Responder Resilience Podcast

06/05/2026

[First Responder Wellness: Living With Purpose] Gratitude for your existence and for your calling are not soft concepts. They are the bedrock of a life that means something.

You Were Not an Accident — Now Act Like ItFirst responder wellness is not only about recovery after difficult calls. It is also about knowing why you serve, what keeps you grounded, and how purpose can protect your mental and emotional health. For police officers, firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, c...

06/05/2026

I had the privilege of speaking at the 2026 First Responder Center for Excellence Mental Wellness Symposium at the University of Iowa this week — and walked away inspired, recharged, and more convinced than ever that this work matters.

I got to talk about our book, Helping the Helpers, the culture of silence that runs deep in emergency services, and the gap that still exists between the responders who desperately need help and the clinicians who want to help but aren't yet culturally fluent in the world first responders live in every day. It's a gap we can close, and rooms like this one are how we do it.

The presentations were world class, the vendors were outstanding, and the conversations among attendees were exactly the kind of honest, mission-driven dialogue this community needs more of.

Frank Leeb, Managing Director of FRCE, said it best in an EMS1 article: "I'm tired of losing my friends. We can do better, and that's why we're here."

That's it. That's the whole mission right there.

A huge thank you to Frank Leeb, Dena Ali, Lori Jacobs, Victor Stagnaro, and the FRCE team for bringing together such an incredible gathering of leaders, clinicians, and advocates. You are making a real difference.

06/04/2026

[Chasing Performance - Reframing first responder physical and mental health] "Rest is a weapon. What was once seen as a weakness is now a strength."

“Rest is a weapon. What was once seen as a weakness is now a strength.” - Brett Bartholomew, NFL strength and conditioning coach.

06/04/2026

Some connections take time to grow — and that makes them even better.

It was incredible to catch up with MaKenzie Tiegs in person at the First Responder Center for Excellence Mental Wellness Symposium in Iowa! We first connected in 2023 when she came on the show to talk about being RAW — Real, Authentic, and Willing to share. Three years later, same mission, deeper connection — and seeing the groundbreaking work she's continued building in responder wellness since then is nothing short of inspiring.

Stay tuned for her upcoming episode in the coming months on Responder Resilience — you won't want to miss it. And to MaKenzie — thank you for showing up and doing the work. Being RAW is a superpower.

🎙️ Link to the original 2023 episode: https://www.respondertv.com/guests/makenzie-tiegs/
podcast

06/03/2026

Most fitness products make you a promise. And most of the time, six weeks later, they're collecting dust in a corner.

Khalil Zahar built something different.

He was finishing his master's degree in Toronto when he walked into a boxing gym and fell completely in love — training four or five times a week, getting into the best shape of his life. Then he noticed something almost absurd: even elite-level boxers were still counting their punches with a clicker.

An engineer saw a problem. FightCamp was born.

What started as punch-tracking technology for Olympic and professional athletes became one of the most talked-about connected fitness platforms in the world. Today FightCamp has raised nearly $100 million in funding, backed by Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather, Georges St-Pierre, and Francis Ngannou. Two-thirds of its users had never boxed a day in their life.

But that's not why we called him.

We called him because of the first responders — the firefighters, cops, paramedics, and dispatchers who found something in FightCamp that a gym membership and a treadmill never could give them. Training that doesn't just build a body. Training that prepares the mind for chaos, processes stress instead of storing it, and builds the kind of composure that keeps you steady when everything around you isn't.

In this episode, we hear directly from first responders who train with FightCamp — and we sit down with the man who built it to find out why it works, where it's going, and what it could do for you.

If you know you should be training but haven't found the right thing yet — this one's for you.

Responder Resilience is produced for first responders and mental health professionals. New episodes on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Facebook, and LinkedIn. All past episodes at ResponderTV.com.

**Resources for Responder Wellness:**
• Book: Helping the Helpers https://a.co/d/dm0VS4Q
• Free App: CRACKYL http://crackyl.respondertv.com
• Fitness: FightCamp (code RR10 for 10% off) http://joinfightcamp.com/rr

Our website with past episodes and more: https://www.respondertv.com/

FightCamp:
https://joinfightcamp.com/shop
https://www.facebook.com/groups/joinfightcamp/
https://www.instagram.com/fightcamp/

06/03/2026

You've shocked strangers back to life and kept it moving.

Your own burnout's been in V-fib for years. Nobody's called it. Nobody's charging the pads.

This retreat is the defib.

🚑 FREE 2-Day Retreat for EMTs & Paramedics June 23–24 | St. Johns, FL

Facilitated by Dr. Tracy Hejmanowski — former Navy operational Psych. And she's bringing active and retired EMS people who've done the job. We know the weight and will help you carry less of it.

No cost. No incident reports. Just show up.

👉 Reserve your spot: https://book.firstresponderproject.org/retreat-booking-page
☎️ 904-560-5450 / 1-866-940-4911

06/02/2026

The job doesn't clock out when you do.

The stress follows you home. It sits at the dinner table. It keeps you up at 3 am. It shows up in your relationships before you even know it's there.

Most workouts don't touch that.

Boxing does.

This week on Responder Resilience, we sit down with Khalil Zahar — CEO of FightCamp — and some first responders who found something in a boxing training system that a gym membership never gave them.

Drop a 🥊 if you're ready for this one.

🔵 New episode drops Wed 6/3 at 7 pm ET: https://www.youtube.com/c/ResponderResilience
🔴 Also on LinkedIn | Facebook | Apple | Spotify

05/30/2026

[The rise of moral distress: How ‘make it work’ is slowly breaking the fire service] Fire service leaders don’t lose sleep because the job is dangerous; we lose sleep when we know what the right move is but can’t make it. That is moral distress, and it can be heavy.

Every deferred engine, denied staffing request and compromised rescue plan leaves behind moral residue chiefs can’t shake

05/29/2026

Your protocols cover everything except what's actually breaking you.

Compassion fatigue. Burnout. The weight nobody talks about.

We cover that. For free. Don't make us put you on the stretcher to get you there.

🚑 FREE 2-Day Retreat for EMTs & Paramedics June 23–24 | St. Johns, FL

Facilitated by Dr. Tracy Hejmanowski — former Navy operational Psych. And she's bringing active and retired EMS people who've done the job. We know the weight and will help you carry less of it.

No cost. No incident reports. Just show up.

👉 Reserve your spot: https://book.firstresponderproject.org/retreat-booking-page
☎️ 904-560-5450 / 1-866-940-4911

05/29/2026

[The job was changing me and I didn’t see it] A retired deputy sheriff explains how chronic occupational load reshapes officers — and why leaders must recognize the warning signs before the damage becomes permanent.

A retired deputy sheriff explains how chronic occupational load reshapes officers — and why leaders must recognize the warning signs before the damage becomes permanent