Shared Stress, Common Ground: Proven Wellness Lessons from First Responders Beyond the Slopes (Part 2 of 2)

Wellness isn't just a buzzword—it's a critical component of performance for those who respond to emergencies on the mountain and beyond. This revealing conversation, recorded at the Pacific Northwest Division's annual 2025 Convention, brings together an extraordinary panel of experts from across the first responder spectrum to share hard-won insights about building resilience in high-stress environments. (2:2 Parts)

This Keynote Panel's conversation brought together specialists from crisis response dog teams, fire departments, mountain rescue, police, and the FBI to share their hard-won wisdom about building resilience in high-stress environments. Their insights reveal that while different first responder groups may speak different operational languages, they share common challenges in maintaining mental wellness while performing demanding duties.

https://www.hopeaacr.org HOPE Nationwide Canines. Phone: 877-467-3597 Teams - Respond at No Charge

Seattle Fire Dept: email Kristin.Cox@seattle.gov 

SeattleMountainRescue.org & email: info@seattlemountainrescue.org

Bluegritwellness.com & email: ewtung@gmail.com

Kristin Cox talked about: 

• Kevin Gilmartin, Emotional Survivor for Law Enforcement. (“Really for all first responders” per Kristin Cox)
  • https://tendtoolkit.com/emotional-survival-law-enforcement-gilmartin/ 
• Tactical Empathy: 
  • an example: https://www.blackswanltd.com/newsletter/when-crisis-strikes-how-to-use-a-tactical-empathy-approach

This concludes the Keynote Panel Discussion. We really appreciate everyone's participation from the panel members, the HOPE Dog teams, and all that attended! 

Let’s continue the conversation around wellness, resilience, and innovation within our own lives, our patrols and areas we serve.  Remember taking care of others starts with taking care of ourselves.  Stay connected!

Transcript

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Panel of Emergency Responders Continues

Jodie 0:59

Welcome back to the second half of our keynote session from our convention that was held in August . If you missed part one , please check out Patroller Chats for that first half . This is where we welcomed a panel of experienced responders located here in the Northwest From EMS , police , fire and Search and Rescue , who share real-world strategies for wellness , lessons learned from working in high-stress environments and how they have woven resilience into their team cultures . They offered powerful takeaways for ski patrollers and leadership , from those just starting to build wellness programs to those looking to evolve and strengthen what they already have . It was an opportunity to learn about the challenges they have faced , how they adapted and how they brought their people together around a shared commitment to wellness . And it concluded with more of the question and answer from the audience . Let's listen in now .

Speaker 2 1:52

I began to touch on it just now . But my question was what's the interaction between the recovery dogs and the mission dogs that ? I assume ? Mountain Rescue uses dogs and on occasion the police have a dog use and so you have mission dogs that have a job , a different type of job where it's not a lot of interaction , and you have the recovery dogs that are brought in for a lot of interaction . So the dogs kind of are the tip of this in that shift in interaction , but also and I think Eric started to touch on it the relationship in the wellness program between the mission use and the recovery use and how those interplay .

Jodie 2:43

I think you got several of you going to have to answer that one .

Doug McCall 2:47

Yeah , I think , from my perspective , the dogs that are on the mission , they're working to locate an individual . The ruffles does not go into the field . Ruffles

Therapy Dogs vs. Working Mission Dogs

Doug McCall 3:02

is at base and generally is there when we get back from the mission . So you know , maybe a search mission where we have the dogs that are out there , the King County Sardogs , I think they have air scent and human remains dogs and they are out , you know , doing their thing . We all go out and do our thing , search , but when we all come back , what I think is great about the program is that Ruffles and our resilience team is there for everyone back in base and on some incidents they're there for the family who may have shown up at base to whose family member is either missing or has had an incident .

Doug McCall 3:51

And so the Ruffles , the resilience dogs , they'll stay in base and there's a separation between the working piece . Well , they're both working , they're just're just working in different spaces . Their job classifications , yeah , I would say , just like a mountain rescue team is different from a dog team . You know you've got a technical piece aspect of it and then you've got , you know , the the air scent piece that we don't have raquel .

Jodie 4:24

did you want to add anything in that ? You're fine if you don't have Raquel , did you ?

