Conferences Uncovered: Advantages of the Conference Circuit

Erin:
I'll tell you that we are fired up, not going to lie, a little bit pooped, a little bit sleepy, but it was all worth it because Cinnamon and I just got back from the first responder conferences in South Bend, Indiana, and we are super pumped and fired up to share some things that we have discovered about the importance of attending a conference like this. It felt so incredible to see, let me take that out, I hate it. I say incredible a lot, I noticed. It felt so good to see the connection between the different first responders, the different resources there, the professionals there, just the comradery and, you know, from a clinical point of view, I'm thrilled to actually see butts in the seats in general. So Cinnamon, do you wanna explain really what first responder conferences is and why it might be different than? another conference.

Cinnamon:
Sure. So first responder conferences is, it came out of a first responder looking for services for her spouse. And upon discovering that there just wasn't that much out there, she put together resources and kind of presented it to just area departments. And then the requests started rolling in and different departments in her region continued to ask for it until here we are, however many years later and Sean Thomas has created this extraordinary conference system where they go all over the country providing these conferences where they're collaborating with local area departments. and they're bringing in local area experts, as well as other speakers from other areas. We did, like during COVID, we actually were able to sponsor an entire month of webinars, as well as I got to do an entire month of webinars. And it was early on, and we were still trying to figure out how to close that gap. And it, I had attended my first conference and I believe 2018 or 19 in Columbus, Ohio. And so after that I was hooked. I wanted to meet Sean, I wanted to be Sean's friend and I wanted to

Erin:
Okay.

Cinnamon:
be able to participate with all of this. And luckily check, check, check, I was able to do all those things. I've come to know her better and she is an amazing person and she is so committed to the idea of making sure that. the resources are in the hands of the people who need it. And recognizing the course of, over the course of the work, like the hardship that can come with this. And she kind of has that same idea of like, it's not if, it's when, right? It's all to the varying degrees. So we attended the South Bend Conference as a resource. partner and upcoming in September of this year, we actually will be having a first responder conference in Columbus, Ohio, which is our region of the country. And we

Erin:
As if you don't know, because we always talk about being from the Middle West.

Cinnamon:
the Middle West, yes, we actually get to present. So I wanted to go to Indiana because I've been to one, but Erin, you haven't been to an FRC conference. So

Erin:
No.

Cinnamon:
I wanted to give you a little bit of a taste of it and see what you would be walking into come September. And, you know, the fun part about it is that There's not just one benefit, right? So you get to go, you get to meet all of these other people that are either doing first responder work or they're working with first responders. There's so many people to meet and network. You also have the presentations. And one of the first times I went to a conference that was actually targeted for first responders, it gave me a completely different perspective than the conferences that I was used to going to as a clinician. So being able to hear first responders talk about their journey with mental health, while hundreds of other first responders are looking on and nodding their heads and you can see their brains are like me

Erin:
Mm-hmm.

Cinnamon:
too, or oh my friend, or. you know, however that connection is being made between the material being presented, it's just a little bit heartwarming. And every year when we see the numbers getting bigger and bigger, it's just an indication that what we've been up to for the past since 2017 is actually making a difference and we're getting better and better. at doing the things that this podcast exists to do, which is de-stigmatize, de-mystify, and provide an education and a forum for first responders to be able to talk about their mental health journey.

Erin:
Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

Erin:
One of the things that I'm, first of all, I'm a crier. Not going to lie. I get tears in my eyes about many, many things. But I definitely get tears in my eyes just to watch, like Cinnamon said, the gears turning, the aha moments happening, the light bulbs going off. That really touches my heart. But also this idea of connection. Because. it is so important that we stay connected with other individuals, especially ones that really get what we're going through, what we've experienced. And so it automatically provides that idea of connection. And to me, that's a little tear-jerking experience every time, but I'm a giant softie. But there's, so that even kind of falls into this idea of the conference as being inspirational. and motivational and it's hard to walk out of one of these things and not be fired up. So we wanted to spend some time.

