Trauma Recovery Episodes

Black Hawk Down, PTSD, Marriage Into Special Forces. PTSD. Jen Satterly is our guest. Jen is a former advertising and marketing video specialist. She was assigned to cover and produce videos of US Special Forces. Her experience and subsequent marriage to Tom Satterly (retired US Army Delta Force and member of the teams at the battle of Mogadishu), transformed her life. Her mission now is to help other Military Veterans, First Responders and their spouses recover from the effects of trauma. She i...

Baby’s Life He Couldn’t Save, Almost Claimed His. Sheriff Sergeant's PTSD. Mark DiBona, a retired Sheriff's Sergeant is our guest. He talks about his career in law enforcement and an incident where he was not able to save the life of a baby in medical distress. The trauma of that event, combined with the years of exposure to violence and trauma caused him to spiral out of control. Mark talks about the negative impact all of this had on his life and his near death experience. He discusses coming ...

Black Hawk Down, Intense Battle of Mogadishu. Life After Special Forces. Tom Satterly is our guest. Tom is a highly decorated retired US Army Command Sgt. Major. He served in the elite Delta Force for 20 years. He was part of the ground force at the battle of Mogadishu which was portrayed in the movie "Black Hawk Down". In addition to that, his special forces career put him in the middle of numerous violent armed conflicts. Tom talks about the battle of Mogadishu and the effects this and other b...

U.S. Navy Veteran Dr. Tracy Hejmanowski, clinical psychologist, is our guest. She has 2 decades of clinical expertise working with service members, veterans, first responders, and their families. Dr. Hejmanowski founded the First Responder Project, Inc. She talks about her experience treating, and helping Military & First Responders. Dr. Hejmanowski discusses their mission to connect military and civilian first responders through their shared bond of service and their necessary bearing of burden...

Police Officer Shot his Lifelong Injuries And Return To Full Duty. Retired Troy Police Lt. William Tullock is our guest. He talks about the life threatening incident when he was shot by a rifle wielding barricade suspect. William discusses the incident, his struggle to survive and what it took to return to full duty on the Troy Michigan police department. After retiring from his full police career, in spite of his lifelong injuries he worked as a civilian employee at the Las Vegas Metropolitan P...

Violent Rape Lead Her To Help Police All Across The Country. K9s For Cops. Kristi Schiller, former TV and Radio Star and the founder of K9s4Cops is our guest. She talks about how she fought back and recovered from a brutal rape. Plus how the rape and an incident when a police K9 was killed inspired her to get involved. Kristi’s quest to help led her to start K9s4Cops which has now donated K9s to police departments in 41 States and Paris France. Kristi also started K9s4Kids which places highly po...

Killer Shot a Police Officer In The Face. Shocking Treatment By The City. Former Police Officer Cheryl Nici-O’Connell is our guest. She tells about being shot in the face, her recovery and the shocking treatment by the City govt. In 1984 in Richmond Virginia, while working in uniform, she was ambushed and shot in the face by a mass murderer. Cheryl talks about her the shocking treatment by the city afterwards, her miraculous on going recovery and how she still works to help others. Background s...

My Hardest Day as a Police Officer. Life After A Career Ending Injury. Leah Anaya is our guest. She is a retired police officer, her career was ended by a permanent injury. Leah talks about her law enforcement career and her time with the Oakland California Police Department and the day that four other officers were murdered. She discusses the impact that their murders had on her and the police department at the time. Her law enforcement career moved north when she was hired by a Department in W...

9 Firefighters Killed During Fire. PTSD Recovery. Travis Howze is our guest. He was a member of the Charleston, SC Fire Department. Travis talks about the horrible fire at the Sofa Store that claimed the lives of 9 heroic brother firefighters. He talks about fighting that fire, and how he and other firefighters searched for and found the bodies of their deceased brothers. He also talks about the devastating impact the trauma had on him and many others. Travis talks about finding post traumatic p...

Carlos Farina, MS, MCAP, NBCCH, is our guest. Carlos is the Program Director at the Help For Our Heroes Program at Transformations Treatment Center. He is also a Military Veteran and Retired Law Enforcement Officer. Carlos discusses the toll that exposure to repeated trauma took on him, how he got to his new life and how it inspires him to help others. The Help For Our Heroes program is specifically designed for military veterans, police officers, corrections officers, firefighters, paramedics, ...

Police Officer at a Terror Bombing, His Life Afterwards. Peter Killeen, Ed. D is our guest. He is a former police officer and was on scene at the LaGuardia Airport terror bombing attack. Peter talks about working the scene and his life afterwards. He is now a recognized expert on the effects of stress on the law enforcement professional. Peter has worked as a “Therapist, Counselor, Educator, & Author assisting law enforcement professionals to better manage stress, both personally and professiona...

Domestic Violence, including a Murder Suicide Attempt. Meriwether Ball is our guest. She talks about what it took for her to break free from a violent marriage. Meriwether also details the events of an attempted murder - suicide at the hands of her ex husband. She goes into great detail about all the people, including police officers that helped her start her new life. She also discusses the warning signs to look out for in domestic violence relationships. Most importantly, she discusses her hap...

