February 9, 2025 • 50 mins
Chad Kennedy's journey from trauma to transformation sheds light on mental health challenges faced by first responders and veterans. Through his Sea to Sea for PTSD initiative, he shares insights into finding the right therapy, the importance of connection, and the power of community in navigating mental health struggles.
• Chad shares his background and battle with PTSD
• The necessity of trauma-informed therapy and finding a good match
• Importance of connection and relationship in therapy for healing
• Effects of cumulative trauma among first responders
• Key strategies for advocating for personal mental health needs
• Sea to Sea for PTSD initiative: walking across Canada for awareness
• Insights on the stigma surrounding mental health and addiction
• A call to support and elevate conversations around mental health
If you'd like to support Sea to Sea for PTSD, please consider donating through their website to help raise awareness and provide resources for those struggling.
https://www.seatoseaforptsd.ca/
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/hartzmann/no-time-to-die
License code: S4CEQWLNQXVZUMU4
Artwork and logo design by Misty Rae.
Special thanks to Joanna Roux for editing help.
Special thanks to the listeners and all the wonderful people who helped listen to and provide feedback on the episode's prerelease.
Please feel free to email Matt topics or suggestions, questions or feedback.
Matt@unitedstatesofPTSD.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
This podcast is not intended to serve as therapeutic
advice or to replace anyprofessional treatment.
These opinions belong to us anddo not reflect any company or
agency.
Hello everybody, and welcomeback to another episode of the
United States of PTSD.
This is Matt, and I have aguest speaker with me today Chad
(00:35):
Kennedy.
Chad, you are from Canada.
I am Great white.
North, you are the secondCanadian I've had on the show,
so welcome, well, awesome.
North, you are the secondCanadian I've had on the show,
so welcome, well, awesome.
And you have an organizationthat I really want you to talk
about.
It's called C2C for PTSD,correct?
Yes, so can you talk about whatthat is and how it came about?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Sure, I'll go all the way back to 1991.
I'm a Canadian Armed Forcesveteran.
Yeah, I played around a lot inthe world with different career
choices.
After I left the Armed Forcesin 92.
2004, I got into lawenforcement so followed my dad's
footsteps in the lawenforcement world Dad, I know
(01:20):
it's pretty exciting down yourway was a Royal Canadian Mounted
Policeman, so the big Mountieand the Red Surge.
I did eight years as anauxiliary constable with the
RCMP and then found my niche inthe Alberta Sheriff Highway
Patrol, which you know we'llleave it easy terms kind of like
(01:43):
the state troopers.
So provincially, we're out onthe highway making lots of
friends.
Obviously, 2018, afteraccumulated traumas, I was
diagnosed with post-traumaticstress disorder, continued to
work after receiving sometherapy.
That was not a good fit for me.
(02:03):
It was not trauma-informedtherapy, so I continued doing my
position with the Highway.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Patrol Chad.
Can I just jump in right there,because I saw that on your
website you had said that youhad intensive therapy with it
sounds like a couple ofdifferent providers, and because
you brought up trauma-informedcare, and I'm a huge proponent
of trauma-informed care.
One of the things I've noticedand I don't know if this is your
experience is that it has, onsome level, become a buzzword
where people are all just sayingthey're practicing
(02:31):
trauma-informed care but they'rereally not.
So can you tell me a little bitabout what, before you finish
the story, like what that partwas like for you?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Well, initially, I think, like most of us and most
of us that get scared away fromvisiting a psychologist we don't
know what a fit is.
We go to a psychologistexpecting help for what we are
going through A lot ofpsychologists that don't do the
(02:58):
trauma, the trauma portion thatis fitted for us veterans and
first responders.
So my therapy I think threesessions before I got scared was
all about my upbringing.
You know what was life likewhen you were three years old.
Well, dude, I'm one of thosegenerational people.
I survived the wooden spoon.
(03:20):
I survived getting screamed atand spanked when I stepped out
of line.
So there was, you know, evenwhen I brought up the fact I'm
here to deal with the traumasthat I have faced on our
highways and the messes I've hadto clean up when I get into my
real healing journey, and I wasasked by our workers'
(03:40):
compensation board up here, whatkind of help would you like?
And I just threw it out there,I need to deal with somebody who
has dealt with first respondersand our veterans, so somebody
who's familiar with trauma andthat you know.
I think when you askspecifically, the universe works
in mysterious ways.
(04:01):
There's actually people outthere that practice this trauma
stuff.
They may have never gonethrough the traumas that we have
, but they know what the f***they're doing.
I've called it witchcraft, I'vecalled it sorcery, I've called
it magic, but it's that stuff.
That geez would be a foreignlanguage to anybody else.
(04:24):
You know you go into EMDRketamine.
Ketamine is becoming a bigthing up here.
Exposure therapy I had no ideawhat exposure therapy was.
It really sucks, but it reallyhelps you out.
So there's all these weirdmagical formulas that people are
becoming educated in.
You know and I talk to a lot ofpeople if you're not sure if
(04:48):
your therapy is the right fitfor you, don't be afraid to ask
questions from somebody who hasgone through that stuff and we
can say you know this person islike that.
You know they're going throughfrom town to town and selling
snake oil.
You know they want the business.
But what are they doing to us?
Are they hurting us or are theyhelping us?
(05:08):
And you know, a lot of timesthe Google knows a lot of things
and we can research ourtherapists and go into detail as
to what their credentials are.
So it's, unless you can ask forthat specifically man, you're
probably not going to find it.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I do want to add one thing to that.
Where the research is reallystrong when it talks about what
is really important in terms ofclinical connections between a
client and a therapist or asocial worker or a psychologist,
is that it actually doesn'tmatter what the form of
treatment is, as much as it doesthe relationship between the
two.
So if somebody is a terrible,terrible therapist but they have
(05:52):
a great relationship with theclient, the client can actually
make significant gains from it.
Just like if there is a personwho in the book knows every
possible theory that there's,that's out there and they know
they're very skilled, but theyhave a terrible relationship.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
There's not going to be a lot of progress, right,
it's uh yeah.
And exactly what I went throughum back in 2018 was just like
there's no connection, there'sno bond.
Um, just dealing with a verycold person and as you go
through, when, when you find theright clinicians, that person
(06:27):
will remind you or correct you.
When I would always say thankyou to my clinicians, you know a
lot of these clinicians willsay no thank you, Because you're
putting forth the effort,you're putting in 110%.
They're our coaches, they, youknow we're as much a part of the
team as our clinicians are kindof like you know, well, heck,
(06:51):
we're going into Super Bowl, soany quarterback has a series of
coaches and those coaches andthat quarterback have to have
that bond to make winning plays.
So if you can't find thatrelationship with your
clinicians, that is not a goodfit.
You need that coach.
So it's it's.
(07:12):
You know, when you look ateverything that you go through
and you say, wow, you know Iwould have never thought, I
thought this person's doing allthe magic, but really they're
just coaching us to put in thework.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, I mean you are the.
I mean as, as anybody thatcomes into the office, you are
the expert of your own life, soeverybody else that comes in is
also the expert of their ownlife.
I think what you are talkingabout is super important because
, well, first of all, youleaving and saying this isn't a
good fit, that's a skill rightthere, because a lot of people
can't do that.
So sometimes they'll stay in ina relationship that they know
(07:43):
is not working, because the ideaof leaving and finding somebody
else can actually be reallyscary or it can be
retraumatizing, and you know youdon't.
I think the other thing peoplethink is they don't want to go
from bad to worse.
So if their experience is thisperson is really bad, I don't
want to go get another person,because what if they're even
worse than the person beforethat?
So what you did is a reallybrave and I think it's a
(08:04):
testament to really you wantingto get better, because you're
saying like, okay, this is notworking, I need to find somebody
better.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Right.
Oh, even then, you know I was.
I was scared, hence continuingwork.
I got put on medication, I keptgoing to work and July 18th of
2020, uh, we had a mass casualty.
Uh, bus crash up at one of ourtourist spots in in jasper,
(08:33):
alberta.
One of these crazy buses withoversized tires goes driving up
glaciers and anyways rolled offthe side of a mountain.
So, as you know, a lot ofpeople can't envision this.
You know, when you go across anormal collision scene, you see
police cars, you seefirefighters, you see ambulances
(08:54):
, you see this whole big machineoperating to deal with a bad
event, but we're up on the sideof the mountain.
We just happened to.
Six of us happened to be in theright place at the right time,
but we didn't have fire andmedical resources.
They were all an hour and 22minutes away.
(09:16):
So your grip with not having thetools to do your job.
You feel helpless, your job,you feel helpless, yeah, and I
can't imagine any worse feelingin life, being out there doing
(09:38):
my job, than being helpless.
I cannot help somebody,especially when you're dealing
with a mass casualty event where, sure, you've got a few
fatalities, but the people thatare screaming in pain, that are
battered and broken.
There's no comfort, but theyneed you to be strong.
You're there in uniform andyou're safe.
You're a safe space for them.
Well, shit, that takes a toll.
(09:59):
Thankfully, after otheremergency services showed up, I
was able to leave the scene andset up a staging area for ground
ambulance crews and for for ourwe call it stars up here, our
Medi helicopters.
(10:19):
Um, and wasn't really able toprocess anything that I had seen
and, uh, eventually not beingable to talk about things for uh
, just about two weeks to theday, um, my PTSD had spiked.
Um, I didn't know how to dealwith it because I had bad help
(10:41):
at the beginning.
I wasn't given resources ortools, and that was August 2nd
of 2020.
I sat in the backyard and gotthe biggest bottle of Captain
Morgan Spice Rum I could grab,got the backyard fire going and
developed my suicide plan.
Fortunately, my brain kickedinto.
(11:08):
My dad as a mounted policemanand his complex PTSD and his
story of survival and my mom'sstory of survival hanging in
there with him swayed me to sayI need to do something more
about PTSD.
This is stupid.
If I die tonight, I didn't, man, I really didn't give a shit
(11:31):
about anybody else in my life.
I was worried about letting myparents down and in a drunken
stupor I went to social mediaand said I'm going to walk the
country to raise awareness ofPTSD.