Cinnamon:
ANd what you can do when you get home. Like, how am I going to take this back to my department, my home, and apply this? Because you can't go through one of these two days conferences and not hear something that lands with

Erin:
Mm-hmm.

Cinnamon:
you personally or with someone that you work with or you're friends with that you've watched, you know, go through something.

Erin:
Today's show, we are gonna spend a little bit of time explaining and sharing with you some significant reasons why we wanna encourage each and every one of you to attend these conferences, to be part of it, to sponsor them. Maybe your departments wanna sponsor them to invite Sean and First Responder Conferences to your neck of the woods. and be just in the mix of all of it. Those are all options. So what are we gonna say? I see your mouth opening.

Cinnamon:
I forgot. Bye. I forgot. Like I had a thought, but then I put it away so I could listen to you and give you my full attention. And then it just left. I probably need to move my notepad and my pen a little bit closer. One thing that I find interesting about these, and you may have to cut and move this around, but A lot of the work that we do with clients, I've discovered, I mean, this was early on, is this whole thing about big crowds, right? Like

Erin:
Mm.

Cinnamon:
having, you know, not wanting to go to the fireworks at Disneyland, or, you know,

Erin:
or

Cinnamon:
and,

Erin:
the festival or the concert.

Cinnamon:
or the, right, like anything. I

Erin:
Like,

Cinnamon:
asked...

Erin:
no, I don't want special duty over time at that concert. Ha ha.

Cinnamon:
No, or that baseball game or that football game. Like we have all of these stadiums and professional teams or college teams in our area. And it's, you know, that idea of doing the work versus being there with your family and your kids. It the, you know. psychological warfare that goes on when the fireworks go off and everybody's ooh and ah-ing and looking up and you're the one looking down and around to see, you know, what's going on and what any of the threats are. But this is an interesting space where you have all of these first responders who many of them have experienced some kind of struggle. and they're sitting in the room and it's a space where if you need to get up, if you need to walk out when you're ready, come back in. Like it feels very accommodating to the audience. It's like respectful of their journey. Uh, so they can do what they need to do to take care of themselves, even though it's in potentially one of those kinds of environments where there's less comfort.

Erin:
Yeah, they wouldn't normally walk into something that's a large crowd like this. We'll call it a safe place as we continue to...

Cinnamon:
That's a good word to describe it

Erin:
Go back to this idea of this concept of having a safe space, having a safe place with like-minded people that you can trust and people that will lift you up and support you and...

Cinnamon:
or and can teach you. Right? Like one of the things that we want people to have is like the access to resources and tools. Like not only is it coming to accept that mental health needs to be a priority among our first responders, but then like what to do about it and that there's tangible things that you can walk away from that. you can pass on to another first responder that's struggling or that you can, you know, apply yourself in terms of like your own skills and your own, um, you know, your own needs that might say this is a good resource for me. Um, or even a whole bunch that, you know, I'm always like, pick the one that works for you, try them all. And I don't expect everything to work for everybody, but figure out what is the one that works for you and makes you feel better and gets your heart rate down, gets your mind a little bit clearer. And because there's not one tool that works for everybody, that you're gaining a variety of tools and skills that if it doesn't help you, maybe it'll help somebody else in your department.

Erin:
Definitely.

Cinnamon:
I also think part of this journey is it's so new. You know,

Erin:
Mm-hmm.

Cinnamon:
I remember when we first started, when I first started with working specifically with the fire service, it was not too long after I got involved that we celebrated like a 100th anniversary of the fire service. And I thought, okay. So for a hundred years, we've not really talked about this. And now for six, we have, this is relatively new and we're going

Erin:
For six,

Cinnamon:
up against

Erin:
we have gone hard in the yard talking

Cinnamon:
Yes,

Erin:
about it.

Cinnamon:
for six years

Erin:
I don't want

Cinnamon:
we

Erin:
to

Cinnamon:
have

Erin:
say

Cinnamon:
gone

Erin:
that

Cinnamon:
hard.

