor store. Because, of course we do, because that's just. You can tell people. If you look at very poor communities, you can tell them all these foods are really bad for you. But then if you make the foods cost prohibitive that are good and then you give them incentives to eat garbage, you know of course they're going to eat the garbage and then you're going to blame them for it. Right, like it's just. I don't know.
Speaker 2:That is, and sorry to cut you off that. Watching the trends up here, where, like our grocery prices now are are astronomical, like to go buy a fricking cucumber. You're talking three bucks, and then I go to the chip aisle. Well, it's three bags for five. Oh, look, there's a sale on a case of of soda pop.
Speaker 1:Well shit, I'm gonna live off potato chips and soda pop yep, and it doesn't matter if the person knows that they're not good, because it's all about like what you can afford and not being hungry. That's right yeah.
Speaker 2:So what are we doing? I think everything is so backwards, but hey, I don't know, maybe that'll be one of my walk campaigns, is you know? Let's start talking about making healthy food affordable, and I don't know, it's one of those things. You know, if we went for a beer, we could resolve all the world's issues in an hour, and? But does anybody really want that?
Speaker 1:I don't know. Well, that's not profitable. No, it's not. We have to keep it where we have to keep it profitable. In terms of stigma, I'm curious because here in the the states, we have a tendency to vilify police officers and only focus on the bad ones. And of course, there's bad in every job, right, there's bad therapists, there's bad teachers, there's bad everything. But we hyper focus on how you know those bad cops and we make it like all cops are bad. Yeah, is that the same in canada?
Speaker 2:yeah, is it during this? Uh, the whole covid situation, um, right around that time, um, black lives matter really started hitting the waves, the airwaves, social media, mainstream media. Man I would. I worked in in the one of the busiest tourist places in Canada in Banff National Park. I'd stop a speeder I can't see, who is driving a car at Mach speed down the highway. I approach the vehicle and I've got a camera in my face. I'm like, hey, sheriff Kennedy, alberta Highway Patrol, I stopped you for speeding. May I please see your documents?
Speaker 2:And and it's like people were just like I don't know if that was that sigh of relief or they're disappointed because they're not getting me in a bad moment. I'm like, what you know? When I ask people what, what is this about? And if it's coming from a non-caucasian person, it's like, well, like don't you watch what's going on in the States? Like no, I don't watch what's going on in the States because they take one bad incident and paint everybody with the same brush. That's not fair. Me as a human being, that's not fair. And quite bluntly I tell people I'm colorblind, I love you because you're a human being. I don't judge based on anything else. So if we all just get along, but yeah, it was moments. You know, you think, man, this guy literally blew my car doors off while I'm in a marked vehicle. What is this about? And you stop them? They're trying to instigate a negative experience so they can put it on whatever social media platform they wish, and it's quite unfortunate. We've got this CopWatch Canada now on.
Speaker 1:I don't know if it's TikTok or wherever the hell it is, but it's people uploading a negative experience and, of course, like everything, they're not posting the whole story right and it's right, of course or they're intentionally creating a negative experience, like they're going out of their way to put somebody in a bad position so that they're going to respond to it because it gets hits and it gets reviews and people like it and you know that that negative stuff sells. We have here and I'm sorry I'm again, I'm sure it's the same in canada I'm amazed by the amount of selective outrage that people have. So, as you know, with the whole dei thing that's happening here or you may not know about that, but you know they're overturning dei and trying to get rid of dei and programs. So the diversity and equity, the amount of people who are angry about that but never said anything about the fact that we've been funding an ongoing genocide for an oh, I don't know an entire year, drives me nuts because it's like, okay, you're, you're complaining about diversity and equity not being a thing, but you're willing to have your tax dollars go kill people in a different country for ethnic cleansing.
Speaker 1:But somehow the two of those are different. Like I'm not sure about it and it baffles me because it's like you can't be selectively outraged about one particular thing. You know, if you're really about human rights, then you're about human rights across the board. Yeah, you're not just about human rights here, because it just happens to be something that may affect you as opposed to something that is not affecting you. Right, and it drives me nuts. I'm sure it's the same up there, right?
