Responder Wellness Inc.

09/03/2026

[Resilience Is a Team Sport: Building Stronger Support Systems for First Responders] Resilience is rarely something a person summons alone. Our capacity to absorb a hard shift, a bad call, or a long stretch of cumulative stress depends heavily on who is standing beside us.
https://www.lighthousehw.org/news/resilience-is-a-team-sport-building-stronger-support-systems-for-first-responders/

09/01/2026

He built an AI that coaches fire officers through team crisis at 3 am. Dr. Johnny Torgeson on Forging Teams AI, mental sovereignty, and why leadership can't be taught in a slide deck.

New episode of Responder Resilience 👁️‍🗨️ Weds. 9/2 at 7 pm ET-⫸ Replay anytime after

🔵 Catch it here: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience
🔴 Also on LinkedIn | Facebook | Apple | Spotify
🟢 Full archive: ResponderTV.com

08/29/2026

[You’re a Firefighter and You Were Told You Have Cancer. Now What?] In the fire service, we spend our life surrounded by people. Suddenly, it was just me—in a hospital room with a word that couldn’t be taken back.

Retired Department of Defense Firefighter Sean Erickson beat cancer but did so in an unnecessarily difficult way: without multiple support mechanisms. He shares his story so that...

08/28/2026

[Embracing Hope: Understanding and Overcoming Substance Use in the First Responder Community] Help is not only available; it is effective, compassionate, and tailored specifically for those who protect us.

First responders are the heartbeat of our communities—the firefighters charging into flames, the police officers stepping between danger and the innocent, the paramedics and EMTs delivering life-saving care in the...

08/27/2026

[From tones to rest: Redesigning sleep in the firehouse] From bunkrooms to lighting, station design plays a critical role in reducing fatigue and protecting firefighter health.

From bunkrooms to lighting, station design plays a critical role in reducing fatigue and protecting firefighter health

08/25/2026

343 FDNY firefighters were lost on 9/11. In the years since, more than 400 additional members have died from World Trade Center-related illness. Fewer than 600 of the 11,500 who were there that day are still on the job.

For the FDNY, the response to Ground Zero didn't end in 2001. It became a 25-year path through recovery, rebuilding, and choices most departments will never have to make.

This week on Responder Resilience, retired FDNY Captain Paul Brown and executive coach Andre Kotzé join us to talk about their new book, Rising from Ground Zero. Built from 90 hours of raw testimony, it traces the FDNY's story from the morning before the attacks through the collapse, and into the decades of recovery, leadership change, and mental health transformation that followed.

Paul and Andre don't just cover what the department survived. They talk about how an entire institution grieves, rebuilds trust in its own leadership, and grows stronger through the process, a kind of post-traumatic growth at an organizational scale.

The authors have committed 51% of the book's net profits to charities supporting FDNY members and their families.

🔵 New episode — live Wed 8/26 at 7 pm ET: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience
🔴 Also on LinkedIn | Facebook | Apple | Spotify
🟢 Full archive: ResponderTV.com

08/24/2026

I’ll be joining Cagney & Lacey on The ToosDay Crüe LIVE tomorrow!

We’ll be talking about first responder mental health, resilience, post-traumatic growth, leadership, surviving Stage IV cancer, and some of the unexpected turns my journey has taken along the way.

📅 Tuesday, August 25
⏰ 7 PM CST/8 PM EST
📺 Live on YouTube:

If you’re a first responder, veteran, leader, caregiver, survivor, or simply someone interested in what it means to keep moving forward after life changes everything, we’d love for you to join us.

Bring your questions, join the conversation, and share this with someone who may benefit from the discussion.

🔥 The ToosDay Crüe — Real Stories. Real Strength. Real Impact.

08/22/2026

[Fatigue Over Technology: Is it Real in the Fire Service?] Technology has significantly improved fireground safety but can also contribute to information overload if not managed properly.

The last few years has seen the rapid implementation of multiple technologies in the fire service and Jason Moore looks at how to overcome fatigue around new innovation.

08/21/2026

[Why Your Brain Won’t Turn Off After the Shift—and How to Reset Your Biological Alarm] Your biological alarm system was designed to bring you home safe at the end of the night—it was never meant to hold you hostage once you get there.
https://www.firstresponderswellnesscenter.com/post/why-your-brain-won-t-turn-off-after-the-shift-and-how-to-reset-your-biological-alarm

08/20/2026

[Stop Weaponizing Mental Health Fitness-for-Duty Evaluations] Employees need to know that if they are struggling, they can reach out for assistance to their employer without their struggles obtained from the job used against them and making their situation significantly worse than it already is.

The primary goal of a fit-for-duty evaluation should not be to punish firefighters who admit to struggling with mental health.