Episode Number: 12
Publish Date: July 25, 2023
Host: Arjuna George
Guest: Keith Hanks
Brief Description:
Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:
🔗Keith Hanks (www.keithhanks.com) (Coming Soon)
🔗Article: The Proactively Fit Firefighter (https://www.firefighternation.com/firerescue/the-proactively-fit-firefighter/)
🔗Article: Leadership from the Bottom (https://www.fireengineering.com/leadership/letters-to-the-editor-may-2023/)
🔗Scars to Stars Vol. 3" (to be released September 22, 2023)
🔗First Responders in Crisis Documentary (to be released October 1, 2023) 📺Preview now (https://youtu.be/fBGLVRKqk3k)
Recommendations:
📖 Book - Burnt Around the Edges – A Guide to Mastering Stress and Surviving Burnout - Arjuna George (Available on Amazon, Apple and Google Books)
📖 Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One - Dr. Joe Dispenza
📖The Art of Living: Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now - Thich Nhat Hanh
➡️Connect with Keith
LinkedIn: (www.linkedin.com/in/keith-hanks)
Keith Hank's Bio
Keith Hanks is a retired Firefighter and EMT who dedicated 21 years of his life to the service of others. He serviced his community as a training officer, certified educator, and field training officer. Keith worked both inner-city EMS as well as fire. Like many in the first responder community, the job has its cost. From childhood trauma and sexual abuse, traumatic calls, and the traumatic passing of his first wife, Keith has faced many trials and tragedies that resulted in self-harm, substance abuse, lies and multiple suicide attempts. After decades of damage, Keith began to put the pieces of his life back together.
Keith was diagnosed with Complex PTSI in 2015. The job, the service, and his dedication caused this injury and, consequently, his retirement. What PTSI didn’t change was the love and devotion to his community and to his fellow first responders. Keith has since dedicated his life to advocating for mental illness, substance and alcohol abuse recovery, and suicide awareness. Since starting this mission, Keith built an international support group through Facebook for First Responders and Veterans for PTSI and other job-related mental health issues. Keith was asked to be a part of the Deconstructing Stigma Project and has a Billboard that hangs in the International Terminal at Logan Airport in Boston, MA. In March 2022, he completed the filming of his 1st feature-length documentary focusing on PTSI in the first responder community and has since been featured in two other related documentaries. Keith is a national speaker, podcast personality, and published author. He is a contributing author at Fire Engineering and The Volunteer Firefighter magazines/forums.
Keith’s transparency in his own life has led him to share his story through social media and many other platforms to reach the most people he can. He is known for saying that his life goal is to reduce suicide in the first responder community through education and support resources and to make it OK to not be OK. Keith is currently a life coach and was fundamental in the start-up of First Responder Coaching as the Director of Business Development and then Director of Promotions. He also created, hosted and produced the Resilient Responder Podcast. He resides in New Hampshire with his wife and is the proud father to three incredible children.
Connect with the Host:
Arjuna George – Fire Chief (ret)
Owner of Silver Arrow Coaching and Consulting (www.silverarrowco.com) , Beneath the Helmet Show, and author of Burnt Around the Edges. (www.burntaroundtheedges.com)
www.beneaththehelmet.ca
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