Raquel Lackey 4:28

want to add anything in that . You're fine if you don't . The Hope Dog teams stand aside and support when they come out of the field or when you're not in the field , and I think Doug did a good job about explaining while they're all in the field , you guys are all dealing with somebody on scene . I'm usually behind the scenes shoring up the family or spending time while they're waiting for their loved one to come back or being called One mission . I was called to Mount Rainier with the dogs because they had to do a body recovery up at Mount Rainier . We all know that dogs are not allowed in the national parks . However , because that team was having such an intense and yucky recovery , the rangers knew they needed to break through and have support for them as they dealt with the family or had to communicate with the families of bringing that soul back . So that's kind of what goes on . If we train our dogs properly , they don't want to interact with any other dogs .

Eric Tung 5:36

You notice the dogs that if you saw them interact or come in , ruffles isn't going to leo , ruffles is going towards the person right , and so she's trained for that smell of the human , what we smell like and who needs our help one thing that I'll add in is uh , as we're having this conversation is we talked about introducing and in introducing , socializing and building that trust before the event , right , and so in the times that I've called a Raquel and team to come to the PD , it's actually not been in crisis .

Eric Tung 6:20

There's kind of these micro crises all the time and faces , so that when we do have a huge incident and a debrief and there are people in tragedy and trauma and mourning , these are familiar faces and familiar furry paws . But in actuality it was more than just familiarizing . There'd be a lot of people that got really excited because the dogs are here and people love dogs A lot of people do . And then there's other people that generally don't smile , just around strangers or in the hallways or at all , and then they would gravitate towards the dogs or they'd just be kind of there and they'd kind of look down and then they kind of start petting the dog and then they'd be down on their hands and knees and then they'd be talking to Raquel or you know , one of the handler , drivers , chauffeurs that we have for like 15 , 20 minutes about their day , about their week , about all this other stuff which is like another version of maybe hiding the medicine or just socializing it and then just see where it takes off .

Speaker 8 7:15

I think that that story is kind of consistent with the question I wanted to ask . I think a lot of people , their first introduction to behavioral health comes when they themselves experience some kind of crisis , whether it's a small crisis or a big crisis , and I think that most of the stories I've heard about organizations that have effectively installed resiliency programs often are organizations that had some kind of significant crisis . You're all nodding your head . So here's the question Do we have success stories of organizations that have not yet suffered a major crisis , that have been able to institutionalize a resilience program ?

Dr Shannon Meyer 7:58

Yes , One very good example is South County Fire . One very good example is South County Fire , and they started with passion and a vision just to get this work started and with a lot of administrative support , they've really developed a program . That's admirable . And so , yes , they're often I think it's less frequent , but those programs do exist as well , for sure .

Jodie 8:25

And I'm going to add to that . So , just so that all of you know yes , unfortunately it does end up with that . But if we're going across our divisions , we had a patrol with the National Task Force that we've been trying to get more exposure to all the divisions on this , and one of the members had approached and I want to say it was Montana and I can't remember exactly , but he was approaching some of the PDs and just saying hey , you know , I want to let you know about some of the resources . You may have heard about some of the workshops we've been doing , etc . And the initial response was

Building Resilience Programs Before Crisis

Jodie 8:58

we're fine , we haven't had anything in a long time . But what he did do is he went over a lot of the resources and talked and spent time going over it and at the end we got it handled .

Jodie 9:14

It was the very next week they had a chairlift incident and he got the call right up and said I have a feeling , I know what I can do , thank you , I know I was resistant before , but here we are and I don't feel as lost and Far West Division , where we , casey and I , were initially starting this off . In our division we had some patrols already established , some that were crawling . For those that know that I work in the ER , I'm used to this . All right , hurry up , let's go move to the next . All right , and I'm not very good at the long term . Shelly had to keep talking to me but Far West they had was approached by many patrols and they just ran with it without an incident . They just got it . Well , they were asking for it , they ran with it and we're like whoa , okay . So it just . It varies , but the more you know now gets you into the point of when something might happen . If that helps a little bit .

