Martin Wood Memorial Hike

Martin Wood Memorial Hike Annual hike designed to bring awareness of first responder su***de and promote mental wellness among the first responder communities.

The Runner Response. What is it? It’s that innate urge to keep moving because being still or staying where you are feels...
04/01/2026

The Runner Response. What is it? It’s that innate urge to keep moving because being still or staying where you are feels dangerous to your nervous system.

When a nervous system is raised in or exposed to prolonged emotional instability (families / parents / workplace that constantly fought/argued/bullied), or the environment was unpredictable (nothing was ever consistent, up was down and things changed quickly), it develops this need to create distance to stay safe.

It is part of the fight/flight system and is tied to adrenaline and cortisol release.

Your nervous system learned while in the traumatic environment that it was not safe and it needed you to get out of that environment to be safe.

It’s not avoidance, it’s a brain pathway that developed through repeated activation (habituation) to attempt to keep you safe, you had to get out of the situation, but even when you are out of the dangerous environment, this pathway can still activate or be triggered and leave you feeling unsafe.

Your heart rate goes up. You feel that strong urge to move, that “ants in your pants” sensation. You get looping thoughts of needing to be somewhere else. Your body is on edge. You’ve got constant tension in your chest and in your muscles and the relaxation you crave, cannot be found.

This is why you find it hard to meditate, or do yoga, or tai chi or any activity that requires you to stay relatively still.

You may often move towns, take on new jobs, go on many vacations, leave your significant other(s)… because your nervous system is conditioned to feel unsafe being still…because while in your traumatic environment you had to hide / move to stay safe.

If you look honestly at yourself and notice this pattern of behavior or recognize these sensations, it’s time to teach your nervous system that it IS safe and start your path to a settled more rooted lifestyle.

Look into seeing a trauma informed, or a somatic therapist. You deserve to have the peace you seek.

In solidarity.

(Copyright Martin Wood Memorial Hike, 2026).

03/23/2026

DBTSkills.
Dialectics.
DBT Myths.

03/20/2026

Wounds. This is how the experts speak in terms of trauma; remember trauma is our internal reaction to an external event. Traumatic events create psychological wounds. And when we examine wounds, we see that at first they openly bleed, then they scab over - when they start to heal they are susceptible to being re-opened and bleed again. In terms of psychological wounds, we create scars by learning our coping skills, by increasing our span of tolerance, triggers in the environment are what can break our “scars” and re-open the wound, but this doesn’t mean you’re failing at the healing game, it’s just the natural progression of healing. We already have our coping skills in our pocket and we can use those to close the wound again, the more we practice our skills (and the more varied the skills we accumulate) the thicker that scab gets and the more we heal. Eventually, we are able to be in the presence of some triggers and not “bleed” and sometimes we encounter a trigger sharp enough to puncture our scars. Healing can happen quicker now because we’ve already walked that path, we know what to do. Many people will tell you that trauma changes you and you can never go back to who you once were but think of it this way, as each day passes we live and learn, so we naturally are not the same person we were yesterday, we change and grow every single day. Don’t expect to be who you were, expect to feel more like the person you are now, the one who has learned and grown (even if it doesn’t feel much different from yesterday). We cannot see “healing”, only in retrospect can we measure our growth. Don’t expect it all to happen at once, two steps forward, one step back is still forward progression. Wounds take time to close.
In solidarity.

(Copyright Martin Wood Memorial Hike, 2026).

03/02/2026

The decreased ability to problem solve is a complex statement and would need better context because medics on the job are the epitome of problem solving, so this needs clearer context laid out. As for other symptoms, Martin was exhibiting signs of depression, reluctantly participating in exercise, spending hours in front of a screen shutting out the world around him, barely sleeping more than 4 hours per night, this normally positive, upbeat man was wrought with negativity, ruminating over work, beginning to turn to alcohol to self soothe, withdrawn and expressing hopelessness over his future. The signs are so subtle though, often only recognized in retrospect because most people with depression do not become Eeyore, they hide it, they wear the mask you are used to seeing. They still smile and joke - they have good days and bad days, just like anyone else. And if only he could have seen an image of his brain and how it was “malfunctioning”, perhaps he could have taken steps to change his brain chemistry. We are not helpless to a diagnostic label, please reach out for help. You are not a label. You are worth fighting for. In solidarity.

(Copyright Martin Wood Memorial Hike, 2026.)