And I'm still here telling mystory now.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
So I you know I made the right decision so many
things come to mind when you,when you talk first.
I just wanted to ask oneclarifying question first.
Okay, and again also thank youfor the work that you do.
I think with first responderspeople forget that a uniform
doesn't prevent people fromgetting traumatized and I don't
(12:11):
think people really lay peopledon't have any concept of that.
But was that the incident thathappened with the bus?
Was that the cause of PTSD orwas that?
Was there already PTSD and thatwas kind of the added, or was
there already PTSD and that waskind of the added.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, that's one of those great questions in the
psych world because 2018 beingdiagnosed and then just I put on
that mask for another two yearsand just kept going.
Was it the bus crash?
That was that can of worms twoweeks before Christmas, that,
that same year, where I avoideda single vehicle collision
because I was so I was, I wasscared.
(12:53):
I'm like what am I going to beseeing?
And if I'm there by myself, um,or even with another person,
I'm helpless.
So I avoided going to somethinguntil I knew more help was just
seconds out.
So it's what was the tippingpoint?
I wish I knew.
You know that are down thereyour state troopers, same as up
(13:17):
here our traffic members we goto and not to take away from
inner city policing and andhomicides.
Um, but man, every, every shiftwe're, we're gonna be exposed
to something horrible.
Um, so many good parts of ourjob, but there's gonna be those
(13:39):
things.
So you know I've geez I thinkit was close to 14 years of just
highway patrol work.
That just built up inside of meand a lot of things were used
to dark humor and think it'sfunny.
You can still joke aboutcertain situations, but those
were things that came up in mytrauma therapy where you know it
(14:01):
really wasn't that funny.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Right, but humor is certainly a coping skill.
I mean, it's actually a verygood coping skill in many
different circumstances.
So you probably needed it atthat time.
And the other thing thatresonated with me is, you know,
when I talked to Dave Dave hadtalked on the couple episodes
ago Dave had brought up thewhole maid program, which I
hadn't heard of before.
Well, I had heard of it but Ididn't know the nuances of it
(14:29):
until he told me about it.
It was horrifying.
So I think about you talkingabout being by this fire and
having this suicide plan.
Had the MADE program existed atthat point in time, you know
how that could have really gonea different way.
So I'm glad it didn't exist andI'm glad that you were able to
talk yourself out of that.
Because now what you're doingis providing more information to
other people who are in similarsituations.
And I don't know if you had Idon't know if you would listen
(14:49):
to some of the previous episodes, but I had a captain, a police
captain, talking about verysimilar circumstances, where he
had a critical incident on hisjob and when he tried to get
help for having PTSD and beingkind of aware that hey, look,
I've got some mental healthissues going on, he was punished
(15:09):
and now he is, you know.
Obviously he has made somegreat strides and is doing this
wonderful program where he isnow.
When we think of Canada, wethink of, at least I think, our
stereotype of Canada and theUnited States is that Canada is
this like wonderful place whereeverybody's like super nice and
everything is just, you know,fantastic and wonderful.
Clearly that's not the case.
(15:30):
So is it?
Is it the same stigma up therein?
Speaker 2 (15:35):
terms of getting mental health treatment.
Absolutely, we, you know, I'veI've been honored to have met
people from right around theworld.
It's very eye-opening when youcan chat with, you know, a
(15:57):
commandant of some elite forcein Europe and then you can talk
to somebody in australia.
You talk to, uh, people I'vemet in the states and and you
think, man, this is, this is aglobal epidemic we have with
mental health.
The stigma is the same rightaround the world and you know,
(16:19):
for for a lot of us, you knowwhere I am, in a small community
in in uh, southwestern alberta,um.
You know every major centerI've been to, um every small
community I've been through.
I'm meeting veterans, activemembers of of our armed forces,
whether the canadian or or us.
(16:40):
I'm meeting all these amazingpeople and the conversations are
all the same and they allsurround stigma.
And so it's there.
I received a letter, just sidenote.
I received a letter a couple ofyears ago.
I was in Eastern Canada doingmy first walk and I had a fellow
(17:03):
highway patrol member write methis letter and email it to me
stating you know, we've got yourback and what you're doing.
This is awesome and and theemergency services in my
community really support you,but watching what you have gone
through with with the AlbertaSheriff Highway Patrol program
is we're afraid to ask for helpbecause of the person that was
(17:27):
the bully.
You know, the manager, not theleader.
The manager and the way I wasousted from the department after
asking for help and announcingI was going to walk the country.
So it's.
You know it's the same story,sadly, right across the board,
and when I use the slogan or thehashtag Never Alone, it's just
(17:51):
to remind people everywhere.
You know you're not the onlyone going through this, you're
not the only department withthis type of bullying going on
and the narcissists that are inthat totally wrong position, but
it's everywhere.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
You could argue that the narcissists are actually in
the right positions.
Because I think unfortunatelyagain, I don't know how it is in
Canada and I'm glad that wehave the chance.
I mean, I'm glad that we havethe opportunity to talk, not
just you and me, but like peopleacross the world, to kind of
share stories, because it'ssuper important.
But I do think there's athere's a certain amount of
(18:31):
profitability in keeping peopledisenfranchised and sick and it
also helps people not bandtogether If you can just keep
people more divided.
So I mean it's, if you look atbig CEOs and companies, a lot of
them have personality disordersbecause that's by design.
They want people like that sothey can fire you the night
before christmas and not feelbad about it.
(18:52):
But I'm serious I never thoughtof it like that, so I think that
that's all by design, but theso just because I also want the
listeners to know.
So you're the c2c for ptsd.
You walk the country from oneside of canada to the other.
Yes, to raise mental healthawareness.
I can't even fathom how longthat would of a walk that that
would take.
Number one Is that months.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
It was, you know, the .
We split it the first go around, we split it within two years
and, and by mistake, my, the,the fellow that operated my
safety vehicle had a medicalissue and we had to get him back
to Western Canada.
So, combined it was 33 and ahalf weeks.
(19:38):
Yeah, and we're going to do thesame.
Kicking off in April 28th, I'llbe out in Eastern Canada and
Newfoundland, where do you stay?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Do you stay at hotels along the way?
Stay like how does that work?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
it's all trial and error, man.
The first year we were out, wehad a motor home with us, uh,
along with my tow behind trailerplus our safety truck.
Um, so we're, you know, wecould camp anywhere, stay on the
side of the road, we can hitcampgrounds.
Uh, 2023, we said, well, whatcould, what would the cost
(20:14):
difference be if we stayed inmotels and hotels?
Well, shit, that's even moreexpensive.
So, uh, this year, when we wekick off, myself and uh afghan
veteran friend of mine, uh, outin eastern canada, we'll be
doing a lot of camping, you know, with the truck.
I've converted the back of thetruck into as cozy it can be bed
(20:39):
for Luke, for me, I've got myhammock tent and I've got my
tent.
If the weather is really bad,I'll sleep in the cab of the
truck.
So, you know, anything thatsaves us money is uh, obviously
a bonus, um, and then we can getback to uh, some of the
(20:59):
programs that uh, we standbeside in Canada here.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Now, how many people do this Cause?
You said we, so I know thatthere's more than one.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
So, how many people?
Yeah, there's our logisticsofficer, lisa, amazing woman.
She is a police dispatcher inOntario and has been kissed with
PTSD, but she, she's amazing.
She just shows up in placesacross the country and spends
time walking with us.
She is, yeah, she keeps a smileon her face, she keeps us on
(21:36):
our toes everything positive andobviously my safety guy.
And you know the people thatjust show up in the middle of
nowhere and put in a few stepswith us.
So it's, it's never a me thing.
Few steps with us?
(21:58):
So it's, it's never a me thing.
The me is, yeah, it's a part ofmy healing journey.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
But it globally it's a we thing it's.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
I'm just one guy, a pebble in the ocean.
I've just I've just jumped intothe ocean.
There's a ripple going across.
How do we keep that ripplegoing and keeping the
conversation going?
Start the criticalconversations Just keep them
rolling.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Yeah, I 100% agree with you.
So to you it sounds like youalso do education along the way.
Do you stop and talk to peopleabout the impact of PTSD?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Absolutely Every chance we get, whether it's a
fundraising event at one of ourlegions, or we're stopping in at
fire halls, police stations.
For a lot of people, it's likeI need to go just walk with Chad
on the highway because he's asafe place.
And it's not about talkingmental health.
It's, I think, the connection,that there's that PTSD
(22:57):
connection.
We're not there to talk aboutour traumas, we're not there to
compare traumas.
We're just there as a couple ofpeople walking down the highway
.
Hey, what's the weather going tobe like?
Or let's talk hockey, let'stalk football.
Let's you know where's goodfishing around here.
Where's a weather going to belike?
Or let's talk hockey, let'stalk football.
Let's you know where's goodfishing around here.
Where's a great place to eat?
Oh, most importantly, where canI get a good cold pint, because
(23:18):
I love having my sips at theend of the day?
But it's, you know, for anybodyout there that thinks, well,
chad's just this great beingthat's just going to hammer into
my head about mental health.
No, it's about me being aperson and being able to relate.
I don't know everybody's battle.
I'm not inside your head, butit's you know, certain things I
(23:40):
can really relate to.
You know isolation, what it'slike to lose loved ones, what
it's like to lose friends tosuicide.
You know there's the relationand you know my motto has been
from the beginning if I can justhelp save one soul, my mission
is accomplished.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
You brought up isolation and I recently read a
study it was particularly formen about how loneliness can be
a bigger killer for men thanmany other things like heart
disease and other physicalsymptoms, because of the impact
of it.
Now, I don't know what the whatthe drug world in terms of,
(24:21):
like the problems of drugs incanada, is.
I think it's pretty, prettysignificant, because I remember
looking at moving there one timeand they were specifically
looking for substance abusecounselors.
But I know here every year wemeet record highs, right.
So, like this year, we have arecord high amount of overdoses.
This year, our homelessness hitan all time higher, suicides
hit an all time high, like it.
Just it keeps going up, right.
