Behind The Shield | Podcast in RSS.com

Behind The Shield

Behind The Shield

di James Geering

Fitness Salute mentale

Tommy Dwyer (Dilapidated Fire Stations, Mental Health and Occupational Cancer) - Episode 1271

"Burnin' Down the House" is a powerful new documentary from award-winning filmmaker Tommy Jay Dwyer that shines a light on the hidden crisis facing firefighters. Aging stations, chronic underinvestment and the growing health risks associated with the jobs they do every day. Through intimate interviews and unprecedented access inside Massachusetts firehouses, the film reveals the sacrifices firefighters make long after the flames go out. In this conversation, we discuss his own experience as the son of a firefighter, the Cold Storage Fire, the occupational illness that plagued his family, mold, mental health and so much more.

Brad Mason and Angel Santiago (The Give Team, Selma and the Power of Storytelling) - Episode 1270

Brad Mason is a professional negotiator, community leader, and firm believer that strength is built by doing hard things in service of others. He is the founder and head coach of The Give Team, a youth leadership and endurance program built on a simple belief: No matter how little you have, you always have something to give. Brad also serves on the Board of Directors of New Image Youth Center, supporting young people in Orlando’s Parramore community. A lawyer by training and a Managing Director at Cornerstone Advisors, Brad has spent his career helping financial institutions build stronger relationships and better outcomes. His work in the community is driven by the same principles that guide his leadership: strength, empathy, courage, and love. Most recently, Brad helped lead The Give Team’s 54-mile journey from Selma to Montgomery—an experience captured in the documentary 54 | Something to Give. Angel Santiago is a professional wrestler, documentary filmmaker and the man behind the production of 54 - Something to Give. https://www.thegiveteam.org/

Rob Ramirez II (The USAR Response to the Venezuela Earthquakes, Powerful Rescues and Shared Humanity) - Episode 1269

Rob Ramirez is a 24-year fire service veteran with degrees in Fire Science and Public Administration. Since 2005, Rob has been a Technical Rescue Team Manager for the Department of Homeland Security F.E.M.A. U.S.A.R. Task Force in Miami, FL., where he has served on dozens of high-profile national and international disaster deployments. In addition, Rob has been a student of psychology, physiology, and the effects of stress on human performance for over a decade. His education, training, and personal experiences have provided him with a variety of unique instructional strategies and methods that apply to Firefighters of any rank or tenure. Rob is also an international fire service speaker, FDIC instructor, and a published Fire Service author. Throughout his fire service career, he has held the ranks of Firefighter, Paramedic, Lieutenant, and Captain. Rob is the very proud father of two amazing boys and currently serves as the Division Chief of Training & Safety for the new Jupiter Fire Rescue Department in South Florida. https://www.instagram.com/robramirez1075_official/?hl=en

Mark Seelig (MDMA Assisted Psychotherapy, Sociopaths in Power and Refinding Community) - Episode 1268

Mark was born in West-Berlin, Germany, and has lived in the USA, India, and Germany. From an early age he has been fascinated with the spiritual quest of the human soul, which eventually led him to the study of indigenous traditions and native wisdom. Mark has a degree in Theology and a PhD in Clinical Psychology. He is a founding member of Ken Wilber’s Integral Institute, an Advisory board member of the Association Holotropic Breathwork International, and a Founding member of the German College for Transpersonal Psychotherapy. He has studied indigenous ceremonial traditions with Luis Eduardo Luna. He has written ‘Das Selbst als Ort der Gotteserfahrung’ (The Self as the Dimension of Spiritual Experience) and several articles about Kundalini, and Near-Death Experiences in the ‘Journal of Near-Death Studies’, the ‘Inner Door’, and ‘Religion Heute’ (Germany). Inspired by shamanic journeying he studied Asian Indian Classical Music on the Bansuri (bamboo flute) in India. He has released several award wining shamanic-ambient collaborations to induce and support shamanic states of consciousness with notable artists in the space including Byron Metcalf and Steve Roach. His recording are being used extensively in psychedelic session work. These cd’s include: ‘Wachuma’s Wave’, ‘Mantram’, ‘Nada Terma’, and ‘Nightbloom’, ‘Intention’, ‘Tree of Life’ and ‘Disciple’. Mark has 20 years of experience as a clinical psychotherapist, working with groups, couples, and individuals. He has had extensive clinical experience using the MDMA analogue Methylone in clinical settings. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-seelig-mdiv-phd-57b76720/

