February 25, 2026 • 21 mins
Hosts:
Dr. Ashlee Gethner, LCSW – Child of a Police Officer
Jennifer Woosley Saylor, LPCC S – Child of a Police Officer
Episode Overview
In this episode, Jennifer and Ashlee dive into an exciting new adventure as they prep for their involvement with ILEETA - the International Law Enforcement Educators and Training Association. They share behind-the-scenes details about being invited to present and record live at the upcoming conference, their hopes for connecting with first responders from around the globe, and what it means for their podcast community.
While Jennifer reveals a bit of FOMO about missing the conference because of family commitments, Ashlee discusses the nerves and honor of representing the show in a live podcasting arena. They reflect on their show's growth, the importance of including first responder families in the conversation, and how culture and location shape the first responder experience from Texas to Wisconsin to Sweden!
This episode is filled with humor, heartfelt stories (like cowboy boot adventures and clever firefighter date tricks), and genuine curiosity. Jennifer and Ashlee encourage listeners to send in questions and feedback, making this a truly interactive season for "When The Call Hits Home."
Key Topics Covered
The honor (and anxiety) of presenting and podcasting live at ILITA’s international conference
ILEETA explained: what it stands for and why it matters for law enforcement education globally
The vital role families play in first responder mental health and community
Contrasts and similarities across first responder experiences from different U.S. states to international cultures
The importance of wraparound wellness: addressing not just mental health, but physical fitness, financial well-being, and more
Send in your questions, topics, and experiences!
Jennifer and Ashlee want to include listener voices in their conference coverage—don't be shy!
Grab your show merch and represent When The Call Hits Home as the podcast steps onto the global stage!
Share the show with friends, family, and anyone in the first responder community.
Got questions or feedback for the live episodes? Reach out via our usual channels or social media!
Interested in learning more about ILEETA or getting your organization involved? Let us know, and we'll provide information during our live coverage.
Thank you for being part of our community. From hard-hitting topics to laugh-out-loud moments, we’re here with you because when the call hits home, you’re never alone.
Follow Us:
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- Instagram: @whenthecallhitshome
- Whenthecallhitshome.com
---
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I love your guys podcast. I listen to you when I work out,
but I disagree with some things.And I said that's exactly why we
do it, because we want people totake in the information and make
change or think about it or comeon and advocate and talk about
it and. Welcome back to the podcast.
I'm Jennifer. And I'm Ashley.
And it's just us today, but we wanted to come in and talk a
(00:21):
little bit about this exciting conference that's coming up and
talk a little bit more about howthis little seed was planted and
how excited we are to get to be a part of this incredible
organization and be there live on the ground come next month in
March. It's crazy.
And it comes so fast. You know, obviously Chief was on
(00:43):
last episode and he did a really, really great job talking
about his personal life. And we probably didn't spend the
most time talking about Ilita, but he will be assisting us
throughout that week. So he's actually going to be
like a mini guest. Yeah, he's a Co host.
I might be being replaced, but we'll talk about that in a
second. So Alita, what it stands for is
(01:04):
International Law Enforcement Educators and Training
Association, and that is an organization that is again
international. It encompasses law enforcement
throughout the globe and they come together and talking about
the best approaches for training, recruits, Academy,
continuing education for law enforcement.
(01:26):
And I think Chief shared last time that this actually I guess
started in Wisconsin or somebodyfrom Wisconsin is a part of like
the governing body and I think in that and you're in Chiefs
work, we kind of got included inthat which is super special.
I think it's, I don't know, I was really honored when you gave
me the phone call. I.
(01:46):
Was just about to say I feel incredibly honored to be asked.
I hope we do it justice, right, like I'm I'm more nervous.
We present so chief and I have like AI think it's like an
actually, I don't know how long it is.
I shouldn't speak on that. I should look that up.
I think we're an hour and 45 minutes anyway.
We have a presentation of some sort, right?
And usually my anxiety is like, no, I do not want to present,
(02:07):
but more so this time I'm like, what do you mean?
You want me to podcast live? Like, what are we doing?
But I will say that it is, it isa complete honor to be able to
do this. And I hope the connections that
he has down there, there's a lotof people who are very
interested in getting on and talking to our listeners.
(02:27):
Which I think is so powerful again, like I'm reflecting back
like to think about you and I just in a room being like, wait,
your. Experience was like this.
Wait, my experience was like this And then to be at a place
of like being invited to a conference to get to share.
I don't know. We've talked a lot about mental
health and the growth of mental health within first responders
(02:50):
will house, which has been great.
But I think there's this aspect too of, I hope you tell me what
you think, but more inclusion ofthe family of first responders
that this just isn't a job. Obviously there's single people
that maybe just have 4 legged children, you know, that are
first responders. But you know, there are first
(03:12):
responders that have families. And I don't know, just some work
to kind of say like, how do we include this whole group, you
know, as a family? And I think what's really
awesome about this is that international concept, right?
