For 33+ years, I've served as a firefighter and Fire Captain, responding to calls that most people never have to witness. I've seen things, carried things, and felt things that don't leave you when the shift ends.

Like many first responders, I believed the way through was to push harder, be tougher, keep it inside.

But that only works until it doesn't.

My own breaking point led me to ketamine-assisted therapy—a journey that became the subject of the New York Times documentary An Act of Service. That experience didn't just save my life; it completely transformed how I understood healing, resilience, and what it means to truly move forward.

Through my work as a Peer Support Facilitator and Cognitive Mindset Coach, I began developing the tools that would become the BRAVE Framework. Not theory from a textbook, but practical methods born from lived experience and proven in the real world.

Today, I serve as Union Vice President representing nearly 300 firefighters, and I've made it my mission to ensure no one has to navigate their darkest moments alone. The BRAVE Framework is the system I wish I'd had 20 years ago.