"Catching Hell"

By Jay Dobyns - Federal Agent. Author. Keynote Speaker

Jay Dobyns was hired by ATF on a Monday in 1987. 4 days later he was shot point-blank in the back by a criminal suspect. The bullet travelled through his lung and exited his chest. He was 26 years old.

While in the hospital, he rejected offers from attorneys who promised millions of dollars in a lawsuit against his agency.

He rushed back to work and for the next 27 years, enthusiastically accepted every dirty and dangerous assignment possible. Some days he succeeded, on others he failed, but all he ever wanted to do was to defend and protect people who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, do that for themselves. Every morning when his alarm clock went off he was excited to investigate violent crime on behalf of the American public.

Death threats mounted from street criminals. At a point in time three international crime syndicates held contracts to murder him, gang rape his wife, torture his teenage daughter and kidnap his adolescent son.

He was again shot in the back. This time not by a suspect, but by the government and executives he worked for; abandoned and marginalized, the threats and dangers ignored.

In 2008, his home was destroyed by an arsonist. Jay’s wife and kids were inside and narrowly escaped. Jay’s bosses attempted to frame him as the arsonist and thus, someone willing to murder his own family by fire.

What came next was corruption and cover-up of proportions that few would ever believe our government was capable of.

This is his true story…

What they're saying about “Catching Hell”

“Jay lived the roles in life that I live to play in movies.” 
- Gerard Butler, Actor, 300, Olympus/London Has Fallen, Law Abiding Citizen, Hunter Killer, Den of Thieves

“Jay was the most effective undercover officer to ever tape on a body wire and walk into the Devil’s trailer court. 
God forbid the weak or innocent were ever bullied in his presence.”
- Louie Quinonez, ATF Agent (ret.) and author of the bestseller, Satchel Boy 

Saving Lives on the Cutting Edge

PEAK 1 Wellness for First Responders

Peak 1 Wellness is a mobile wellness company that provides behavioral and physical health solutions to first responders, their families and providers. We offer training and education to first responders nationwide. We have created a health program that offers more in depth assessments of behavioral and physical well-being for first responders that will enable them to perform their duties to the best of their ability on the job and at home. It is statistically proven and documented that stress and trauma experienced on the job has an effect on family members at home. It is important to make sure that they receive the proper level of care as well. 

We have a network of doctors and medical staff that we bring to a vast network of first responders, behavioral health and substance abuse facilities nationwide. Our doctors provide behavioral health evaluations and wellness testing options for these patients. Results are strictly confidential and get sent to the patients individually once the results are ready.

Mission:  We offer comprehensive behavioral health and wellness solutions to first responders and their families.

Law Enforcement: The #1 one killer of police officers is law enforcement suicide. Law enforcement suicide occurs 1.5 times more frequently compared to the general population.

Fire Fighters:  Firefighters experience post-traumatic stress disorder at rates similar to what’s seen among combat veterans.

 

Emergency Medical Services: We offer more in depth assessments of behavioral and physical well-being for first responders that will enable them to perform their duties to the best of their ability on the job and at home.

 

For a complete listing of our services:  Click here

For more information or to contact PEAK 1 Wellness:  Click here

Organizational Stress & the #1stresponder

By Safe Call Now's Dr. Laura Brodie

Something that is not recognized by many in the civilian world is that our First Responders as a whole are more psychologically healthy than the general population at the time of hiring. How can I say this?  Well, very few careers require the psychological screening and assessment that First Responders have to pass in order to obtain their job.  In doing such a screening, the hope is to protect the public from someone who is unsafe, but the hidden benefit is to hopefully protect the individual doing the job from many of the psychological disorders that can develop from this type of work.  So, if we use the premise that First Responders are more psychologically healthy than their civilian counterpart, why are we seeing the psychological problems we are seeing within First Responders?   Problems like substance abuse, high divorce rates and suicide?  Theoretically, this should not be happening, but it is rampant. Why?

Mental health professionals are very familiar with issues such as depression and have many tools in their therapeutic toolbox to help. What they are not nearly as educated in understanding is the environment of the First Responder and the issue of burnout.  Research has shown that the leading cause of stress in First Responders is not the day to day rescues and arrests they perform.  Those chores are why the individual signed up to do the job and there is clear understanding of those tasks through the academies and ongoing training.  What is not spoken of is the organizational stress that is killing First Responders. Yes, it’s the slow, ongoing, and constant organizational stress that is doing more damage to our First Responders than any other factor within the job.  As a professor, I have chaired several dissertations that have shown this stress and the gradual breakdown of the individual does not depend on the age, sex or rank of the individual. It appears that the seven-year mark is where the stress can eventually become the most significant issue for the individual and coping breaks down. 

A Letter to the Man I Killed... By a Cop

Sent to Safe Call Now by... Anonymous

Some people know this about me; others do not.  I have killed a man.  This is not a confession; it is just fact.  I have nothing to hide about it.  I am not ashamed of the fact.  I have no regrets about doing it.  I was doing my job.  At the time of your death, I was a police officer.  And, you tried your best to kill me.  I am the police officer that killed you.

                I hope you were not long in your suffering, but as I am aware, during the short time I spent with you, listening to your cries of agony and for mercy, the curses you spat at me, I endured, as you bled to death.  I endured.