Speaker 2:You know, if we didn't have people like that in the world, the world would be a very boring place. So, you know, I I like most people I scroll through social media and I'm like what is this even about? Why are we angry about something that is totally out of our control? You know, accept it, Radical acceptance. You'll hear that in the mental health world. Just accept this is out of your control. What is going, you know it's Well, I think that.
Speaker 1:I think the real frustrating part, though, is the people who are barking the loudest are the ones who are actually doing nothing. So, for example, like you're walking in the country, right, or you know, there are people who I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've contacted my congressman and senator and written letters and all of that stuff and done podcasts about it and educated people at the institution I teach at, but I'm not barking all over the place right on social media, and these people who are barking it's like well, what are you doing about it? And there's this perception that somehow fighting hate with hate is somehow going to be a great idea. Well, that's how we got to. This problem in the first place is because people just continue to get divided by hating each other, versus saying okay, I don't understand you and I really want to understand you, so can you tell me about what you need? And then I can tell you what, what I need. But that just doesn't happen anymore no, no, it's.
Speaker 2:Uh, you know the the amazing world of technology and and who can start the biggest shitstorm sitting behind a computer. I call them keyboard cowards, you know. You go to any social media platform and all the negativity is like okay, well, where I'm from, I don't make money off how many likes and views I get on my platform, so I really don't make money off how many likes and views I get on my platform, so I really don't care. But if you're promoting hate to benefit off other people, I think that's horrible.
Speaker 1:Well, all it does is divide people further too. It just creates a bigger rift.
Speaker 2:And you look at the wars going on in this world, it's like why you know what? Well, you know the wars going on in this world is like why you know what Well, we know why. We know the political drives behind war. But it's like for crying out loud people. There's enough hate going on right now. Why don't we start spreading positive messages? Oh wait, we know, because mainstream or social media, positive doesn't sell, it's the negative that sells. You know, we used to be in hospitality for a lot of years and you man, you don't want a negative review in your restaurant or your lounge. That one person has a bad experience is going to tell 10 people. Those 10 people tell 10 people has a bad experience is going to tell 10 people. Those 10 people tell 10 people and it spins out of control until you've really damaged your, your, your place of business, if you have a.
Speaker 1:You know I have a funny story that highlights this right. So years and years and years ago, I was at disney and I have you ever been to disney world?
Speaker 2:oh, not disney world.
Speaker 1:Been to disneyland so we were on test track. I don't know, I actually don't know if they have that at um disneyland. Oh, not disney world, been to disneyland. So we were on test track. I don't know, I actually don't know if they have that at um disneyland. But it's basically like a you design a car and then it kind of races around a track and there was this family that was becoming incredibly aggressive because the ride had actually broken. So they were trying to fix it, to figure out what it was, and the couple they had a child with them and they had like another couple with them became increasingly more hostile to the attendants. They're swearing at them, they're yelling at them. They've got their child in their hand and they're talking about how, um, you know it, they their entire trip was ruined because of the ride and you know just getting more and more escalated.
Speaker 1:So they're trying to get people out of the ride and I saw one of them like push the attendant, like aggressively push the attendant. So I said you know what? I'm going to go down to guest services to say, hey, if you need a witness, I can, you know, I can testify that that person, that guest, did assault your staff member. So, while we're waiting there, to to say the amount of people who went to guest services to get a free ride, because they basically were complaining that their experience had been ruined by the fact that the ride broke down and that these guests were yelling, but not we were the only people that were there to say hey, one of your cast members was assaulted and it just it blew my mind that the only thing people could think of was what do I get out of this? What do I get? What do I get?
Speaker 2:what do I get not like hey, somebody just got hurt yeah, it's funny you put that into what we watch on on the news, whether it's real or fake or whatever platform. See somebody getting assaulted by another person. Nobody's running in to help. Everybody pulls their phones out to record it because, oh, I got to sell this to the news, I got to get this because that can get me likes. It's like what is wrong with humanity why aren't we taking?
Speaker 1:care of each other we can have a whole episode just about that. Oh yes, we could now speaking of of, because I I'm also aware that in canada, the indigenous people are often really, um, oppressed and hurt often, right? Is there any? Has that been changing at all?
