Episode 5: Travis Gribble (Part 1) - 24 year career in Law Enforcement, SWAT Team Leader, My Arena Founder.

Welcome to I Will Hold Space For Your Darkness; a First Responder Mental Health Podcast hosted by Erin Jane.  A former Australian Police Officer and Detective, wife of an American Firefighter, previous crisis counsellor for a suicide prevention organization and current CISM trained, Certified Life Coach for First Responders, Emergency Services Members, Spouses and Loved Ones. In this episode, Part 1 of 2, Erin speaks with Travis Gribble, a former police officer with 24 years experience across both Michigan and Arizona. He held various positions throughout his law enforcement career, including SWAT member, SWAT Team Leader, Patrol Sergeant and Deputy. Travis is now retired and founded My Arena; a First Responder Mental Health Education and Advocacy organisation. Whose mission is to help "first responders find peace, healing, and strength as they navigate the mental health challenges during their careers" and "educate agencies on how to appropriately handle critical incidents for the employees involved and provide critical response care when needed." Travis and Erin discuss what drew him to enter law enforcement from the outset, his career trajectory across multiple states, his desire to enter SWAT and some of the mental health aspects he wish he'd known sooner. Travis also talks about the call that irrevocably changed his career, how he coped, what he experienced in the aftermath and how things should be handled differently for First Responders attending such calls, moving forward.  Erin and Travis' entire conversation went for 2.5 hours, so it's broken up into two separate parts, as some heavy content is discussed in detail and at length. **Please be mindful that details of extreme child abuse are mentioned during this episode** Similarly, as when he gives a presentation to a First Responder community, Travis is humble in his approach to sharing his experiences and courageously raw in his description of how he has been affected. He rips open the wounds of his own traumatic experiences in an effort to help others not go through what he went through.  It was an absolute honour to have Mr Gribble on as a guest and we hope you find some value in listening to Part 1 of our conversation in this episode. Tune in next week for Part 2. Learn more about Travis' work here: https://myarenallc.com/ Or find his on Instagram: @my_.arena Please feel free to reach out if you'd like a topic discussed, would like to be a guest or are interested in receiving coaching services from Erin Jane. Email: ⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.erinjanecoaching.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/erinjanecoaching⁠⁠⁠⁠ Call or Text: +1 617 396 4695 You can watch the episodes as video on YouTube here: ⁠⁠⁠https://youtube.com/@Erin-Jane-Coaching?si=XI8q0z3mhmzO_a7_⁠⁠⁠ Feel free to watch, listen, subscribe and share!