Jodie 10:15

You guys were

Dr Shannon Meyer 10:16

May I add to that just for one second , Jodie ? One of the really important things to understand about PTSD and traumatic stress injuries also is it's not the bad incident that's going to tip you over . Sometimes it is , sometimes it's the worst thing you've ever freaking seen . But many times the people who end up being injured psychologically injured , and who need to , who are injured to the extent that they can't just get back to work , who need some higher level of care , it's some bull right , it's some stupid little event that has enough meaning . There's been enough stress and trauma accumulated that it's some ridiculous thing that really tips them over . Which is another reason why it's really nice not to depend on a major incident to get a program started .

Dr Shannon Meyer 11:12

Because , again , we talk a lot on this stage amongst ourselves about moral injury and that's one of the four really primary pathways to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder and other traumatic stress injuries . But that has to do with our administration , not politically , but it can also . But in terms of who's running ski patrol . Do they understand ? Are they supporting us ? So , again , our most significant psychological injuries do they come from ? The really hard kid calls you betcha , but it's really important to understand that it's all of the other stuff too that can really mess us up .

Jodie 12:29

That can really mess us up . Thank you , we got Casey over here and then Joseph is going to have a return visit with us , so those of you who have been here for a while will know what that means .

Speaker 9 12:43

Hey , thanks , panel . I have two questions , and the first one is how do we transcend this job literacy to our friends and family in a non-traumatizing way ? Obviously , some of the things that we experience are confidential and other things are not worth resharing in all of their traumatic nature . So how do we build that literacy at home ? And then second question is how do we support friends and family , bystanders , even patients at the scene , in a meaningful way ?

Eric Tung 13:19

yeah , if I can uh go on the first question , I think and it kind of ties in with this gentleman's question before too like I'll I'll say real quick there are people , there are agencies that have suffered terrible casualties , that don't have wellness programs , like they have not responded effectively , retroactively , but then there's also plenty of organizations that see something that happens like over there , or almost happen , and that's those are the contingency planners , those are the proactive thinkers and leaders at all levels . So you might respond to a thing You're like oh man , this could this , this is okay , this could have been really bad if this , this , this , this would happen . And you debrief it and you , after action , you talk about it . And so that ties in with your first question , sir , where it's just the in all the conversations I've had and what I recognize in my own relationship or relationships and those close to me and those that are shared from all perspectives , is you talk about it before . Or if some conversations went not so great , like myself specifically telling about a call that I just it was just so crazy

Communicating With Family About Work

Eric Tung 14:19

, I just had to tell someone and it was my wife , unfortunately for her and when she heard it , her shock and awe and all the color left her face and I was like too far right , like okay , note to self , don't do that again , don't talk about that extremely traumatic injury . However , a lot of people what I've found or shared about is like a lot of people . What I've found or shared about is like find what where your , your person , or your your your older kid , or where your mom or whoever where your person is at .

Eric Tung 14:50

Some people are naturally very inquisitive , which doesn't mean you're naturally very open , but just to know where you're at and know where your person's at , and then find the middle ground and that could be tools . Like you've had a day . You don't want to talk about it , but you want your person to know that you've had a day . And so you're like , hey , I'm coming in like a three , just need some space , right . And then that way , since you talked about it , then it's not a personal thing , you're not mad , it's not the thing . You take the dog , you don't even go inside the house , you walk around the block and you come back . You're like , maybe talk about this one tomorrow , and then you just know , right . And so you build in these little codes and cues so that it's not a surprise .

Dr Shannon Meyer 15:29

It's super important to have these conversations up front , because what our kids and our wives and husbands do is assume that the distance or the iciness or the eggshells are about them and it's not . And so , finding out , what do you want to hear ? Do you want to hear the blood and gore ? Or do I just come home and say it was a really sad day , this was a really hard one and that's all you can tolerate ?

Dr Shannon Meyer 15:57

So , again , having those kinds of conversations upfront and understanding what you need and what your partner needs , and because , if you need something that your partner can't tolerate , if you need to talk about it in all of its glory , right , which I know exactly the kind I suspect that I know what kind of call you're talking about or what kind of shift you're talking about . Well , if your partner can't tolerate that , for whatever reason , that's okay . But who can and who do you get on the horn with and be like dude ? It was and this was , like you can't believe what happened . So , again , knowing what you need is first asking your partner or your kids or your friends what are their limits and just negotiating that I'm going to jump in .