Speaker 2:oh man you you know it's one of those things. I know. You know what. We have so much history up here, as every country does, with our Indigenous folks and you look through the timelines and the atrocities that these people have gone through with the residential school system, you know addictions and nothing. My opinion from the outside, looking in, I'm not seeing it getting any better. And you know people just don't treat people kind and I don't get that. I have man, numerous Indigenous friends.
Speaker 2:I've done talks with our Indigenous folks and you know mental health is huge and along with mental health comes the addictions and substance abuse, suicide rates and we have to be all inclusive in this whole mental health game. We have to accept as a population that stuff happened before my time and it's all catching up to us now and I think that's right. Around the world it's the same shit. I think we're dealing with a problem that some would like to say well, that didn't really happen, we just want to shove it under the rug. Others say, well, we just have to fix it by giving people money. It's like no man. We need to embrace everybody and hear, not just listen to somebody's story. We need to hear what they have to say. Right and we're not doing that Big rules on my campaign.
Speaker 2:I don't deal with politics, religion, with politics, religion, the COVID or the convoys, but there's topics out there that bother me as a human being and how our you know, here comes politics how our governments deal with real life situations, real life problems, where I just embrace everybody as a human being. You know, skin color to me means nothing. The way you dress means nothing. If you want to dye your hair a funky color or have facial tattoos, I really don't care. I have met some of the most genuine, wholesome people in my life that have funky hair or, you know, tattooed head to toe, even their eyeballs. Weird thing but it happens. But these are the kind of I can't imagine how painful that would be.
Speaker 1:I don't even want to think about that.
Speaker 2:But you find and I found in my career I want to treat people the way I would like to be treated. There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with giving somebody a handshake on the side of the highway, or somebody's going through a very bad situation. All they need is a hug and five minutes of somebody sitting there comforting them. It's the same everywhere. Yeah, and the way the world is going, man, it really hurts my heart. And where we can just get along. You know watching our world leaders now, like man, sit back, grab a beer and a big bag of popcorn, because shit's about to get real.
Speaker 1:I think the answer is in what you just talked about, though. So most of us would acknowledge at this point that our world leaders don't work for us anymore. They've stopped working for us for a while. They serve one goal, and it certainly isn't the people Right on. Okay, I want to hear about you, I want to learn about you, like, what can I do to help you? But we would much. When you talked about hugging somebody, we would much rather if you you know, if you wear you've seen this, I'm sure, in social media, where people wear shirts that say free hugs and sometimes they get you know, people are like, oh God, that's awful. But if you put up something that says, hey, debate an opinion with me, how quickly people are going to go do that and become aggressive because that's better than actually human contact, which is absurd. Right, but that's but that's by design, like we. We have been conditioned to become that way yeah and we have to uncondition ourselves we truly do.
Speaker 2:And you know, even if it's taking 10 steps backwards, that's okay, it's. You know? I remember young Buck going into basic training. We are going to tear you down so we can build you up. So it's, you know. Why aren't we doing this? Why aren't we educating our children? It's not about man. I, I like kids, are using litter boxes nowadays. Uh, uh, yeah. So it's like the question is, I think, what happened to parenthood? Because now parents don't have any. It's like they don't have the right to bestow ethics in our children and bring them up right. Well, because my teacher said and the teacher's only saying, because the government said I have to do this exactly exactly what has happened?
Speaker 1:exactly. I mean, they have you, you can. I'm so glad you just said that, because I've been saying that for a long time. I mean, they systematically took rights away from parents, then they took rights away from teachers. They take, you know, they take rights away from everybody so that everybody kind of owns a piece of the problem and then everybody can kind of point their finger what's because of bad parenting? It's because the education system sucks. Well, no, it's because this was all again, by design it was. It was created this way so that we can just continue to be disenfranchised. I mean, that's what that's about.
Speaker 2:Craziness Ah, I, I use that. Craziness ah, I, I use that, I'm allowed to use that word. Some people say you can't use that word anymore. Man, I'm crazy. Um, but yeah, I, just, you know, I, I I often joke saying, man, thank goodness I don't have that many more years left on this earth, but darn it.