So when we provide educationabout how do we get people to
(24:46):
use less drugs, I think thequestion is why are people using
drugs in the first place?
Why are people committingsuicide?
Why is all this happening?
And you know I don't know howmuch you follow politics here,
but I saw Bernie Sanders istrying to.
He was he was trying to pass abill about putting warning
labels on foods that are reallybad for you.
(25:06):
So if they you know they'rehigh in cholesterol, there'll be
a warning label that'll saysomething about you know this,
this is linked to heart diseaseor you know whatever.
And you know, if you look at itfrom a really superficial point
of view, it's like, okay,that's really great.
But if you actually do somecritical thinking, okay, it
didn't work with cigarettes, itdidn't work with alcohol, it
didn't work with the DAREprogram, it didn't work with
Just any of these kind of likeinformation programs that we're
(25:28):
using.
So why are we doing it again?
Why is an educated personputting through a bill that we
know historically is never goingto work because he's not going
after the food companies?
Right, right, and that's andthat's so.
I would imagine Canada is verysimilar.
Right in terms of keeping thepeople oppressed and then kind
of blaming them for it.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Oh yeah, you know, I think really the only thing that
separates us is that invisibleline.
Man, we're all on the samechunk of land and we're going
through the same shit.
And you know what, to me, a lotof it is.
It's quite comical, it's youknow.
You pick up a package anywhere.
(26:06):
It's like, okay, now we've gotthis in three different
languages, but I can't read anyof it because the warning label
on it and everything's brokendown into nutrients and oh, if
you really want to know, here'sthe negative side effects to
this product.
It's like, my god, people, Iwant to go buy a vacuum.
I, you know, I smoke cigarettes.
I we've got all these funkypictures on our cigarette packs
(26:30):
now of I'm like these are liketrading cards.
So you know, yeah, I knew therisk when I was 11 years old and
I started smoking cigarettes.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
I know the risk now, at my old, wiser age and yeah, I
, you know I joke, I joke aboutI think I said this in another
episode in my town is a verysmall town.
We have about 1,400 people.
The only functioning businesswe have is a liquor store.
Because, of course we do,because that's just.
You can tell people.
(27:01):
If you look at very poorcommunities, you can tell them
all these foods are really badfor you.
But then if you make the foodscost prohibitive that are good
and then you give themincentives to eat garbage, you
know of course they're going toeat the garbage and then you're
going to blame them for it.
Right, like it's just.
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
That is, and sorry to cut you off that.
Watching the trends up here,where, like our grocery prices
now are are astronomical, liketo go buy a fricking cucumber.
You're talking three bucks, andthen I go to the chip aisle.
Well, it's three bags for five.
Oh, look, there's a sale on acase of of soda pop.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Well shit, I'm gonna live off potato chips and soda
pop yep, and it doesn't matterif the person knows that they're
not good, because it's allabout like what you can afford
and not being hungry.
That's right yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
So what are we doing?
I think everything is sobackwards, but hey, I don't know
, maybe that'll be one of mywalk campaigns, is you know?
Let's start talking aboutmaking healthy food affordable,
and I don't know, it's one ofthose things.
(28:13):
You know, if we went for a beer, we could resolve all the
world's issues in an hour, and?
But does anybody really wantthat?
Speaker 1 (28:21):
I don't know.
Well, that's not profitable.
No, it's not.
We have to keep it where wehave to keep it profitable.
In terms of stigma, I'm curiousbecause here in the the states,
we have a tendency to vilifypolice officers and only focus
on the bad ones.
And of course, there's bad inevery job, right, there's bad
therapists, there's bad teachers, there's bad everything.
But we hyper focus on how youknow those bad cops and we make
(28:45):
it like all cops are bad.
Yeah, is that the same incanada?
Speaker 2 (28:49):
yeah, is it during this?
Uh, the whole covid situation,um, right around that time, um,
black lives matter reallystarted hitting the waves, the
airwaves, social media,mainstream media.
Man I would.
I worked in in the one of thebusiest tourist places in Canada
(29:13):
in Banff National Park.
I'd stop a speeder I can't see,who is driving a car at Mach
speed down the highway.
I approach the vehicle and I'vegot a camera in my face.
I'm like, hey, sheriff Kennedy,alberta Highway Patrol, I
stopped you for speeding.
May I please see your documents?
(29:34):
And and it's like people werejust like I don't know if that
was that sigh of relief orthey're disappointed because
they're not getting me in a badmoment.
I'm like, what you know?
When I ask people what, what isthis about?
And if it's coming from anon-caucasian person, it's like,
well, like don't you watchwhat's going on in the States?
Like no, I don't watch what'sgoing on in the States because
(29:56):
they take one bad incident andpaint everybody with the same
brush.
That's not fair.
Me as a human being, that's notfair.
And quite bluntly I tell peopleI'm colorblind, I love you
because you're a human being.
I don't judge based on anythingelse.
So if we all just get along,but yeah, it was moments.
(30:18):
You know, you think, man, thisguy literally blew my car doors
off while I'm in a markedvehicle.
What is this about?
And you stop them?
They're trying to instigate anegative experience so they can
put it on whatever social mediaplatform they wish, and it's
quite unfortunate.
(30:39):
We've got this CopWatch Canadanow on.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
I don't know if it's TikTok or wherever the hell it
is, but it's people uploading anegative experience and, of
course, like everything, they'renot posting the whole story
right and it's right, of courseor they're intentionally
creating a negative experience,like they're going out of their
way to put somebody in a badposition so that they're going
to respond to it because it getshits and it gets reviews and
(31:04):
people like it and you know thatthat negative stuff sells.
We have here and I'm sorry I'magain, I'm sure it's the same in
canada I'm amazed by the amountof selective outrage that
people have.
So, as you know, with the wholedei thing that's happening here
or you may not know about that,but you know they're
overturning dei and trying toget rid of dei and programs.
(31:26):
So the diversity and equity,the amount of people who are
angry about that but never saidanything about the fact that
we've been funding an ongoinggenocide for an oh, I don't know
an entire year, drives me nutsbecause it's like, okay, you're,
you're complaining aboutdiversity and equity not being a
thing, but you're willing tohave your tax dollars go kill
people in a different countryfor ethnic cleansing.
But somehow the two of those aredifferent.
(31:47):
Like I'm not sure about it andit baffles me because it's like
you can't be selectivelyoutraged about one particular
thing.
You know, if you're reallyabout human rights, then you're
about human rights across theboard.
Yeah, you're not just abouthuman rights here, because it
just happens to be somethingthat may affect you as opposed
to something that is notaffecting you.
(32:08):
Right, and it drives me nuts.
I'm sure it's the same up there, right?
Speaker 2 (32:15):
You know, if we didn't have people like that in
the world, the world would be avery boring place.
So, you know, I I like mostpeople I scroll through social
media and I'm like what is thiseven about?
Why are we angry aboutsomething that is totally out of
our control?
You know, accept it, Radicalacceptance.
(32:36):
You'll hear that in the mentalhealth world.
Just accept this is out of yourcontrol.
What is going, you know it'sWell, I think that.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
I think the real frustrating part, though, is the
people who are barking theloudest are the ones who are
actually doing nothing.
So, for example, like you'rewalking in the country, right,
or you know, there are peoplewho I mean, I can't tell you how
many times I've contacted mycongressman and senator and
written letters and all of thatstuff and done podcasts about it
and educated people at theinstitution I teach at, but I'm
not barking all over the placeright on social media, and these
(33:07):
people who are barking it'slike well, what are you doing
about it?
And there's this perceptionthat somehow fighting hate with
hate is somehow going to be agreat idea.
Well, that's how we got to.
This problem in the first placeis because people just continue
to get divided by hating eachother, versus saying okay, I
don't understand you and Ireally want to understand you,
so can you tell me about whatyou need?
And then I can tell you what,what I need.
(33:28):
But that just doesn't happenanymore no, no, it's.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Uh, you know the the amazing world of technology and
and who can start the biggestshitstorm sitting behind a
computer.
I call them keyboard cowards,you know.
You go to any social mediaplatform and all the negativity
is like okay, well, where I'mfrom, I don't make money off how
(33:57):
many likes and views I get onmy platform, so I really don't
make money off how many likesand views I get on my platform,
so I really don't care.
But if you're promoting hate tobenefit off other people, I
think that's horrible.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Well, all it does is divide people further too.
It just creates a bigger rift.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
And you look at the wars going on in this world,
it's like why you know what?
Well, you know the wars goingon in this world is like why you
know what Well, we know why.
We know the political drivesbehind war.
But it's like for crying outloud people.
There's enough hate going onright now.
Why don't we start spreadingpositive messages?
Oh wait, we know, becausemainstream or social media,
(34:40):
positive doesn't sell, it's thenegative that sells.
You know, we used to be inhospitality for a lot of years
and you man, you don't want anegative review in your
restaurant or your lounge.
That one person has a badexperience is going to tell 10
people.
Those 10 people tell 10 peoplehas a bad experience is going to
(35:02):
tell 10 people.
Those 10 people tell 10 peopleand it spins out of control
until you've really damaged your, your, your place of business,
if you have a.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
You know I have a funny story that highlights this
right.
So years and years and yearsago, I was at disney and I have
you ever been to disney world?
Speaker 2 (35:17):
oh, not disney world.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Been to disneyland so we were on test track.
I don't know, I actually don'tknow if they have that at um
disneyland.
Oh, not disney world, been todisneyland.
So we were on test track.
I don't know, I actually don'tknow if they have that at um
disneyland.
But it's basically like a youdesign a car and then it kind of
races around a track and therewas this family that was
becoming incredibly aggressivebecause the ride had actually
broken.
So they were trying to fix it,to figure out what it was, and
the couple they had a child withthem and they had like another
(35:41):
couple with them becameincreasingly more hostile to the
attendants.
They're swearing at them,they're yelling at them.
They've got their child intheir hand and they're talking
about how, um, you know it, theytheir entire trip was ruined
because of the ride and you knowjust getting more and more
escalated.
So they're trying to get peopleout of the ride and I saw one of
(36:01):
them like push the attendant,like aggressively push the
attendant.
