I speak with Jim Pidcock, 38-year veteran of the firefighting and EMS service about his years of front line work. Jim reflects on the impacts of strong mentorship, and old school leadership on his development as a young firefighter in New Jersey and how those lessons still influence his life. We wonder if we are born to endure the work as front line workers, or if a strong culture is enough to mitigate the imbedded challenges. Jim shares that the faces of the men and women who he has seen die over his career still visit his dreams. But, the powerful therapeutic effect of shared experiences with his colleagues may have helped him shed the negative impact of those traumas and imparted longevity to his career.
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Check out these resources from previous podcast guests for assistance with tracking your mental health, and reaching out for therapeutic assistance:
1. Jonathan Wilson and INVI MindHealth have developed an App using smart watch technology to track your daily mental health wellness:
2. From Raul Rivas and his Trauma Behind the Badge podcast episode he shared the inline resource therapy resource:
https://www.lighthousehw.org/
Available on the App Store or on Google Play.
Lighthouse Health & Wellness is an in-hand, on-demand, 100% confidential health and wellness platform available at no cost to our nation's public safety agencies.
Lighthouse was designed to provide your employees and their families anonymous access to your agency's existing health and wellness programs, along with a growing library of the latest educational health and wellness information and tools that have been tailored to the unique needs of those working in public safety.