Erin:
it's never been talked about

Cinnamon:
Sure.

Erin:
until six years ago.

Cinnamon:
Thank you for clarifying.

Erin:
Yeah.

Cinnamon:
Yeah, let's not, not, because I do know a lot of people who have especially worked in the EAP world for 20 years and 20 plus years, and this looks so different than, than previously, but because it's new, that means that We're hurry, we're, we're delivering all of this stuff that we've known. And then we also have all of this stuff that we're like learning. So there's a lot of like, what do we call it? Flying the plane while also building it. So

Erin:
Yeah, building the plane while flying, yeah.

Cinnamon:
there we go. And so the reality is, is that we're constantly updating the information and the best practices and. Um, you know, figuring out what the next step to take is. And I felt like in the beginning, it was like step one to ending the stigma is to educate. And we did that. That's an ongoing thing, but like introducing the idea. And it felt like at least in our area, there was some like, okay, we can put a check mark there. We've been doing that for a while, but then like, What step to what, what do we, what do we do next? And so I don't want just the foundational understanding of like, what is, uh, cumulative and acute stress or trauma. And we can, you know, take a pop quiz on definitions, but that's all we've got. Like now it's to make sure that we're continuing that universal learning as well as doing the deeper dive into. Um, the stuff that works, the new emerging, you know, interventions that have to, we have to think outside the box because our people are outside the box. And just making sure we're staying updated on the things that we're learning because now we're taking notes where before we weren't that much.

Erin:
And we are willing to learn. People are becoming much more open-minded to learn different modalities, different therapies that are coming out. How is this gonna help myself or my brother or my department? Which is one of the reasons that attending these things, these conferences are very valuable because we can really get a good idea of what's the new hottest modality or therapy that is helping. first responders especially. You know, something that Sinema and I are both trained in is something called accelerated resolution therapy, which is like the sister to EMDR, we'll call it, but it's fast and it can resolve issues very quickly. And so we find that it's wonderful to use with first responders, but it's also not very known about.

Cinnamon:
Right, I call it the, if EMDR is the Model T Ford because EMDR put, you know, bilateral stimulation therapy on the map, then ART is like the flying Tesla.

Erin:
Mm.

Cinnamon:
And I love the fact that my folks don't have to talk. It doesn't require talking. I don't need to know anything about the situation in terms of the details. And we can go on a whole episode of why I love ART so much and

Erin:
And

Cinnamon:
how

Erin:
we will.

Cinnamon:
conducive it is. Shut up.

Erin:
We will.

Cinnamon:
How conducive it is to our first responders and that mentality and the... sometimes resistance to the vulnerability of sharing those details. But that's, that's, we'll get into that for another episode.

Erin:
The point is when you attend these kind of events, it gives you the opportunity to be in the know, to be on the up and up about all of the newest emerging trends, all of the treatments, the therapies, everything that's coming out, how it can best support you as a first responder. And also, your family members. It's not just like first

Cinnamon:
Yeah.

Erin:
responder specific. Anybody that you know and love that might need some support, it can support them. So it's great to. attend these events so that you can be on the up and up. But also,

Cinnamon:
I also think like there's a place for everyone. So whether you are like the founding peer support in your department or you're still a little skeptical, but you are able to count this as continuing professional training. And so you're gonna attend. There's something for everyone to be able to take away. that is new to them, regardless of where you are on that spectrum of both your conceptualization, your activity level, your participation in the peer support or mental health world within your agency. So, I think that's a really good question. I think that's a really good question.

Erin:
it was, okay.

Cinnamon:
I feel like rather than my typical monologues, I'm more of like a cloud of dirty smoke coming out of a muffler where it's just like,

Erin:
Hahaha

Cinnamon:
and then I'm done.