Keith "Flip" Griffin (Navy Search & Rescue, Austere Medicine and Fire Service Leadership) - Episode 1267

During his service, Flip participated in more than 75 real-world rescue and medical missions and served as a lead advisor for MEDEVAC operations during the Fukushima disaster response. He also supported large-scale emergency planning initiatives, operational readiness programs, and leadership development efforts across organizations totaling more than 4,000 personnel. Following retirement from military service, Flip founded Firehouse Freedom, an accountability and organizational development company focused on helping fire service leaders strengthen culture, communication, accountability, and crew performance through practical, immediately applicable leadership frameworks. His work centers on modern firehouse leadership challenges and emphasizes actionable next-shift implementation strategies designed to create measurable cultural improvement at both the crew and organizational level. Flip currently works with career, volunteer, combination, rural, and urban fire departments nationwide and is also a columnist for Firehouse Magazine, where he writes on leadership, accountability, communication, and firehouse culture. His presentation style combines operational credibility, relatable storytelling, and practical leadership tools designed to create immediate impact both inside and outside the firehouse. Flip Griffin is a retired U.S. Navy Command Master Chief with over 23 years of leadership experience serving in high-performance operational environments, including Search and Rescue, special operations, aviation operations, disaster response, and senior enlisted leadership roles. Throughout his military career, he led teams in complex, highrisk environments where accountability, communication, leadership, and operational execution directly impacted mission success and the lives of those on the line. https://firehousefreedom.com/

Andy Prisco (Crisis De-escalation, First Responder Safety and Reducing Recidivsm) - Episode 1266

Andrew Prisco is the founder of Jumpstart Mastery, an elected Fire Commissioner, and a nationally recognized authority on human performance, leadership, crisis de-escalation, and organizational culture. For more than 25 years, his career has been dedicated to improving how people and organizations perform when the stakes are highest. Since beginning his behavioral health career in 1999, Andrew has worked at the intersection of behavioral health, public safety, and organizational leadership. From 2011 through 2022, he simultaneously served as a Firefighter and Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) while advancing through leadership roles within Washington State's behavioral health system. This unique combination of public safety and behavioral health experience shaped his philosophy that exceptional performance under pressure depends on the integration of operational readiness, human behavior, leadership, and communication. During his nearly fourteen years with Washington State's behavioral health system, Andrew founded Washington State's Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PERT) program. The program integrated behavioral health principles with first response principles, creating a practical model for safely engaging individuals experiencing psychiatric and behavioral crises while supporting responders in making effective decisions under pressure. The program evolved into a statewide service supporting both of Washington's state psychiatric hospitals, as well as numerous institutional and residential treatment settings, demonstrating that compassionate care and operational safety are complementary disciplines. Andrew later served as Clinical Training Manager for Washington State's forensic behavioral health system, where he expanded his work beyond traditional behavioral health settings by partnering with public safety agencies, healthcare organizations, correctional systems, juvenile justice programs, and other publicserving organizations to strengthen leadership, crisis response, communication, and workforce performance. These experiences laid the foundation for Jumpstart Mastery, which Andrew founded in 2021 and launched in 2022. Through Jumpstart, he partners with behavioral health organizations, juvenile justice systems, corrections agencies, healthcare providers, educational institutions, and public safety organizations throughout North America to strengthen leadership, improve communication, reduce workplace violence, and build resilient organizational cultures. Andrew is the developer of the Advanced Crisis Intervention Training (ACIT) methodology, an evidenceinformed framework that integrates behavioral science, trauma-informed practice, communication strategy, operational decision-making, and leadership principles into practical skills that professionals can immediately apply. Today, ACIT is delivered to organizations throughout North America, equipping leaders and frontline professionals to safely navigate conflict, crisis, and high-risk human interactions. As an elected Fire Commissioner, Andrew continues his commitment to public service by providing strategic governance and oversight for his community's fire district while advocating for responder wellness, organizational excellence, and community safety. https://www.jumpstartmastery.com/

