Supporting First Responders

Speaker 1 0:00

I highly recommend it . If you're a spouse , significant other , partner of anybody in the first responder military community , we have resources for you . We have people we can get you connected to , because you take on a lot too , and we talk about secondary post-traumatic stress with our therapists . Well , our family also deals with secondary post-traumatic stress .

Speaker 2 0:24

Shift work can be brutal , but it doesn't have to be . Welcome to a healthy shift . My name is Roger Sutherland , certified nutritionist , veteran law enforcement officer and 24-7 shift worker for almost four decades . Through this podcast , I aim to educate shift workers using evidence-based methods to not only survive the rigors of shift work but thrive . My goal is to empower shift workers to improve their health and well-being so they have more energy to do the things they love .

Speaker 2 0:57

Enjoy today's show . Welcome to another episode of a healthy shift podcast . I get great pleasure in welcoming you to this episode . This is a very , very important episode today . If you are a first responder working in police , fire or ambulance , or you're a nurse that's working in front-line health , and not forgetting our dispatchers , this podcast is for you because this is all about a community that you can join and be very , very welcomed in to provide you support 24-7 . I've got a bloke that I have actually connected with from the Overwatch Collective , mr Greg Grogan , who has served in the military and is also serving member of the police in California . He has formed the Overwatch Collective and he's on to talk all about the Overwatch Collective and what the Overwatch Collective actually does and how it helps you Dispatchers , police , fire , ambulance , frontline health nurses , doctors this episode is for you , so let's get on with the show . Greg Grogan , how are you today ?

Speaker 1 2:13

Fantastic . Thank you so much for having me . I'm excited to be a part of the show and to talk to you .

Speaker 2 2:18

I'm really as excited as I was to actually learn about the Overwatch Collective when I chatted with Erin from Erin Jane Coaching . Now I know Erin is very , very involved in the Overwatch Collective , so let's give her some kudos for what she's doing there as well , because she does great work in and around the community of the Overwatch Collective . And that's what we're here to talk about today , because I want to bring awareness to everybody in relation to this . But before we do tell us who Greg Grogan is and where you've come from right up until you started the Overwatch Collective , yeah , no , I appreciate the opportunity and , like Roger said , my name is Greg Grogan .

Speaker 1 2:57

I'm 30 years old , just hit that 30 mark where my body started to hurt . I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area in California into similar to yourself , roger , a very big law enforcement and military family where I essentially came out of the womb knowing I was either going to be a police officer or serving the United States Armed Forces , and my father was a police officer for over 40 years . Uncle , grandfather , great grandfather , my brother's currently a fire captain in Southern California . My dad was also in the United States military . So very similar to you . Very patriotic family .

Speaker 1 3:37

We all want to do good for others and join the emergency services and at the age of 18 , I joined the United States Marine Corps Infantry Reserves where I was there for seven and a half years . I did one deployment overseas in Japan . I was a training mission with the Japanese Defense Force Got back I got out as a Sergeant and enlisted the E5 rank as a squad leader and then I joined the United States Coast Guard Reserves where I have been there for about three and a half years as of now as a maritime enforcement specialist in the San Francisco Bay Area , and then I've also been an active police officer for the past nine years , where I started at the very young age of 21 .

Speaker 2 4:20

That is incredible , and I love this story too , because I've spoken to Michael Sugru and Michael's very similar to you , isn't he ? He did that time in the military first . I think this is very common with a lot of American police . They do tend to start with a bit of a military background , don't they ? There's a lot of ex-military that seem to feel like they need a bit more and end up joining the police . Is that fair to say ?

Speaker 1 4:43

Yeah , I'd say that's very common for out here in America . A lot of the time you see firefighters and police are prior United States armed forces or still currently serving in the reserve aspects .

Speaker 2 4:56

It's funny , isn't it ?

Speaker 2 4:57

Because it's almost like you crave more , like you've done that .

Speaker 2 4:59

You've done your time In America in particular , are very , very appreciative of their people that serve for them , and I know , whenever I've been to America , the fact that they put their military people on planes first or they get priority , I think , is hugely respectful for the sacrifices that have been made , and then they seem to go okay , I've done that , now I need to do more .

Speaker 2 5:22

And they then want to serve the community as the police as well , and I think that's fantastic because we don't have a lot of armed forces people . There's not that pool to go into the armed forces in Australia , and I think that's probably because we're on our tiny little island in the bottom end of the ocean here , what we call it the tiny little island , even though it's bigger than mainland USA , but we're sort of down and out of the way and we're not really bothered with anything , to be perfectly fair . But so you spent your time in the police and you're still in the police in the San Francisco Bay Area , san Francisco , one of my favorite cities . I love it , it's so diverse . So we've got military background , you're 30 years of age , you're married , you're a child .

Speaker 1 6:00

I'm not married . No , I have a girlfriend at this point . She's currently in the fire academy actually , so she's training to be a firefighter . No children . We do have three dogs in the household . I have my own golden retriever and then Kelsey has a lab and a golden retriever , so it's a bit of a circus in the residence .

Speaker 2 6:18

Of course , it is Now your partner's name's Kelsey . My daughter's name's Kelsey as well . It's quite a unique name . So that's fantastic . I love that . And golden retriever it's got to be one of the best dogs in the world . Tell me , have you ever seen a miserable looking golden retriever ?

Speaker 1 6:31

Only when you take their toy away or you say treat and then you don't actually give them a treat . Yeah , it's great and I know your experience of working with canines and dogs in general and it is the best therapy out there is just spending time with the dog and they're always happy to see you and it always reduces your stress level . I feel like .

Speaker 2 6:50

Yeah , absolutely . At the moment do you find in America that therapy dogs have become very , very big ? Now We've got organizations here that are really , really harnessing therapy dogs for people , and you can see why , can't you , greg ? Because dogs literally are just . They're so forgiving for everything .

Speaker 1 7:08

Yeah , they're amazing , and so I have a few companies off the top of my head . There's First Responder Therapy Dogs , there is Hearts for Heroes , there's Urban Paws Service Dogs and essentially a lot of police departments and fire departments across the country are starting to have their own station dogs as well . So not only like other nonprofits or companies are bringing their dogs for like debriefs or diffusings or critical incidences , they actually have a dog at the station the entire time and you can imagine right going on a 10 , 12 and a half hour shift and you're busy and you come back to type a report and you have a dog coming up to say hi to you and you're like it really does reduce the level . So it's very common out here .

Speaker 2 7:48

Do you know ? I never thought of that . That's something so simple , isn't it , to have a dog on a station , because the compounds are secure anyway , you can have a dog in the backyard . Nothing better than driving in in the cruiser and having a dog wagon its tail running up to you , and it just makes the world a wonderful place again , doesn't it ?

Speaker 1 8:05

Yeah , except for the dog hair . I know me and Golden Retrievers in the lab . You know , I leave all my uniforms and everything at the police department and somehow I still have dog hair on the uniforms . I don't get it .