PTSD Led To Homelessness, Alcoholism. Police Officer's Recovery And Mission To Help Others. Erika Unberhagen is our guest. She is a former law enforcement officer. Erika's career as a police officer led to PTSD, which in turn led to increased drinking of alcohol to cope with the symptoms. As her overall condition worsened, she lost her job as a cop, lost her marriage and eventually became homeless for years. Erika talks about what led to her condition, the years of struggling for recovery and ho...

Retired Police Officer Stars On Naked and Afraid to Prove a Point. Retired Police Officer Gwen Grimes is our guest. She was retired due to a permanent disabling line of duty injury. Gwen talks about her career policing in Alaska and her career ending injury. She appeared on the reality show Naked and Afraid to prove that she could do it, in spite of her disabling injuries. She also talks about her passion to help military veterans, law enforcement and other first responders heal from the trauma ...

Police Officer Husband Died by Suicide Just Before Retirement. Molly High is our guest. She shares their tragic story. Her husband Phil High died by suicide just months before reaching retirement from his career in law enforcement. She talks about the impact of all the trauma he experienced during his career and the impact it had on his mental health and their relationship. Compounding the tragedy of his death, she was trying to find a treatment facility that could help him with his PTSD. Molly ...

Trauma for Police Officers, First Responders And Veterans. Ace Baker is our guest. Ace is a former police officer and spent years teaching military at S.E.R.E. School. He talks about the unspoken traumas he faced and many other law enforcement officers endure. Ace talks about the levels of trauma that our veterans and first responders face. And how they can find brotherhood, understanding and healing at the Warriors2Us Foundation Camp. If you enjoy the show, please tell a friend or two, or thre...

Heroin and Opiods Battle, Effects of Trauma on First Responders. Filmmaker Conrad Weaver and Police Officer Desiree Palmer are our guests. While filming the documentary Heroins Grip, Conrad met Desiree. They describe the devastation caused by the heroin and opiate addiction problem. During the filming of that documentary, he became aware of the crushing PTSD problem that is occurring within our first responder ranks, and he started to work on his next film PTSD911. Off. Palmer talks about her ef...

9-11 Pentagon Terror Attack Brought Him To Brink, Healing from the Trauma. Sheriff’s Captain J.P. McMichael is our guest. He talks about responding to the Pentagon after the 9-11 terror attack. J.P. discusses the scene and how the effects from the trauma created havoc in his life and almost cost him his life. He talks about his recovery, his law enforcement career afterwards and how the PTS motivates him to help others. One of his passions is writing children's books, to help them deal with PTS ...

Music, Healing for Police Officers, Veterans and First Responders? Michael Caimona President of the Warrior Music Foundation is our guest. He is a US Navy veteran he has deployed throughout the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Michael grew up in a Law Enforcement family and has spent most of his life around veterans, cops and other first responders.After serving in the Military he started seeing a need for additional programs to help our veterans, cops and first responders heal from the mental and ...

State Trooper Brother Died By Suicide. Changed Him as a Cop and in Life Jim Banish a 20+ year patrol officer for the Warren County New York Sheriff’s Office is our guest. In 2008 his life and career took on a whole new path after his brother Lt. Joseph Banish NYSP took his life on April 1st. For several years after his life became very tumultuous and he was suffering from deep depression directly related to his job and the traumas that he had experienced over his career. Jim talks about his brot...

State Trooper Brother Died By Suicide. Changed Him as a Cop and in Life. Retired Montgomery County Md. Police Officer Mollie Stone is our guest. She talks about growing up in a law enforcement family and her career as a police officer. Mollie shares the highs, lows and her unique perspective on law enforcement. She shares about the unexpected and traumatic death of her good friend and fellow police officer. After the years and untold amount of trauma experienced in her career, her friend’s death...

Police Officers Abandoned after Being Wounded in the Line Of Duty. Retired Police Lieutenant Randy Sutton is our guest. In addition to being retired from the Las Vegas Metro Police Department, he has starred in the television series “Cops”, also starred in several movies and has also written many books. He talks about his law enforcement career and the many common misconceptions about police work. Randy also discusses the disturbing national trend of wounded officers injured in the line of duty ...

Shooting, Violence and Trauma, Life After his Police Career. Retired Police Sergeant Michael Sugrue is our guest. Michael talks about his career in law enforcement and his life afterwards. He discusses the call when he was forced to shoot an armed and dangerous suspect. Michael shares about that deadly encounter, plus a close call with an armed suspect. He talks about those incidents, combined with all the events in his police career and how they effected his physical, mental and emotional well-...

Police Officer Attacked Viciously, Lifelong Injuries, City Says They're Too Broke To Retire Her. Bri Kaplan, L.A.P.D. was permanently injured in a vicious assault. As a result she sustained life long permanent injuries. After many years of battling the City, they told her that they are too broke to retire her. Instead she was told to quit or be fired. She talks about the violent attack, her difficult ongoing recovery and her battles with the City of Los Angeles. Bri also discusses the impact the...