                I hope you had a chance to reconcile with our creator before you went, and that angels bore you away to a better place.  I would have prayed with you had there been time, but there was not, so I could only pray for you.  And, occasionally I still do.

                People who choose a path like the one you chose, probably don’t weigh into the equation, the most dreadful consequences of their actions.  I weighed it into my own equation every day as a police officer.

                I have experience with death. In fact, death and I are quite intimate with each other.  You have your death.  I died a physical death once, albeit briefly, but I was brought back.  I wondered for what, a specific event?  Your death? 

Early Intervention... Crisis & Suicide Prevention

By Safe Call Now Director of Curriculum & Training - Captain Brian Nanavaty

Early Intervention... Crisis and Suicide Prevention

For over one hundred years of policing and one hundred fifty years of firefighting in the US, public safety agencies have lost more officers and firefighters to suicide than to felons and fires. 

Albert Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, yet thousands of first responders wrestle daily with crisis and thoughts of self-harm unabated. What are employers, administrators, employees, peers and unions doing proactively to change the paradigm of first responder crisis? 

Is there training available that teaches how to recognize early indicators of potential employee distress and how to sow the seeds of long term health rather than waiting for crisis? 

Safe Call Now recognizes the need for a condensed version of full day trainings on crisis topics. Using the lessons learned from the award winning Indianapolis Model, Safe Call Now now offers a 2 hour Early Intervention, Crisis and Suicide Prevention presentation designed specifically for conferences and agency re-trainers. 

For information contact Captain Brian Nanavaty, Director of Training and Curriculum at BN@safecallnow.org or 317-339-5118.

Bullying in Corrections...

By Dr. Olivia Johnson - Blue Wall Institute

The isolation of a job in corrections can leave many feeling out of sight and out of mind. And being out of sight and out of mind tends to allow certain things to go unaddressed. A general consensus I have noticed when talking with CO’s has been that they believe no one cares about their wellbeing and that workplace bullying and bad behavior is at an all time high. Just listening to these stories is enough to make you cry, but I have to ask: What is wrong with us that we have become so cold as to not care about a fellow officer? When did backstabbing, gossip, and all around bad behavior in the workplace become acceptable? Of course perception and reality may be two different things, but if so many CO’s are feeling this way, doesn’t that say something? If it doesn’t, it should.

Anyone accepting a position in corrections understands the threat of the criminal element, the idea that they could be injured or even killed by an inmate. That is reality. And no matter how sad this reality, what is often difficult for many CO’s to understand is how a co-worker, supervisor, or administrator could deliberately and sometimes, even with malice attack them verbally or mess with them just because they can. Sadly, many of these problematic individuals are able to continue this bad behavior without being addressed, disciplined, or terminated.  Call them what you want, but I call these individuals ‘workplace bullies.’

According to the Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI, 2014) bullying by is “threatening, humiliating, or intimidating … work interference – sabotage which prevents work from getting done, or verbal abuse (p. 1). Even sadder than having to address workplace bullying, are the statistics WBI revealed. Twenty-seven percent of survey respondents indicated being victims of workplace bullying, either in the past or currently. Another 72 percent stated that they were aware of workplace bullying and sadly, bosses accounted for the highest number of workplace bullying incidents. Another 72 percent of “… employers deny, discount, encourage, rationalize, and defend it” (para. 2). A 2010 survey revealed some 13.7 million Americans said were currently being bullied at work, with the number around three times this for those bullied in the past (Riggio, 2011, as cited in Psychology Today). These numbers are alarming. If so many are victims and so many are aware of workplace bullying, what can be done to stop the bully and the bullying behavior before if affects workers, the organization, and the morale? 

Emotional Body Armor for #1stresponders...

Safe Call Now® President & Founder Sean Riley

Emotional Body Armor for First Responders… 

Is an intensive one or two-day workshop identifying those issues that manifest while working on the front lines of a demanding career that can lead to many issues regarding (but not limited to) trauma, relationships, finances, mental health and substance abuse matters that can result in the loss of relationships, jobs and eventually their life.

The workshops are designed for all first responders and their family members if they choose and to provide them with the tools to help individuals being held back both personally and professionally by the bonds of addictive behaviors, co-dependency, family systems or trauma in any form. Participants will examine those barriers and experiences that influence the capacity for a happy, healthy life and career. The intensive workshop experience will reveal how painful life and job experiences are and that they can hamper the growth of individuals and block the ability to be authentic in relationships with self and others.

While there is a stigma associated with reaching out for help or reaching out for help for others within the profession, the intensive workshops are designed to overcome these barriers. The intensive workshops are also designed to empower first responders to look within and confront issues (both on and off the job) such as trauma, co-dependent relationships, setting healthy boundaries, using tools to increase self-esteem, to understanding and effectively experience all emotions and creating a tactical personal self-care plan to be successful in their personal and professional lives.

Target Audience:   Emotional Body Armor for First Responders "Breaking Free from the Stigma and Bonds of the Badge" was designed specifically for public safety employees and their family members nationwide by Safe Call Now.

For more information contact Captain Brian Nanavaty at bn@safecallnow.org or 317-339-5118