Speaker 2 8:16

Oh yeah , absolutely Okay , greg want to get to talking about the Overwatch Collective .

Addressing Mental Health in First Responders

Speaker 2 8:22

Where did the Overwatch Collective actually start and we'll detail to people all about it . What was it that started the Overwatch Collective ?

Speaker 1 8:31

So one of my really good friends , jesse . He was active duty in the United States Marine Corps and then did the same thing as me , went into the United States Coast Guard Reserves and that's where we met and both being in the Marine Corps , we had a special bond . So we were basically inseparable the entire time and we did a training exercise one weekend and when we got back from it Jesse mentioned he was like hey , what do you think about starting a podcast ? And at that point I didn't know what a podcast was . I'm not very tech savvy at all and I didn't really know where we were going to go with it . And then I agreed to it , not knowing really what I was doing . And then we started talking about what we would actually discuss and what our intent was with it .

Speaker 1 9:14

And we started to discuss mental health amongst our first responder in military community and where that gap is amongst the service member of that first responder getting the resources that he or she needs , getting into a room with a culturally competent therapist , the stigma , the culture . Why are we losing so many people to suicide ? Why are we drinking so much ? Why are there so many divorces ? So when we started laying kind of the foundation . Then it was very exciting and we started to have guests on , from dispatchers to new police officers , to a United States Army combat veteran on who lost more friends to suicide upon return to America than actually overseas . We had a daughter of a United States Marine who shot and killed himself . We had a service member talk about a suicide attempt . We basically just hit the ground running and we wanted to talk about the shit that no one wants to talk about , but it's so important .

Speaker 2 10:12

I totally agree . Since I've got to know people in the US well when I say people like Such-As-Yourself and Michael Suguru and Nick Ruggiero as well , I've learned an awful lot about this officer suicide . But it's not only the officers , it's the first responders as well as and we're going to put the dispatchers into that as well . I think it's really important and we'll talk about that in a little while , but I think the suicide rate in first responders in the US is just insane . The numbers are insane . Now we've lost two sworn members here in the last few weeks and there's no doubt about that . It will get worse .

Speaker 2 10:53

Even though we're bringing awareness , even though we're talking about things , it's still , I feel , a very taboo subject , because you are written off Once you start talking about mental health . I believe that my strong opinion is that you are actually written off and we need to change that in a big way . The other thing as well , greg , was I saw recently that there was actually a very senior member of the police department somewhere that literally shot himself in a restaurant of all places . I noticed that you put up on your story as well . How did you feel about that ? I know what my first reaction was , and I won't repeat it in this podcast , but it showed that there's battles within everywhere , isn't there ?

Speaker 1 11:35

It's very important , I think , for our command staff or , if you're in the military , your senior leadership and everything where , if you do have members that are high in the ranks dying by suicide , then what does that tell the rest of the community ? Whereas if you did have someone that's high in the ranks that said , hey , you know what , I need a break because of what I'm going through at home . I need a mental check-in , everybody in the department would be like , wow , chief , put this out there and was very open about it and said , hey , you know what I'm going through a tough time . I'm not human just because I have four stars on my collar . I'm not Superman .

Speaker 1 12:13

I think it's very important for our command staff and our leadership to make mental health wellness a top priority and to be open about it and discuss it . But then there are obviously some challenges with that because , as you said , roger , where if you do raise that red flag or raise your hand , you may not get that promotion to Sergeant or Lieutenant , you may not get the detective position , your shiftmates may not want to work next to you because they don't know exactly what position you're in or are they going to take your firearm from you . So yes , it is a very taboo talk topic and it's costing us so many good people's lives .

Speaker 2 12:52

And not only through suicide , but just through mental health and losing them to the department as well , and I think we need to acknowledge that , like the , suicide is the worst possible case scenario for a lot of people , but I do think that we're losing so many to mental health now that could very well have been suicide if they didn't take their own initiative to step away and do what they needed to do themselves . Especially today , it's a worldwide problem . This is not just in the US , it's not just in Australia , it's right through Europe as well . People are really suffering . I know the UK is suffering that we have so much pressure that's coming . Where's the pressure coming from ? And I think that needs addressing without being topical . I think we need management to talk about this , to make it a normalised conversation , to step out for a few weeks or a month , to decompress , to come back again and be better for it , because your brain and your body can only take so much , can't it ?

Speaker 1 14:46

I agree with you 100% of kind of being like hey , if you need some time off , if you need a mental health day or a mental health week , we'll figure it out .

Speaker 1 14:54

Some of the challenges that come with that that I have seen and heard is , if you do start the annual therapy check-ins with the department , that is potential for more officers or dispatchers to say , oh , I have PTSD , I can't work , being that he or she's going to kind of use that as an out , which it's very terrible to think that that is what is deterring us from getting us more mental health resources .

Speaker 1 15:22

But at the end of the day , everything that I have learned I think that's the most important thing Running a fire department , a police department , a dispatch center , is the same as running a company where you have to have numbers and at the end of the day , there have been so many incidences where people almost get killed or they leave the profession and they're like , wow , they totally forgot about me . I said I had mental health issues and I needed help and they waved me off . You know where it's like . You really are just a number . Sometimes they want you to be involved in the department and do everything and not take days off , not take weeks off . They want the best out of you . They want statistics , they want reports , they want vehicle stops , they want arrest , but they're not taking care of their people .

Speaker 2 16:08

Could not agree more with that . I'll ask you this question as well , because I'm going down this line very much now and I know there's medical implications with this . Do you think that we should be calling it PTSD instead of PTSD ? Now I know you will be all over this . My personal opinion is I think we should be calling it PTSD , because if you're at work and you roll your ankle and you twist it or something happens , you take a few days off to get it right and then you're back at work again as good as new . Our human body can only take so much before it needs to step away and decompress , particularly in these roles . Greek , isn't it ? So what's your take on PTSD versus PTSD ? Because I feel that when you put your hand up or you get a medical diagnosis of PTSD , they rule a line through you .

Speaker 1 16:55

They definitely do . Once you mentioned post-traumatic stress , it's like everybody's eyes open up right away and it's good that you asked me that and I appreciated it . I was talking to one of our contracted therapists in California , dr Brooke Barlett , and she's in the San Diego area . I just did a podcast with her talking about PTSD versus PTSD .

Speaker 1 17:14

Post-traumatic stress injury is , yes , it is an injury to the brain . It is not , like you mentioned , a broken ankle where everybody

PTSD and Overwatch Collective's Impact

Speaker 1 17:21

at the department can see that you are injured and out . This is an internal thing and only me myself can know what's really going on , which is a part of the problem number one . Number two post-traumatic stress injury is , yes , it is an injury to the brain , but it is not technically post-traumatic stress disorder . So if you have post-traumatic stress disorder , that means that you have met a criteria where you have had several injuries . You cannot go back to work . Your life is technically out of order . So you can have post-traumatic stress disorder and have PTSD , but you can have PTSD but not PTSD . In my opinion that's from talking to her Some people do like keeping post-traumatic stress disorder because they say my life was out of order .

