Maine Responder | Real Leadership. Real Resilience.

About Maine Responder | Real Leadership. Real Resilience.

Some conversations stay with you long after they're over. Maine Responder is a podcast about leadership, growth, human performance, and the work that changes us. Hosted by police chief, veteran, Elliott Moya, and regularly joined by Billy Dries, whose background in law enforcement and expertise in fitness, breath work, cold-water training, and optimizing physical performance explore the physical and mental sides of becoming our best, each episode tackles the questions that don't have easy answers—how responsibility shapes us, how purpose evolves, and how we continue to grow through careers that demand so much of us. While many conversations begin through the lens of law enforcement and first response, they rarely end there. Leadership, resilience, identity, decision-making, mental performance, moral injury, family, and personal growth are challenges shared by anyone who carries responsibility for others.

Publisher

Elliott Moya, Chief of Police | Resilience, Growth & Leadership Stories

Category

education · health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

29 Jan 2026

Latest episode

3 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

28 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   3 Oct 2026

   Live With End in Your Sights.

   We spend a lot of time thinking about what’s next: the next shift, the next project, the next trip, the next time we’ll call somebody. But what about what’s happening right now? In this solo episode of Maine Responder, Elliott starts with the completely rational behavior of dog people when a dog goes missing and somehow ends up at memento mori: the old reminder that none of this lasts forever. But this isn’t an episode about dying. It’s about the opposite. Kids grow up. Friends get older. Dogs definitely don’t stay with us long enough. And sometimes the people we love end up getting whatever version of us is left at the end of the day. Maybe the reminder isn’t that we’re running out of time. It’s that we still have some. Hug your kid. Pet the dog. Call your friend. Burn some PTO. And apparently... we might be getting another dog.

2. 

   17 Sept 2026

   Are We Our Own Worst Enemy? Self-Talk, Peer Support & the Stories We Tell Ourselves

   After getting some constructive criticism about negative self-talk on a previous episode, Elliott and Billy dig into the difference between negativity, self-doubt, and simply being realistic. Can recognizing that something is going to be difficult actually help prepare you for it? And when does realistic self-talk cross the line into something that holds you back? The conversation moves into law enforcement, where mindset, training, confidence, and the stories we tell ourselves can have real consequences. After a difficult call, first responders may have the facts—but the mind can keep digging, filling in unanswered questions and creating a story around what happened. Sometimes, having everything you need means allowing the facts to simply be the facts. Elliott and Billy also discuss peer support after critical incidents and the role supervisors and command staff play in making it accessible. Instead of asking an officer, “Do you want peer support?” and putting the decision on them in the moment, maybe leadership should simply set it up, make it available, and then get out of the way. And somehow, all of that leads exactly where you would expect a Maine Responder conversation to go: Tom Selleck, old-school cop mustaches, questionable modern mustaches, and the possibility of a Maine Responder mustache challenge. In this episode: • Negative self-talk vs. realistic self-assessment • Confidence, self-doubt, and preparing for challenges • How training builds genuine confidence • The stories first responders can create around difficult calls • Knowing when to stop searching for an answer that may not exist • Peer support following critical incidents • Why supervisors may need to simply set it up and step aside • Building peer support into agency culture • The return of the mustache • Billy is going to grow one Conversations about the work, the pressure, and the lives shaped by service. Maine Responder Podcast

3. 

   10 Aug 2026

   Maybe It Was Me: When the Job Becomes Your Identity

   What happens when the career you dreamed about doesn't become what you thought it would? In this episode of the Maine Responder Podcast, Elliott and Billy have an honest conversation about identity, purpose, expectations, and disappointment in first responder careers. We come into police work—and many first responder professions—with an idea of what we're joining. Brotherhood. Sisterhood. Camaraderie. Purpose. Lifelong friendships. A calling. But what happens when reality doesn't match the version of the job we built in our heads? Maybe the profession didn't fail us. Maybe some of our disappointment comes from asking the job to be something it never promised to be. Elliott and Billy talk about the difference between finding purpose in the work and allowing the work to become your identity, why disappointment can hit first responders so hard, and why the academy and traditional Field Training Officer (FTO) programs may prepare officers to do the job without necessarily preparing them for what a career will do to them. That leads to a bigger idea: what if we prepared new officers for the emotional side of a career with the same intentionality we use to teach tactics, policy, and procedure? They also get into personal accountability, bad supervisors, missed promotions, mistakes, organizational disappointment, and the uncomfortable question that runs underneath the entire conversation: How much of ourselves are we asking the job to hold? Love the job. Take pride in it. Give a shit about what you do. Just don't forget who you are without it. In this episode: Identity vs. purpose • First responder culture • Police officer wellness • Career disappointment • Law enforcement leadership • FTO and officer development • Emotional intelligence • Personal accountability • Brotherhood and camaraderie • Life beyond the badge

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.