So like, I know for me in these interviews, really want to make
sure that we're asking questionsthat cover what is it like for
you guys, right, all the way somewhere else far from here to
(03:37):
implement a mental health program for your departments or
do you have that? But also, what is it like for
you guys? Are families included?
Yeah, families taken care of? Are they, you know, what does
that look like? And I think that's going to be
something that's incredibly powerful to share that knowledge
amongst each other and try to build off of that.
You know, the wheels are turningas you're talking and I'm just
like, Oh my gosh, Can you imagine?
(03:58):
Just like culturally, right? Like, I don't know, just
thinking about, gosh, there has to be such differences
culturally in different places in the world and how they
approach law enforcement or the different first responder
organization. And so that's so different.
And yet with this, it's also like, hey, what's so similar?
What are things that we can workwith?
(04:19):
Which we did almost have my dad crash today's episode, which,
you know, my dad did work internationally.
And so maybe we should talk to him too, a little bit about his
experience and what that looks like in different communities.
That's so different maybe. And I mean, there's differences.
I'm in Texas and you're in Wisconsin.
Those are actually two differentplaces, right?
(04:41):
Yeah, right. No, I think about that all the
time. We're like our work in Kentucky
versus our, you know, my work here or I think about just how
different my first responders are down there versus up here
even. Yeah, yeah, totally.
Yeah, so it's actually very, it's very, very interesting.
And I'm kind of pumped to learn.I'm just pumped to learn.
Yeah, I think we'll be like manyanthropologists while we're
(05:04):
doing this work in Saint Louis. I will say, let me talk about
how I'm being replaced and it's totally my fault.
But Ashley called, I mean, and who calls nowadays, right?
Like you didn't even text me. You're like, I gotta talk to
you. And you called me.
And once, you know, I secured the perimeter and made sure
everybody was alive and everything was OK, you're like,
(05:25):
no, I'm calling with exciting news not to like report bad
stuff. And you told me about this and
you're like, and they want us tobe there and they want us to,
you know, go live with the podcast.
And I was like, this is awesome.And this is technically last
year when you called, Like, I'm like, I have nothing on this
schedule except my son's spring break.
But like, it's totally fine. It's the same stinking week as
(05:48):
spring break. And I definitely shed some tears
and talked to Clinton, my husband, about like, OK, what if
I just like, don't leave or like, I leave late to meet you
guys or if, like, I come home early and stuff.
And there was just no way. Oh, and.
What do we what do we stress on this podcast, right?
I mean, so we also there these opportunities are incredible.
(06:12):
You are incredible. You will be missed.
I'm going to make sure you're plugged in.
Don't you worry somehow, but also you need to enjoy your
family and experience in life, right?
I am excited about our trip, butI definitely will have some
serious FOMO. And it's so funny because
Clinton was like, you know, we haven't had a vacation.
Just the three of us, like just our little small family.
(06:33):
We've always met friends or gonewith extended families and so
super excited about it. But at the same time, like
again, we'll definitely miss this opportunity, but we'll have
the calendar cleared for next year when we get invited back
when you and Chief do such a great job representing when they
call his home family. Yeah, and he's fantastic.
(06:55):
I mean, I think people have hopefully now with him being on
twice and we'll try to get him on a little bit here before we
go to Ilita to keep pushing this.
But he's pretty good at like he and one of his biggest strengths
is talking right and being able to connect with people and ask
really good questions and his knowledge base like he is the
chief. But he's, you know, his
(07:15):
background is in psych, which isreally encouraging, sometimes
frustrating on my end because him and I can go round and
round, definitely encouraging. And I think that he will do a
very good job. Like he is so pumped.
It's actually really, it's actually really sweet.
Like he's very excited and honored to come on and host our
podcast with us, like for us so.Well, I'm hoping that you guys
(07:37):
can manage because I will say interms of US meeting last time,
like you and him have a wonderful report, which also
gives a little like brother, sister, like I'm like, I hope
you guys don't need a mediator. Oh, we might actually take each
other out. Like I swear there's been points
where I look at him and I'm like, one of us is probably not
making it back from this. Like and I promise you it's.
(08:00):
Oh my, money's on you making it back.
I'm sorry, exactly. I'm like I.
Think you're underestimating my abilities here?
Because we're sure we can. Yeah.
But also, right, Like that's howChief started on this podcast
was because he hurt us and he said, I don't agree with you.
And I said then change my mind, right?
And that's something that I really, really like about him is
(08:21):
that we can totally disagree on something, but we could sit down
and talk about it and be like, OK, here's my opinion on it.
Here's yours. Let's let's work this out.
Where does it go from here? How do we communicate to make
change then, which is actually how this all transpired?
Because wild. Wild, right?
He was like, I love your guys podcast.
I listen to you when I work out,but I disagree with some things.
(08:43):
And I said that's exactly why wedo it, because we want people to
take in the information and makechange or think about it or come
on and advocate and talk about it.
And his passion with admin is something that it's, you know,
undeniably strong and it's a beautiful thing.
