Eric Hofestein/ Retired Leo / Author / What Doesn't Kill You, One Cop's Perspective on Homelessness, Mental Illness, and Addiction

This week I was fortunate enough to sit down with Eric Hofestein, the brother of a former co-worker of mine, Adam. Eric spent the majority of his career out in Cali, and unfortunately had the typical career of seeing much death and despair, sometimes reaching too close for comfort. Wanting a change of pace and  exposure, Eric transferred to the San Francisco Bay area Transit Police Department. This change in assignment gave Eric a front row seat into the lives of the homeless, mentally ill, and addicted. Eric and I discuss the problems of the aforementioned but more importantly the solutions that he developed to address this problem that is only getting worse. Sit back and give this episode a listen and come a way with a different perspective on the people  in this community that we have thrown away. Until next week, take care of yourself and each other, God Bless, Johnhttps://www.amazon.com/What-Doesnt-Kill-You-Homelessness/dp/B0BSJ77FK7More Info on Eric:I retired as a police officer/deputy sheriff with 27 years of laws enforcement experience in bay area of Northern California, after working as an Emergency Medical Technician in Santa Cruz California.After surviving several close calls with death during my career, I witnessed the death of a CHP officer on a freeway in my jurisdiction. Traditional patrol work lost its appeal to me after this incident, and I transferred to the San Francisco Bay Area Transit Police Department to wind down my career for retirement in transit policing. Working in San Francisco exposed me to a world of homelessness, mental illness, and addiction in a way I had never seen before. There were over 8,000 homeless crammed into 49 square miles of the iconic city by the bay. Many of them traversing the city and adjacent regions via the BART trains exposing me to the subculture of life on the streets and the effects of addiction in a major city and its transit systems. In my outreach work on and off duty I met many lost souls languishing, suffering, seeking connection to their lost humanity as I struggled to mitigate their conditions. Now in retirement I want to give a voice to the voiceless in the hope of appealing to others to also take up the mantle of outreach work and generate realistic constructive dialogue to address these issues. This book is meant to speak to the power of a spirituality that binds us all as a social species. We have an inherent obligation to help others following our moral compass with compassion and empathy to help others, and if we can't help them, at least "see them." That request came from many of the people I helped who want the world to know at least that one thing, see them.Thank you for taking the time to give this podcast a listen. If you would like more information on other Law enforcement Life Coach initiatives, our "Sometimes Heroes Need Help" wellness seminar or our One-On-One life coaching please visit :www.lawenforcementlifecoach.comJohn@lawenforcementlifecoach.comAnd if you would like to watch the interview you can view it in it's entirety on the Law Enforcement Life Coach YouTube Channel :  https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCib6HRqAFO08gAkZQ-B9Ajw/videos/upload?filter=%5B%5D&sort=%7B%22columnType%22%3A%22date%22%2C%22sortOrder%22%3A%22DESCENDING%22%7D