You’ve heard from experts who teach the tools.
Now meet the guy who had to use every damn one of them to save his own life.
Jim Burneka, retired Dayton firefighter/paramedic, wellness coordinator, and co-author of Overcoming Tuesday, joins Erin to talk about what happens when the helper finally admits he needs help too.
From hiding behind the optics of being “the strong one,” to quietly testing every program out there (Save A Warrior, neurofeedback, Center of Excellence, you name it), Jim’s story is brutally honest about shame, guilt, and the resistance to ask for help. But it’s also about the payoff: the moment vulnerability opens doors, relationships heal, and purpose comes back online.
Now he’s repurposed still serving, still leading, but with different weapons: peer support, education, and the Firefighter Health & Wellness Conference, where he’s helping others skip the snake oil and get to what works.
This episode is equal parts recovery playbook and permission slip: you don’t have to fix yourself alone, and you’re not broken because you need help.
IN THIS EPISODE:
MENTAL FIREPOWER
Repurposed ≠ Broken.
When the job changes, when your body changes, when life changes—you’re not done. You’re being repurposed. That shift is not weakness. It’s survival with meaning.
WHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR
Overcoming Tuesday available online
Firefighter Health & Wellness Conference → exoticbeavercreek.com
Music from #Uppbeat
https://uppbeat.io/t/needmospace/chill-power
License code: QUUZB4TP7STKMLJN