So I said you know what?
I'm going to go down to guestservices to say, hey, if you
need a witness, I can, you know,I can testify that that person,
that guest, did assault yourstaff member.
So, while we're waiting there,to to say the amount of people
who went to guest services toget a free ride, because they
(36:24):
basically were complaining thattheir experience had been ruined
by the fact that the ride brokedown and that these guests were
yelling, but not we were theonly people that were there to
say hey, one of your castmembers was assaulted and it
just it blew my mind that theonly thing people could think of
was what do I get out of this?
(36:45):
What do I get?
What do I get?
Speaker 2 (36:46):
what do I get not like hey, somebody just got hurt
yeah, it's funny you put thatinto what we watch on on the
news, whether it's real or fakeor whatever platform.
See somebody getting assaultedby another person.
Nobody's running in to help.
Everybody pulls their phonesout to record it because, oh, I
(37:07):
got to sell this to the news, Igot to get this because that can
get me likes.
It's like what is wrong withhumanity why aren't we taking?
Speaker 1 (37:16):
care of each other we can have a whole episode just
about that.
Oh yes, we could now speakingof of, because I I'm also aware
that in canada, the indigenouspeople are often really, um,
oppressed and hurt often, right?
Is there any?
Has that been changing at all?
Speaker 2 (37:36):
oh man you you know it's one of those things.
I know.
You know what.
We have so much history up here, as every country does, with
our Indigenous folks and youlook through the timelines and
(37:57):
the atrocities that these peoplehave gone through with the
residential school system, youknow addictions and nothing.
My opinion from the outside,looking in, I'm not seeing it
getting any better.
And you know people just don'ttreat people kind and I don't
(38:20):
get that.
I have man, numerous Indigenousfriends.
I've done talks with ourIndigenous folks and you know
mental health is huge and alongwith mental health comes the
addictions and substance abuse,suicide rates and we have to be
(38:43):
all inclusive in this wholemental health game.
We have to accept as apopulation that stuff happened
before my time and it's allcatching up to us now and I
think that's right.
Around the world it's the sameshit.
(39:04):
I think we're dealing with aproblem that some would like to
say well, that didn't reallyhappen, we just want to shove it
under the rug.
Others say, well, we just haveto fix it by giving people money
.
It's like no man.
We need to embrace everybodyand hear, not just listen to
(39:24):
somebody's story.
We need to hear what they haveto say.
Right and we're not doing thatBig rules on my campaign.
I don't deal with politics,religion, with politics,
religion, the COVID or theconvoys, but there's topics out
(39:51):
there that bother me as a humanbeing and how our you know, here
comes politics how ourgovernments deal with real life
situations, real life problems,where I just embrace everybody
as a human being.
You know, skin color to memeans nothing.
The way you dress means nothing.
If you want to dye your hair afunky color or have facial
tattoos, I really don't care.
(40:12):
I have met some of the mostgenuine, wholesome people in my
life that have funky hair or,you know, tattooed head to toe,
even their eyeballs.
Weird thing but it happens.
But these are the kind of Ican't imagine how painful that
would be.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
I don't even want to think about that.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
But you find and I found in my career I want to
treat people the way I wouldlike to be treated.
There's nothing wrong with that.
There's nothing wrong withgiving somebody a handshake on
the side of the highway, orsomebody's going through a very
bad situation.
All they need is a hug and fiveminutes of somebody sitting
there comforting them.
It's the same everywhere.
(40:53):
Yeah, and the way the world isgoing, man, it really hurts my
heart.
And where we can just get along.
You know watching our worldleaders now, like man, sit back,
grab a beer and a big bag ofpopcorn, because shit's about to
(41:14):
get real.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
I think the answer is in what you just talked about,
though.
So most of us would acknowledgeat this point that our world
leaders don't work for usanymore.
They've stopped working for usfor a while.
They serve one goal, and itcertainly isn't the people Right
on.
Okay, I want to hear about you,I want to learn about you, like
(41:39):
, what can I do to help you?
But we would much.
When you talked about huggingsomebody, we would much rather
if you you know, if you wearyou've seen this, I'm sure, in
social media, where people wearshirts that say free hugs and
sometimes they get you know,people are like, oh God, that's
awful.
But if you put up somethingthat says, hey, debate an
opinion with me, how quicklypeople are going to go do that
and become aggressive becausethat's better than actually
(42:02):
human contact, which is absurd.
Right, but that's but that's bydesign, like we.
We have been conditioned tobecome that way yeah and we have
to uncondition ourselves wetruly do.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
And you know, even if it's taking 10 steps backwards,
that's okay, it's.
You know?
I remember young Buck goinginto basic training.
We are going to tear you downso we can build you up.
So it's, you know.
Why aren't we doing this?
Why aren't we educating ourchildren?
(42:36):
It's not about man.
I, I like kids, are usinglitter boxes nowadays.
Uh, uh, yeah.
So it's like the question is, Ithink, what happened to
parenthood?
Because now parents don't haveany.
It's like they don't have theright to bestow ethics in our
(42:57):
children and bring them up right.
Well, because my teacher saidand the teacher's only saying,
because the government said Ihave to do this exactly exactly
what has happened?
Speaker 1 (43:08):
exactly.
I mean, they have you, you can.
I'm so glad you just said that,because I've been saying that
for a long time.
I mean, they systematicallytook rights away from parents,
then they took rights away fromteachers.
They take, you know, they takerights away from everybody so
that everybody kind of owns apiece of the problem and then
everybody can kind of pointtheir finger what's because of
bad parenting?
It's because the educationsystem sucks.
Well, no, it's because this wasall again, by design it was.
(43:31):
It was created this way so thatwe can just continue to be
disenfranchised.
I mean, that's what that'sabout.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Craziness Ah, I, I use that.
Craziness ah, I, I use that,I'm allowed to use that word.
Some people say you can't usethat word anymore.
Man, I'm crazy.
Um, but yeah, I, just, you know, I, I I often joke saying, man,
thank goodness I don't havethat many more years left on
(43:58):
this earth, but darn it.
While I'm here I'm gonna do thebest to make change in the
mental health world and, andreally, you know, let's start
tearing down the stigmaassociated to mental health.
And it's not just within our,our military, veteran and public
(44:18):
safety professions.
It's from, you know, theselittle children all the way up.
And you know, if we can takecare of our mental health and
make that healthy because weknow it's hard to do on a proper
diet, because we can't afford aproper diet anymore, it's
potato chips and soda pop.
But if we're taking care of ourmental health, more is potato
(44:42):
chips and soda pop.
But if we're taking care of ourmental health, everything just
sort of falls into play.
It's taking care of one another, it's being there for others.
Somebody calls and says man, Ijust need five minutes to blow
off some steam that nobody elsewould understand.
Be there for one another.
It's a.
It's a pretty cool thing and andI am I feel privileged and
(45:04):
honored when somebody can shootme an email or a message on
social media and saying thankyou.
I needed to hear what you'redoling out today.
Um, I've never shared my storywith anybody, so here it is, an
email.
I look forward to meeting yousomeday.
Like that is.
That's huge.
You're building trust with,with other human beings, and you
(45:35):
know it's been with all walksof life.
There are, you know, my, mychoice was law enforcement, but
then there's people that havechosen, outside of the military
or in their life, to join anoutlaw motorcycle gang.
That's up to them.
But when we sit and talk ashuman beings, we're not talking
about oh, chad was a cop, I'm abad guy.
We're just talking like twohuman beings, leaving that
(45:57):
political side off to the or thestuff off to the side, and just
being people.
I think it's a cool thing.
You get a handshake or a hugfrom a guy that's six foot six
and wears red and white as hiscolors.
It's like that's pretty cool.
That is pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
So what can we do here to help support the CDC for
PTSD?
Speaker 2 (46:25):
You know I always want to say, and because I hate
asking for help, but this is,you know, if anybody can,
donations are always appreciatedyeah, donations.
And you know, the biggest thingwe can do to support each other
is just be there for a fellowhuman that is struggling.
(46:47):
And a lot of us would ratherforce that smile, force laughter
, help somebody else be happy ina moment while we're hurting so
(47:09):
bad on the inside.
A lot of times it's notdetectable, but if we open
ourselves up and say, hey, I'mhere, contact me at C2C for PTSD
, if I can't help you, I canhelp you find resources.
So it's you know how do we takecare of one another?
A lot of times it's just beingthat voice or that hand that can
(47:33):
reach out and get some help forsomebody else.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Thank you, chad, and when does it start?
You said it's coming up soon,right else?
Thank you, chad, and when doesit?
Speaker 2 (47:42):
start.
You said it's coming up soon,right?
Oh yeah, it is Funny enough.
Two weeks yesterday, two weeksfrom yesterday, I'll be doing a
24-hour walk-a-thon in mycommunity.
I don't know where I ever comeup with these fucked up ideas,
but it's just another challenge.
April 28th, we will be steppingoff in St John's, Newfoundland,
and we'll be walking to Windsor, Ontario, for 2025.
(48:07):
And 2026, we'll be leavingOntario and making our way to
the Pacific Ocean in BritishColumbia.
Speaker 1 (48:15):
That is awesome.
I just noticed when you raisedyour hand, by the way, that you
have a semicolon tattoo.
Oh, I've got two Is that forpause.
Speaker 2 (48:26):
Yeah, my story hasn't ended.
The semicolon with mentalhealth is such an amazing thing.
I've actually got one on botharms, two different inks, but if
I'm ever down'm putting my myhead into my hands.
You know, I see that one rightoff the bat.
(48:47):
The other one other people seewhen I'm sitting across a desk,
from from them.
It's uh never alone with thesemicolon.
So it's uh.
Yeah, man, just a reminder, mystory is not over I love that.
Speaker 1 (49:02):
Thank you, chad, for being such a powerful speaker,
number one, and just for all thestuff that you're doing.
I will put a link to yourwebsite in the notes for the
podcast and then on there, so itdoes have the option to donate,
correct, there's a yes, yes, itdoes fantastic, so thank you so
much.