However, I think that that can also be a negative in terms of
(09:04):
like not recognizing this. That's a big struggle at a lot
of departments. Yeah.
You know, what I really appreciate about Chief is not
only like obviously his passion and I think passion gets people
so far, but I just really appreciate his knowledge seeking
spirit, if you will. I don't know, Spirit's probably
(09:25):
the wrong word to use, but he clearly is willing to put in the
time and the research to gain information and doesn't just
base decisions based on passion.Like he seems like to really be
a real seeker of information andknowledge.
And I do think, you know, I think we can own our episodes.
That really is, I hate to use the word calling out, but, you
(09:47):
know, saying like, hey, there's some opportunities here with
leadership. There's a lot of do as I say,
not as I do as leaders or a lot of yeah, we wanna have a policy
that says this is what we do, but we don't necessarily have
the follow through of what people should do or what we want
(10:08):
to do. Or, you know, people still
getting kind of blacklisted for being honest about kind of their
emotional States and things likethat.
And I think I also have two things can be true, right?
Like, I think that there's are those experiences.
I think we've had people come onand talk very like honestly and
loudly about their experiences and those were very true.
(10:29):
And yet I think that there's also admin, like Chief that says
like not in our department, likethat's not what we're going to
stand for. Like, you know, we just honor
who we serve here in terms of our officers.
And with that, we respect where they're at and we want to meet
and where they're at, especiallywith their feelings.
Yeah. And so I'm interested in this
too, because I do think that hopefully going to this
(10:50):
conference talking to these people, I am excited to learn
and implement things that our department as well, because he's
very big on the whole wrap around of mental health.
So like yes, you have the mentalaspect of it, but if you're like
he said, if your finances are out of whack, if you're
physically not in the best shape, if you're eating is off,
right. Like he's very big in the whole
wrap around concept. But also there's so much truth
(11:12):
to that. Like we, you can't always you
have to have things things goingright in a lot of those areas to
feel OK when you have to try. And so I think that'll be
interesting as well. I think we're gonna probably ask
a lot of our our guests about those concepts too.
What are we doing to promote physical Wellness in these
different departments? And I I hope that a lot of our
listeners jump on and like I said, it's gonna a lot of these
(11:35):
are gonna be live, which like bewith us on that every.
Yeah, the the tech journey that we're.
Gonna yeah, that's probably. Why I had to like?
Leave to. Leave the country is because
they you guys don't need me anywhere near tech.
Yeah, we're going to, it's probably going to be anyway, so
we're going to get that done, but it's going to be amazing.
But yeah, I hope people jump on and like, listen to us and and
(11:57):
take away what you want to take away, right.
What a cool opportunity to have all these other people jump on
and say, hey, like this might besomething that you want to try.
Well, and I love. To look at what's different, you
know, Chief mentioned that there's somebody from Italy.
Like what's different about Italian law, right?
And then again, that thing of like also, what is so similar
(12:20):
about our experiences? I'm getting really excited
actually just thinking about. This, I have AI don't know a
funny story that I don't think I've ever told before.
But and I don't know, maybe thislike has nothing to do with what
we're talking about, but just that kind of thing about
internationals. Have we talked about the World
Police and fire games before? Have I talked to you about this?
I don't think so. Have you ever heard of the World
(12:42):
Police and fire games? OK.
Well, the world police and fire games are model.
I mean, it's the Winter Olympicsright now.
It's modeled from like the Olympic system.
And there's all these different sports.
And if you're a law enforcement or in the fire services, like
you can compete. And I mean, it's pretty
(13:03):
competitive and it's international.
It's all over the world. And so my dad has competed on
them and they had it in Stockholm, Sweden.
And so I got the opportunity to go to Stockholm and, you know,
my dad competed and I just got to be a tourist, which was
pretty incredible. And with that, you know, the
Sweden was very open, Stockholm was very open, and they like
(13:24):
allowed us to have tours of the different facilities.
And so we went and saw a Firehouse in Sweden, which I
will say the Swedes, Dr. Mercedes, like the fire truck is
a Mercedes. What?
Yeah. Which is pretty hilarious.
I was like, do I want to I've, you know, this was a long time
ago. I'm like, should I have like
(13:46):
twist my ankles so I can ride ina Mercedes?
Cuz I don't know that I'd ever had at the time.
Again, this is a long time ago we're going through and they had
like, you know, workout room andthey had the movie Backdraft.
Like the movie they had a posterof the Backdraft, which I don't
know. Have you ever even heard of that
movie before? I told yeah, OK.
So we were like, oh, Backdraft, you know, something that was in
(14:07):
English that we could read like,oh, backdraft.
And they're like, yeah. And they told us about a younger
firefighter who would take datesto go see Backdraft and then
during like pivotal emotional scenes in the movie, would take
would turn and take like the salt from the popcorn and kind
(14:30):
of put it in his eyes. Stop it.
Apparently it was a very, very good strategy to have a date go,
well, one. SEC One.
SEC yes, yes. The lady had a good laugh.