Erin:
Well, one of the benefits too that I see about attending these things is the concept of the networking. We already talked about the connection and the community, but you know, we have a lot, not I guess I can't say a lot, but we have a handful of people that we work with or that we know that have since retired, but they're super passionate about mental health, about bringing this concept into the first responder world. And they want to be speakers or advocates or get into a new line of work that involves kind of like Brian on our last episode now all of a sudden he's in this line of work where it's benefiting first responders in their mental health So this is a great opportunity to connect you never know who you're gonna run into that gives you this like grand business plan idea for the next phase of your life because No, as we know first responders They're retiring. They're still young

Cinnamon:
Mm-hmm.

Erin:
age wise, you know

Cinnamon:
I mean, maybe they're like what? Rotator cuffs and knees don't

Erin:
Yeah.

Cinnamon:
always show up on an MRI or x-ray looking super young, but...

Erin:
Right. But there's still life to live. And I know when you come off of a life where you're constantly go, go, go, go, go, and then all of a sudden it's like, oh, I'm retired and what the hell do I do now? What's next? I don't know.

Cinnamon:
Rest?

Erin:
What to, yeah,

Cinnamon:
What?

Erin:
what? No. You can only garden for so long and ride your motorcycle for so, I mean, I guess people would be happy to ride their motorcycle forever. But,

Cinnamon:
Yeah.

Erin:
you know, often it's like, I wanna do something more. So this is... a great opportunity to connect and build that network of people that are professionals in this field.

Cinnamon:
Well, and I think it's great for us, you know, in terms of like meeting people, but it, to me, it's also as a first responder, I would think finding other people that are also doing peer support or mental health work that, you know, may either, you know, like when we go to Columbus or we're going. We just came from Indiana. Like that's all real close. Right. So it's how can we help each other? How can we take something that you are doing in your department or in your region that we haven't thought of. And, you know, reach one, teach one kind of thing, and then it spreads, um, where no one has to be responsible for thinking of the whole pie of how to solve this issue. but everybody's thought of at least a sliver. And the more folks that you're coming in contact with, the more you learn about. I remember the first time I went to FRC, there was a gentleman that spoke from Save a Warrior. And I was already quote halfway to, you know, halfway back home. So. I went and visited my parents and then on the way back, I actually stopped at this guy's place of business because I was so impressed with what he had to say and what he had done with his business to support first responders. And I wasn't there long. I didn't get to talk to him very long. But to me... I wanted to show my support because his vulnerability, his willingness to talk, and from what I understand, if I recall correctly, there was a last minute change to the schedule and

Erin:
Really?

Cinnamon:
they just walked up and said, hey, will you talk? And he did. You know, so to have that sense of purpose and confidence and willingness to be vulnerable and feel... so passionate that you can just on the fly go up and stand and tell people about your journey and what your experiences have been and how you got to where you are. Like that's to me, those are the people I want to know.

Erin:
Mm-hmm. Well, yeah, I mean, vision is everything. Like, when your vision, when your purpose is driving your life, you, one, can get up there and talk about it with no problem because it is their life force. It's what keeps them going every day. And also, from experience, people tend to do much better when they are on the spot because they don't have time to be anything but authentic. You know,

Cinnamon:
Like that one...

Erin:
they're not like...

Cinnamon:
time that you did karaoke at your daughter's birthday party.

Erin:
Listen, I crushed it.

Cinnamon:
No,

Erin:
It was,

Cinnamon:
no,

Erin:
it was a hit.

Cinnamon:
no you didn't.

Erin:
Yeah.

Cinnamon:
There was no, I mean, you gave, like, hit me with your best shot, like, you were passionate.

Erin:
It wasn't Hit Me With Your Best Shot that I sang, by the way.

Cinnamon:
It was Journey. I'm no, I'm, I'm, I,

Erin:
It

Cinnamon:
I,

Erin:
was not Pat Benatar. But anyway, I'm not going to let her rain

Cinnamon:
we

Erin:
on my

Cinnamon:
digress.

