This episode discusses post-traumatic stress, trauma, an officer-involved shooting, and alcohol misuse. If these topics are personally difficult, please listen at your own pace. If you recognize yourself in this conversation, asking for help is a sign of courage, not weakness — and you are not alone.

Welcome back to Just Breathe, where we explore the intersection of leadership and the science of self-regulation in public safety. Most first responders know help is out there; far fewer know how to reach it, or whether the person on the other end understands the job. This episode is about closing that gap: where to turn once you decide you need help, and why the answer starts with leadership.

Dr. Tracie L. Keesee is joined by Conrad Weaver, President and CEO of First Responder Wellness Solutions, founder of ConjoStudios, and creator of the documentaries PTSD911 and Heroin's Grip. Together they talk through what keeps helpers from asking for help, how to find a therapist who actually knows the culture, and what separates leaders who walk the walk from those who only talk about wellness.

WHAT WE COVER

• Why first responders, the people everyone calls for help, are often the last to ask for it — and why admitting "this is beyond me" is the first step.
• How confidential lines like CopLine and Safe Call Now give responders a judgment-free place to start the conversation.
• How to vet a therapist: shop around, ask directly whether they work with cops or firefighters, and ask whether they've ever been on a ride-along.
• Why a leader's words matter — one detective agreed to get help because his chief offered "a program," not "a shrink."
• Why self-leadership comes first, through the story of a police chief who got help for her officers after a mass shooting before realizing she needed it too.
• Why a chief who skips the department's own wellness day sends a louder message than any LinkedIn post.
• How agreeing with a spouse or partner on what you will and won't share about work protects both the responder and the relationship.
• Why, after screenings in 32 states and roughly 90 cities, Conrad says the biggest gap in first responder wellness is leadership that understands and cares.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger or considering suicide, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

• CopLine — 1-800-COPLINE (1-800-267-5463) — Confidential 24/7 hotline for active and retired law enforcement and their families, answered by retired officers.
• Safe Call Now — 1-206-459-3020 — Confidential 24-hour crisis referral line for public safety employees, emergency services personnel, and their families.
• National Fraternal Order of Police Approved Provider Bulletin — A nationwide directory of FOP-vetted, culturally competent wellness providers for law enforcement and their families: https://fop.net/officer-wellness/approved-provider-bulletin-apb
• First Responder Wellness Solutions — Conrad's organization and resource list: https://firstresponderwellness.co
• Your agency's peer support team, Employee Assistance Program, chaplain, or a mental health professional who works with first responders.

ABOUT CONRAD WEAVER

Conrad Weaver is a filmmaker, entrepreneur, speaker, and coach dedicated to strengthening leadership and wellness within public safety. As President and CEO of First Responder Wellness Solutions and founder of ConjoStudios, he brings more than two decades of storytelling experience to helping agencies build healthier, more resilient cultures. He created the documentaries PTSD911 and Heroin's Grip and hosts the First Responder Wellness Podcast.

ABOUT THE JUST BREATHE PODCAST

Just Breathe with Dr. Tracie L. Keesee is a leadership platform for first responders and public safety professionals. Each episode explores how leadership, judgment, accountability, and wellness are shaped by the internal state of the leader making the decision — on the street, in the command staff meeting, and at home. New episodes drop every other week.

Control the breath. Control the moment.

If you are a first responder or public safety professional struggling right now: call or text 988, or call CopLine at 1-800-267-5463 — both are confidential and staffed by people who understand this work.

Welcome back to Just Breathe, where we explore the intersection of leadership and the science of self-regulation in public safety. This episode takes on something every first responder knows and few talk about honestly: being tired. There is tired, and then there is fatigue — and fatigue quietly changes how we process information, regulate our emotions, assess risk, communicate, and make decisions, on duty and at home.

Dr. Tracie L. Keesee is joined by Dr. Lois James, Professor and PhD Program Director in the Washington State University College of Nursing and Director of WSU's Sleep and Performance Research Center. Together they unpack what sleep loss does to the brain and body, why "I'm tired, but I'm fine" doesn't hold up, and what both individuals and agencies can change starting today.

WHAT WE COVER

• Why routinely getting five or six hours of sleep isn't a "new normal" — most adults need seven to nine hours to avoid building sleep debt.

• How fatigue takes the prefrontal cortex offline first, eroding the self-awareness, calm, and judgment a tense encounter demands.

• Why drowsy driving after a shift feels safe until it isn't — micro-sleeps happen even when you believe you're awake.

• What leaders should know about shift length, shift rotation, and forward-rotating schedules, and why staffing should match actual demand.