Is there any other final thingsyou want for the listeners to
hear?
Speaker 2 (49:22):
You know, every time I get a chance to have a visit
with the peeps south of ourborder, it's an honor.
I've had quite a few podcastvisits in the United States, and
we're all in this together.
We are visits in the UnitedStates and we're all in this
together and put the politicsand the bullshit off to the side
(49:44):
.
We, as human beings, need to bethere for one another.
Speaker 1 (49:49):
Great message, Chad.
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate it.
Hello everybody and thank youagain for listening.
This is just a reminder thatpart of this podcast can be
located, or with our writtenconsent.
Thank you again.
This podcast is not intended to serve as therapeutic
advice or to replace anyprofessional treatment.
These opinions belong to us anddo not reflect any company or
agency.
Hello everybody, and welcomeback to another episode of the
United States of PTSD.
This is Matt, and I have aguest speaker with me today Chad
(00:35):
Kennedy.
Chad, you are from Canada.
I am Great white.
North, you are the secondCanadian I've had on the show,
so welcome, well, awesome.
North, you are the secondCanadian I've had on the show,
so welcome, well, awesome.
And you have an organizationthat I really want you to talk
about.
It's called C2C for PTSD,correct?
Yes, so can you talk about whatthat is and how it came about?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Sure, I'll go all the way back to 1991.
I'm a Canadian Armed Forcesveteran.
Yeah, I played around a lot inthe world with different career
choices.
After I left the Armed Forcesin 92.
2004, I got into lawenforcement so followed my dad's
footsteps in the lawenforcement world Dad, I know
(01:20):
it's pretty exciting down yourway was a Royal Canadian Mounted
Policeman, so the big Mountieand the Red Surge.
I did eight years as anauxiliary constable with the
RCMP and then found my niche inthe Alberta Sheriff Highway
Patrol, which you know we'llleave it easy terms kind of like
(01:43):
the state troopers.
So provincially, we're out onthe highway making lots of
friends.
Obviously, 2018, afteraccumulated traumas, I was
diagnosed with post-traumaticstress disorder, continued to
work after receiving sometherapy.
That was not a good fit for me.
(02:03):
It was not trauma-informedtherapy, so I continued doing my
position with the Highway.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Patrol Chad.
Can I just jump in right there,because I saw that on your
website you had said that youhad intensive therapy with it
sounds like a couple ofdifferent providers, and because
you brought up trauma-informedcare, and I'm a huge proponent
of trauma-informed care.
One of the things I've noticedand I don't know if this is your
experience is that it has, onsome level, become a buzzword
where people are all just sayingthey're practicing
(02:31):
trauma-informed care but they'rereally not.
So can you tell me a little bitabout what, before you finish
the story, like what that partwas like for you?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Well, initially, I think, like most of us and most
of us that get scared away fromvisiting a psychologist we don't
know what a fit is.
We go to a psychologistexpecting help for what we are
going through A lot ofpsychologists that don't do the
(02:58):
trauma, the trauma portion thatis fitted for us veterans and
first responders.
So my therapy I think threesessions before I got scared was
all about my upbringing.
You know what was life likewhen you were three years old.
Well, dude, I'm one of thosegenerational people.
I survived the wooden spoon.
(03:20):
I survived getting screamed atand spanked when I stepped out
of line.
So there was, you know, evenwhen I brought up the fact I'm
here to deal with the traumasthat I have faced on our
highways and the messes I've hadto clean up when I get into my
real healing journey, and I wasasked by our workers'
(03:40):
compensation board up here, whatkind of help would you like?
And I just threw it out there,I need to deal with somebody who
has dealt with first respondersand our veterans, so somebody
who's familiar with trauma andthat you know.
I think when you askspecifically, the universe works
in mysterious ways.
(04:01):
There's actually people outthere that practice this trauma
stuff.
They may have never gonethrough the traumas that we have
, but they know what the f***they're doing.
I've called it witchcraft, I'vecalled it sorcery, I've called
it magic, but it's that stuff.
That geez would be a foreignlanguage to anybody else.
(04:24):
You know you go into EMDRketamine.
Ketamine is becoming a bigthing up here.
Exposure therapy I had no ideawhat exposure therapy was.
It really sucks, but it reallyhelps you out.
So there's all these weirdmagical formulas that people are
becoming educated in.
You know and I talk to a lot ofpeople if you're not sure if
(04:48):
your therapy is the right fitfor you, don't be afraid to ask
questions from somebody who hasgone through that stuff and we
can say you know this person islike that.
You know they're going throughfrom town to town and selling
snake oil.
You know they want the business.
But what are they doing to us?
Are they hurting us or are theyhelping us?
(05:08):
And you know, a lot of timesthe Google knows a lot of things
and we can research ourtherapists and go into detail as
to what their credentials are.
So it's, unless you can ask forthat specifically man, you're
probably not going to find it.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I do want to add one thing to that.
Where the research is reallystrong when it talks about what
is really important in terms ofclinical connections between a
client and a therapist or asocial worker or a psychologist,
is that it actually doesn'tmatter what the form of
treatment is, as much as it doesthe relationship between the
two.
So if somebody is a terrible,terrible therapist but they have
(05:52):
a great relationship with theclient, the client can actually
make significant gains from it.
Just like if there is a personwho in the book knows every
possible theory that there's,that's out there and they know
they're very skilled, but theyhave a terrible relationship.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
There's not going to be a lot of progress, right,
it's uh yeah.
And exactly what I went throughum back in 2018 was just like
there's no connection, there'sno bond.
Um, just dealing with a verycold person and as you go
through, when, when you find theright clinicians, that person
(06:27):
will remind you or correct you.
When I would always say thankyou to my clinicians, you know a
lot of these clinicians willsay no thank you, Because you're
putting forth the effort,you're putting in 110%.
They're our coaches, they, youknow we're as much a part of the
team as our clinicians are kindof like you know, well, heck,
(06:51):
we're going into Super Bowl, soany quarterback has a series of
coaches and those coaches andthat quarterback have to have
that bond to make winning plays.
So if you can't find thatrelationship with your
clinicians, that is not a goodfit.
You need that coach.
So it's it's.
(07:12):
You know, when you look ateverything that you go through
and you say, wow, you know Iwould have never thought, I
thought this person's doing allthe magic, but really they're
just coaching us to put in thework.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah, I mean you are the.
I mean as, as anybody thatcomes into the office, you are
the expert of your own life, soeverybody else that comes in is
also the expert of their ownlife.
I think what you are talkingabout is super important because
, well, first of all, youleaving and saying this isn't a
good fit, that's a skill rightthere, because a lot of people
can't do that.
So sometimes they'll stay in ina relationship that they know
(07:43):
is not working, because the ideaof leaving and finding somebody
else can actually be reallyscary or it can be
retraumatizing, and you know youdon't.
I think the other thing peoplethink is they don't want to go
from bad to worse.
So if their experience is thisperson is really bad, I don't
want to go get another person,because what if they're even
worse than the person beforethat?
So what you did is a reallybrave and I think it's a
(08:04):
testament to really you wantingto get better, because you're
saying like, okay, this is notworking, I need to find somebody
better.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Right.
Oh, even then, you know I was.
I was scared, hence continuingwork.
I got put on medication, I keptgoing to work and July 18th of
2020, uh, we had a mass casualty.
Uh, bus crash up at one of ourtourist spots in in jasper,
(08:33):
alberta.
One of these crazy buses withoversized tires goes driving up
glaciers and anyways rolled offthe side of a mountain.
So, as you know, a lot ofpeople can't envision this.
You know, when you go across anormal collision scene, you see
police cars, you seefirefighters, you see ambulances
(08:54):
, you see this whole big machineoperating to deal with a bad
event, but we're up on the sideof the mountain.
We just happened to.
Six of us happened to be in theright place at the right time,
but we didn't have fire andmedical resources.
They were all an hour and 22minutes away.
(09:16):
So your grip with not having thetools to do your job.
You feel helpless, your job,you feel helpless, yeah, and I
can't imagine any worse feelingin life, being out there doing
(09:38):
my job, than being helpless.
I cannot help somebody,especially when you're dealing
with a mass casualty event where, sure, you've got a few
fatalities, but the people thatare screaming in pain, that are
battered and broken.
There's no comfort, but theyneed you to be strong.
You're there in uniform andyou're safe.
You're a safe space for them.
Well, shit, that takes a toll.
(09:59):
Thankfully, after otheremergency services showed up, I
was able to leave the scene andset up a staging area for ground
ambulance crews and for for ourwe call it stars up here, our
Medi helicopters.
(10:19):
Um, and wasn't really able toprocess anything that I had seen
and, uh, eventually not beingable to talk about things for uh
, just about two weeks to theday, um, my PTSD had spiked.
Um, I didn't know how to dealwith it because I had bad help
(10:41):
at the beginning.
I wasn't given resources ortools, and that was August 2nd
of 2020.
I sat in the backyard and gotthe biggest bottle of Captain
Morgan Spice Rum I could grab,got the backyard fire going and
developed my suicide plan.
Fortunately, my brain kickedinto.
(11:08):
My dad as a mounted policemanand his complex PTSD and his
story of survival and my mom'sstory of survival hanging in
there with him swayed me to sayI need to do something more
about PTSD.
This is stupid.
If I die tonight, I didn't, man, I really didn't give a shit
(11:31):
about anybody else in my life.
I was worried about letting myparents down and in a drunken
stupor I went to social mediaand said I'm going to walk the
country to raise awareness ofPTSD.
And I'm still here telling mystory now.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
So I you know I made the right decision so many
things come to mind when you,when you talk first.
I just wanted to ask oneclarifying question first.
Okay, and again also thank youfor the work that you do.
I think with first responderspeople forget that a uniform
doesn't prevent people fromgetting traumatized and I don't
(12:11):
think people really lay peopledon't have any concept of that.
But was that the incident thathappened with the bus?
Was that the cause of PTSD orwas that?
Was there already PTSD and thatwas kind of the added, or was
there already PTSD and that waskind of the added.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, that's one of those great questions in the
psych world because 2018 beingdiagnosed and then just I put on
that mask for another two yearsand just kept going.