Speaker 2:While I'm here I'm gonna do the best to make change in the mental health world and, and really, you know, let's start tearing down the stigma associated to mental health. And it's not just within our, our military, veteran and public safety professions. It's from, you know, these little children all the way up. And you know, if we can take care of our mental health and make that healthy because we know it's hard to do on a proper diet, because we can't afford a proper diet anymore, it's potato chips and soda pop. But if we're taking care of our mental health, more is potato chips and soda pop. But if we're taking care of our mental health, everything just sort of falls into play. It's taking care of one another, it's being there for others. Somebody calls and says man, I just need five minutes to blow off some steam that nobody else would understand. Be there for one another. It's a.
Speaker 2:It's a pretty cool thing and and I am I feel privileged and honored when somebody can shoot me an email or a message on social media and saying thank you. I needed to hear what you're doling out today. Um, I've never shared my story with anybody, so here it is, an email. I look forward to meeting you someday. Like that is.
Speaker 2:That's huge. You're building trust with, with other human beings, and you know it's been with all walks of life. There are, you know, my, my choice was law enforcement, but then there's people that have chosen, outside of the military or in their life, to join an outlaw motorcycle gang. That's up to them. But when we sit and talk as human beings, we're not talking about oh, chad was a cop, I'm a bad guy. We're just talking like two human beings, leaving that political side off to the or the stuff off to the side, and just being people. I think it's a cool thing. You get a handshake or a hug from a guy that's six foot six and wears red and white as his colors. It's like that's pretty cool. That is pretty cool.
Speaker 1:So what can we do here to help support the CDC for PTSD?
Speaker 2:You know I always want to say, and because I hate asking for help, but this is, you know, if anybody can, donations are always appreciated yeah, donations. And you know, the biggest thing we can do to support each other is just be there for a fellow human that is struggling. And a lot of us would rather force that smile, force laughter, help somebody else be happy in a moment while we're hurting so bad on the inside. A lot of times it's not detectable, but if we open ourselves up and say, hey, I'm here, contact me at C2C for PTSD, if I can't help you, I can help you find resources. So it's you know how do we take care of one another? A lot of times it's just being that voice or that hand that can reach out and get some help for somebody else.
Speaker 1:Thank you, chad, and when does it start? You said it's coming up soon, right else? Thank you, chad, and when does it?
Speaker 2:start. You said it's coming up soon, right? Oh yeah, it is Funny enough. Two weeks yesterday, two weeks from yesterday, I'll be doing a 24-hour walk-a-thon in my community. I don't know where I ever come up with these fucked up ideas, but it's just another challenge. April 28th, we will be stepping off in St John's, Newfoundland, and we'll be walking to Windsor, Ontario, for 2025. And 2026, we'll be leaving Ontario and making our way to the Pacific Ocean in British Columbia.
Speaker 1:That is awesome. I just noticed when you raised your hand, by the way, that you have a semicolon tattoo. Oh, I've got two Is that for pause.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my story hasn't ended. The semicolon with mental health is such an amazing thing. I've actually got one on both arms, two different inks, but if I'm ever down'm putting my my head into my hands. You know, I see that one right off the bat. The other one other people see when I'm sitting across a desk, from from them. It's uh never alone with the semicolon. So it's uh. Yeah, man, just a reminder, my story is not over I love that.
Speaker 1:Thank you, chad, for being such a powerful speaker, number one, and just for all the stuff that you're doing. I will put a link to your website in the notes for the podcast and then on there, so it does have the option to donate, correct, there's a yes, yes, it does fantastic, so thank you so much. Is there any other final things you want for the listeners to hear?
Speaker 2:You know, every time I get a chance to have a visit with the peeps south of our border, it's an honor. I've had quite a few podcast visits in the United States, and we're all in this together. We are visits in the United States and we're all in this together and put the politics and the bullshit off to the side. We, as human beings, need to be there for one another.
Speaker 1:Great message, Chad. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Hello everybody and thank you again for listening. This is just a reminder that part of this podcast can be located, or with our written consent. Thank you again.
