Abigail Manning is an innovative voice in preventing unhealthy behaviors and proactively building prosperous cultures. As a culture expert, she offers workshops and keynotes on how to transform toxic and abusive behaviors and prevent Adverse Spiral outcomes of depression, addictions, cycles of abuse, PTS and thoughts of suicide. Her passion for teaching comes from rising […]
Ben O’Brien is a Firefighter, Peer Advisor, and Peer Support Training Coordinator for South Metro Fire Rescue. He has led the development of the Responder Strong Resilience Standards, which teaches and trains emergency responders on skills of resilience, concepts of stress Injuries and the Stress Continuum model of health, and how to use our values […]
Captain Halaba began her career with the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office in 1999, She has served in detentions, patrol, as a school resource officer, and on a drug task force team. She moved through the ranks, breaking the glass ceiling to become the first female captain in the agency in 2014. Currently, she is one […]
Officer Emily Hitchings is in her 15th year at the Aurora Police Department and her third year as the Employee Support and Wellness Unit officer. Prior to her current assignment, she was an investigator in both, the Narcotics and Fugitive Units where she spent more than eight years in an undercover capacity. Sergeant Mike Pitrusu […]
Chris Macklin worn many hats in his career. Firefighter. Paramedic. Engineer. Training engineer. And now, wellness manager for South Metro Fire Rescue. His passion to support Emergency Responders began after responding to the Columbine shooting in 1998. In the years since, he has worked tirelessly to support the responder community and currently leads the wellness […]
Jolene Conway is the Manager of Community Development at SonderMind and a licensed mental health therapist. SonderMind is a behavioral health company that aims to make mental healthcare approachable, accessible, & utilized by supporting a network of qualified therapists, and accommodating the complex and changing needs of those seeking therapy. In her role at SonderMind, […]
Jonathan Dickerson is the community engagement manager for The Center for Relationship Education. In that role, Jonathan works to improve the health and quality of our relationships through workshops, training, and speaking engagements. CRE’s thoughtful approach marries evidenced based programming that adds value to communities they serve. More recently, they have developed programs to support […]
Emily Lauck is the Manager of Performance Improvement for the City & County of Denver Department of Public Safety. In her role, Emily has created comprehensive, employee-driven initiatives such as the Safety WellBeing Initiative to proactively address the quality of life and professional culture of emergency responders and the public safety industry. She has implemented programs […]
Nick is a nationally renowned Exercise Physiologist and has built multiple programs and centers for wide ranges of populations that are currently running in sites across the U.S. For over 13 years Nick has worked with athletes, general wellness, and patient populations directing exercise physiology laboratories and strength programs. In his career he has worked […]
Rhonda leads ResponderStrong, which is an organization focused on developing better mental health supports for responders and their families. Over the past several years, suicide has been recognized as the leading occupational killer of law enforcement, fire and EMS. Her work is responder-driven and works across branches, connecting groups that had previously been siloed.
After sustaining a life-changing line of duty incident in 2016, Detective Brite’s recovery journey highlighted the need to better support himself and ultimately the entire responder community. His own healing has helped to frame his current role as wellness coordinator for Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, helping others to understand that “it is ok, to not be […]