So again, you know, it's this thing of like, Oh my goodness,
in Sweden they drive Mercedes. That's very different from the
state. Oh, but young firefighters will
(14:52):
still try to score in whatever means possible.
Maybe we should do. Should we cut the story out you?
Know maybe we should do a class like look at me going off like
hold on we're just gonna do 1 episode I'm like ladies we'll
have to bring men on for the opposite for when there's a.
Few first response. Ladies, let me tell you how you
(15:16):
handle some of these guys because working in this
environment is something right and so like I'm gonna need you
to know that they're doing some stuff like that on you like I'm
gonna do a whole episode cuz well, we.
Shouldn't run their game by any means.
We shouldn't. But I just remember that story
from a long time ago. The party.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's not what this
(15:38):
conference is about. Sorry I got us really off track,
but. I do, yeah.
So that's amazing. But that's the stuff I wanna
learn, though. Like, who knew?
Yeah. That's so cool.
We're saying like that stuff is cool.
I want to know the differences, I want to learn, I want to see,
and I think we're gonna sound ofthat so.
Well, and again, and then also like what are these
(15:58):
similarities? What are these experiences that
are very similar? So I think that that's powerful.
I had something else I wanted tomention and I totally got us
down a wild goose chase a littlebit with that story.
But just thinking about like these international things and
again, what's different, what's the same?
And also too, I think I'm excited to hear more because I
(16:20):
don't know, you know, what is important or or where trends are
going with what are we wanting our officers to know and be
trained better at in terms of a little bit more of like
curriculum and, you know, the educators and the trainers like
Chief that are, you know, takingtime to train these people that
are sacrificing and giving to the community.
(16:41):
Yeah, absolutely. I think that there's some very
much so truth to that because mybrain has been a little bit like
how I do feel like this is a hard conference because you got
to get really creative, right? Like to.
Me my brain is like, how do you how do you expand trainings?
Like what you know what I mean? And I know out there, but I just
(17:02):
can't imagine how much change there can be, but yet there has
to be. I don't know if that makes
sense. And so I'm interested to see
what people say. And again, I'm there the whole
week with them so. I.
Nobody could see my 100 blinks, so again, someone's probably not
making it back, but I, I am veryinterested.
(17:23):
So some of this is going to be things that are definitely not
in my wheelhouse. But yeah, I'm eager to learn
about it because I think that's the best way to continue to
serve and help my first responders is being able to
understand where they're coming.From well, and I hope that our
listeners understand that, like our excitement is really about
excitement for them. Like we hope that you guys enjoy
this. You know that you guys are our
(17:44):
number one concern and always appreciate your time that you
give to us in the podcast. And we hope that this is, you
know, something very unique and different that we get to offer.
And as much as Ashley is very open and was willing to see what
chief and disagreed with us on, I don't know that I could handle
what all y'all's disagreements with us are.
(18:04):
But please know that we are always open to hearing like your
perspective, your experiences. And we want that.
Yeah, for sure. And I think even throughout
this, right when we go live, like send us questions, maybe
send me some, I send some ideas like before the conference,
doing this episode. I know this episode isn't our
typical, hey, this is our topic thing, but we want this to be
(18:26):
engaging. So why not send us things like
if you aren't going to Ileta, but you're interested in stuff
from there and wanting to know more, let me know, dig and find
and do the research and get the answer.
So stuff like that like. Well, and if you, you know, want
to join, I mean, I'm sure we canget information from them too in
terms of like the steps of like how do you get your organization
(18:47):
to participate and be on the cutting edge of kind of the
world platform here of where trends and things are heading in
terms of law enforcement training and education?
What I will say is that I lead is already very, very big, but
from my understanding and when I'm learning is that it's
growing significantly. So yeah, it's a great
(19:10):
opportunity to get the information and to start jumping
on board. Yeah, Well, I just really
appreciate Ashley your hard workto get when the call hits homes
flag planted with this organization and and you and
chiefs work and I'm excited to hear about the presentation.
I know it's going to go really well.
Taking both of us to get us here.
And then this is just, to me, it's still just the beginning,
(19:32):
right? Like we're just from here, which
is incredible. Yeah, yeah.
Anything else for today? I don't think so.
I don't think so. I was cracking up at your little
feedback comment of being like Idon't know if I can handle it.
So let me tell you guys this really quick story and we'll
sign off. I, I'm nervous about a week with
all these people because the other day, Tuesday, yeah, I wore
(19:54):
my cowboy boots to work. I love my boots.
I'm just like true girl. And I wore my boots under my
jeans. So it wasn't like, you know, and
I knew, I knew that morning I before walking out, I was like,
I better mentally prepare because it's coming to me today
because I'm wearing these boots.I walk into the department,
(20:15):
almost everyone looks right. They're like, oh, I could see
I'm like waiting and waiting like literally 5 minutes into my
day at work at the department and a chief goes, oh, are we
riding horses today? And I was like, there it is here
it is. Let's just get it out of the
way. Like I'm like, and that's.
So what's gonna be the whole? He needs to come to Texas.