Kristin Cox 16:50

There's a great resource if you're into taking a look at more in-depth stuff . Kevin Gilmartin is a guy out of . He's a law enforcement officer , retired out of Oregon , I believe , arizona , oh , arizona , kevin Gilmartin . He's written a couple things . One of them was emotional survival for law enforcement , but it's really just for first responders . Highly recommend him . And the other thing to your second question I'd recommend considering something called tactical empathy , which is essentially psychological first aid . It's being present with people while holding your own and kind of holding that emotional regulation for yourself and not getting swept away . It's applying , it's being empathetic , but it's not doing it in a way that's going to take you down with them or have you swept away as well .

Jodie 17:40

Thank you , all right , so can you hold one second ? Okay , we're going to take a . We've talked about our lots of different things , but one of the other things that was mentioned very early on was a little bit about our own fitness . You guys have been sitting for a bit . Joseph , for those that remember , has been leading us the last several years of doing this , so we're going to have you all stand up , and our panel is welcome to . Just don't fall off the back to come along . The dogs can participate too , and Joseph , take it away .

Jodie 18:19

While you won't be able to see what's happening over the next few minutes , you will hear a brief moment that truly captures the energy that was in the room . Picture yourself in the audience as joseph rar , our outdoor risk management advisor , leads us through a fun , light-hearted stretch session , mixing fitness , laughter and a show of support for our former division director , shelly Urban , as she prepares for her run in the next month's NSP Board of Directors election . Feel free to pause the audio and stretch along with us , and then we'll resume our keynote , all right ?

Joseph Ferraro 18:57

first off , we've got to have a little bit of that . Who are you going to vote for ? Huh , who are you going to vote for ?

Joseph Ferraro 19:02

Shelly . Vote for Shelly . Vote for Shelley . Vote for Shelley .

Speaker 2 19:05

Vote for Shelley Vote for .

Joseph Ferraro 19:07

Shelley , don't forget that .

Joseph Ferraro 19:08

Vote for Shelley .

Joseph Ferraro 19:10

Ha , ha , ha , ha ha . To get warmed up a little bit , make some space . Everybody's going to have a little space .

Jodie 19:19

And you can join in too .

Joseph Ferraro 19:24

Come back to center , namaste .

Joseph Ferraro 19:29

Side to stretch

Jodie 19:32

All right .

Jodie 19:34

. So this is also important , you know , at your morning meeting , the afternoon lunch , et cetera . Brad , take it away .

Speaker 11 19:43

Thanks a lot . That feels much better . So jody , as everyone knows , has been our duck and we've been on her back and we've all been learning about all these emotional you know , support programs and everything . And I feel like a lot of us , or my observation is that a lot of patrols are going from the learning phase into the cultural phase or socialization phase . What recommendations do you have or tips or tricks on turning these programs from training programs to this is what we do .

Eric Tung 20:25

I think it's identifying the people that are , you know , you're , passionate folks that are willing to be all the boots on the ground , proverbially like all in these little subgroups , to be the person that introduces things right . It doesn't have to be the supervisor or the lead , but it's literally like when we talk about peer support , we do have , you know , our peer support , trained people in our industries , but also it's just like this culture of peer support , and so sometimes , like the ones that stuck out to me the most are literally the

Stretch Break with Joseph

Eric Tung 20:49

. It's the guy or gal who's just like , yeah , that was ***up .

Speaker 6 20:54

Doc said it first so .

Eric Tung 20:55

I'm allowed now . If you waited this long for a cop to swear , then we win . For a cop to swear , then we win . Um , but it's truly like it's the , you know it's the , it's the veteran officer . For us that's like , hey , that that call was really messed up . And then that is that opens up , it allows that space and that place for people to agree and be like okay , it wasn't just me . You may have a lot of words shared , a lot of like kind of experiences shared , or you may not . So that's just like an example for peer support . So hopefully that answers your questions of just like helping identify those things and even having maybe seeing if that person's willing to share . Outside of that , because they've already stepped up , they've already demonstrated themselves in that way .

