EP 93: Practicing Resilience and Creating an Emotional Survival Plan with Dr. Diego Hernandez

Dr. Diego Hernandez is a clinical psychologist and trauma expert who focuses on wellness, human performance and and health. He frequently works with Army Special Operations and their training cadre to address the trauma rehabilitation of elite warriors. He regularly treats veterans and first responders. Dr. Hernandez is also the Clinical Director of the Accelerated Resolution Therapy Center at the University of South Florida. I began attending counseling about two years ago because of some stuff that flared up in my memory. I tell about that experience in this episode. Though I've taken a break from it, it's a longer break than I intended and I expect to go back for regular "check ups" just like I do with my medical doctor. In this episode we talk about the different types of treatment available and how they differ in their approach to to resolving trauma, how Dr. Hernandez sees first responders as modern samurais living by a code that requires attention to your mental health and how we need to drop the stigma attached to it. Police suicides are seemingly at an all-time high and as often is the case, more officers died at their own hands than those killed in the line of duty. Unfortunately, statistics are poorly kept because that often doesn't include retired officers in that total.