Was it the bus crash?
That was that can of worms twoweeks before Christmas, that,
that same year, where I avoideda single vehicle collision
because I was so I was, I wasscared.
(12:53):
I'm like what am I going to beseeing?
And if I'm there by myself, um,or even with another person,
I'm helpless.
So I avoided going to somethinguntil I knew more help was just
seconds out.
So it's what was the tippingpoint?
I wish I knew.
You know that are down thereyour state troopers, same as up
(13:17):
here our traffic members we goto and not to take away from
inner city policing and andhomicides.
Um, but man, every, every shiftwe're, we're gonna be exposed
to something horrible.
Um, so many good parts of ourjob, but there's gonna be those
(13:39):
things.
So you know I've geez I thinkit was close to 14 years of just
highway patrol work.
That just built up inside of meand a lot of things were used
to dark humor and think it'sfunny.
You can still joke aboutcertain situations, but those
were things that came up in mytrauma therapy where you know it
(14:01):
really wasn't that funny.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Right, but humor is certainly a coping skill.
I mean, it's actually a verygood coping skill in many
different circumstances.
So you probably needed it atthat time.
And the other thing thatresonated with me is, you know,
when I talked to Dave Dave hadtalked on the couple episodes
ago Dave had brought up thewhole maid program, which I
hadn't heard of before.
Well, I had heard of it but Ididn't know the nuances of it
(14:29):
until he told me about it.
It was horrifying.
So I think about you talkingabout being by this fire and
having this suicide plan.
Had the MADE program existed atthat point in time, you know
how that could have really gonea different way.
So I'm glad it didn't exist andI'm glad that you were able to
talk yourself out of that.
Because now what you're doingis providing more information to
other people who are in similarsituations.
And I don't know if you had Idon't know if you would listen
(14:49):
to some of the previous episodes, but I had a captain, a police
captain, talking about verysimilar circumstances, where he
had a critical incident on hisjob and when he tried to get
help for having PTSD and beingkind of aware that hey, look,
I've got some mental healthissues going on, he was punished
(15:09):
and now he is, you know.
Obviously he has made somegreat strides and is doing this
wonderful program where he isnow.
When we think of Canada, wethink of, at least I think, our
stereotype of Canada and theUnited States is that Canada is
this like wonderful place whereeverybody's like super nice and
everything is just, you know,fantastic and wonderful.
Clearly that's not the case.
(15:30):
So is it?
Is it the same stigma up therein?
Speaker 2 (15:35):
terms of getting mental health treatment.
Absolutely, we, you know, I'veI've been honored to have met
people from right around theworld.
It's very eye-opening when youcan chat with, you know, a
(15:57):
commandant of some elite forcein Europe and then you can talk
to somebody in australia.
You talk to, uh, people I'vemet in the states and and you
think, man, this is, this is aglobal epidemic we have with
mental health.
The stigma is the same rightaround the world and you know,
(16:19):
for for a lot of us, you knowwhere I am, in a small community
in in uh, southwestern alberta,um.
You know every major centerI've been to, um every small
community I've been through.
I'm meeting veterans, activemembers of of our armed forces,
whether the canadian or or us.
(16:40):
I'm meeting all these amazingpeople and the conversations are
all the same and they allsurround stigma.
And so it's there.
I received a letter, just sidenote.
I received a letter a couple ofyears ago.
I was in Eastern Canada doingmy first walk and I had a fellow
(17:03):
highway patrol member write methis letter and email it to me
stating you know, we've got yourback and what you're doing.
This is awesome and and theemergency services in my
community really support you,but watching what you have gone
through with with the AlbertaSheriff Highway Patrol program
is we're afraid to ask for helpbecause of the person that was
(17:27):
the bully.
You know, the manager, not theleader.
The manager and the way I wasousted from the department after
asking for help and announcingI was going to walk the country.
So it's.
You know it's the same story,sadly, right across the board,
and when I use the slogan or thehashtag Never Alone, it's just
(17:51):
to remind people everywhere.
You know you're not the onlyone going through this, you're
not the only department withthis type of bullying going on
and the narcissists that are inthat totally wrong position, but
it's everywhere.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
You could argue that the narcissists are actually in
the right positions.
Because I think unfortunatelyagain, I don't know how it is in
Canada and I'm glad that wehave the chance.
I mean, I'm glad that we havethe opportunity to talk, not
just you and me, but like peopleacross the world, to kind of
share stories, because it'ssuper important.
But I do think there's athere's a certain amount of
(18:31):
profitability in keeping peopledisenfranchised and sick and it
also helps people not bandtogether If you can just keep
people more divided.
So I mean it's, if you look atbig CEOs and companies, a lot of
them have personality disordersbecause that's by design.
They want people like that sothey can fire you the night
before christmas and not feelbad about it.
(18:52):
But I'm serious I never thoughtof it like that, so I think that
that's all by design, but theso just because I also want the
listeners to know.
So you're the c2c for ptsd.
You walk the country from oneside of canada to the other.
Yes, to raise mental healthawareness.
I can't even fathom how longthat would of a walk that that
would take.
Number one Is that months.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
It was, you know, the .
We split it the first go around, we split it within two years
and, and by mistake, my, the,the fellow that operated my
safety vehicle had a medicalissue and we had to get him back
to Western Canada.
So, combined it was 33 and ahalf weeks.
(19:38):
Yeah, and we're going to do thesame.
Kicking off in April 28th, I'llbe out in Eastern Canada and
Newfoundland, where do you stay?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Do you stay at hotels along the way?
Stay like how does that work?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
it's all trial and error, man.
The first year we were out, wehad a motor home with us, uh,
along with my tow behind trailerplus our safety truck.
Um, so we're, you know, wecould camp anywhere, stay on the
side of the road, we can hitcampgrounds.
Uh, 2023, we said, well, whatcould, what would the cost
(20:14):
difference be if we stayed inmotels and hotels?
Well, shit, that's even moreexpensive.
So, uh, this year, when we wekick off, myself and uh afghan
veteran friend of mine, uh, outin eastern canada, we'll be
doing a lot of camping, you know, with the truck.
I've converted the back of thetruck into as cozy it can be bed
(20:39):
for Luke, for me, I've got myhammock tent and I've got my
tent.
If the weather is really bad,I'll sleep in the cab of the
truck.
So, you know, anything thatsaves us money is uh, obviously
a bonus, um, and then we can getback to uh, some of the
(20:59):
programs that uh, we standbeside in Canada here.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Now, how many people do this Cause?
You said we, so I know thatthere's more than one.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
So, how many people?
Yeah, there's our logisticsofficer, lisa, amazing woman.
She is a police dispatcher inOntario and has been kissed with
PTSD, but she, she's amazing.
She just shows up in placesacross the country and spends
time walking with us.
She is, yeah, she keeps a smileon her face, she keeps us on
(21:36):
our toes everything positive andobviously my safety guy.
And you know the people thatjust show up in the middle of
nowhere and put in a few stepswith us.
So it's, it's never a me thing.
Few steps with us?
(21:58):
So it's, it's never a me thing.
The me is, yeah, it's a part ofmy healing journey.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
But it globally it's a we thing it's.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
I'm just one guy, a pebble in the ocean.
I've just I've just jumped intothe ocean.
There's a ripple going across.
How do we keep that ripplegoing and keeping the
conversation going?
Start the criticalconversations Just keep them
rolling.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Yeah, I 100% agree with you.
So to you it sounds like youalso do education along the way.
Do you stop and talk to peopleabout the impact of PTSD?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Absolutely Every chance we get, whether it's a
fundraising event at one of ourlegions, or we're stopping in at
fire halls, police stations.
For a lot of people, it's likeI need to go just walk with Chad
on the highway because he's asafe place.
And it's not about talkingmental health.
It's, I think, the connection,that there's that PTSD
(22:57):
connection.
We're not there to talk aboutour traumas, we're not there to
compare traumas.
We're just there as a couple ofpeople walking down the highway
.
Hey, what's the weather going tobe like?
Or let's talk hockey, let'stalk football.
Let's you know where's goodfishing around here.
Where's a weather going to belike?
Or let's talk hockey, let'stalk football.
Let's you know where's goodfishing around here.
Where's a great place to eat?
Oh, most importantly, where canI get a good cold pint, because
(23:18):
I love having my sips at theend of the day?
But it's, you know, for anybodyout there that thinks, well,
chad's just this great beingthat's just going to hammer into
my head about mental health.
No, it's about me being aperson and being able to relate.
I don't know everybody's battle.
I'm not inside your head, butit's you know, certain things I
(23:40):
can really relate to.
You know isolation, what it'slike to lose loved ones, what
it's like to lose friends tosuicide.
You know there's the relationand you know my motto has been
from the beginning if I can justhelp save one soul, my mission
is accomplished.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
You brought up isolation and I recently read a
study it was particularly formen about how loneliness can be
a bigger killer for men thanmany other things like heart
disease and other physicalsymptoms, because of the impact
of it.
Now, I don't know what the whatthe drug world in terms of,
(24:21):
like the problems of drugs incanada, is.
I think it's pretty, prettysignificant, because I remember
looking at moving there one timeand they were specifically
looking for substance abusecounselors.
But I know here every year wemeet record highs, right.
So, like this year, we have arecord high amount of overdoses.
This year, our homelessness hitan all time higher, suicides
hit an all time high, like it.
Just it keeps going up, right.
So when we provide educationabout how do we get people to
(24:46):
use less drugs, I think thequestion is why are people using
drugs in the first place?
Why are people committingsuicide?
Why is all this happening?
And you know I don't know howmuch you follow politics here,
but I saw Bernie Sanders istrying to.
He was he was trying to pass abill about putting warning
labels on foods that are reallybad for you.
(25:06):
So if they you know they'rehigh in cholesterol, there'll be
a warning label that'll saysomething about you know this,
this is linked to heart diseaseor you know whatever.
And you know, if you look at itfrom a really superficial point
of view, it's like, okay,that's really great.