Cowboy boots here are just tennis shoes.
(20:36):
You wear them with everything, just like can I.
Borrow those cuz they're going to tennis, they're all going to
Tennessee, which, oh gosh, yeah,conference.
And I was like, I do have several pair, but I don't know.
We're getting matching cowboy hats.
I I'm sure that those were your the Chicago Bears cowboy boots
that you were wearing too. So watch out world, cuz you bet,
(20:58):
you bet it's. Yeah, for sure, for sure.
Well, again, hopefully you guys don't need a mediator in your
banter and stuff in your brother, sister relationship
that you have. Thank you guys.
And again, we're so excited to be a part of this organization.
Yeah, absolutely. It's an honor.
We cannot wait for you guys to hear it, to be a part of this
(21:18):
live stuff. Grab your merch.
Represent us. Come on now.
That merch store is so awesome. So grab your merch, represent
us. Jump on, share that we're doing
this. We love it all.
We love you guys for all of the support that you've given as
well. All right, so just don't forget
that when the call hits home, Jennifer and I are here for you.
Bye, have a good one.
I love your guys podcast. I listen to you when I work out,
but I disagree with some things.And I said that's exactly why we
do it, because we want people totake in the information and make
change or think about it or comeon and advocate and talk about
it and. Welcome back to the podcast.
I'm Jennifer. And I'm Ashley.
And it's just us today, but we wanted to come in and talk a
(00:21):
little bit about this exciting conference that's coming up and
talk a little bit more about howthis little seed was planted and
how excited we are to get to be a part of this incredible
organization and be there live on the ground come next month in
March. It's crazy.
And it comes so fast. You know, obviously Chief was on
(00:43):
last episode and he did a really, really great job talking
about his personal life. And we probably didn't spend the
most time talking about Ilita, but he will be assisting us
throughout that week. So he's actually going to be
like a mini guest. Yeah, he's a Co host.
I might be being replaced, but we'll talk about that in a
second. So Alita, what it stands for is
(01:04):
International Law Enforcement Educators and Training
Association, and that is an organization that is again
international. It encompasses law enforcement
throughout the globe and they come together and talking about
the best approaches for training, recruits, Academy,
continuing education for law enforcement.
(01:26):
And I think Chief shared last time that this actually I guess
started in Wisconsin or somebodyfrom Wisconsin is a part of like
the governing body and I think in that and you're in Chiefs
work, we kind of got included inthat which is super special.
I think it's, I don't know, I was really honored when you gave
me the phone call. I.
(01:46):
Was just about to say I feel incredibly honored to be asked.
I hope we do it justice, right, like I'm I'm more nervous.
We present so chief and I have like AI think it's like an
actually, I don't know how long it is.
I shouldn't speak on that. I should look that up.
I think we're an hour and 45 minutes anyway.
We have a presentation of some sort, right?
And usually my anxiety is like, no, I do not want to present,
(02:07):
but more so this time I'm like, what do you mean?
You want me to podcast live? Like, what are we doing?
But I will say that it is, it isa complete honor to be able to
do this. And I hope the connections that
he has down there, there's a lotof people who are very
interested in getting on and talking to our listeners.
(02:27):
Which I think is so powerful again, like I'm reflecting back
like to think about you and I just in a room being like, wait,
your. Experience was like this.
Wait, my experience was like this And then to be at a place
of like being invited to a conference to get to share.
I don't know. We've talked a lot about mental
health and the growth of mental health within first responders
(02:50):
will house, which has been great.
But I think there's this aspect too of, I hope you tell me what
you think, but more inclusion ofthe family of first responders
that this just isn't a job. Obviously there's single people
that maybe just have 4 legged children, you know, that are
first responders. But you know, there are first
(03:12):
responders that have families. And I don't know, just some work
to kind of say like, how do we include this whole group, you
know, as a family? And I think what's really
awesome about this is that international concept, right?
So like, I know for me in these interviews, really want to make
sure that we're asking questionsthat cover what is it like for
you guys, right, all the way somewhere else far from here to
(03:37):
implement a mental health program for your departments or
do you have that? But also, what is it like for
you guys? Are families included?
Yeah, families taken care of? Are they, you know, what does
that look like? And I think that's going to be
something that's incredibly powerful to share that knowledge
amongst each other and try to build off of that.
You know, the wheels are turningas you're talking and I'm just
like, Oh my gosh, Can you imagine?
(03:58):
Just like culturally, right? Like, I don't know, just
thinking about, gosh, there has to be such differences
culturally in different places in the world and how they
approach law enforcement or the different first responder
organization. And so that's so different.
And yet with this, it's also like, hey, what's so similar?
What are things that we can workwith?
(04:19):
Which we did almost have my dad crash today's episode, which,
you know, my dad did work internationally.
And so maybe we should talk to him too, a little bit about his
experience and what that looks like in different communities.
That's so different maybe. And I mean, there's differences.
I'm in Texas and you're in Wisconsin.
Those are actually two differentplaces, right?