Speaker 1 18:11

Some people don't like saying PTSD because they say I was not born with it , this is not a disorder . And then some people just say post-traumatic stress , that is totally fine . And then at the end of the day , yes , all the terminology and all these doctors and all these books , like , I'm not that smart , I'm not the greatest individual here , you know , when it comes to education , but for our community I personally don't care what the fuck you call it . As long as you are having problems and you're saying you put your hand up , you need to find somewhere , confidentially , someone competent that you can talk to to work on yourself .

Speaker 2 18:50

If you think about it and you break it down . I know we shouldn't really do that , but post-traumatic stress stress is temporary in a lot of people's life and it will build up . So post-after-traumatic something you've been exposed to stress and I think we say right , that's what it is , because we have good stress , we have you stress , we have bad stress and we can't live in this sympathetic state . We need to remove ourselves from this sympathetic state and get ourselves back into a parasympathetic state . Now I know many , many people that have recovered from PTSD very well . They've taken control of their lives and they've been able to . Now I am absolutely not downplaying people that are really struggling and really battling with it and I'm not . Clearly there's different levels of it and maybe people are just wired differently as well , but I do think that it's a stress and we can recover from it in many cases . But obviously there is a criteria . Let's not go there because that's medical chat , really difficult to actually fit that criteria . And that podcast will be well worth a listen for people to understand the differences between it .

Speaker 2 19:54

The Overwatch Collective . You started the podcast . How many years ago was the podcast ?

Speaker 1 19:59

Three years ago , so June 2021 . So this year June will be three years technically , so two and a half as of now .

Speaker 2 20:07

Okay , fantastic . So it was sort of a almost coming out of COVID project , really , wasn't it ? We remember vividly 2020 as probably one of the worst years of what is going to be our life . And then 2021 is a year that you've kicked off this podcast and you've run the podcast . Now you obviously got great feedback and realized that there's a niche there . You hit the ground running . It obviously became very popular with what you're doing and then you went into the next stage . How did you lead into the next stage , group ?

Speaker 1 20:37

So , essentially , after doing about 15 to 20 podcasts and releasing them , people started donating to us and they were like , hey , we number one , it was drink better alcohol , because we were drinking trulys in the beginning and they were like , hey , have something better , so we use that money towards better alcohol . We had a lot of positive feedback and not one person said anything negative whatsoever and we were like , okay , what do we do from here ? We're both enjoying it . It's helping people in our own community . This is really cool . What else can we do to make more of an impact ?

Speaker 1 21:13

So we decided to turn it into a 501c3 nonprofit and our intent with that was to contract with culturally competent and vetted therapists by us first responders and service members that we in the Overwatch collective community can connect people to without having to raise your hand , that red flag at your dispatch center , your first responder military , and you can work with a therapist that we approved . So essentially , our first one , destiny Morris in Southern California . We did a contract with her and we connected a few people to her and then we paid for that first responder to go and they were like , wow , my employment assistant program at my police department connects me to a Kaiser hospital where I went there and the person had no idea what I was talking about the first 30 minutes of the 50 minute session was just trying to understand my schedule . And you know and every first responder and service member listens to this you know that if we're going to go talk to people like they need to know our community whether they were a first responder service member or they're really well trained in it .

Speaker 1 22:29

Because you try to tell some therapist that doesn't understand what we go through in our community about a fatality , vehicle collision or suicide via hanging , and you document this stuff and you tell this therapist your worst call , he or she is going to be like , wow , I'm not trained into this at all . And that negative reaction is like , wow , I really am messed up , I'm done , I'm not going to therapy again . And then we just lost that person to therapy .

Speaker 2 22:55

That is so , so true , and what I love more about this than anything else is you're not being steered in the direction of what they think is right . You've got actual law enforcement officers , first responders , that are vetting the people and making sure that they have an understanding of the role . Because the last thing that you need to do and I can put my hand up , Greg , I've been attending a therapy session for the last three years the last thing I need to be doing is explaining my role . I don't want someone going . Oh , what you're joking Like , how does that happen ? Or what's that ? We can't have that happening . We need them to go .

Speaker 2 23:33

I understand , I get it and you're lucky because these therapists that you actually have or you're assigned , they get to do ride-alongs as well , don't they ? And actually live in the role . I can't begin to imagine how beneficial that is for them , Just to hear that four , five AM chit chat in the car to get an understanding of the black humor that we have . And I talk about the black humor because this is what keeps us going that a majority of people that hear it just would not understand . But that's what keeps us going . So the fact that you guys vet your own therapist is just a huge step . If you're sending me to a therapist , I don't want to have to explain my role . I don't want to traumatize them by what I'm telling them . Because you know yourself , you protect your partner when you come home . You don't tell them the gory details of a job . That means it's all bottled in , because you're protecting them and you don't want to have to protect your therapist from trauma , do you ?

Speaker 1 24:31

So even our therapists that we contract with they have their own therapist as well and that's a really cool thing to hear and to have them talk about as well , because they're hearing about stuff that our service members did overseas , what they did to animals , what they do at home with their families , you know , and some of the calls that they've seen , where I don't think there's any way where you can hear some of these stories amongst our community , or calls for service and hearing these officer down , shots fired , and you're a dispatcher and you're like , okay , I'm waiting for the click , I'm waiting for his call sign or badge number , like there is no way that you can hear any of that and really like have a conversation and try to help this person without getting some sort of secondary post-traumatic stress from that .

Speaker 2 25:18

Yeah , because then you start to imagine I'm sure they do so , I love that the therapist and I'm sure most therapists , because you can't sit there all day listening to all of this and not have a grease and oil change yourself as well . I'm sure of that . What you did was you started and you got one therapist on board and can you just explain ? You call the nonprofit . What is it the section that you call it ? I don't think we have that here .

Speaker 1 25:42

Yeah , so it's called a 501C3 . And trust me , in the beginning of this , like I said , I didn't even know anything about a podcast . So for me , a Marine , and someone that knows how to write traffic citations and police report , filling out paperwork with the IRS , I was like I don't know what I'm doing . So per our section in America , 501c3 is a tax exempt organization . So basically we don't pay taxes for our organization . It is confirmed a nonprofit . So we're doing this . None of us are getting paid as of now to be able to do the work that we provide . That could change in the future through the nonprofit . Technically you have been giving the blessing through the IRS that you are not taxed on anything at all and you're confirmed . It's a long , lengthy process but for our community and raising funds and donations and fundraisers and all this stuff to be able to provide someone a donor letter with your 501C3 information for , say , a $500 donation annually , we can give that person a letter where they can use for their taxes and they can get $500 back in their taxes .