But if you actually do somecritical thinking, okay, it
didn't work with cigarettes, itdidn't work with alcohol, it
didn't work with the DAREprogram, it didn't work with
Just any of these kind of likeinformation programs that we're
(25:28):
using.
So why are we doing it again?
Why is an educated personputting through a bill that we
know historically is never goingto work because he's not going
after the food companies?
Right, right, and that's andthat's so.
I would imagine Canada is verysimilar.
Right in terms of keeping thepeople oppressed and then kind
of blaming them for it.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Oh yeah, you know, I think really the only thing that
separates us is that invisibleline.
Man, we're all on the samechunk of land and we're going
through the same shit.
And you know what, to me, a lotof it is.
It's quite comical, it's youknow.
You pick up a package anywhere.
(26:06):
It's like, okay, now we've gotthis in three different
languages, but I can't read anyof it because the warning label
on it and everything's brokendown into nutrients and oh, if
you really want to know, here'sthe negative side effects to
this product.
It's like, my god, people, Iwant to go buy a vacuum.
I, you know, I smoke cigarettes.
I we've got all these funkypictures on our cigarette packs
(26:30):
now of I'm like these are liketrading cards.
So you know, yeah, I knew therisk when I was 11 years old and
I started smoking cigarettes.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
I know the risk now, at my old, wiser age and yeah, I
, you know I joke, I joke aboutI think I said this in another
episode in my town is a verysmall town.
We have about 1,400 people.
The only functioning businesswe have is a liquor store.
Because, of course we do,because that's just.
You can tell people.
(27:01):
If you look at very poorcommunities, you can tell them
all these foods are really badfor you.
But then if you make the foodscost prohibitive that are good
and then you give themincentives to eat garbage, you
know of course they're going toeat the garbage and then you're
going to blame them for it.
Right, like it's just.
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
That is, and sorry to cut you off that.
Watching the trends up here,where, like our grocery prices
now are are astronomical, liketo go buy a fricking cucumber.
You're talking three bucks, andthen I go to the chip aisle.
Well, it's three bags for five.
Oh, look, there's a sale on acase of of soda pop.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Well shit, I'm gonna live off potato chips and soda
pop yep, and it doesn't matterif the person knows that they're
not good, because it's allabout like what you can afford
and not being hungry.
That's right yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
So what are we doing?
I think everything is sobackwards, but hey, I don't know
, maybe that'll be one of mywalk campaigns, is you know?
Let's start talking aboutmaking healthy food affordable,
and I don't know, it's one ofthose things.
(28:13):
You know, if we went for a beer, we could resolve all the
world's issues in an hour, and?
But does anybody really wantthat?
Speaker 1 (28:21):
I don't know.
Well, that's not profitable.
No, it's not.
We have to keep it where wehave to keep it profitable.
In terms of stigma, I'm curiousbecause here in the the states,
we have a tendency to vilifypolice officers and only focus
on the bad ones.
And of course, there's bad inevery job, right, there's bad
therapists, there's bad teachers, there's bad everything.
But we hyper focus on how youknow those bad cops and we make
(28:45):
it like all cops are bad.
Yeah, is that the same incanada?
Speaker 2 (28:49):
yeah, is it during this?
Uh, the whole covid situation,um, right around that time, um,
black lives matter reallystarted hitting the waves, the
airwaves, social media,mainstream media.
Man I would.
I worked in in the one of thebusiest tourist places in Canada
(29:13):
in Banff National Park.
I'd stop a speeder I can't see,who is driving a car at Mach
speed down the highway.
I approach the vehicle and I'vegot a camera in my face.
I'm like, hey, sheriff Kennedy,alberta Highway Patrol, I
stopped you for speeding.
May I please see your documents?
(29:34):
And and it's like people werejust like I don't know if that
was that sigh of relief orthey're disappointed because
they're not getting me in a badmoment.
I'm like, what you know?
When I ask people what, what isthis about?
And if it's coming from anon-caucasian person, it's like,
well, like don't you watchwhat's going on in the States?
Like no, I don't watch what'sgoing on in the States because
(29:56):
they take one bad incident andpaint everybody with the same
brush.
That's not fair.
Me as a human being, that's notfair.
And quite bluntly I tell peopleI'm colorblind, I love you
because you're a human being.
I don't judge based on anythingelse.
So if we all just get along,but yeah, it was moments.
(30:18):
You know, you think, man, thisguy literally blew my car doors
off while I'm in a markedvehicle.
What is this about?
And you stop them?
They're trying to instigate anegative experience so they can
put it on whatever social mediaplatform they wish, and it's
quite unfortunate.
(30:39):
We've got this CopWatch Canadanow on.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
I don't know if it's TikTok or wherever the hell it
is, but it's people uploading anegative experience and, of
course, like everything, they'renot posting the whole story
right and it's right, of courseor they're intentionally
creating a negative experience,like they're going out of their
way to put somebody in a badposition so that they're going
to respond to it because it getshits and it gets reviews and
(31:04):
people like it and you know thatthat negative stuff sells.
We have here and I'm sorry I'magain, I'm sure it's the same in
canada I'm amazed by the amountof selective outrage that
people have.
So, as you know, with the wholedei thing that's happening here
or you may not know about that,but you know they're
overturning dei and trying toget rid of dei and programs.
(31:26):
So the diversity and equity,the amount of people who are
angry about that but never saidanything about the fact that
we've been funding an ongoinggenocide for an oh, I don't know
an entire year, drives me nutsbecause it's like, okay, you're,
you're complaining aboutdiversity and equity not being a
thing, but you're willing tohave your tax dollars go kill
people in a different countryfor ethnic cleansing.
But somehow the two of those aredifferent.
(31:47):
Like I'm not sure about it andit baffles me because it's like
you can't be selectivelyoutraged about one particular
thing.
You know, if you're reallyabout human rights, then you're
about human rights across theboard.
Yeah, you're not just abouthuman rights here, because it
just happens to be somethingthat may affect you as opposed
to something that is notaffecting you.
(32:08):
Right, and it drives me nuts.
I'm sure it's the same up there, right?
Speaker 2 (32:15):
You know, if we didn't have people like that in
the world, the world would be avery boring place.
So, you know, I I like mostpeople I scroll through social
media and I'm like what is thiseven about?
Why are we angry aboutsomething that is totally out of
our control?
You know, accept it, Radicalacceptance.
(32:36):
You'll hear that in the mentalhealth world.
Just accept this is out of yourcontrol.
What is going, you know it'sWell, I think that.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
I think the real frustrating part, though, is the
people who are barking theloudest are the ones who are
actually doing nothing.
So, for example, like you'rewalking in the country, right,
or you know, there are peoplewho I mean, I can't tell you how
many times I've contacted mycongressman and senator and
written letters and all of thatstuff and done podcasts about it
and educated people at theinstitution I teach at, but I'm
not barking all over the placeright on social media, and these
(33:07):
people who are barking it'slike well, what are you doing
about it?
And there's this perceptionthat somehow fighting hate with
hate is somehow going to be agreat idea.
Well, that's how we got to.
This problem in the first placeis because people just continue
to get divided by hating eachother, versus saying okay, I
don't understand you and Ireally want to understand you,
so can you tell me about whatyou need?
And then I can tell you what,what I need.
(33:28):
But that just doesn't happenanymore no, no, it's.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Uh, you know the the amazing world of technology and
and who can start the biggestshitstorm sitting behind a
computer.
I call them keyboard cowards,you know.
You go to any social mediaplatform and all the negativity
is like okay, well, where I'mfrom, I don't make money off how
(33:57):
many likes and views I get onmy platform, so I really don't
make money off how many likesand views I get on my platform,
so I really don't care.
But if you're promoting hate tobenefit off other people, I
think that's horrible.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Well, all it does is divide people further too.
It just creates a bigger rift.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
And you look at the wars going on in this world,
it's like why you know what?
Well, you know the wars goingon in this world is like why you
know what Well, we know why.
We know the political drivesbehind war.
But it's like for crying outloud people.
There's enough hate going onright now.
Why don't we start spreadingpositive messages?
Oh wait, we know, becausemainstream or social media,
(34:40):
positive doesn't sell, it's thenegative that sells.
You know, we used to be inhospitality for a lot of years
and you man, you don't want anegative review in your
restaurant or your lounge.
That one person has a badexperience is going to tell 10
people.
Those 10 people tell 10 peoplehas a bad experience is going to
(35:02):
tell 10 people.
Those 10 people tell 10 peopleand it spins out of control
until you've really damaged your, your, your place of business,
if you have a.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
You know I have a funny story that highlights this
right.
So years and years and yearsago, I was at disney and I have
you ever been to disney world?
Speaker 2 (35:17):
oh, not disney world.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Been to disneyland so we were on test track.
I don't know, I actually don'tknow if they have that at um
disneyland.
Oh, not disney world, been todisneyland.
So we were on test track.
I don't know, I actually don'tknow if they have that at um
disneyland.
But it's basically like a youdesign a car and then it kind of
races around a track and therewas this family that was
becoming incredibly aggressivebecause the ride had actually
broken.
So they were trying to fix it,to figure out what it was, and
the couple they had a child withthem and they had like another
(35:41):
couple with them becameincreasingly more hostile to the
attendants.
They're swearing at them,they're yelling at them.
They've got their child intheir hand and they're talking
about how, um, you know it, theytheir entire trip was ruined
because of the ride and you knowjust getting more and more
escalated.
So they're trying to get peopleout of the ride and I saw one of
(36:01):
them like push the attendant,like aggressively push the
attendant.
So I said you know what?
I'm going to go down to guestservices to say, hey, if you
need a witness, I can, you know,I can testify that that person,
that guest, did assault yourstaff member.
So, while we're waiting there,to to say the amount of people
who went to guest services toget a free ride, because they
(36:24):
basically were complaining thattheir experience had been ruined
by the fact that the ride brokedown and that these guests were
yelling, but not we were theonly people that were there to
say hey, one of your castmembers was assaulted and it
just it blew my mind that theonly thing people could think of
was what do I get out of this?
(36:45):
What do I get?
What do I get?