Erin:
parade, because

Cinnamon:
No. I

Erin:
I am...

Cinnamon:
mean, it was a powerful performance. I will give you that.

Erin:
It was enthusiastic.

Cinnamon:
It was enthusiastic and well intended. And I would even say well received. But I will not say good.

Erin:
Listen,

Cinnamon:
But.

Erin:
tone deaf or not, joy is joy. So you do you boo out there listeners. Anyway, rewind back to

Cinnamon:
Psst. Hahaha.

Erin:
us and our freaking rabbit holes. So yeah, the idea of purpose, making those connections so that you can one, potentially expand your future into realms that you didn't even consider. And also people often see things in us that we don't even see in ourselves. So sometimes it takes others to be like, hey man, you would be super good at this. Or gosh, well, Brian even explained it last episode too about when he was talking to whomever from the current position he's in, they asked like, how can I get you? He's like, well, I wasn't even planning on that. And then next thing you know, he has his career, right? So it's just interesting how stars align when we are open to being connected and networking and putting ourselves out there a little bit. So something that I also find beneficial about these is outside perspective. You know, what do they say? Like opinions are like assholes, everyone's got one. Sometimes it's hard to get out of your own perspective. You know, it's like, nope, there's no other way. My tonal vision is here. But that's what's so beneficial is going in with an open mind and hearing these other perspectives and approaches. can really open you up into like, wow, I didn't even think about that. Or I didn't even know that was a thing. So it's nice to have people who are coming from all walks of life, even though it's familiar and similar, still bringing their own perspective in on things.

Cinnamon:
So one of the, I remember having a moment at a conference. It was not an FRC conference, but it was several years ago. And this gentleman who was a retired law enforcement officer was speaking. And he wasn't really talking about his mental health. He was talking about a terminal depression diagnosis that his son had gotten. and how meeting the needs of someone else through learning and understanding. So it wasn't, a lot of times it's not just about your niche or your rabbit hole, right? Like we are really into acute and cumulative traumatic exposure. Like that's what we do. Now that doesn't mean that we don't also treat you know, anxiety, depression, substance misuse and abuse. But the reality was this was, hey, I'm not the one with a problem, but my perspective changed because it was my child. And I had to learn a whole new way of thinking about mental health, not because I was struggling. but because my child was struggling and I saw how bad he wanted to be well. And

Erin:
so in turn

Cinnamon:
it was.

Erin:
it made him want to be well. Really.

Cinnamon:
Yeah, and ultimately he, his son died. And he talked about depression being a terminal illness. And, you know, that man, the room, you could drop a pin. Everybody was paying attention. Everyone was touched. And I think in these situations, you never know what you're going to go in and learn because we can... see who the presenter list is. We can see what the topic list is. But even within that, you're going to have conversations over lunch. You're going to have your speakers just make like one offhanded comment. Like depression is a terminal illness at times or it can be. And it's gonna glue, like you're gonna feel your butt drop even further into the seat, the way that it hits you. And so having that... perspective, you know, I think not only can it make us more understanding in our personal lives, but when we think about family members calling 911 or paramedics to attend to a family member that is having, you know, a mental health crisis, like that guy comes to my head and like, what if this was his son? How? What if this was my son? How would I want that person to be treated? What did he teach me in his talk that is gonna make me better at my job?

Erin:
Yeah.

Cinnamon:
Because I'm more sensitive and I see it not necessarily in this isolated silo of my 15 minute run, but in the context of this young man's entire life and his family and... the struggle that they've had over the years to find wellness. To me, that's the kind of thing that can help reduce compassion fatigue and

Erin:
Definitely.

Cinnamon:
give us more compassion and empathy and willingness to engage differently than maybe we would have without knowing that kind of story.

Erin:
Yeah, and so that different perspective actually provides a certain, if not significant, level of inspiration

Cinnamon:
Yeah.

Erin:
often for people. I mean, that's what you're saying.