(04:41):
Yeah, right. No, I think about that all the
time. We're like our work in Kentucky
versus our, you know, my work here or I think about just how
different my first responders are down there versus up here
even. Yeah, yeah, totally.
Yeah, so it's actually very, it's very, very interesting.
And I'm kind of pumped to learn.I'm just pumped to learn.
Yeah, I think we'll be like manyanthropologists while we're
(05:04):
doing this work in Saint Louis. I will say, let me talk about
how I'm being replaced and it's totally my fault.
But Ashley called, I mean, and who calls nowadays, right?
Like you didn't even text me. You're like, I gotta talk to
you. And you called me.
And once, you know, I secured the perimeter and made sure
everybody was alive and everything was OK, you're like,
(05:25):
no, I'm calling with exciting news not to like report bad
stuff. And you told me about this and
you're like, and they want us tobe there and they want us to,
you know, go live with the podcast.
And I was like, this is awesome.And this is technically last
year when you called, Like, I'm like, I have nothing on this
schedule except my son's spring break.
But like, it's totally fine. It's the same stinking week as
(05:48):
spring break. And I definitely shed some tears
and talked to Clinton, my husband, about like, OK, what if
I just like, don't leave or like, I leave late to meet you
guys or if, like, I come home early and stuff.
And there was just no way. Oh, and.
What do we what do we stress on this podcast, right?
I mean, so we also there these opportunities are incredible.
(06:12):
You are incredible. You will be missed.
I'm going to make sure you're plugged in.
Don't you worry somehow, but also you need to enjoy your
family and experience in life, right?
I am excited about our trip, butI definitely will have some
serious FOMO. And it's so funny because
Clinton was like, you know, we haven't had a vacation.
Just the three of us, like just our little small family.
(06:33):
We've always met friends or gonewith extended families and so
super excited about it. But at the same time, like
again, we'll definitely miss this opportunity, but we'll have
the calendar cleared for next year when we get invited back
when you and Chief do such a great job representing when they
call his home family. Yeah, and he's fantastic.
(06:55):
I mean, I think people have hopefully now with him being on
twice and we'll try to get him on a little bit here before we
go to Ilita to keep pushing this.
But he's pretty good at like he and one of his biggest strengths
is talking right and being able to connect with people and ask
really good questions and his knowledge base like he is the
chief. But he's, you know, his
(07:15):
background is in psych, which isreally encouraging, sometimes
frustrating on my end because him and I can go round and
round, definitely encouraging. And I think that he will do a
very good job. Like he is so pumped.
It's actually really, it's actually really sweet.
Like he's very excited and honored to come on and host our
podcast with us, like for us so.Well, I'm hoping that you guys
(07:37):
can manage because I will say interms of US meeting last time,
like you and him have a wonderful report, which also
gives a little like brother, sister, like I'm like, I hope
you guys don't need a mediator. Oh, we might actually take each
other out. Like I swear there's been points
where I look at him and I'm like, one of us is probably not
making it back from this. Like and I promise you it's.
(08:00):
Oh my, money's on you making it back.
I'm sorry, exactly. I'm like I.
Think you're underestimating my abilities here?
Because we're sure we can. Yeah.
But also, right, Like that's howChief started on this podcast
was because he hurt us and he said, I don't agree with you.
And I said then change my mind, right?
And that's something that I really, really like about him is
(08:21):
that we can totally disagree on something, but we could sit down
and talk about it and be like, OK, here's my opinion on it.
Here's yours. Let's let's work this out.
Where does it go from here? How do we communicate to make
change then, which is actually how this all transpired?
Because wild. Wild, right?
He was like, I love your guys podcast.
I listen to you when I work out,but I disagree with some things.
(08:43):
And I said that's exactly why wedo it, because we want people to
take in the information and makechange or think about it or come
on and advocate and talk about it.
And his passion with admin is something that it's, you know,
undeniably strong and it's a beautiful thing.
However, I think that that can also be a negative in terms of
(09:04):
like not recognizing this. That's a big struggle at a lot
of departments. Yeah.
You know, what I really appreciate about Chief is not
only like obviously his passion and I think passion gets people
so far, but I just really appreciate his knowledge seeking
spirit, if you will. I don't know, Spirit's probably
(09:25):
the wrong word to use, but he clearly is willing to put in the
time and the research to gain information and doesn't just
base decisions based on passion.Like he seems like to really be
a real seeker of information andknowledge.
And I do think, you know, I think we can own our episodes.
That really is, I hate to use the word calling out, but, you
(09:47):
know, saying like, hey, there's some opportunities here with
leadership. There's a lot of do as I say,
not as I do as leaders or a lot of yeah, we wanna have a policy
that says this is what we do, but we don't necessarily have
the follow through of what people should do or what we want
(10:08):
to do. Or, you know, people still
getting kind of blacklisted for being honest about kind of their
emotional States and things likethat.
And I think I also have two things can be true, right?
Like, I think that there's are those experiences.
I think we've had people come onand talk very like honestly and
loudly about their experiences and those were very true.