Speaker 2 26:56

So it's so selfless , Greg , because , as you said , you're not getting paid to do this and it's called a collective . So you've obviously got a group of people who are involved in doing this all giving up their time , and I want people who are listening to this to try and understand that when you are working tirelessly , you're getting paid and you're complaining about things . There's people like Greg and the Overwatch Collective out there working not only their eight , 10 hour shifts with their overtime or 12 hour shifts . They are also doing selfless work outside of that to help people like yourself as well , and they're not getting paid for it . They're doing it for the love of it , and all credit to you and thank you for doing that , Greg , because that is really really selfless as well . Let's go on . You got one therapist . Tell us all , how many therapists do you have on board now ?

Speaker 1 27:44

We're at

Overwatch Collective

Speaker 1 27:44

77 .

Speaker 2 27:45

That is unbelievable 77 therapists , and I would imagine that they're spread all across the USA in all different states .

Speaker 1 27:53

Correct . Yeah , we're almost at all 50 states covered now .

Speaker 2 27:57

If you are listening to this and you are in the USA , don't feel like you are alone , because the Overwatch Collective literally have therapists in your state that you can reach out to . They can help you and support you around that . So you've gone from one . And don't get me wrong , greg , because I know what it's like when you start out . I didn't even know how to put a graphic together for Instagram to start off with , and here I am now talking to you in San Francisco about what you're doing here running podcasts and putting stuff together and building courses and coaching clients . It snowballs and we forget to stop and look at where we've come from . We always look at where we're not . At this point in time , it's amazing . Okay , so you're funding therapists and they obviously need to get paid because that's their job . So where does the funding come from ? Like you're a nonprofit , but how are you generating that income ?

Speaker 1 28:51

So primarily it's been our fundraisers . We do our annual fundraisers and up until last year , that's kind of where we made the majority of our money . So June of 2021 , like I mentioned , is when we first started and November of 2021 , we had our first fundraiser and it was 75 people . We raised $15,000 and that lasted us for a little bit of time . And then 2022 , we had our second annual fundraiser and we had 235 people and we raised $65,935 , which was a big jump which lasted us for another year , essentially . And then our third one that we just did , september of 2023 , we had 220 people , so less people , but we raised $91,800 .

Speaker 1 29:38

So the fundraisers are our big moneymaker , I guess you can say , where we have sponsorship levels and they can set up booths and they can speak and they get mentioned on our podcast and they get our merchandise . In addition to the fundraisers , we do have a full fundraising team . So we have four people on our fundraising team and one of our board of directors members , tyler , who's an active firefighter in Northern California . He's kind of the head of it . So they're working to get us funds from companies , grants , sponsorships , anything of that nature , and then , obviously , giving Tuesdays a big day for nonprofits in America , where you basically choose your nonprofit that you want to support .

Speaker 1 30:19

That is doing great work , and this year we were fortunate to raise $95,000 on Giving Tuesday , where some companies were able to match donations times 10 , which was remarkable . So as of now , we're in a good place financially , but obviously we're still looking for sponsorships , grants , any companies that want to support , and then obviously sales of our merchandise . I know you like the mugs . We have stickers , mugs , patches , challenge coins , hats , shirts , sweatshirts , crop tops , sweats , and then off that we make like $5 each purchase and you get a cool sweatshirt or a cool item . But then you're also helping fund therapy sessions .

Speaker 2 30:59

I think I'll put you onto our group here , the Aussie Frontline , and the Aussie Frontline . They sell t-shirts , and $10 from every t-shirt that they sell goes to exactly the same as what you're doing as well . They're a nonprofit here . It works really well . They also have a pay it forward as well , which works really well . I could actually donate for the t-shirt and nominate for you to send it to someone , which I think is just . I can't begin to imagine what it must be like to receive something like that , to have been nominated . You've raised an awful lot of money , but there's never , ever enough Greek Without talking dollars . You could have millions in the bank . You could still not have enough to try and support people , and it's getting worse and worse and worse at the moment . So more people will reach out . You progress from doing this , and people were reaching out . How did they actually find you ? Just through the podcast at that point in time .

Speaker 1 31:50

The podcast , the Instagram word of mouth was huge and fortunately now we're at the point where we do have quite a bit of followers on our social media and a lot of people support what we're doing . So they tell people and repost some of our stuff and our mission and our podcast to be able to reach people all across the country in addition to down under where you are . In addition to James Ward , I've done podcasts in Canada . It's cool to be able to have the community support and then also spreading the word , because they just don't want to see another person die by suicide .

Speaker 2 32:25

I hope you're enjoying the show . If you are , please don't forget to rate and review once you've finished . This helps the shows reach enormously . And have you got my free e-book the Best Way to Eat on Night Shift ? Well , this is a comprehensive guide to the overnight fast , why we should fast and how to best go about it . I've even included a few recipes to help you . I've put a link to the e-book in the show notes .

Speaker 2 32:51

And are you really struggling with shift work and feel like you're just crawling from one shift to the next ? Well , I've got you . If you would like to work with me , I can coach you to thrive , not just survive , while undertaking the rigors of 24 seven shift work . I also conduct in-house live health and wellbeing seminars where I will come to your workplace and deliver evidence-based information to help your wellbeing team to reduce unplanned leave and increase productivity in your workplace . I've put the links in the show notes to everything mentioned . You can find me at ahealthyshiftcom or on Instagram at a underscore healthy , underscore shift .

Speaker 2 33:36

Now let's get back to the show . You've got a great motto which I'm going to get to because it's so goddamn powerful and it's got so many different reasons . It's like when I started a healthy shift , people instantly associated it with shift work , but it's also about people making a healthy shift from a poor place into a good one as well , which is also why I've decided then , 2024 , to push out and educate people more on what's available to them in relation to mental health . You then got your therapist . You're generating income through sponsorships from companies and your collective days , and you've also got merchandise that you're selling . So what was the next step after you did that ? To get the reach and to support people , Because I think this is the key . The app , yeah , the app is amazing . Yes .

Speaker 2 34:23

Now what's the app called Greg , so it's simple called the Overwatch Collective .

Speaker 1 34:29

So if you have an Apple , iphone , ipad , android for all the people that mess up every group chat and it's always a green text message you can download the app as well . We have it for you as well . So go to your app store , you type in the Overwatch Collective and it's our logo TOC on it , download it and once you sign up , you create a profile and you choose whether you're a dispatcher , a spouse of a first responder or service member , a deputy corner or a firefighter , and you get the color designated around you . So , for example , me as a police officer and someone who's in the military , mine is half blue and half green . So then while you're using the app , you can quickly identify the user as a police officer and a military member , which is kind of a cool future . That is incredibly cool .

Speaker 2 35:21

And I know because I've downloaded the app , because when I found out about it , I was excited to have a look at it and for people , if you search the Overwatch Collective , it's a blue icon . Why do we want to identify as to who we are in that app ? Greg , can you explain that ?