• Simple sleep-hygiene moves: limit handheld screens, use steady background noise, and keep your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet.

• The case for on-duty napping — and how a 20-minute power nap (or a "nappuccino") tops up alertness without sleep inertia.

• The one thing to start today: a self-soothing wind-down routine that lowers hypervigilance so your body can actually rest.

• Why the culture of "push through it" is fading — and why the question isn't whether we can keep going, but whether we should.

ABOUT DR. LOIS JAMES

Dr. Lois James is a Professor and the PhD Program Director in the Washington State University College of Nursing, and Director of WSU's Sleep and Performance Research Center. Her research examines how sleep loss, fatigue, stress, and bias affect performance and safety among shift workers, including police officers, firefighters, health care personnel, and military personnel. She specializes in developing and evaluating fatigue risk management, sleep education, and anti-bias training programs, and is the founding Director of Counter Bias Training Simulation (CBTsim). Internationally recognized in her field, she also consults directly with agencies on building schedules that work for their officers and their communities.

ABOUT THE JUST BREATHE PODCAST

Just Breathe with Dr. Tracie L. Keesee is a leadership platform for first responders and public safety professionals. Each episode explores how leadership, judgment, accountability, and wellness are shaped by the internal state of the leader making the decision — on the street, in the command staff meeting, and at home. New episodes drop every other week.

Control the breath. Control the moment.

This episode discusses suicide, trauma, depression, and cumulative stress. If you've lost a colleague, friend, or loved one, or if these topics are personally difficult, please listen at your own pace. If you recognize yourself in this conversation, asking for help is a sign of courage, not weakness — and you are not alone.

Welcome back to Just Breathe for the final installment of our three-part series, The Lives We Don't Talk About. The first two episodes covered understanding suicide and loss; this one shifts forward to what healing, treatment, and recovery look like for first responders and their families, and how agencies can build a culture where asking for help meets support instead of stigma.

Dr. Tracie L. Keesee is joined by Dr. Dorothy Novitskie, a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist and founder of Novitskie Forensic Psychology, with more than two decades of experience in clinical, forensic, correctional, and law enforcement settings. Together they unpack what recovery means after trauma, why asking for help remains hard in public safety culture, and what effective treatment, family involvement, and forward-looking leadership look like in practice.

WHAT WE COVER

- Dr. Novitskie reframes recovery not as "going back to who you were" but as regaining the ability to carry what you've experienced without being controlled by it — sleeping again, being present with family, and having access to joy.
- Why the fear of asking for help isn't irrational for officers: mixed messages from agencies, and legitimate concerns about how disclosure could affect assignments, promotions, or firearm status.
- How leadership sets the "emotional temperature" of an agency — officers watch what leaders tolerate and reward far more than what they say.
- What a comprehensive treatment assessment looks like, including screening out medical causes (like a thyroid issue) before assuming a psychological diagnosis.
- Why safety planning around suicidal ideation focuses on reducing access to lethal means without automatically stripping an officer's firearm privileges or identity.
- The specific role family, friends, and trusted peers play in recovery — noticing changes and staying connected, without being expected to act as the person's therapist.
- Why recovery isn't linear, and how anniversary reactions, court proceedings, or a difficult call can resurface symptoms without meaning treatment has failed.
- Dr. Novitskie's vision for where public safety agencies need to go in the next five years: proactive wellness built into daily culture, not just a reaction after tragedy.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger or considering suicide, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

- CopLine — 1-800-267-5463 (1-800-COPLINE) — a confidential, 24/7 peer support hotline staffed by retired law enforcement, for active and retired officers and their families.
- Safe Call Now — (206) 459-3020 — a confidential, peer-based resource for public safety professionals and their families, offering referrals to treatment.
- Your agency's peer support team or Employee Assistance Program can also connect you directly to these resources.

ABOUT DR. DOROTHY NOVITSKIE

Dr. Dorothy Novitskie is a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist and founder of Novitskie Forensic Psychology, LLC. With more than two decades across clinical, forensic, correctional, outpatient, and academic settings, she specializes in trauma-informed care, forensic mental health assessment, and treatment for law enforcement and public safety professionals. She holds an M.A. in Forensic Psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

ABOUT THE JUST BREATHE PODCAST

Just Breathe with Dr. Tracie L. Keesee is a leadership platform for first responders and public safety professionals. Each episode explores how leadership, judgment, accountability, and wellness are shaped by the internal state of the leader making the decision — on the street, in the command staff meeting, and at home. New episodes drop every other week.

Control the breath. Control the moment.

If you are a first responder or public safety professional struggling right now: call or text 988, or call CopLine at 1-800-267-5463 — both are confidential and staffed by people who understand this work.

