This episode is with the amazing Nicki Impastato! Nicki and I sit down and talk about her life working as a dispatcher while raising two kids with her Battalion Chief husband. And then we talk about doing all this while struggling with PTSD. Ni

FF Egan de los Colbos: How PTSD can manifest into physical illness

Feb 8th, 2024 1h 16m

Veteran firefighter Egan DeLosCobos sits down with the firefighter deconstructed and talks about how the body holds on to stress and what happens to our bodies if we don’t deal with it. Egan and his 3 year old son somehow survived a crazy car a

Former Firefighter James Geering Now Fights For Your Wellbeing

Jan 1st, 2024 1h 10m

Pirate to stuntman to paramedic/firefighter to podcaster and back to stuntman. He’s traveled and worked around the world. He saw the fire culture's damaging effects on its members and that with becoming a single parent, he decided to choose his

Olivia & Josh: Putting Their Marriage and Lives Back Together

Dec 20th, 2023 55m 46s

Josh and Olivia sit back down with the Firefighter Deconstructed and talk about having to put their marriage and their lives back together for the second time and why they are so much stronger because of it. This episode embodies how marriage r

Vol FF Rob Weisberg Hikes the Appalachian Trail for PTSD and His Unique 9/11 Story

Nov 14th, 2023 1h 29m

Rob Weisberg is a volunteer firefighter in the state of NY. He happened to work across the street from the World Trade Center. When the Towers were hit, he made his way to a nearby fire station and offered his help. He ended up managing a fire

Kerrie Murphy - Suicide Survivor

Oct 30th, 2023 57m 13s

Kyle, a firefighter with 11 years of service, is no longer on this planet because he was tormented by PTSD and had learned that it’s not ok to ask for help. Our guest, Kerrie Murphy, bravely shares her story of losing her younger brother Kyle.

Teri DeLaMontanya Part 2: Living Skills

Sep 14th, 2023 1h 2m

This is Part 2: Living Skills. In Part 1 we hear about all the trauma that Teri has beent through while keeping a big smile on her face. In this part 2 episode, Teri shares the rug getting pulled out from under her and then how she put her life

Teri DeLaMontanya - Just Surviving Skills to Living Skills Part 1

Sep 12th, 2023 1h 3m

This is truly a special 2 part episode with former EMT and then emergency room nurse then emergency room director Teri DeLaMontanya. Teri grew up in turmoil and trauma and learned to “make the most of it” in order to survive. Never allowing her

James Beal NFD - Don't Do That Thing

Jul 24th, 2023 39m 34s

James Beal is a paramedic for the Nashville Fire Department. Not only is he being incredibly brave by telling us his story, but he’s talking about it on a podcast — when one of his greatest vulnerabilities has been talking. He grew up with a st

Lawrence Williams, Nashville Fire Capt, Refused to get help until.....

Jun 8th, 2023 57m 24s

Lawerence Williams is a 21 year veteran with the Nashville Fire Department. He is as tough as they come. Lawerence struggled with alcohol and PTSD symptoms until he finally went to the IAFF PTSD recovery/rehab center. While there he thought the

Two Firefighter Spouses Share Their Experiences

May 31st, 2023 1h 2m

Audra and Chelsi are two firefighter's wives and work-from-home mothers, with a combined 20+ years of experience as first responder spouses. They host a no-BS podcast, on a mission to break the stigma of mental health in first responders while

FFret Jim Madison - Resilence X 1000

Mar 16th, 2023 56m 7s

Retired firefighter and military guy Jim Madison is on the show. He is the epitome of resilience. That saying, it’s not how many times you fall down, but how many times you get up. Jim has had to get up off the floor MANY times. He has suffered

ret FF Keith Hanks - Putting His Life Back Together From C-PTSD

Mar 2nd, 2023 57m 40s

Keith joins the podcast and shares how his life fell apart and after a diagnosis of Complex PTSI, he put it back together. His road to recovery included 6 suicide attempts. He shares incredible insight into what drives some to suicide.Keith Han