(Video courtesy of Dr Daniel Amen on FB)

Enmeshment trauma. What is it? It is a situation where boundaries are blurred, individuality is stifled and there is an ...
02/21/2026

Enmeshment trauma. What is it? It is a situation where boundaries are blurred, individuality is stifled and there is an unhealthy entanglement of needs and emotions. This type of trauma can occur in rigid workplace cultures, in personal relationships and in families. For first responders cultural enmeshment can be seen when their identity as a first responder becomes all encompassing, tied to their self worth and where their vulnerability is discouraged within the fist responder culture. In these situations the first responder loses their individuality in favor of being accepted as a valued member of the group; they give up their personal life to tow the company line and the (dysfunctional) company culture encourages this sort of behavior often resorting to guilt and threats of punishment to ensure an employee conforms. This can be illustrated as guilt trips to take extra shifts, awards for “above and beyond” behaviour, and workplace sanctions when an individual tries to establish a healthy boundary by saying “no”. This enmeshment can spill over into personal relationships, where the “rescuer” role creates a situation where the first responder neglects their own emotions/needs in favor of taking responsibility for the emotions/needs of their family. Instead of taking time to decompress after a particularly difficult shift, they feel guilt and force themselves to keep the family/spouse happy. They develop a “suck it up” mentality and truly believe that the happiness of their family depends solely on them, so they deny their own emotional and personal needs. Another form of enmeshment for first responders can also occur within their family, again, where the family feels that they are soley responsible for the emotional wellbeing of the first responder to the detriment of their own mental wellness; ie. Repeatedly exposing themselves to secondary trauma without seeking assistance for their own mental health. This can often lead to emotional burnout, communication and family breakdowns and ultimately, separation.
Since enmeshment involves a lack of boundaries, healing from it requires one to:
1) Establish healthy boundaries…saying “no” to extra demands in the workplace and at home.
2) Find your Individual Identity…work with a therapist…focus on your needs and wants…identify possible hobbies or activities that bring you personal joy…ensure these are completely separate from your work or family needs. Get in touch woth your self as an individual.
3) Seek support like a peer group or trauma informed therapist for issues outside of the first responder sphere (marital problems, parenting supports, relationships or family communication groups).
4) Practice Self Care. Prioritize it. Seek out activities that have nothing to do with your profession; hobbies, activities or groups that make you feel restored at your core. The goal is to let go of that sensation of being responsible for others. When you are outside of the workplace, you are entitled to be the person you are, the one with their own needs and wants, without having to always be a first responder. Take the first step and untangle the unhealthy relationship you have developed with your profession.
In Solidarity.

(Copyright Martin Wood Memorial Hike, 2026.)

(Image courtesy of wearehumanleaders.com)

What do you do with grief? We seem to think that after the loss of our loved ones, grief has these neat little stages we...
02/03/2026

What do you do with grief? We seem to think that after the loss of our loved ones, grief has these neat little stages we move through and then we come out on some other side. The truth of the matter is that our grief becomes part of us. We learn how to live with it. We make space for it every day, it sits with us at breakfast, lunch, dinner and sleeps beside us at night. We don’t “get over it” or “let it go”, we make space for it, we learn to feel it and understand its place in our lives. We grow with it. Grief is the love we carried while our loved one was alive, transformed to symbolize the deep loss we feel in their absence. So, what do you do with it? You allow it to be what it is. You feel it when it needs to be felt, whether it is fresh, or 10 years old. Feeling your loss does not make you weak, does not mean you are “not getting over it” and does not mean you are somehow defective. It means that you still carry the love you had for the one you’ve lost. It is okay to feel your loss and it is okay to carry that loss with you, it is a part of you.
There wasn’t a post to honour our namesake on Saturday, January 31st; the 10th anniversary of the loss of Martin Wood. It just would not come without overwhelm, and that is okay. Many reached out to express their continued feelings of loss. Martin Wood was a mentor to many and his impact in their lives is evidenced yet, 10 years after his loss to su***de. His memory continues to create a space for learning, for sharing, for growth and continued resilience in mental health struggles for first responders. In solidarity.

(Copyright Martin Wood Memorial Hike, 2026).