Brain Sipe (Movie Make up, Horror Movies and the Power of Storytelling) - Episode 1265

Emmy® award winning makeup artist Brian Sipe has been working professionally since 1989 as a freelance artist and through his company, Gamut Studios. Several Hollywood makeup effects companies and production studios have taken advantage of his extensive knowledge and experience as a character effects designer and project manager. Brian has had his professional makeup work featured in films and television projects like Jennifer Lawrence / Mystique in the last three X-Men films, Syriana, Ali, Friends, several Terminator films, Big Momma's House 1 and 2, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Black White to name a few. He has also been the prosthetics makeup department head (as well as makeup artist) on several large-scale films like Guardians of the Galaxy - Volume 2, Avengers - Infinity War, Avengers – Endgame, X-Men - Dark Phoenix, Captain Marvel, and the Star Wars project The Mandalorian. Brian's groundbreaking makeup design for the FX Network's reality television show Black, White personally garnered him an Emmy Award in 2006. In 2013 he was also nominated for his work on How I Met Your Mother. Brian's work on David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, helped nab the BAFTA and Oscar for Best Makeup. Brian is very proud of the work that he, representing Legacy Effects, and the entire team did for the Guardians of the Galaxy - Volume 2. A tremendous amount of work went into the film as his team took over from the first in the series, and it had the honor of making final 7 for the Oscar Bake Offs.

Frank Meeink (Escaping Neo Nazi Life, Ice Hockey and the Power of Mentorship) - Episode 1264

Frank Meeink became a skinhead at thirteen. By eighteen, he was roaming the country as a skinhead leader and neo-Nazi recruiter with gangs that would beat people indiscriminately. In Illinois he had his own cable-access TV show, “The Reich.” He was finally arrested and convicted of kidnapping and beating a member of a rival skinhead gang. While in prison he befriended men he used to think he hated, men of different races. After being released from prison, Mr. Meeink tried to rejoin his old skinhead pals, but couldn’t bring himself to hate those whom he now knew to be his friends. He now regularly lectures to students about racial diversity and acceptance, author and founder of Harmony Through Hockey, Mr. Meeink’s life stands for tolerance, diversity, and mutual understanding in racial, political, and all aspects of society.

Dr Kellie O'Dare II (Research on the Success of the 24/72, Mental Health and Fire Service Suicide - Episode 1263

Dr. Kellie O’Dare is a nationally recognized researcher and educator focused on advancing mental wellness, suicide prevention, and organizational resilience within public safety. In this second conversation we discuss the successes seen by deparments that moved to the 24/72, the corrolation between organisational betrayal, finding accurate fire service suicide statistics and so much more. Kellie serves as Research Associate Professor and Deputy Executive Director of UCF RESTORES. She is also the Founder of the 2nd Alarm Project. With a Ph.D. in Social Work and background in public health and policy, her work centers on translating research into practical, sustainable solutions. She has secured more than $8 million in external funding to advance applied research, prevention initiatives, and statewide capacity-building efforts for public safety. She is especially passionate about supporting first responder families, recognizing their critical role in resilience and long-term wellbeing. In addition to her professional expertise, Dr. O’Dare brings meaningful personal connections to the fire service. She is the niece of Shawn T. O’Dare, a firefighter/paramedic killed in the line of duty in Miami-Dade County, and the spouse of a current Florida professional firefighter/paramedic. Her work is grounded in both the science of and her lived experience in the first responder community. https://2ndalarmproject.org/

Tara Cornett (Firefighter Decon, the Cancer Epidemic and the True Cost of War) - Episode 1262

Tara is the Founder of FLAME Natural Decon. She is also a Navy Veteran and the sister of a San Diego firefighter. Tara founded FLAME when she realized there was a need for a product developed specifically for firefighter personal decon. After a year of extensive R&D, Tara launched FLAME in 2020 with their bar of Soap and Shampoo + Body Wash and since then she’s developed decon Hand Soap, Laundry Detergent, and Shave Soap. The power behind FLAME’s products is their proprietary blend of activated charcoal, which removes the smoke smell and carcinogens so they’re no longer detectable on the skin. Tara’s passionate about working with firefighters to reduce their risk, so they can have long, healthy careers and be around for their families. https://flamedecon.com/

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