The official Just Breathe podcast hosted by Tracie Keesee
Just Breathe
Claim This Podcastby Tracie Keesee
7 episodes
Updated Daily
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Podcast Overview
The official Just Breathe podcast hosted by Tracie Keesee
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
3/18/2026
1 verified contact email on file for Just Breathe
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Recent Episodes
June 11, 2026
Culture, Courage and Change
<p>What does it really take to build trust — not just between officers and communities, but within the organizations themselves? And what does courage actually look like for today's first responders when the hardest battles aren't always physical?</p><p>Dr. Tracie L. Keesee sits down with <strong>Dr. Kyle Dobson</strong> — Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Psychology at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia — for a candid, research-grounded conversation about the human side of public safety, what organizations get wrong about trust, and why officer well-being isn't separate from community safety — it's the foundation of it.</p><p><strong>WHAT WE COVER</strong></p><ul><li>What drew a researcher into the world of public safety — and why lived experience in the field matters</li><li>What the public doesn't see in officer interactions and why the nuance gets lost in the headlines</li><li>How body-worn cameras changed the conversation around transparency — and where we still fall short</li><li>What organizations actually need to do to build trust with their own employees — not just the community</li><li>Why listening tours only work if leaders show they were actually listening</li><li>The science behind why self-regulation matters for both officers and the communities they serve</li><li>What happens when an officer goes from the worst call of the year straight into a routine traffic stop — and why that transition is everything</li><li>Why we need to rethink how we deploy first responders and build in space to process before the next call</li><li>What courage actually looks like today — and why running into danger is only half the picture</li><li>The low-status courage no one talks about — speaking up when the culture pushes back</li><li>How departments can normalize conversations about wellness without weakening accountability or readiness</li><li>What gives a researcher who studies this every day genuine hope about the future of first responder culture</li></ul><p><strong>ABOUT DR. KYLE DOBSON</strong> Dr. Kyle Dobson is Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Psychology at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. His work focuses on public safety organizations and how people connect across differences in intense, high-pressure environments. Through collaborations with agencies across the country, Dr. Dobson works to improve both the effectiveness and the humanity of organizations responsible for protecting others.</p><p><strong>ABOUT THE JUST BREATHE PODCAST</strong> Just Breathe with Dr. Tracie L. Keesee is a leadership platform for first responders and public safety professionals. Each episode explores how leadership, judgment, accountability, and wellness are shaped by the internal state of the leader making the decision — on the street, in the command staff meeting, and at home. New episodes drop every other week.</p><p>Control the breath. Control the moment.</p>
May 29, 2026
Where Faith Meets Stillness
<p>What anchors you when everything around you feels uncertain? For leaders in law enforcement and public safety, self-regulation is often framed as a mental or physical skill — but today's conversation goes deeper. </p><p><br>Dr. Tracie L. Keesee sits down with <strong>Dr. Niles R. Wilson</strong> — retired Deputy Police Director with 27 years at the Newark Police Department and Senior Pastor of Greater Cornerstone Baptist Church in East Orange, New Jersey — for an honest, grounded conversation about the intersection of spirituality, self-regulation, and leadership under pressure. </p><p><strong><br>WHAT WE COVER</strong> </p><ul><li>Why self-regulation isn't just mental or physical — and what's missing from the conversation </li><li>How spirituality becomes a compass for morality, ethics, and decision-making under pressure </li><li>Why so many first responders are spiritual but feel shamed into silence about it </li><li>The three principles Dr. Wilson lives by — capacity, sincerity, and ability </li><li>How morning prayer, meditation, and breathwork translate directly into high-stakes leadership moments </li><li>Why the academy teaches officers how to shoot but not how to breathe — and what needs to change </li><li>What leaders can do to respect and support the spiritual lives of the people they lead </li><li>The honest truth about faith-driven leadership — and what it actually looks like in practice </li></ul><p><strong><br>ABOUT DR. NILES R. WILSON</strong> Dr. Niles R. Wilson brings a rare combination of executive law enforcement experience and pastoral leadership. After a distinguished 27-year career with the Newark Police Department — serving as Deputy Police Director, Acting Deputy Chief, Chief of Staff, Precinct Commander, and Commander of the Professional Standards Bureau — Dr. Wilson has faithfully served as Senior Pastor of Greater Cornerstone Baptist Church in East Orange, New Jersey since 1996. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, a past president of the United Clergy of the Oranges, and an active member of multiple civic and law enforcement organizations. </p><p><strong><br>ABOUT THE JUST BREATHE PODCAST</strong> Just Breathe with Dr. Tracie L. Keesee is a leadership platform for first responders and public safety professionals. Each episode explores how leadership, judgment, accountability, and wellness are shaped by the internal state of the leader making the decision — on the street, in the command staff meeting, and at home. New episodes drop every other week. </p><p><br>Control the breath. Control the moment. </p><p> </p>
May 13, 2026
A Journey Back To Self
<p><br>Most people don't realize they've lost themselves until something feels off. Maybe it's burnout. Maybe it's success that doesn't feel fulfilling. Maybe it's a quiet sense that something along the way just stopped meaning anything — and that you stopped listening to yourself. </p><p>Dr. Tracie L. Keesee sits down with two powerhouse voices — <strong>Dr. Keyshawn Hickman</strong> and <strong>Kevin MacDonald</strong> — for an honest, unfiltered conversation about identity, loss, rock bottom, and what it actually takes to find your way back to yourself after a career in law enforcement. </p><p><strong>WHAT WE COVER</strong> </p><ul><li>Why the journey back to yourself isn't poetic — it's an archaeological dig through everything you buried </li><li>How compartmentalization saves you on the job and quietly destroys you at home </li><li>Why first responders put their identity into things with an expiration date — and what that costs them at retirement </li><li>The silence avoidance that keeps so many officers from ever sitting with themselves </li><li>What rock bottom actually looks like — and why it's where the strongest foundations are built </li><li>Why "fine," "good," and "okay" are lies — and what it means to really ask someone how they're doing </li><li>How to help your family understand what you've been carrying — and why showing them matters more than telling them </li><li>Grace — what it actually means and why it changes everything </li><li>The power of breath and why most people are breathing wrong </li><li>How a single breathing session changed everything for Dr. Hickman — twice </li><li>What it means to finally take off the body armor you didn't even know you were wearing </li></ul><p><strong><br>ABOUT DR. KEYSHAWN HICKMAN</strong> Dr. Keyshawn Hickman spent 21 years with the NYPD, rising from patrol officer to lieutenant and commanding the Information Technology Bureau investigation team. He now serves as Program Director of the Law Enforcement Executive Leadership graduate program at Seton Hall University, where he shapes the next generation of public safety leaders. He is a U.S. Department of State Fulbright Specialist and nationally recognized educator and cybercrime analyst. </p><p><strong><br>ABOUT KEVIN MacDONALD</strong> Kevin MacDonald is a retired New Jersey police officer, bestselling author, and host of The Suffering Podcast. A nationally recognized voice in trauma, recovery, and mental health, Kevin rebuilt his life after surviving his own post-traumatic stress and multiple suicide attempts following an on-duty shooting incident in 2014. His mission is to destigmatize mental health in law enforcement and empower survivors to find their way through. </p><p><strong><br>RESOURCES MENTIONED</strong> </p><ul><li>Man, You're Crazy by Kevin MacDonald </li><li>The Suffering Podcast </li></ul><p><strong><br>ABOUT THE JUST BREATHE PODCAST</strong> Just Breathe with Dr. Tracie L. Keesee is a leadership platform for first responders and public safety professionals. Each episode explores how leadership, judgment, accountability, and wellness are shaped by the internal state of the leader making the decision — on the street, in the command staff meeting, and at home. New episodes drop every other week. </p><p><br>Control the breath. Control the moment. </p>
7 total episodes available
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