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. Enjoy today's show. And welcome back to a healthy shift podcast. My name Roger Sutherland. I am your guide on this shift working journey, and we've taken a bit of a different direction, not for long, just for a few episodes to address a few issues. You know, I've recorded episodes one, two, and three of a fairly they're fairly topical to say the least, but we're identifying issues that have been occurring in military, police, emergency services. And it's my opinion, and I want you to remember that this is my opinion around certain things that have gone on. And I've I'm a victim of this. And when I say I'm a victim, I'm absolutely categorically telling you I am a victim of this because I would still be working today if it wasn't for that. But I will say this, I'm glad I'm not. But what I do want to do today is I want to talk about another issue, and this has come about as a result of many, many conversations that I've had, which have been highly engaging, highly taxing on me personally over the last three weeks or so, as a result of the content that I've put out in relation to the silencing and policing and what happens to police after they've left the job about failing, about the um the organizations failing them, not them failing themselves. One of the main things that I'm doing is I'm the voice for people who can't speak out about these topics. And the reason why I'm here and open and talking about it, putting it in a podcast and sending it out to the world is because I know that when I went through a lot of the things that I went through, I felt like I was targeted individual, but I wasn't. It was actually the organization failing all the way through. It was poor management, it was so many things went wrong. Broken systems, poor systems, um going the way that they've gone is something that was really difficult. And I didn't align with that anymore at all. And a lot of people don't. And there's a lot of people sitting there feeling like they're the individual victim of a whole thing, and they are an individual victim of what's actually occurred to them. And I'm not taking that away. But what I am saying is you're not alone. I'm saying that there is a lot of people out there, a lot of people that are suffering in silence, thinking that they've been targeted themselves. And it's very personal, and it's the personal attack that actually hurts the most. Today, I want to talk about something that is seriously uncomfortable, but it needs saying. It's topical. And I'm laying myself out here, but I want you to listen all the way through and very carefully at what my message is here. Very carefully. All right, before you judge. Don't come at me until you've heard the end of it. Because this is not anti-gay, and this isn't anti-inclusion, and it is not about hate. What it is, it's about how DEI, pride, and public activism have drifted away from real life, and how that drift is costing trust, money, and staff in the military and emergency services, and a lot of organizations, in particular, good police, and including a lot of shift workers who are being completely ignored. Now, the words that I'm about to unpack have come from a post that I read and really took on board that was written by a gay man. Proud, open, very well respected by his community, but he's done with pride marches. He's not ashamed, not silenced, he's just over it. And that matters because when people inside the community say enough, we need to listen. Now pride started organically, it came from the ground up because people showing up because they needed safety, they needed visibility, and they wanted rights. It felt human, messy, it was warm, but now it feels very staged. Don't let that offend you. Hear me out. Politicians, councils, emergency services, corporations, they trundle out the same photos every year, the same script every year, the same rainbow pins, the same captions that have been written by comms teams. It's not solidarity anymore. What it is, it's content, and people see that. 99% of society do not hate gay people. They don't care who you sleep with, they are not the slightest bit interested. What they do care about is that life is working. They want to know that the potholes are repaired, that there's enough police to do the job, the roads are fixed, the libraries are open, that healthcare is accessible for everybody. But when councils and agencies are funding pride events, but they can't manage core services, the rank and file get annoyed. Not because they're bigots at all, but because they're adults. A rainbow road doesn't fill a pothole, and a flag doesn't fix housing stress, and a social post doesn't lower your phone bill or your power bill or your interest rate. And that frustration isn't reactionary, it's actually rational. And here's where it gets even more messy. The police are banned from marching again. Now I understand the history, but exclusion wrapped in moral language is still exclusion, no matter which way you cut it. You don't build trust by telling people they're not welcome. You don't build safety by pushing police further away from their community. And if you have to turn the comments off on your social media posts, you've missed the mark. That's not leadership, that's actually avoidance. Listen to the people, not your echo chamber. Police are not and should not be activists. They shouldn't be. They're there to actually serve the public, to respond, to protect. All people want is police on the beat, stations open, visible policing, support to the front line, not carefully staged social media posts, not symbolic gestures that actually divide opinion. Because when policing starts to look like activism, trust erodes. And once trust goes, good people give up and leave. And we are already seeing this now. And this is the part that really matters. There's money for those campaigns, for branding, for events, for consultants, but there's not any money to educate shift workers or for core business. There's not enough to support fatigue management for mental health. We've closed centers. Family strain, sleep, recovery, just education on how to go about it. Shift workers keep this country running. The police, the nurses, the paramedics, transport, resource companies, energy. And they're all exhausted. They're burnt out. And they're starting to feel invisible. And tell me now, how does that make sense? Because acceptance isn't a march, it's everyday life. It's being respected at work, it's feeling safe in your street, it's belonging without having to announce it. Now, most gay people I know, and I know a lot, just want to live. The same as everybody else. They don't want special treatment, they don't want performative allies. No identity being used to cover bad governance. Just competence, decency, and honesty. There are real problems in the world right now. People are living in cars, skipping meals. Mental health systems have collapsed. Nurses are getting slaughtered with shifts. Victims of family violence have nowhere to run. Policing is running skinned. People are leaving these organizations by the hundreds. And this is where the energy should be going. This is where the money should go. And none of that requires knowing who you sleep with. This is important for people to understand. That the rank and file that are doing the job today need to be seen and acknowledged and helped and supported. Not segregated and identified. Call me ignorant. That's okay. I'm thick screened. I'll wear it. Because this is not about going backwards, this is about growing up. You need to listen instead of lecturing. Just get the basics done and get them right and stop this noise. Because when visibility turns into virtue signaling, people completely disengage. And when good people disengage, institutions weaken. And this is how you drive good people out of good jobs, including policing, including shift work. And we literally can't afford that. Thank you for listening. I hope you've got the message on what I'm actually saying here and not got your own agenda on it. Feel free to reach out and I'll talk to 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 want to know more about me or work with me, you can go to ahealthyshift.com. I'll catch you on the next one.