This episode discusses suicide, trauma, depression, and cumulative stress. If you've lost a colleague, friend, or loved one, or if these topics are personally difficult, please listen at your own pace. If you recognize yourself in this conversation, asking for help is a sign of courage, not weakness — and you are not alone.

Welcome back to Just Breathe for part two of our three-part series, The Lives We Don't Talk About. Part one honored the lives lost to first responder suicide and challenged the culture around it; this episode goes inside the research, exploring the psychological autopsy — the method used to understand why an officer died by suicide, and how that understanding drives prevention.

Dr. Tracie L. Keesee is joined by Dr. Jeff Thompson, a retired NYPD detective who served more than two decades, including as the department's first-ever mental health and wellness coordinator and as a hostage negotiator. He's now an Adjunct Associate Research Scientist in Psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where his work on police psychological autopsies has become a leading resource for suicide prevention in public safety.

WHAT WE COVER

- What a psychological autopsy actually is: a scientific, interview-based method for understanding why an officer died by suicide — grounded in honoring the person and generating prevention data, never in assigning blame.
- The five critical questions behind every psychological autopsy: why that person, why by that method, why that day, why didn't protective factors intervene, and what could have helped.
- Why "why that day" is often the most revealing question — a recurring stressor, like an on-and-off relationship, can suddenly become the tipping point after years of surviving it.
- Why over 90% of police suicides involve a firearm, and what that says about the role of access to lethal means in prevention.
- How depression can show up as anger outbursts and lost impulse control rather than visible sadness — and why that gets misread as a disciplinary problem instead of a warning sign.
- Why direct and indirect suicidal statements ("I don't want to wake up," "there's no way out of this") both call for the same direct follow-up question, and how to actually ask it.
- Why loved ones interviewed for a psychological autopsy often describe the process itself as part of their healing, even though it can't undo what happened.
- Why social connectedness outside of work — with people who have nothing to do with the job — is one of the strongest protective factors against the isolation that precedes suicide.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger or considering suicide, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

- CopLine — 1-800-267-5463 (1-800-COPLINE) — a confidential, 24/7 peer support hotline staffed by retired law enforcement, for active and retired officers and their families.
- Safe Call Now — (206) 459-3020 — a confidential, peer-based referral service for public safety professionals and their families.
- Your agency's peer support team or Employee Assistance Program can also connect you directly to these resources.

ABOUT DR. JEFF THOMPSON

Dr. Jeff Thompson is a retired NYPD detective who spent more than two decades with the department, including serving as its first-ever mental health and wellness coordinator and as a hostage negotiator. He is now an Adjunct Associate Research Scientist in Psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, focused on evidence-based strategies for resilience, crisis response, and suicide prevention in law enforcement. He is a leading voice on using psychological autopsies to understand and prevent first responder suicide, with research published in outlets including Police Chief magazine.

ABOUT THE JUST BREATHE PODCAST

Just Breathe with Dr. Tracie L. Keesee is a leadership platform for first responders and public safety professionals. Each episode explores how leadership, judgment, accountability, and wellness are shaped by the internal state of the leader making the decision — on the street, in the command staff meeting, and at home. New episodes drop every other week.

Control the breath. Control the moment.

If you are a first responder or public safety professional struggling right now: call or text 988, or call CopLine at 1-800-267-5463 — both are confidential and staffed by people who understand this work.

For many in public safety, strength has always meant endurance — how much you can carry, how much you can power through. But what happens to that mindset when it comes to your own health? Dr. Tracie L. Keesee welcomes back Chief Jack Cawley of Castle Rock PD for a candid conversation about men's health, the habits that keep leaders from asking for help, and what real modeling looks like from the top of an organization.

WHAT WE COVER

Why men's health is one of the hardest topics to raise in public safety — and how "suck it up" culture still lingers from a generation taught to work through injury and illness

Why Castle Rock PD made mental health check-ins mandatory for everyone, including the chief, to remove the stigma of asking for help

Chief Cawley's own aha moment: realizing his calendar would consume every open minute unless he intentionally protected time for himself

The identity trap of policing — why so many first responders struggle to separate who they are from the rank they held, especially in retirement

How Castle Rock's eFit program invests in on-site fitness, personal trainers, and paid workout time — and why the return on that investment goes far beyond physical health

Why so many men find it easier to help others than to ask for help themselves

The practical case for building wellness habits early in a career, before symptoms force the issue

What real leadership modeling looks like — and why officers can tell the difference between a chief who talks about wellness and one who protects the time to practice it

The one cultural shift Chief Cawley believes would do the most good: building an organization where people feel psychologically and physically safe enough to have honest conversations without fear of consequences

ABOUT CHIEF JACK CAWLEY

Chief Jack Cawley began his career as a police dispatcher before spending 25 years with the Overland Park Police Department in Kansas. Since January 2012, he has served as Chief of Police for the Castle Rock Police Department in Colorado, where he has championed mandatory wellness check-ins, on-site fitness investment, and a leadership culture built around modeling — not just mandating — officer wellness.