Speaker 1 35:36

Yeah , so it's very important in our community to understand that you're not alone in what you're going through or what you're feeling . Through the app , we have our social media side , where it's essentially the same as an Instagram , where you can post a photo or a video with a caption where , roger , you can post it and someone can quickly identify you as a policeman , thank you . And then the person that's growing like oh , another cop is on here , like I want to see what the cop said , because we're similar , you know . But then , also through the app , you can quickly switch into what we called incognito mode , where you can , by the tap of one button , you can go from being Greg Grogan on the app , posting everywhere , to completely anonymous , so you can comment on someone's photo , you can join an audio room message one of our therapists or a buddy , anything on the app you can be completely anonymous . So instead of it being at Greg Grogan , it'll be at anonymous .

Speaker 2 36:38

Yeah , this is really important for people to understand , because a lot of people and particularly in law enforcement

Importance of the Overwatch Collective App

Speaker 2 36:45

cynical and very worried about who's watching and where they're watching from , because , let's be honest , there's nothing to say that we don't have managers and people like that stalking around in these groups watching to see what's going on as well , watching to catch someone out , because it seems to be the way that we've gone now , I think , being able to flick over to anonymous and reach out for help and support , because even though you're anonymous , you can still communicate by identifying with that policeman or that firefighter or that paramedic or that dispatcher , so that you can talk . Now , the other thing which is good is , as well , there's communities of those people in the app as well , isn't there ?

Speaker 1 37:21

Yep , 100% . There's everybody in there , from spouses and significant others using it to getting resources , to active retired first responders and military . So it's cool to see the wide range that we have in our community that's on the app and supporting each other . And there are times where you'll see someone post and it's like hey , I'm a dispatcher right now , I'm on shift and this is what we just experienced . I'm kind of having a difficult time and that could be anonymous or not . And then people see that a post was just generated and they can go on and be like hey , if you need anything , I'm here to help . Try doing this exercise , try doing a box breathing drill . Hey , after this shift , send me a message on here and I can give you my number and we can talk . It's just cool to know that everybody that's within the Overwatch Collective app in our community there's no stigma or judgment whatsoever and we're all here for a common goal of just making sure you understand you're not alone and here's a safe resource for you to go to for any help .

Speaker 2 38:20

Exactly . I love that To finish your shift , because if you finish your shift at midnight or 1 am in the morning , you're not in a position to debrief with your partner . None of your mates are around . You can't just pick up the phone and talk to someone . Having this resource and being able to , just because , let's face it , we live on our phones . But everyone can open their phone . They can go to the Overwatch Collective and there will absolutely be someone from your community that you can reach out to , or just the community of the Overwatch Collective , people that you can say oh my God , I've just come from a fatality .

Speaker 2 38:53

It was shocking , it was something that I just want to talk to someone about it . No worries , bang , and there's people there that you can actually just debrief with . The most important thing about that is you're not alone . Don't feel alone . People will talk to you .

Speaker 2 39:07

What I also love about the Overwatch Collective as well is they're not a bunch of negative Nancy's . I call them negative Nancy's . They're not people that are , oh you poor thing , you need to do this , you need to do that . People are very positive and upbeat and they really do support . We've got some Facebook groups here that you go into and you just have to leave , because it's just all so negative and sad .

Speaker 2 39:29

I think people love to walk around trying to be victims in different places , and you know the people as well , greg . You've worked with them in the military as well as in the police . But the Overwatch Collective is not like that . Get amongst your people and have a chat with your people , because it's all about that maintenance all the time , and I just absolutely love it . Now , the other good thing that I wanted to talk about in there as well is because there's all different sections in the app . It's very easy to navigate , but there's all different sections . Now you've got blogs as well , which are very , very helpful , I think , for people to just go in and just read blogs that are written by professionals to actually help you . You might pick one little thing up out of it that if you weren't in this app , you wouldn't have known , which means that we actually achieve what we wanted to achieve , don't we ?

Speaker 1 40:15

Yeah , and I think it's very important to have a wide variety of resources , right , because you may have someone that's a reader where they do wanna read the blogs . You may have someone that enjoys podcasts while driving to work or driving home from work , which is where we have our podcasts on there , which you are on the app . So if you download the app , you can listen to Roger's podcast , the healthy shift , on there , and every single podcast that we have on our app is just like our therapists , it's vetted by us . It's not like you have to worry about hey , what's this podcast ? Is it really for our community ? Like , we individually add the podcast onto the app , so we know they're a great resource for the community . In addition , we have the audio rooms that is on there , so anybody that downloads the app has the ability to download what's called an audio room .

Speaker 1 41:07

There's no video , but it is very similar to a podcast where you can either just go live right away or you can schedule it for next Friday at 5pm , where you're gonna talk about post-traumatic stress injury versus post-traumatic stress disorder . That's the title in the description . You're gonna be like hey , join me , I'm gonna be discussing the difference between PTSD , ptsd . I'm curious to hear all of your thoughts . And then you say like , hey , who is this podcast or this audio room for ? And you can click okay , firefighters , nurses , dispatchers , everything . If you're doing an audio room that's just for spouses and significant others , you click , hey , this audio room is primarily for spouses and significant others . And then through that , while you're recording , people can hop on as Greg Grogan or Anonymous and they can listen in , and then they can also comment and ask questions or request permission to speak . And then the audio room , when it's done , it gets saved in the library so you can listen to it at a later date if you happen to miss it .

Speaker 1 42:11

It's a great resource where , eventually , what I would like to see is we're hosting our own AA meetings on there . We have a therapist on there that does weekly check-ins and you can join anonymously or not , and it's like hey , it's just a 30 minute check-in , how's everybody doing ? These are the resources that I provide . If you ever wanna work with me , here's what I work on , this is what I specialize in and this is how you can reach out to me . So it's just a wide variety of resources for our community and our wellness centers on there too . So we have the suicide hotline number , we have the suicide hotline number for military , in addition to our therapists that are on there where you can reach out to .

Speaker 2 42:48

Yeah , and they're all very active as well , which is just incredible . It really is . I highly recommend , as I said , the people do download it . At the very least , download it , go in and have a look at it . You might say , no , no , this is not for me . That's okay as well , but it may save a life somewhere along the line , so that someone who's had quite a difficult shift and it's come home at one o'clock in the morning and just wants to reach out to someone from the community , they're there and they are available and that's fantastic . Now , obviously , the next question that I have as well is you're in the US and it's very , very US based , so are you welcoming of people worldwide to actually download this app and take part in this community ? Is that your mission ?

Speaker 1 43:32

100% , and that's a great thing about social media and technology . Granted , there are some bad things about social media and technology . Oh yeah , when you have a resource like this and with the entire intent and our mission behind it , is to be able to create a safe platform where anybody that's struggling can reach out or get some sort of support from , instead of going through their department or their military unit wherever , that's a mission success for us . So we do wanna have everybody across this world downloading the app , and it's cool to see people like you or Wartie that post something on the app and be like hey , I'm an Australian , we just had a suicide .