Kristin Cox 21:35

I'm going to jump in . I agree with that , and I think it's about somebody and it doesn't even have to be the most impacted person but somebody who's willing to say that they're going to be a little bit vulnerable . And by vulnerable I do not mean completely psychologically getting naked in front of someone else , that's not what I mean . I mean just saying yeah , that was intense , right , and that kind of starts the conversation . Or even to say to come in , you know in to a regular meeting , not even an event itself , but to say I got a lot of shit going on right now . I am not at my best , so you guys have my back right

Creating Sustainable Wellness Programs

Kristin Cox 22:15

and just let people know that you are human . That again gives permission to someone else that again gives permission to someone else .

Doug McCall 22:24

Yeah , I would say , you know , kind of setting up the normalization is important and we've been able to .

Doug McCall 22:30

We started with a building a few years ago and after every mission now we come back to that , to the building , and especially if it's a , you know , actually every mission we come back and we'll either do a internal debrief and grab snacks , grab pizza , you know , and we've we've actually budgeted specific funds for resilience so that after missions we'll come back and order pizza , and then we have a resilience team .

Doug McCall 23:06

So we've got I don't know , I think it's , I'll say a handful of people on the team that if it's a specifically intense incident recovery of our friends we do that more frequently than not then we'll have those members on the resilience team will end up reaching out to the people who are on that mission . And so the setting up a way I don't know how it works in the ski patrol space , but my assumption is there's like a patrol room and you know , if there's some incident , you know you come back , you debrief a little bit after the incident and you get a chance to share and just setting up that , just that normalization . This is just what we do . I'm going to jump in on that normalization , what , what eric said ?

Raquel Lackey 24:01

we found that bringing in the Hope Dogs originally the Hope Dogs were brought in during an incident and then it got to a point of , oh shit , the Hope Dogs are here , something must be going on .

Raquel Lackey 24:13

What aren't they telling me ? And so , like Eric brought up , we started doing fun with the Hope Dogs . Right , it wasn't a bad incident , even visiting the 911 dispatch for Seattle Fire . So , having that ability to build those relationships and trust before that incident happens and not having the dogs then be a trigger , because we don't know what's going to trigger each and every one of us on a specific day , I might be able to be able to handle that particular call on Monday , but by Friday I'm at my wits end . And building up those relationships with your teammates of them to be able to go hmm , she's a little bit off , or me being able to say I'm a little bit crunchy today I need some extra TLC , just normalizing those types of relationships and making it so . We're on SMR in particular , if I text or call one of the teammates , they know it's not that . Oh , I think that they're hurting or they need me . It's just that . Wow , someone really cares enough to reach out and actually kind of see me .

Jodie 25:31

And really want to expand on this just a little bit more . Obviously , we're just at the 100,000 foot level . Trying to go over this , trying to get into it . We've talked about things that were critical . We've also talked about things of the day-to-day and what people are saying . Try to also always keep in mind your foundation , your foundation level that is affecting all of us , before we go . It's our relationships , our finances , our work life . It's world events , local events . You're just having a bad day .

Jodie 26:05

One person was raised over in this area , another person was raised over here and have totally different mindsets of how to talk to someone , not to talk to someone , different exposures that you know nothing about . And this is where it's crucial that we start to get to know each other more . It's not just on the roster or checking you off . Get to know . How are you going to know when someone is a little bit off ? What have you worked on to say , hey , I need some time just to spend with somebody ? Whether it's just watching the weather , whether you're just taking a stroll , it doesn't matter . But you've also got to recognize that . I give my example . And he left the room . God , jack , jack's gone , isn't he Okay ? So last year for those that were here , you remember that we had to change our hotel venue five days before . Okay had a little bit of fun stress with that , but actually it went really well .

Jodie 27:06

Just trying to go in and I was in charge of the programs and stuff and I'm thinking , okay , life is good , et cetera . We got this , we're going through this , and then my brother calls me the night before I come down and he says goodbye , he's dying of cancer . So I realized that you know , I was coming across a little crabby and it was jack to thank me for that , because he comes up , he was with murph and jack in the elevator and I can't remember what the conversation was and I was just like I just need to get some stuff done and I don't know what I said . But jack at me , he goes . That was a little terse , that's all he said . And it was my wake up call of saying holy crap , yep , and I do this every month with you guys . I live this , I breathe this at work , et cetera . And I was in my own little fog , and so you have to recognize that as well , that it can happen .