ABOUT THE JUST BREATHE PODCAST

Just Breathe with Dr. Tracie L. Keesee is a leadership platform for first responders and public safety professionals. Each episode explores how leadership, judgment, accountability, and wellness are shaped by the internal state of the leader making the decision — on the street, in the command staff meeting, and at home. New episodes drop every other week. Control the breath. Control the moment.

Resilience gets talked about so often in public safety that the word has almost lost its meaning. Dr. Tracie L. Keesee sits down with Susanna Harsnay, a retired 20-year FBI agent turned mindfulness coach, to redefine what resilience actually is, why "bouncing back" is the wrong goal, and what mindfulness really requires of the people who practice it.

WHAT WE COVER

The signs someone appears resilient on the outside while struggling internally — and why outward composure is not a reliable signal

Why "resilience" has become a loaded word for younger first responders, and how organizations sometimes misuse it to shift accountability for systemic problems onto individuals

Susanna's definition of resilience: not the ability to do hard things, but the ability to move through them and come out healthier on the other side

Why "bouncing back" isn't real — and what actually changes in a person after crisis or cumulative trauma

The first thing high-performing first responders discover about themselves once they start a mindfulness practice

Why "I don't have time for mindfulness" doesn't hold up — and what the research says about tiny, minute-long practices

The difference between meditation and mindfulness, and why you don't need a cushion to practice either

The one takeaway Susanna wants every listener to walk away with: mindfulness is the foundation for every decision we make

ABOUT SUSANNA HARSNAY

Susanna Harsnay is a retired FBI agent who served for over 20 years before transitioning into mindfulness coaching. A former dance major and ballet dancer, she discovered the power of mindfulness while working through her own unaddressed stress and trauma, and has since dedicated her work to bringing mindfulness practices, leadership development, and coaching to law enforcement, public safety, and other trauma-facing professions.

ABOUT THE JUST BREATHE PODCAST

Just Breathe with Dr. Tracie L. Keesee is a leadership platform for first responders and public safety professionals. Each episode explores how leadership, judgment, accountability, and wellness are shaped by the internal state of the leader making the decision — on the street, in the command staff meeting, and at home. New episodes drop every other week. Control the breath. Control the moment.

We talk a lot about breathwork and mindfulness on this show — but what does the actual research say? Dr. Tracie L. Keesee sits down with Dr. Jessenia G. Ogunande, a retired 20-year NYPD officer turned psychologist, to separate the evidence from the anecdotes and dig into what's really working — and what's still missing — in first responder wellness.

WHAT WE COVER

What we know with confidence about first responder physical, mental, and social wellness — and the gaps still missing from the research, including a global south perspective and the officer's own lived experience

The real reason most officers skip wellness programs — and it isn't the one you'd expect

How leadership can move beyond performative wellness programs to ones that actually get used

Why "how are you doing?" has to be asked more than once before you get a real answer

What agencies should be doing differently to support officers from recruitment through retirement — and why check-ins can't stop after the first five years

Innovative models worth stealing, including Arizona DPS's paid sabbatical program

What skeptics still get wrong about breathwork and mindfulness — and the neuroscience that explains why the practice works

Why box breathing doesn't work for everyone, and how to find the self-regulation tool that actually fits

The one truth about wellness programs that every chief needs to hear: you can't build something for officers without officers

ABOUT DR. JESSENIA G. OGUNANDE PhD, LMSW

Dr. Jessenia Ogunande is an international psychologist, licensed social worker, executive coach, and educator, and a retired NYPD officer with 20 years of law enforcement experience. She is the founder of Larimar Counseling Services LMSW PLLC, a trauma-informed practice supporting first responders, particularly women, and serves as faculty and clinical supervisor at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy in New York City. Her work focuses on trauma, recovery, leadership development, and culturally responsive wellness practices.

ABOUT THE JUST BREATHE PODCAST

Just Breathe with Dr. Tracie L. Keesee is a leadership platform for first responders and public safety professionals. Each episode explores how leadership, judgment, accountability, and wellness are shaped by the internal state of the leader making the decision — on the street, in the command staff meeting, and at home. New episodes drop every other week. Control the breath. Control the moment.