(Photo courtesy of Life, Loss & Hope fb page)

Also THIS 💯
01/26/2026

Also THIS 💯

01/26/2026

THIS 👇

What is it like to live with Suicidal Ideation? It is a constant battle to find a balance between being okay and able to...
01/24/2026

What is it like to live with Suicidal Ideation? It is a constant battle to find a balance between being okay and able to cope and being sucked into that negatively charged mindset which most people call depression. Sometimes its not even depression, its just built up pain that breaks though the dam you’ve created. But you know it’s always there, even when you’re smiling, even when you’re sitting having a coffee and enjoying the view or a conversation with a friend, there is that tiny little whisper in the back of your mind that says, “Okay, this is great. This would be a great way to end it. Close the book. Walk away. Just let it all go.” And you know, some days it’s really tempting, it’s tempting to “end on a high note.” Sum it all up in a letter. Hope they understand. But then, you take another deep, relaxing breath and you realize that those whispers are just lies, that there really isn’t any rush, there is no pressure or “need” to be gone in this moment. So, in all honesty, you put it off for another day - and I am glad that you do. I’m proud that you are at the point in your life where you can…put it off to another day…extend your deadline…because we do, we give ourselves deadlines. You know, when things in life just suck, you don’t know where the money will come from to pay another bill, or you’re breaking down inside and you feel worthless or something you did decades ago keeps coming back to haunt you and you really feel like a piece of sh*te, well, on those days if you can come to that place where you extend your deadline just another minute, or hour or day or week or month, then I am damned proud of you, because those times it’s the hardest thing to do. To stay alive in the face of our demons is a supremely courageous move. You Are Courage Embodied. And I’m damned proud of you for just putting it off for another moment, another breath, minute, hour, day, week, month or year. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of humoring your friends/therapists/spiritual guides, who say to you, “It’s not always going to suck (or hurt, or be bad, or feel like sh*t)” and you just take that deep breath, and you stop moving, stop “doing”, stop thinking, just stop, let your body go heavy, cry your damned eyes out and just take a few more breaths and put it off to see if it does “get better”, tomorrow or the next day or the day after that. And when your brain clears, and you feel like you can cope again, you vow to never let that voice lie to you again…but it will…but this time you will know, that you can cope again, because you have and you’ve beaten it so many times before. Each time you put back your deadline, you build evidence against that little voice in your head to be able to say to yourself, “Every wave recedes, and I will breathe again. I know this because I’ve already been there and won this battle.” You can live with an urge to die. You can. It doesn’t always have to end in tragedy. So if you have that niggling little voice in the back of your head, talk about it, let someone (especially your therapist) know and you can work together to ensure that you are safe from it. Write another chapter…In Solidarity.❤️

(Copyright Martin Wood Memorial Hike, 2026)

(Photo courtesy of OurSideofSuicide.com.)

11/29/2025

“Trauma is not the incident that happened to you, trauma is what happened inside of you because of that incident.” Dr. Gabor Maté feels we as a society are looking at trauma wrong. Truly, the term trauma has been generalized in society and people have come to associate trauma with incidents/events and have generalized it to the point that every small shocking incident is labeled “trauma”. When in actuality, trauma is the wound that we endure as a result of the incident/occurence. As a former paramedic this wasn’t a difficult concept to grasp; trauma is what happens to the body when it is injured - a cut, a scrape, a broken bone etc. are all trauma TO the organism. So naturally it followed that psychological trauma is the impact on the brain and the subsequent symptoms that arise because of an external incident. Trauma wasn’t what happened, trauma is the injury that followed. The incident is considered “traumatic” because it led to trauma. You’ll often hear survivors using the words incorrectly, referring to their “trauma” as the incident that happened to them and I guess this is a way to depersonalize and externalize the experience, to make it “not my fault” because a lot of self blame arises in the early stages of trauma. Indeed, many therapists will start with, “this was not your fault” in the hope that reducing self blame will help dampen the symptoms. Remember that trauma (the reactions you experience because of an incident) is not choice, your reactions are not choices you are making, they are instinctive reactions arising from your nervous system. They occur as quickly and naturally as a muscle twitch. Trauma is not something we have control over, rather, it is something that we must learn, in agonizingly tiny increments, to recover from. Recovery isn’t a magical day where you are suddenly better, recovery is a precarious place where you once again feel connected to your mind and your body again and “recovered” happens differently and looks differently for everyone. Remember that trauma is what happens inside of you after a particularly impactful event, and each persons event will differ depending upon the unmitigated trauma they may also be carrying (many don’t realize they’ve experienced trauma before). Not everyone reacts the same to an incident. The incident is not the trauma, the trauma is the injury you endure because of the incident. Food for thought.

(Copyright, Martin Wood Memorial Hike, 2025)

11/09/2025

A new study reveals that aggression and self-harm share a biological foundation in the brain’s response to early-life trauma.

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