(10:29):
And yet I think that there's also admin, like Chief that says
like not in our department, likethat's not what we're going to
stand for. Like, you know, we just honor
who we serve here in terms of our officers.
And with that, we respect where they're at and we want to meet
and where they're at, especiallywith their feelings.
Yeah. And so I'm interested in this
too, because I do think that hopefully going to this
(10:50):
conference talking to these people, I am excited to learn
and implement things that our department as well, because he's
very big on the whole wrap around of mental health.
So like yes, you have the mentalaspect of it, but if you're like
he said, if your finances are out of whack, if you're
physically not in the best shape, if you're eating is off,
right. Like he's very big in the whole
wrap around concept. But also there's so much truth
(11:12):
to that. Like we, you can't always you
have to have things things goingright in a lot of those areas to
feel OK when you have to try. And so I think that'll be
interesting as well. I think we're gonna probably ask
a lot of our our guests about those concepts too.
What are we doing to promote physical Wellness in these
different departments? And I I hope that a lot of our
listeners jump on and like I said, it's gonna a lot of these
(11:35):
are gonna be live, which like bewith us on that every.
Yeah, the the tech journey that we're.
Gonna yeah, that's probably. Why I had to like?
Leave to. Leave the country is because
they you guys don't need me anywhere near tech.
Yeah, we're going to, it's probably going to be anyway, so
we're going to get that done, but it's going to be amazing.
But yeah, I hope people jump on and like, listen to us and and
(11:57):
take away what you want to take away, right.
What a cool opportunity to have all these other people jump on
and say, hey, like this might besomething that you want to try.
Well, and I love. To look at what's different, you
know, Chief mentioned that there's somebody from Italy.
Like what's different about Italian law, right?
And then again, that thing of like also, what is so similar
(12:20):
about our experiences? I'm getting really excited
actually just thinking about. This, I have AI don't know a
funny story that I don't think I've ever told before.
But and I don't know, maybe thislike has nothing to do with what
we're talking about, but just that kind of thing about
internationals. Have we talked about the World
Police and fire games before? Have I talked to you about this?
I don't think so. Have you ever heard of the World
(12:42):
Police and fire games? OK.
Well, the world police and fire games are model.
I mean, it's the Winter Olympicsright now.
It's modeled from like the Olympic system.
And there's all these different sports.
And if you're a law enforcement or in the fire services, like
you can compete. And I mean, it's pretty
(13:03):
competitive and it's international.
It's all over the world. And so my dad has competed on
them and they had it in Stockholm, Sweden.
And so I got the opportunity to go to Stockholm and, you know,
my dad competed and I just got to be a tourist, which was
pretty incredible. And with that, you know, the
Sweden was very open, Stockholm was very open, and they like
(13:24):
allowed us to have tours of the different facilities.
And so we went and saw a Firehouse in Sweden, which I
will say the Swedes, Dr. Mercedes, like the fire truck is
a Mercedes. What?
Yeah. Which is pretty hilarious.
I was like, do I want to I've, you know, this was a long time
ago. I'm like, should I have like
(13:46):
twist my ankles so I can ride ina Mercedes?
Cuz I don't know that I'd ever had at the time.
Again, this is a long time ago we're going through and they had
like, you know, workout room andthey had the movie Backdraft.
Like the movie they had a posterof the Backdraft, which I don't
know. Have you ever even heard of that
movie before? I told yeah, OK.
So we were like, oh, Backdraft, you know, something that was in
(14:07):
English that we could read like,oh, backdraft.
And they're like, yeah. And they told us about a younger
firefighter who would take datesto go see Backdraft and then
during like pivotal emotional scenes in the movie, would take
would turn and take like the salt from the popcorn and kind
(14:30):
of put it in his eyes. Stop it.
Apparently it was a very, very good strategy to have a date go,
well, one. SEC One.
SEC yes, yes. The lady had a good laugh.
So again, you know, it's this thing of like, Oh my goodness,
in Sweden they drive Mercedes. That's very different from the
state. Oh, but young firefighters will
(14:52):
still try to score in whatever means possible.
Maybe we should do. Should we cut the story out you?
Know maybe we should do a class like look at me going off like
hold on we're just gonna do 1 episode I'm like ladies we'll
have to bring men on for the opposite for when there's a.
Few first response. Ladies, let me tell you how you
(15:16):
handle some of these guys because working in this
environment is something right and so like I'm gonna need you
to know that they're doing some stuff like that on you like I'm
gonna do a whole episode cuz well, we.
Shouldn't run their game by any means.
We shouldn't. But I just remember that story
from a long time ago. The party.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's not what this
(15:38):
conference is about. Sorry I got us really off track,
but. I do, yeah.
So that's amazing. But that's the stuff I wanna
learn, though. Like, who knew?
Yeah. That's so cool.
We're saying like that stuff is cool.
I want to know the differences, I want to learn, I want to see,
and I think we're gonna sound ofthat so.
Well, and again, and then also like what are these
(15:58):
similarities? What are these experiences that
are very similar? So I think that that's powerful.