Jodie 28:07

And going up to someone just to say , hey , you know what's up , or et cetera , or hey , what's you know . Can you show me this ? Just get them into where you sort of clear up ? The other thing is has anybody heard of Simon Sinatek If I'm pronouncing his name right , okay , he's the one that gave the example of some of you have heard me use this example of .

Jodie 28:32

He had a friend who's going through a rough time and the friend had reached out to him and said you know , I was really getting in a dark place . And well , why didn't you tell me , you know , why didn't you talk to me about it ? And the person said I did . I texted you and he grabbed the phone . He's like what do you mean ? I'm looking at the phone . This is hey , you want to have coffee . So it for that person . That was his reach out .

Jodie 29:00

What they realized is that , hey , you know what , we need to come up with something . And they came up with . And it doesn't matter what , but for them they came up with . If I text you , do you have eight minutes ? You have eight minutes to go get out of a meeting . You have eight minutes to maybe give you a call back . But that was sort of it's not a 9-1-1 , but it was hey , really would like to reach out to you , and so it's not assumed , okay . So these are some other examples . We are winding down guys , but I'd love to do this the whole day and you know I would if I could , but we have seven minutes . So who's got some questions and to to wrap up here , so we got here .

Speaker 12 29:40

One , two , three , a real quick one . Do you ever do a joint ? Yeah , sorry , I'll just make this real brief . So by definition , we all must compartmentalize this stuff in the moment , right , whether it's medicine , rescue , whatever . Do you guys have any tips on how to , if you will , balance putting it away and just doing your job and then just dealing with that and then coming back ?

Kristin Cox 30:13

Yes , if I had a dollar for every time somebody told me I just compartmentalize , I would never have to work again . Compartmentalizing is good on scene Knowing how to unpack that and how to balance it . Your nervous system was never meant to be in dominant , sympathetic nervous . You have to learn how to toggle back and forth and give your nervous system time to rebalance . What works about compartmentalizing is it allows you to stay focused and clear while you're on scene .

Kristin Cox 30:45

What doesn't work about compartmentalizing is it mutes all your reactions , your responses , your emotions , and so eventually you're not able to take your finger off the mute button anymore and you have no range of emotions and your family and friends notice that . They're like where are you ? Hello , right . And when you don't manage that in a structured way to unpack what you've compartmentalized , what ends up happening is has anybody ever tried to clean out a garage ? That's been too long . We do that about every three months at our house . It is ugly and your whole life can . Basically , it kind of implodes . It either implodes or it explodes , and so learning how to do that is a skill set , and

Compartmentalizing and Processing Trauma

Kristin Cox 31:35

part of that is starting to pay attention to your internal landscape , your internal situational awareness and listen to what your body is telling you .

Dr Shannon Meyer 31:50

I would say also that , like garages , when you have the tendency to put something in a box and shove it away , eventually that space loses space and the boxes come tumbling out . So that's one of the problems , One of the pieces that I think is worth . Not everything needs to be processed equally . End of story . Right , Not everything is like needs to be psychodrama , but are there boxes and compartments that you have internally that you worry about ? If you open the lid , what will come spilling out and will it ever stop ? That's your signal that there's more to process and you've got some very important processing to do . Take me with a grain of salt . I'm a psychologist , so I think therapy works very well If you can find the right person , and it's a good match . But one of the ways to screen that stuff that we've compartmentalized is how worrisome is it to uncompartmentalize it ?

Speaker 12 32:50

Does it make sense to ever have joint agency debriefing ?

Raquel Lackey 32:58

Those are my favorite .

Kristin Cox 33:07

Hell yes , if you do it carefully and you pay attention so you're not accidentally cross-traumatizing people . There are sometimes that there are things that not everybody needs to know everything because it adds to their burden and maybe they're not equipped to keep that in the compartmentalized box right . So being careful about that and then making sure that you know in those agencies what their norm is , so that you're not kind of willy-nilly putting a bunch of people together that have different ideas of what a debriefing might look like , and I would also say along those lines , it's a really good idea to try and do mutual aid training with other agencies and attend other things . And to that end I'm carefully going to let you know Seattle Fire is doing a free three-day intensive mindful performance class the 25th , 26th and 27th of August . It includes a mountain hike . It's free and we have some space available . If anybody's interested , please contact me and I'll make sure you guys have my contact info . We'd love to have you . Oh , awesome , great .