Cinnamon:
and

Erin:
So

Cinnamon:
even the inspiration

Erin:
it

Cinnamon:
to

Erin:
can

Cinnamon:
be

Erin:
be

Cinnamon:
vulnerable.

Erin:
that way.

Cinnamon:
You know, if this guy who, you know, was a big wig at this state's, you know, law enforcement level is willing to come in front of all these people and talk about his personal family struggles, including the loss of his son's life. Like, if he can do that, I can call for help. I can tell a friend I'm struggling. I can ask a friend. who I see struggling, if they are struggling and if they would like help.

Erin:
Yeah.

Cinnamon:
You know, it makes things, it puts things in a different perspective that makes those first steps that we have to take that can feel so difficult a little bit easier.

Erin:
Yeah. So along the same lines as personal development, the eye-opening experiences that you can experience by attending one of these conference, let's not forget about the professional development and the opportunity for continuing education, the opportunity to expand your skills. Some of these conferences do offer CEUs for attending, or they have like a breakout workshops that you can attend that might offer them continuing

Cinnamon:
We

Erin:
education

Cinnamon:
could,

Erin:
stuff.

Cinnamon:
we also can call them, uh, continuing professional trainings. I know that in a lot of first responder sex S E

Erin:
sect.

Cinnamon:
C T S, um, uh, they're called CPT.

Erin:
were like five year olds.

Cinnamon:
Well, part of it is this, uh, you know, my teeth, my, my retainer,

Erin:
I'm sorry.

Cinnamon:
like, let's talk about sex.

Erin:
Oh gosh. So

Cinnamon:
Yeah.

Erin:
yeah, of course, I'm saying CEUs from a clinical side and we have clinicians that listen. But what is it called for?

Cinnamon:
CPT is Continuing Professional Trainings.

Erin:
There you go. Learn something new every day.

Cinnamon:
Yeah, I only learned that because I kept saying CEO and that wasn't applicable and so I had to learn what was.

Erin:
Well, there you have it. You're so open-minded and willing to learn new things. What a great perspective you have. Ha ha ha.

Cinnamon:
I was inspired to do so

Erin:
But yeah,

Cinnamon:
basically

Erin:
these conferences could

Cinnamon:
by

Erin:
be

Cinnamon:
being

Erin:
segues

Cinnamon:
wrong.

Erin:
into the different workshops, to different seminars, to different opportunities that can also correlate with the education that you might need for your particular position. That's all I'm saying about that.

Cinnamon:
Well, we had this funny thing happen where I had done a training a few years ago, uh, in a particular region. And recently in that region, we were contracted to do annual wellness checks. And we realized that I realized that a person more than a person that was going to be seeing me, I had his business card because he had been to my training. And upon discussing this, somebody else was like, wait, I wondered why your name was familiar. I was also at that training. And so, you know, again, that value of like making yourself known, introducing yourselves. taking your business cards or something that has your contact information on it. Um, even if it's just like, I'm prepared to airdrop my

Erin:
Thank

Cinnamon:
info,

Erin:
you.

Cinnamon:
you know, but you want to build up that network because you never know when you're going to need it. And I'm going to show this to Erin because it just happens to be sitting here. Nobody else needs to see this, but this. I had to. Aaron's gonna get mad because I'm not close enough to my microphone. But I was cleaning

Erin:
I'm so

Cinnamon:
out

Erin:
mean.

Cinnamon:
my, my office,

Erin:
I'm a drug sergeant.

Cinnamon:
my, my office, uh, desk drawers. And these are my collection of business cards.

Erin:
What she's showing me is a stupid, gigantic stack of business cards, approximately three inches of business cards in each hand stacked. So it's, we gotta

Cinnamon:
Yeah.

Erin:
figure

Cinnamon:
I mean.

Erin:
out some kind of CRM. We gotta

Cinnamon:
You think, right?

Erin:
organize that.

Cinnamon:
I'm still so old school. It's like Erin gets so upset when she's like, you know, you can put that over here, you can put that over there. And I'm like, or I can write it on paper or I can just do what the old folks do and use a pen and paper.