Speaker 1 44:15

And then someone in America can be like hey , we're struggling with the same thing , what resources do you have ? What do you think would help ? And then in America , we're doing this . Hey , here's ideas . And then we can have departments , peer support teams , like hey , in America , we're doing this , we're doing annual check-ins , we have therapy dogs . Oh , in Australia , we drink schooners and have our therapy dogs there . You know Exactly . I think there's no downside at all to having people across the world having access to this app and using it .

Speaker 2 44:44

Yeah , I agree , and the other good thing about it is and I'm looking at it from a little bit of a selfish perspective here as well what a fantastic network . Hey , I'm heading to San Francisco in three weeks time . Anybody interested in a catch-up ? Let's catch up in such and such a place and get everyone together . If no one's into it , no one's into it , but if they are , I know from my perspective . I've checked in , caught up with people from overseas , like in New York and things like that . I went into the communication center in New York was absolutely blown away . I couldn't believe it . Like our little dispatch center here that looks after our state , and then you look at like the five boroughs and 95 dispatches in Brooklyn . I couldn't believe it . I was absolutely mind-blowing . But what great experience to be able to draw on all the way around and just share .

Speaker 2 45:32

Because I think one of the most important things for a lot of people that work in law enforcement is they make the job their life , inside , outside the whole lot . They make their job life and I think that's a big problem as much as they're a unique type of person that actually joins law enforcement and everybody is , and even though you leave . You're never out of it because you've been there and you were that type of person . What I hate about a lot of people is that they make it their life inside and outside . They're in these chat groups , community groups . They're chatting all the time . They're doing so . When something happens and they lose that , it's a massive problem for them because there's literally no balance at all . I know people that have gone to America that have actually officers have put them up in their homes , they've gone out , they've gone shooting , they've gone and they've had the time of their life and they can't believe it and we wanna be able to reciprocate that to the Americans as well . So I think the more we have worldwide as a worldwide network we've almost got an Airbnb channel as well from we .

Speaker 2 46:34

I know that's not the intention , but we're proud of our jobs and we wanna be proud to show other agencies what we're doing and how we're going about it and learning from them Fantastic , and I think the app is phenomenal for its community , like that as well . Really humble that you've come on to talk about this app and everybody is obviously there would be a problem with funding , like you are .

Supporting First Responders and Their Families

Speaker 2 46:55

Obviously IRS would only allow you to receive funds and fund in the USA . But I think if we can generate enough interest outside , then it'd be fantastic for you guys to connect with . Like Aussie Frontline , I'm going to a conference in Adelaide on the 16th of March and I'm going to actually talk about this because I think if you were to collaborate with them they're a nonprofit here maybe they could do something and piggyback on what you're doing and vice versa as well to reach as many people . Are you open to that ?

Speaker 1 47:25

100% . Yeah , and , like you mentioned before with the , everybody on our board of directors is doing this just because we know there's a problem with suicide and mental health and the struggles amongst our entire community , and it's not just in America , it's worldwide . So if there's anything that we can do to help another nonprofit or an organization or a department and be like , hey , what's the most important thing for a peer support team , do you think I can give my personal explanation ? I can connect you with people that help start peer support teams and it's just all about having resources and connections that with people that just want to do good . It's not like we're gonna be judging you or if you come out and you reach out for help , no one's gonna sit there and be like , hey , like we just went to like this call and this was really tough , and now you're saying that you're being affected by this little call , like come on , like grow up , you know , like that's a problem in our community and that needs to be stopped .

Speaker 2 48:24

Yes , it does , absolutely , I totally agree . And everybody's got different levels , don't they ? A resilient level , some people . What we don't realize is the little thing that happened may very well be the last drop that tipped the cup over . And that's what people have to really get into their thick skulls , because I hate hearing that . Because some people are exposed to an awful lot of trauma in their career and then they take a phone call that upsets them and that tips them over and you think , jesus , mate , it was just a phone call , like honestly , but that phone call , you know that last drop , that meniscus on top of the water was overflowing . One drop and over it all goes and that causes a massive problem .

Speaker 2 49:04

I love that you support the wives of first responders as well in that group , because I've had wives reach out to me that are saying they're really struggling with their partner , with , you know , their health and mental health and things like that . What can I do ? What a great place for the wives to all sit and have a natter and understand they're not alone either , like it's not just their husband , and maybe it might be how to open a conversation with them to get them the help that they need , that they can't see . I know my behavior in the past with certain things . If I knew what I know now , I would have seen the warning signs very , very early on . But I didn't . And I think if someone , a close , significant other , could have said to me do you realize that you're doing this or do you realize that this is not how it normally is for us ? But now we're here . What a great way to open a conversation and get someone some help , isn't it ?

Speaker 1 49:55

I think , growing up in a family that's huge in service , whether it's police officer , firefighter , military I firsthand saw my father deploy overseas to Iraq and Afghanistan while my older brother and I were at home driving my mom crazy . There were missed high school graduations , there were missed birthday events , there were missed soccer tournaments and the list goes on and on and on . And my mom's a saint and she's been through a lot and she's had to go to weddings by herself and funerals by herself and I think it would be super selfish and also like we wouldn't be doing as great of a service if it was just for the first responder , just for the service members . So , having seen this firsthand and growing up and then also knowing our divorce rate and the amount of stress that we bring home from work , it does affect your family life as well where , if we can provide resources or help one more spouse or significant other or partner , that may be one less suicide , that may be one less divorce . I don't know the statistics in Australia , but in America the rate of divorce amongst our first responder and military community is essentially like one in two relationships will end up in divorce . And there's so many resources out there that I would like to share . But our departments . They have peer support teams for the officer , for the deputy or for the dispatcher , where sometimes it may just be a check in the box because that's what they need to do . Sometimes they may be really good , but there's a huge lack in resources for our partners . So through the Overwatch Collective we do fund therapy sessions for partner spouses , significant others , whatever you wanna call it . We have our buddy program on our website where we do have spouses , significant others , on there that you can read their bio , listen to a podcast that I do with them and send them an email one-on-one .

Speaker 1 51:50

We have one couple , husband and wife . He's a firefighter . They did a podcast with me and they are totally open to talking to anybody at all about the challenges they went through in their relationship with him getting force-mandoed , working overtime , just becoming a captain and they're both open to it and they're like , hey , if we can just help one marriage , then we're good . You know that's what we want to do and they're on the app as well Kelly and Brittany with Wives on Fire podcast . They are two fire wives and they're in the state of Oregon and they talk about what it's like being married to a first responder .

Speaker 1 52:27

Everything breaks when the first responders outside of the residence at work . They have to rush to clean up the house before he gets home , going to events by themselves , and they really do offer a lot of resources and they honestly make it fun too . But I highly recommend it . If you're a spouse , significant other partner of anybody in the first responder military community , we have resources for you . We have people we can get you connected to because you take on a lot too . And we talk about secondary post-traumatic stress with our therapists . Well , our family also deals with secondary post-traumatic stress .