Speaker 2 (36:46):
what do I get not like hey, somebody just got hurt
yeah, it's funny you put thatinto what we watch on on the
news, whether it's real or fakeor whatever platform.
See somebody getting assaultedby another person.
Nobody's running in to help.
Everybody pulls their phonesout to record it because, oh, I
(37:07):
got to sell this to the news, Igot to get this because that can
get me likes.
It's like what is wrong withhumanity why aren't we taking?
Speaker 1 (37:16):
care of each other we can have a whole episode just
about that.
Oh yes, we could now speakingof of, because I I'm also aware
that in canada, the indigenouspeople are often really, um,
oppressed and hurt often, right?
Is there any?
Has that been changing at all?
Speaker 2 (37:36):
oh man you you know it's one of those things.
I know.
You know what.
We have so much history up here, as every country does, with
our Indigenous folks and youlook through the timelines and
(37:57):
the atrocities that these peoplehave gone through with the
residential school system, youknow addictions and nothing.
My opinion from the outside,looking in, I'm not seeing it
getting any better.
And you know people just don'ttreat people kind and I don't
(38:20):
get that.
I have man, numerous Indigenousfriends.
I've done talks with ourIndigenous folks and you know
mental health is huge and alongwith mental health comes the
addictions and substance abuse,suicide rates and we have to be
(38:43):
all inclusive in this wholemental health game.
We have to accept as apopulation that stuff happened
before my time and it's allcatching up to us now and I
think that's right.
Around the world it's the sameshit.
(39:04):
I think we're dealing with aproblem that some would like to
say well, that didn't reallyhappen, we just want to shove it
under the rug.
Others say, well, we just haveto fix it by giving people money
.
It's like no man.
We need to embrace everybodyand hear, not just listen to
(39:24):
somebody's story.
We need to hear what they haveto say.
Right and we're not doing thatBig rules on my campaign.
I don't deal with politics,religion, with politics,
religion, the COVID or theconvoys, but there's topics out
(39:51):
there that bother me as a humanbeing and how our you know, here
comes politics how ourgovernments deal with real life
situations, real life problems,where I just embrace everybody
as a human being.
You know, skin color to memeans nothing.
The way you dress means nothing.
If you want to dye your hair afunky color or have facial
tattoos, I really don't care.
(40:12):
I have met some of the mostgenuine, wholesome people in my
life that have funky hair or,you know, tattooed head to toe,
even their eyeballs.
Weird thing but it happens.
But these are the kind of Ican't imagine how painful that
would be.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
I don't even want to think about that.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
But you find and I found in my career I want to
treat people the way I wouldlike to be treated.
There's nothing wrong with that.
There's nothing wrong withgiving somebody a handshake on
the side of the highway, orsomebody's going through a very
bad situation.
All they need is a hug and fiveminutes of somebody sitting
there comforting them.
It's the same everywhere.
(40:53):
Yeah, and the way the world isgoing, man, it really hurts my
heart.
And where we can just get along.
You know watching our worldleaders now, like man, sit back,
grab a beer and a big bag ofpopcorn, because shit's about to
(41:14):
get real.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
I think the answer is in what you just talked about,
though.
So most of us would acknowledgeat this point that our world
leaders don't work for usanymore.
They've stopped working for usfor a while.
They serve one goal, and itcertainly isn't the people Right
on.
Okay, I want to hear about you,I want to learn about you, like
(41:39):
, what can I do to help you?
But we would much.
When you talked about huggingsomebody, we would much rather
if you you know, if you wearyou've seen this, I'm sure, in
social media, where people wearshirts that say free hugs and
sometimes they get you know,people are like, oh God, that's
awful.
But if you put up somethingthat says, hey, debate an
opinion with me, how quicklypeople are going to go do that
and become aggressive becausethat's better than actually
(42:02):
human contact, which is absurd.
Right, but that's but that's bydesign, like we.
We have been conditioned tobecome that way yeah and we have
to uncondition ourselves wetruly do.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
And you know, even if it's taking 10 steps backwards,
that's okay, it's.
You know?
I remember young Buck goinginto basic training.
We are going to tear you downso we can build you up.
So it's, you know.
Why aren't we doing this?
Why aren't we educating ourchildren?
(42:36):
It's not about man.
I, I like kids, are usinglitter boxes nowadays.
Uh, uh, yeah.
So it's like the question is, Ithink, what happened to
parenthood?
Because now parents don't haveany.
It's like they don't have theright to bestow ethics in our
(42:57):
children and bring them up right.
Well, because my teacher saidand the teacher's only saying,
because the government said Ihave to do this exactly exactly
what has happened?
Speaker 1 (43:08):
exactly.
I mean, they have you, you can.
I'm so glad you just said that,because I've been saying that
for a long time.
I mean, they systematicallytook rights away from parents,
then they took rights away fromteachers.
They take, you know, they takerights away from everybody so
that everybody kind of owns apiece of the problem and then
everybody can kind of pointtheir finger what's because of
bad parenting?
It's because the educationsystem sucks.
Well, no, it's because this wasall again, by design it was.
(43:31):
It was created this way so thatwe can just continue to be
disenfranchised.
I mean, that's what that'sabout.
Speaker 2 (43:37):
Craziness Ah, I, I use that.
Craziness ah, I, I use that,I'm allowed to use that word.
Some people say you can't usethat word anymore.
Man, I'm crazy.
Um, but yeah, I, just, you know, I, I I often joke saying, man,
thank goodness I don't havethat many more years left on
(43:58):
this earth, but darn it.
While I'm here I'm gonna do thebest to make change in the
mental health world and, andreally, you know, let's start
tearing down the stigmaassociated to mental health.
And it's not just within our,our military, veteran and public
(44:18):
safety professions.
It's from, you know, theselittle children all the way up.
And you know, if we can takecare of our mental health and
make that healthy because weknow it's hard to do on a proper
diet, because we can't afford aproper diet anymore, it's
potato chips and soda pop.
But if we're taking care of ourmental health, more is potato
(44:42):
chips and soda pop.
But if we're taking care of ourmental health, everything just
sort of falls into play.
It's taking care of one another, it's being there for others.
Somebody calls and says man, Ijust need five minutes to blow
off some steam that nobody elsewould understand.
Be there for one another.
It's a.
It's a pretty cool thing and andI am I feel privileged and
(45:04):
honored when somebody can shootme an email or a message on
social media and saying thankyou.
I needed to hear what you'redoling out today.
Um, I've never shared my storywith anybody, so here it is, an
email.
I look forward to meeting yousomeday.
Like that is.
That's huge.
You're building trust with,with other human beings, and you
(45:35):
know it's been with all walksof life.
There are, you know, my, mychoice was law enforcement, but
then there's people that havechosen, outside of the military
or in their life, to join anoutlaw motorcycle gang.
That's up to them.
But when we sit and talk ashuman beings, we're not talking
about oh, chad was a cop, I'm abad guy.
We're just talking like twohuman beings, leaving that
(45:57):
political side off to the or thestuff off to the side, and just
being people.
I think it's a cool thing.
You get a handshake or a hugfrom a guy that's six foot six
and wears red and white as hiscolors.
It's like that's pretty cool.
That is pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
So what can we do here to help support the CDC for
PTSD?
Speaker 2 (46:25):
You know I always want to say, and because I hate
asking for help, but this is,you know, if anybody can,
donations are always appreciatedyeah, donations.
And you know, the biggest thingwe can do to support each other
is just be there for a fellowhuman that is struggling.
(46:47):
And a lot of us would ratherforce that smile, force laughter
, help somebody else be happy ina moment while we're hurting so
(47:09):
bad on the inside.
A lot of times it's notdetectable, but if we open
ourselves up and say, hey, I'mhere, contact me at C2C for PTSD
, if I can't help you, I canhelp you find resources.
So it's you know how do we takecare of one another?
A lot of times it's just beingthat voice or that hand that can
(47:33):
reach out and get some help forsomebody else.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Thank you, chad, and when does it start?
You said it's coming up soon,right else?
Thank you, chad, and when doesit?
Speaker 2 (47:42):
start.
You said it's coming up soon,right?
Oh yeah, it is Funny enough.
Two weeks yesterday, two weeksfrom yesterday, I'll be doing a
24-hour walk-a-thon in mycommunity.
I don't know where I ever comeup with these fucked up ideas,
but it's just another challenge.
April 28th, we will be steppingoff in St John's, Newfoundland,
and we'll be walking to Windsor, Ontario, for 2025.
(48:07):
And 2026, we'll be leavingOntario and making our way to
the Pacific Ocean in BritishColumbia.
Speaker 1 (48:15):
That is awesome.
I just noticed when you raisedyour hand, by the way, that you
have a semicolon tattoo.
Oh, I've got two Is that forpause.
Speaker 2 (48:26):
Yeah, my story hasn't ended.
The semicolon with mentalhealth is such an amazing thing.
I've actually got one on botharms, two different inks, but if
I'm ever down'm putting my myhead into my hands.
You know, I see that one rightoff the bat.
(48:47):
The other one other people seewhen I'm sitting across a desk,
from from them.
It's uh never alone with thesemicolon.
So it's uh.
Yeah, man, just a reminder, mystory is not over I love that.
Speaker 1 (49:02):
Thank you, chad, for being such a powerful speaker,
number one, and just for all thestuff that you're doing.
I will put a link to yourwebsite in the notes for the
podcast and then on there, so itdoes have the option to donate,
correct, there's a yes, yes, itdoes fantastic, so thank you so
much.
Is there any other final thingsyou want for the listeners to
hear?
Speaker 2 (49:22):
You know, every time I get a chance to have a visit
with the peeps south of ourborder, it's an honor.
I've had quite a few podcastvisits in the United States, and
we're all in this together.
We are visits in the UnitedStates and we're all in this
together and put the politicsand the bullshit off to the side
(49:44):
.
We, as human beings, need to bethere for one another.
Speaker 1 (49:49):
Great message, Chad.
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate it.
Hello everybody and thank youagain for listening.
This is just a reminder thatpart of this podcast can be
located, or with our writtenconsent.
Thank you again.
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