Speaker 6 34:20

Yeah , so mine kind of came around what you guys were just starting to talk about . But you all have established programs right now and obviously hope looks like touches all of them as well . But how much now that you have an established program , how much do you interact with each other to go , hey , what are you doing now ? Have you started something else to expand your own programs and make sure everyone's kind of getting what they need ?

Kristin Cox 34:47

I've done this kind of work for over 30 years . You cannot do this work in a vacuum . You cannot do this work in a vacuum . My master's is in organizational psychology . I'm not a clinical person , and one of the things we know when there's organizations that are steeped in trauma , that are encountering trauma all the time , is you have a tendency to kind of go tunnel vision and think that you're the only ones , and it's really important to be able to look around and be like oh , everybody else is going through this shit too . We're not the only one for the panel .

Speaker 9 35:29

What , what three things , would you recommend actions to take following a tragic event ?

Eric Tung 35:31

three things , immediately after a tragic event , to support your team , either in the presence or absence of a resiliency program I think my first thing would go in in line with the last question , which is like should you or one of the prior questions , like should you co-op your agencies ? And I would say it depends , but like what are the priorities ? So , identify the priorities . And so , like your question , I think the first thing is like identify the priorities .

Eric Tung 35:57

The second thing , I think , for anyone , is to recognize like it's about others , like we do

Joint Agency Debriefing and Resources

Eric Tung 36:02

this job , because it's about others , but it starts with us and there's a lot of ways you could apply that philosophically , but I think that's just to go on the cliche , like you can't you know you can't put someone else's oxygen mask on before them before you do it for yourself or you're in a bad situation . And then , third , just realize it's like the small steps . You identify the priorities . There's big rocks , there's little rocks and you start kind of chipping away to them slowly and then know that you're not on an island . There's a huge group of people here today that care deeply about performance and wellness , and there are a lot of people that are a lot more behind the scenes , under the radar , but they are there too . A lot of people just need a nudge and a job to do .

Raquel Lackey 36:43

I think you've got to remember what's a traumatic event for you . Casey might not be for me right , and so it might be some big hairy thing . So the three things I can't tell you , three things that's going to work for you and me simultaneous , but I would urge the people , like jody , that fill the role in ski patrol , pick up the phone , say hello , I would say self-assessment three times .

Dr Shannon Meyer 37:14

And so where are you ? How are you ? Are your , are you giving yourself ? I always say after a major incident , even after minor ones , treat yourself like you have the flu . So don't plan to do extra hard lifting or running . Don't expect to be on top of your game , expect to be more tired . So really figuring out , where am I about this ? Don't expect yourself to be on top of your game and understand that the processes we're talking about are largely biological in nature . So when our nervous system is dysregulated and maxed out , we often lack control over harnessing it again . Right ? So I could talk for a long time as a clinician , so I'll stop now , but that would be a couple of things .

Jodie 38:06

So just wanted to thank everybody . I am getting the hook in a worst way here and I have to let them go . But I ask one favor . Well , actually I'm going to ask many . All right , number one please don't leave these on the table . If you don't want them , that's fine , but take it back to a patrol member . Take it back to somebody else . Same thing with the cards . You don't want it , that's fine , there's no problem with that , but let's not leave them here . Let's take the whole thing of the stuff that you were given in your bags . You don't want it . Give it to someone on the patrol . All right , Encourage this . We want to keep this going . All right , A huge thank you to our panel , please .

Jodie 39:00

This concludes our second half of the keynote panel discussion and really again appreciate everyone's participation , from the panel members , the Hope Dog teams and all that attended . We hope that you found inspiration in the strategies shared by our incredible panelists , their experiences and real-world wisdom . Let's continue the conversation around wellness , resilience and innovation within our own lives , our patrols and the areas we serve . Remember , taking care of others starts with taking care of ourselves first and each other . Let's stay connected and keep leading the change . If you want to learn more , please see the attached links in the podcast description , as well as the PNWD website , that is wwwnsp-pnwd . org . At the top , select Safety and then Safety Culture for All for more information . For now , this has been Patroller Chats .