Speaker 2 53:04

You better believe they do . There's absolutely no doubt around that , because it is very stressful for them dealing with the stress . That's something that we do lose sight of . We make it all about us , us , us , us . I'm the one that's struggling , I'm doing this , I'm , I'm , I'm , I'm , whereas the family and significant others really do , and children as well . Children really suffer because the tension in the house . It can cause massive problems there . So I love that . Also , I love the fact that you include dispatchers in that . So can you just talk about the dispatchers ? My partner is a police dispatcher and I love that . The American more so than Australia , definitely . They don't include dispatchers in the first responders here . Whenever it's mentioned , dispatchers never mentioned . But without fail , in the US the dispatchers are mentioned and I really love this . Talk to me about why the dispatchers are actually included and what you've seen around that .

Speaker 1 53:58

Yeah , and I give it up to these dispatchers and I didn't really learn too much about what they go through not only just answering phone calls and patching them through and telling us where to go for a call service , but with the trauma that comes along with it , with the lack of closure on calls for service , the not being considered a first responder , not partaking in some of these debriefings . That may be very beneficial . One of our first podcasts that we did was with three dispatchers and it's crazy . You asked them to tell you a story , a traumatic time where it caused heavy amounts of stress and they couldn't sleep or they cried on their drive home and they're like how do I narrow it down to one ?

Speaker 2 54:37

Yeah , that's exactly right .

Speaker 1 54:39

And it's the same way for a lot of first responders , but they truly are the first one who's taking the 911 call . No one called 911 to say , hey , san Francisco Police Department dispatcher . I just want to let you know I just took a walk on the beach with a dog . I'm having a fantastic . You know , there's none of that . So they have to stay in a state of hypervigilance and being always on standby and on the ready to be able to answer a phone and be like OK , am I going to have to give CPR instructions to the mother who's going to have to give CPR to their infant , or is this going to be hey , I was just involved in a vehicle collision at this intersection . Also , there are people on there that are crying , hey , I just got shot . And they have to stay calm , they have to get all the information and then they have to dispatch units out to that . And then , obviously , if you have a unit , an officer that's in a fight or in a shooting or got involved in a vehicle collision , it's so hard for them being stuck behind the desk at the communication center , not being able to do anything , not having control , and then also , after some of these calls where they just spoke to this lady who is victim of domestic violence and then they hang up the phone . They may not know what is the end result of that call at all .

Speaker 1 55:55

There's a lot of struggles for our dispatchers out there and I think if you're within this community and you don't really know that and don't really give dispatchers the respect that they deserve , you need to talk to some of them . Do a sit-along with the dispatch center . You really do learn a lot from it and they're some of the coolest people . I love having them on the podcast and their stories . And then we talk about the fun stuff of talking shit to the cops on the radio or when someone makes a mistake and for the Overwatch collective . If you're a dispatcher , we include you in therapy . We'll fund your therapy . We'll get you connected to anybody In addition to ER nurses . A lot of people don't think emergency room nurses are first responders and that we won't consider them for therapy . But we've funded ER nurses into therapy before .

Speaker 2 56:44

That's so credible for you . I think you've summarized dispatch really really well and , as I said , my partner's a dispatcher . There is a lot , and I think there's a simple thing that a lot of supervisors on the road can actually do and let's pick up the phone and call the dispatcher and just give them some closure on a job . My god , it takes you two minutes to do that . You've got no idea the impact that it makes . You know as well as I do , greg , with jobs , that the dispatchers they've got the most difficult job at all . Right , because what they're doing is they've got to decipher the information that someone's screaming at them over the phone . They've got to get it very succinct so that they can give it to a unit with maximum amount of information , what they need , so that they can do their risk assessment , their due diligence . They can do everything and get the unit to the job . And then it goes quiet on the radio and they're sitting there going . I don't even know what's going on here now Because it either goes to another channel or it goes to something . They've got no idea what's going on . So when the event concludes , pick up the phone and ring and just say hey , just so you know , we've got one in custody , the kids are out , everyone's safe , no one's injured . Thank you , you did a great job . That's all you've got to say . And how long does that take ? 20 seconds , so simple , and I think it's something that's really important . But I love that you've got a dispatch community actually in the Overwatch Collective app as well , so that they can lean on each other as well , because they get it from a dispatch perspective , fire get it from a fire perspective , police get it from a police perspective , and also the fact that you include your emergency room nurses and doctors and things like that as well .

Speaker 2 58:18

The human body is not wired to absorb trauma like it is Doing at the moment . No one wakes up in the morning and goes oh wow , I actually can't wait to go to a hanging or a suicide today . I can't wait to go to a fatal car accident . It's going to be awesome , and if you do , you're a weirdo , something's not quite right , but the body's not wired to actually receive that .

Speaker 2 58:38

So , having a community , all right , greg , I'm actually going to wrap it up , but I'm going to throw back at you your question that you ask everybody at the end of the podcast . You know what's coming here and I know that you give this lots and lots and lots of thought every time , and I'm sure that everyone you ask gives you their own version of it , because it's very ambiguous as well in relation to what it means . Now , the Overwatch Collective has a motto I've actually got goosebumps now because I'm about to say it , but it is actually one more is one less and I just love it so much . Can you explain to me from Greg Grogan what does one more is one less actually mean to you ?

Speaker 1 59:22

It's weird being on the other side of this Because , like you said , usually I ask everybody at the end of the podcast and it really is cool . So one more is one less comes from season one , episode six of our podcast , where we had a US Army soldier who was in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq lose more friends to suicide upon return to America than actually in combat . So he was like , hey , if we can do one more podcast , if we can talk to the VA more , we can get one less suicide . And then it's stuck .

Speaker 1 59:50

So over the past few years of creating , in my opinion , the safest , quickest and most

The Power of One More

Speaker 1 59:56

confidential way to get a first responder service member , family member , into a therapy session while receiving financial assistance , I think one more person that learns about the Overwatch Collective trusts the Overwatch Collective is one less person out there that doesn't know where to go to to get help , is one less person that's worried about the stigma and the culture and can come to us to get resources , whether it's the app , whether it's talking to a buddy on our buddy program or whether it's sitting down in a therapy session where your department , your military unit , will never know and will pay for the first three sessions and then we go into our tiered system after that .

Speaker 1 1:00:38

So I love the motto one more is one less . I'm probably going to end up getting it tattooed on me in a few years . It could be as simple as hey . One more person that we can connect and make feel like you're not alone and we have help for you is one less suicide funeral that we have to attend , because I've been to too many of them . I don't ever want to go to another suicide funeral and I want to see these numbers across the world be greatly reduced in suicide rates .

