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In this episode we speak with Gil and Meagan Guthrie. A young couple, still newlyweds and how Gil’s sudden cancer diagnoses turned their lives upside-down.

It is not just the physical that can cause the most trauma but the sudden reaction that life as you know it has changed. Plans, dreams, hopes not as certain as they once were. Fear and anxiety an understandable side effect when life has pulled the rug from under you. An understanding that resilience is not just overcoming, it is a raw, brutal and vulnerable acceptance of here is where I’m at and I’m not sure which direction I go from here.

This is a story of cancer.  The lasting emotional impact of cancer. The power of love. And, faith in humanity where a complete stranger would give a part of themselves to save another’s life.

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We continue our underlying theme of forgiveness in this powerfully emotional episode. We interview Kasey Ladd who grew up in the small town I police. Kasey lost his mother in the Who concert tragedy. He growing up in pain and anger  set my personal car on fire in the police department parking lot while I was on duty.

Kasey walks us through his healing. Anger-to-pain-to-wisdom. I held no anger towards Kasey. We never talked about that day with my car or the loss of his mother until now. I didn’t know I needed this conversation. That I needed to heal. Together Kasey and I heal coming to an understanding; sometimes forgiveness is unspoken. 

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This is an astonishing story of tragedy and equally an astonishing story of resilience. 

Jeff shares a story of what the world saw was not what his home was. His brother punching a hole in the wall, his mother covers it up with a picture of the family smiling. A prophetic gesture that would dictate much of Jeff’s life.

Some ask how much can one person take? Jeff Higgins lived that question as one-by-one his mother died after drinking and driving. Followed by his brother facing the same fate and his sister dying from alcohol illness. Jeff’s family trauma engrained in him, seemingly overcame all the odds only to have it catch up to him when he was involved in a crash after drinking that left his friend dead.

His world shattered multiple times.  Jeff leaned on faith, resilience and forgiveness. A radical and complete acceptance forgiving what life, family, God and his own decisions had given him to find meaning, purpose and the wisdom suffering brings. Picking himself up to literally climb mountains, run a successful business and give back to others at home and around the world.

Jeff’s story taught me that it is the uncommon acceptance of what life gives us and that we must take down the picture we show the world covering our own holes. Jeff’s incredible vulnerability. A genuine authenticity that allows him to show the world we can share our own holes, with no need to cover them up. Instead show the world it can be filled with forgiveness, love for ourselves, others and our life 

This is one of the most powerful stories of suffering turned to purpose and meaning you will hear. 

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It is so hard to forgive when someone betrays you, life doesn’t meet expectations, your world unexpectedly changes or when someone takes away the very thing you cherish the most. 

In a world of choices and consequences, the death of a son leads a father from picking up the shattered pieces, to his sons life being a beacon of hope and forgiveness, even for the person that sold the drugs ending his sons life.  In this episode we explore the power of faith, hope and forgiveness.

This episode is dedicated to Brian. 

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Police reform has become a hotly debated topic in policing, public and politics. There are controversies on all sides. 

Is it divert or invest in police? Should reform include our communities and society? Has the role of policing changed so much that the term law enforcement is not enough to describe the need and service provided? Are police warriors or servants? Can they be and do it all? 

Our guests join us for one of the most comprehensive discussions on police reform you will hear. A conversation where all points can be valid and a middle ground found with examples and solutions. 

Guest:

Neil Gross-former officer, now sociologist and author of, Walk the Walk: How Three Police Chiefs Defied the Odds and Changed Cop Culture. 

nlgross@colby.edu

Kristin Daley-Executive Director of New Blue. 

kristin@newblue.org

Mike Butler- Public Safety Chief for Longmont, Colorado. 

urantia101@gmail.com

Eric Jones- former Police Chief of Stockton, California and current Deputy County Executive for Public Safety in Sacramento, California. 

joneser@saccounty.gov

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There was a time psychedelics were used to escape reality. Now they are being used to heal reality.

In this episode we talk to Diane Goldstein with Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP). Sarko Gergarian, LEAP speaker and Peter Grayson, Director of Addiction and Recovery at Nushama psychedelic wellness clinic.

Our guest discuss the use of psychedelics for first responder and military treating PTSD, depression, anxiety and other mental health treatment.

What was once a drug seen only as “bad”, may have some “good” when used as medicine. 

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The Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio, Center for Social Justice- Gabriel Fletcher and Fanon Rucker join us to have an open, raw, sometimes uncomfortable conversation about police accountability, race and community. We ask the questions- is the criminal justice system fair and just? What is justice? How can we collaborate to improve policing as well our communities? 

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For this episode we are joined by former General Counsel to the White House Office of Drug Policy Robert Kent. 

Drug policy in the U.S. has been shifting from enforcement to diversion, deflection and treating addiction as a chronic health condition. Robert takes inside national and international drug policy. Impact of illegal drug supply. Why his work is so important to him and the importance of treating the person, not just the addiction.

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This is a real, raw and perfectly imperfect conversation of policing, being a police leader and what it all means to be the human under the uniform.

There are not enough words to thank and express my gratitude to Chief Thomas Wells, Chief Scott Hughes and Capt. Steve Saunders; for their incredible insight and opening up about their police careers, how the job has impacted their mental health as well the officers they serve with and the human journey. Thank you! 

This was recorded before the Memphis incident and the heartbreaking loss of a Cincinnati officer that took her life.

If you have struggled with depression, mental health or felt alone- you are not alone. There are those who walk the same path you do but have found a way with an overall well-being plan to help manage it all. 

The ask for help is a guide in a better direction. 

The national suicide and crisis hotline at 988. 

Samhas national helpline at 1-800-662-help

If you are a police officer you can call 1-800-copline

First responders in ohio can go to mha.Ohio.gov

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Fentanyl: What is real? What is myth? 

Dr. Ryan Marino, Addiction Specialist and Toxicologist joins  us via Zoom to discuss what fentanyl is and what it isn’t. His passion to ensure the media doesn’t help spread the myths. Which has gained the attention of high profile national media personalities. And, setting the record straight about fentanyl. 

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Serial killers and active shooters fascinate us in part because most of us are not capable of comprehending how someone can be driven to commit such heinous acts of inhumanity. 
In this follow up to the “Super power of empathy” episode, trauma specialist, Melissa Adamchik, offers some insight into why and how human behavior can take this hard turn away from connecting to others.

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Empathy can be both emotional and cognitive. A conscious decision to understand the plight of another. Empathy has been called “the currency that can change the world.”  If it is so valuable, worth sharing, such a superpower; then why do we need use it more often?
In this episode we invited Melissa Adamchik of the Tristate Trauma Network to help us learn more on these topics and explore the impact of trauma, isolation and the skill of empathy.  

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The Founding Fathers believed one of the most critical principles to maintaining a democracy was a free press. So important they made it part of the 1st Amendment. 

As confidence in many institutions has diminished, including the news media...Has our faith in the 1st Amendment diminished too? A conversation with Mike Canan former news director at WCPO and now Director of Journalism Strategies at  Scripps Howard Foundation will help us deep dive on this topic and so much more. 

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I have often told the story of an entire family, an entire generation in my community dying from addiction, it changed my life as a cop and human being. I wanted to know how it impacted the third generation of addiction as a human being. 

Not everyone that deals with addiction makes a choice. Shelley was exposed to the family “normal” of substance use at the age of 12. By 14 she was addicted to heroin, then fentanyl and on the streets. Today she helps others to be inspired in recovery. 

Our host Tom Synan shares his side of the story and the empathy he felt for her, her family and others like her struggling with addiction.