I had something else I wanted tomention and I totally got us
down a wild goose chase a littlebit with that story.
But just thinking about like these international things and
again, what's different, what's the same?
And also too, I think I'm excited to hear more because I
(16:20):
don't know, you know, what is important or or where trends are
going with what are we wanting our officers to know and be
trained better at in terms of a little bit more of like
curriculum and, you know, the educators and the trainers like
Chief that are, you know, takingtime to train these people that
are sacrificing and giving to the community.
(16:41):
Yeah, absolutely. I think that there's some very
much so truth to that because mybrain has been a little bit like
how I do feel like this is a hard conference because you got
to get really creative, right? Like to.
Me my brain is like, how do you how do you expand trainings?
Like what you know what I mean? And I know out there, but I just
(17:02):
can't imagine how much change there can be, but yet there has
to be. I don't know if that makes
sense. And so I'm interested to see
what people say. And again, I'm there the whole
week with them so. I.
Nobody could see my 100 blinks, so again, someone's probably not
making it back, but I, I am veryinterested.
(17:23):
So some of this is going to be things that are definitely not
in my wheelhouse. But yeah, I'm eager to learn
about it because I think that's the best way to continue to
serve and help my first responders is being able to
understand where they're coming.From well, and I hope that our
listeners understand that, like our excitement is really about
excitement for them. Like we hope that you guys enjoy
this. You know that you guys are our
(17:44):
number one concern and always appreciate your time that you
give to us in the podcast. And we hope that this is, you
know, something very unique and different that we get to offer.
And as much as Ashley is very open and was willing to see what
chief and disagreed with us on, I don't know that I could handle
what all y'all's disagreements with us are.
(18:04):
But please know that we are always open to hearing like your
perspective, your experiences. And we want that.
Yeah, for sure. And I think even throughout
this, right when we go live, like send us questions, maybe
send me some, I send some ideas like before the conference,
doing this episode. I know this episode isn't our
typical, hey, this is our topic thing, but we want this to be
(18:26):
engaging. So why not send us things like
if you aren't going to Ileta, but you're interested in stuff
from there and wanting to know more, let me know, dig and find
and do the research and get the answer.
So stuff like that like. Well, and if you, you know, want
to join, I mean, I'm sure we canget information from them too in
terms of like the steps of like how do you get your organization
(18:47):
to participate and be on the cutting edge of kind of the
world platform here of where trends and things are heading in
terms of law enforcement training and education?
What I will say is that I lead is already very, very big, but
from my understanding and when I'm learning is that it's
growing significantly. So yeah, it's a great
(19:10):
opportunity to get the information and to start jumping
on board. Yeah, Well, I just really
appreciate Ashley your hard workto get when the call hits homes
flag planted with this organization and and you and
chiefs work and I'm excited to hear about the presentation.
I know it's going to go really well.
Taking both of us to get us here.
And then this is just, to me, it's still just the beginning,
(19:32):
right? Like we're just from here, which
is incredible. Yeah, yeah.
Anything else for today? I don't think so.
I don't think so. I was cracking up at your little
feedback comment of being like Idon't know if I can handle it.
So let me tell you guys this really quick story and we'll
sign off. I, I'm nervous about a week with
all these people because the other day, Tuesday, yeah, I wore
(19:54):
my cowboy boots to work. I love my boots.
I'm just like true girl. And I wore my boots under my
jeans. So it wasn't like, you know, and
I knew, I knew that morning I before walking out, I was like,
I better mentally prepare because it's coming to me today
because I'm wearing these boots.I walk into the department,
(20:15):
almost everyone looks right. They're like, oh, I could see
I'm like waiting and waiting like literally 5 minutes into my
day at work at the department and a chief goes, oh, are we
riding horses today? And I was like, there it is here
it is. Let's just get it out of the
way. Like I'm like, and that's.
So what's gonna be the whole? He needs to come to Texas.
Cowboy boots here are just tennis shoes.
(20:36):
You wear them with everything, just like can I.
Borrow those cuz they're going to tennis, they're all going to
Tennessee, which, oh gosh, yeah,conference.
And I was like, I do have several pair, but I don't know.
We're getting matching cowboy hats.
I I'm sure that those were your the Chicago Bears cowboy boots
that you were wearing too. So watch out world, cuz you bet,
(20:58):
you bet it's. Yeah, for sure, for sure.
Well, again, hopefully you guys don't need a mediator in your
banter and stuff in your brother, sister relationship
that you have. Thank you guys.
And again, we're so excited to be a part of this organization.
Yeah, absolutely. It's an honor.
We cannot wait for you guys to hear it, to be a part of this
(21:18):
live stuff. Grab your merch.
Represent us. Come on now.
That merch store is so awesome. So grab your merch, represent
us. Jump on, share that we're doing
this. We love it all.
We love you guys for all of the support that you've given as
well. All right, so just don't forget
that when the call hits home, Jennifer and I are here for you.
Bye, have a good one.
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