Every day, first responders answer the call.
Police officers. Firefighters. Paramedics. Dispatchers. Nurses. Veterans.
They respond to emergencies, witness tragedy, carry the weight of critical incidents, and continue showing up when others need them most.
But who is there for them?
A steel beam from the South Tower stands behind us as we record, unpainted and untouched, because some things are supposed to look exactly like they did when they came down. From the 9/11 Memorial in Tullytown, Pennsylvania, we sit with lifetime first responders David Pearl and Amy Austin to talk about what remembrance really costs and what it gives back. Amy walks us through a life shaped by the fire service, from joining the fire academy at 14 to building a career across EMT work, ICU and t...
10 Aug 2026
Episode 4 - Haymarket Center of Chicago - The Wellness Retreat First Responders Deserve
1 Aug 2026
How to carry the job without letting it break you
The call ends, but the weight doesn’t. We sit down with Scott Pavlock and Dr. Mike Fagel to talk about the part of the job most people never see: what first responders carry home, what they normalize to stay functional, and what it takes to keep doing the work without losing themselves in it. Mike shares hard-earned perspective from a career spanning local response and federal missions, including Oklahoma City and 9/11, plus the long tail of illness, stress, and regret that can follow. Scott...
19 Jul 2026
The Ocean Is the Ocean: Lessons in First Responder Wellness | Marc "Junk" Junkerman
The hardest part of public safety is not always what happens on the call. It’s what happens after, when the adrenaline drops and you still have to go home, sleep, parent, partner, and pretend you’re fine. We go one-on-one with Mark Junkerman, a retired law enforcement lieutenant and U.S. Army veteran who has spent decades in first responder wellness, peer support, crisis intervention, and critical incident stress management. Mark brings the rare mix of leadership experience and lived insight ...
12 Jul 2026
The Weight Behind The Badge - The Hidden Mental Burden of Law Enforcement
The call ends, but your nervous system doesn’t get the memo. We sit down with Dan Roach, a retired Illinois State Police leader and longtime undercover narcotics investigator, and Carrie Matthews, a Chicago Police Department officer, to talk honestly about critical incident stress, the weight behind the badge, and why first responder mental health has to be treated like operational readiness. Dan breaks down the difference between staying in control on the outside and staying in control on t...
5 Jul 2026
Welcome to Mind on the Line
🎙️ Mind on the Line PodcastEvery day, first responders answer the call. Police officers. Firefighters. Paramedics. Dispatchers. Nurses. Veterans. They respond to emergencies, witness tragedy, carry the weight of critical incidents, and continue showing up when others need them most. But who is there for them? Mind on the Line was created to have the conversations that often happen behind closed doors—the conversations about stress, trauma, burnout, resilience, recovery, peer support, PTSD, cr...
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