My Story of Having to Save My Own Life

Feb 18th, 2023 48m 12s

I had the honor of being a guest on the incredible podcast, A Slight Change of Plans hosted by cognitive scientist Maya Shanker. Apple named A Slight Change of Plans the best podcast of 2021 and it has over 10 million downloads and Dr. Shanker

Tyler Fausset ret FF/PM - Retiring is Hard

Feb 9th, 2023 1h 7m

This is the second time Tyler sat down to talk about his journey with PTSD. The first episode he talked about his critical incident that sent him down the PTSD rabbit hole. This time he comes back on to talk about the next phase: retiring from

Paramedic Cheri Garcia: Reinventing Yourself

Jan 30th, 2023 1h 1m

Ret. Paramedic Cheri Garcia sits down with the Firefighter Deconstructed after a short winder break. Cheri talks about realizing she couldn't do the job anymore without it further ruining her life and who she was. She had to reinvent herself an

ret FF/PM Michael Loew, Carr Wildland Fire and the Aftermath

Sep 27th, 2022 1h 15m

Michael Loew was a Firefighter and Paramedic for almost 30 years. He cruised along pretty well until he was caught in the middle of the Carr Fire. The Carr fire, burned 229,651 acres of the Shasta and Trinity counties, burned down over a thousa

FF Don Pemberton: How to Prevent PTSD and Get Help When it Hits

Aug 11th, 2022 55m 50s

Don PembertonDon sits down with Christy and talks about coaching first responders to create and maintain healthy lives and actions that can help PREVENT Post Traumatic Stress. He and the organization, 1st Responder Coaching, really have somethi

Ret. Police Officer Stephanie Polizziani - Finding Light when it Became Dark

Jul 27th, 2022 1h 3m

Retired police officer Stephanie Polizziani spent 15 years as a police officer, most of them for the city of Berkeley and then moved on to Benicia. She began to feel her life become dark. She planned on just keeping her head down on and not dea

SGB Could Change Everything - Shauna "Doc" Springer

Jul 14th, 2022 50m 54s

Today’s show is awesome and everyone should listen to this. Shauna Doc Springer and I talk about an existing and very accessible total game changer in the treatment of PTSD. It’s called the Stellate Ganglion Block. We also talk about first resp

PTSD is a Physical Injury - Nan Herron, MD Explains

Jun 29th, 2022 1h 5m

Today’s show is all about the brain and what happens to it when it’s exposed to trauma repeatedly. Dr. Nan Herron, a real medical doctor, and I sit down and talk about why people want to drop the D in PTSD and replace it with an I - because it’

Christy and Danny Out on the Streets

Jun 22nd, 2022 1h 2m

San Francisco Fire Paramedic Danny McAtee makes his second appearance on the show. We sit down and discuss part of our first responder community that carries an extra weight daily and especially when they struggle with mental health and PTS. Th

San Jose PD ret Chris Warren, No One Knew What to Say

Jun 10th, 2022 56m 11s

Chris Warren is a retired San Jose Police Officer who was the negotiator on a barricaded subject with a tragic ending. When the tragedy happened, no one talked about it or really even talked to him at all. This critical incident on top of years

Ret. Deputy Sheriff Sally Lobb - Tough as Nails with a Giant Heart

Apr 28th, 2022 1h 10m

Show Notes: Kick-ass retired Sheriff Deputy Sally Lobb sits down with The Firefighter Deconstructed and shares her story of becoming and being a woman cop, peer support and her own story of getting PTSI. I personally know Sally and know she is

Capt/PM Chris Moore, Power of Vulnerability and Volunteer's Mental Health

Apr 14th, 2022 1h 6m

This week I sit down with Captain Paramedic Chris Moore of the Chesapeake Fire Department in the state of Virginia. Chris started and spent about 10 years as a volunteer and then moved over to working as a firefighter full time. Chris and I tal