Speaker 2 1:01:08

Yep , absolutely love it . So there you go , folks . One more is one less . So I want you to have a think about it while you're listening to this podcast . What would one more is one less mean to you ? Because I think our mind instantly goes one more suicide is one less member or one less officer . But it's got so many different reasons to it .

Speaker 2 1:01:30

Now you say one more person getting help is one less suicide . I could actually say one more person getting assistance is one less . That's suffering in a big way , and I think that's even taking it to simplicity and that's how I look at it . That's why I've got you on this podcast , because if we reach one person today that jumps into your app and actually engages with somebody at a time when they are just having a little bit of a battle and goes wow , what a great community , that's one less that's suffering , and that's the way I take it . That's my answer to it . Anyway , I think that's good .

Speaker 2 1:02:04

What I would like to do is , if there's any companies in the US that are listening that go oh my god , this is fantastic , or someone that's got some influence , how do they reach out to you , greg , to support what you're doing , whether it's . I donated to the Overwatch Collective last week and I felt like a right heel because I only donated a little bit , but I know that one little bit is one less amount that you've got to find yourself and you put a call to action out and that was enough for me , so I helped . How do companies reach out , no matter how small their donation may be to your collective ?

Speaker 1 1:02:36

Yeah , I appreciate it and we make it super simple for this community . Everything is the Overwatch Collective . So Venmo , paypal , you can go to theoverwatchcollectivecom and you can donate through there . We have a one time , we have a monthly or an annual donation , so some people are doing like $15 a month . We just had someone donate $9 and she sent us an email and she was like hey , this is all I can afford right now , but my brother died by suicide and I would rather have this $9 go towards therapy to reduce the number of suicides than to get a Starbucks coffee with an extra shot . If you're able to donate or if you're a company that wants to learn more about the resources that we provide Google , the Overwatch Collective you'll find us .

Speaker 1 1:03:19

Instagram the Overwatch Collective , the app , the Overwatch Collective we make it pretty simple for our community and , as of now , our therapy statistics .

Speaker 1 1:03:30

We've spent $110,000 on therapy costs . We've either fully covered at 100% of the costs for the first three sessions or financially assisted 1,050 therapy sessions , and then we've connected over 150 people to our therapist in just over a year period . So your donation , sponsorship it won't entirely go towards therapy , because obviously we do have general operating costs , such as the podcast , the website , et cetera , but a majority of the costs will go to therapy , and if you cannot donate any monetary amount at all , I get it . Finances are difficult and they're a big stressor for our community . Please just share to one person about the resources and our mission as a nonprofit and podcast and download the app . When we get enough users into the app , we're gonna start getting advertising space and we'll start creating funds from the app . So I'm looking forward to the sponsorships , the app really blowing up to where maybe we're able to fund the first five sessions at 100% of the cost instead of just the first three , in addition to some other cool ideas we have .

Speaker 2 1:04:37

The good thing about it is you know you're in good hands in the Overwatch Collective because of the vetting of the therapist by first responders . So this is not a department going . Oh yeah , go and talk to this organization where it's a lottery as to who you get and they don't really understand it . We covered that earlier . You're actually getting a therapist that's gonna understand your role , gonna completely understand what you're going through , and we'll give you help straight away . So you're not spending those first three sessions trying to explain what your role is and how you go about it and explaining the trauma Fantastic .

Speaker 2 1:05:12

Now I know what your last question is in your podcast , but I've got one as well , and mine is this I've just won a billion dollars and , because I'm so humbled that you actually came onto the podcast , I'm gonna build you a house , greek anywhere in the world , that you wanna live . All right , anyway , you just choose , but you have to live in it for six months of the year . So I don't care whether it's you're a winter person or a summer person , I'm just gonna build the house for you wherever you want . Where do you want me to build the house that you're gonna live in for six months of the year . And look , you can take Kelsey with you if you wish . If you wanna go shooting and hunting , well , you can do that as well .

Speaker 1 1:05:47

And the dogs and get hair all over the house .

Speaker 2 1:05:49

And the dogs , yeah , and get hair all over the house . Well , it doesn't matter , because I'll pay for the cleaning as well . It's fine that would be amazing .

Speaker 1 1:05:56

I would love to live in Italy for six months , or if you were to be able to purchase a house . Unfortunately , I have not been able to travel out there . I know so many people that have . My family was from Luca , italy . That's one of my bucket list things . But hey , if you're fortunate enough and you win , I'll take a house out there . That'd be great .

Speaker 2 1:06:14

No worries at all , we'll build you a nice house . I'll tell you what . I've actually got the location for you . I spoke to someone on a podcast and I asked them the question . They said the same thing , because I know Tuscany Well . I've spent a lot of time in Italy . I spent a month in Italy traveling . I've spent another two , lots of two weeks in Italy .

Speaker 2 1:06:30

You've made a very , very good choice . What I'm actually gonna do is I'm actually gonna build it in Tuscany for you , because it's very California in any way , I think It'll be Tuscany . You'll be up in a little village , you'll be overlooking the valleys . You're gonna absolutely love it , greg . Greg , thank you so much for coming onto the podcast and sharing everything that you have built . We as a community , thank you for the work , the tireless work , the selfless work that you and your collective have actually put into doing this , which has started as a humble podcast and has now grown into a worldwide collective , which is fantastic , and it's the least I can do to spread this word into the community of Australia , with police , paramedics , firefighters , also a lot of nurses that listen to this podcast as well , and I hope that you get an influx of people joining and let's face it , all we want is one more , is one less , don't we ?

Speaker 1 1:07:21

Correct , that's it . Yeah , now I appreciate you having me on . It's humbling , unfortunate , to be able to take the time to talk with you and to reach your community as well , and it's great to finally get to talk to you like this . I know we've been emailing , talking on the app so long that this is great .

Speaker 2 1:07:37

And there you have it . That's Greg Grogan from the Overwatch Collective . I know we banged on a bit about the app and you could probably sick of it , but seriously , the Overwatch Collective and what they're actually doing is going to be amazing as far as an app goes , and once this reaches worldwide , just having an app on your phone that , no matter where you are or what you're doing , a community of your people are there for you to be able to speak to , and I think that's absolutely fantastic . I also forgot to mention that you can actually find Greg on the Overwatch Collective at Instagram . So it's at the Overwatch Collective and you can also go to their website , which is theoverwatchcollectivecom as well .

Speaker 2 1:08:19

If you got any value out of the podcast , I'd sincerely appreciate it If you would please just take a moment to just give it a rating and , if you've got an extra minute or so , just write a short review so that people like you that are looking for podcasts can actually read it and go oh , this is what I need to listen to and listen to the podcast . I really appreciate it , and now I will catch you on the next one . Thank you for listening . If you enjoyed this episode , be sure to subscribe so you get notified whenever a new episode is released . It would also be ever so helpful if you could leave a rating and review on the app you're currently listening on . If you wanna know more about me or work with me , you can go to ahealthyshiftcom . I'll catch you on the next one , antidenfried weekend .