Erin:
and a filing cabinet, and if ain't broke, don't fix it. If it works for you, babe.

Cinnamon:
If it works and it does, thank you.

Erin:
And in the meantime, I'll just make it tech savvy and tech friendly so when we need to access this information quickly, we can.

Cinnamon:
or when I'm

Erin:
But.

Cinnamon:
ready to upgrade in my brain to

Erin:
Yeah.

Cinnamon:
like, okay, I'm tired of writing on paper, but that's

Erin:
And you

Cinnamon:
how

Erin:
have

Cinnamon:
I learn.

Erin:
upgraded a lot. Here we are doing a podcast, which is,

Cinnamon:
I know.

Erin:
says a lot.

Cinnamon:
I know, I mean, I have to tell myself every day, I'm proud of myself

Erin:
Yeah.

Cinnamon:
because of my willingness to interact with technology as

Erin:
We

Cinnamon:
I

Erin:
are all

Cinnamon:
move

Erin:
proud of you.

Cinnamon:
my notepad from one side to the other.

Erin:
We're all

Cinnamon:
I'm

Erin:
proud

Cinnamon:
just,

Erin:
of you, babe. Really.

Cinnamon:
you know, we're eventually going to have to tell this story about my dad saying that people didn't want to talk to younger people. and I had to tell him that I was almost 50. Yeah.

Erin:
Right. Well, you know.

Cinnamon:
He was so sad. Did you like that that video that I sent? I need to figure out who sings that song. What is that song? Or not that I sent but the that I posted. That's

Erin:
There's

Cinnamon:
a side

Erin:
technology

Cinnamon:
note though.

Erin:
for that.

Cinnamon:
Yes, see.

Erin:
It's called Shazam.

Cinnamon:
But if I have Shazam on my phone, how can I make Shazam go while I'm also listening to the thing?

Erin:
It can hear it.

Cinnamon:
Oh, damn, technology

Erin:
I'm pretty sure.

Cinnamon:
really

Erin:
I'm pretty

Cinnamon:
is.

Erin:
sure. Anyways, rabbit hole,

Cinnamon:
Anyways.

Erin:
squirrel. The last thing that I think it would be great to touch on is something that we already said that we did at this particular conference was that we were a resource. So after the tones drop, and I'm gonna rewind for a second. You hear Cinnamon saying like, we did this series of assessments for a department or we did this training. When she says we, she's not talking about after the tones drop. She's talking about whole house counseling, which is the private practice that we, what's the word I'm looking

Cinnamon:
operate.

Erin:
for? Well, we operate and we, I wanted to find something that's more exciting than operate.

Cinnamon:
We change lives from inside the whole house.

Erin:
Yeah, so I just

Cinnamon:
The

Erin:
wanted

Cinnamon:
call

Erin:
to be clear

Cinnamon:
is

Erin:
that

Cinnamon:
coming from inside.

Erin:
people aren't calling like, we need after the tones drop because that's not what that

Cinnamon:
Yeah.

Erin:
is. But, um,

Cinnamon:
Well, and oftentimes I say we, and I mean I, because I just use that

Erin:
Right.

Cinnamon:
collective we.

Erin:
Well, so yeah, we, after the tone drop and whole house counseling, had the opportunity to be a resource for folks that were attending this conference to provide information and also show that there's practices out there that offered first responder specific therapy and treatment. And, you know, of course we got a... show everybody that the podcast is there. But there's so many different exhibitors and things that are fun, things that are quirky, things that are completely just directly related to first responders that you can also gain access to to have something else to put in your pocket, literally and figuratively.

Cinnamon:
And there's raffle baskets.

Erin:
And there's raffle baskets, which we provided one for this conference, and we're going to provide a sweet one for Columbus Conference. So, you know, that's always fun, too. It's fun to win raffle basket.

Cinnamon:
And it's actually really fun to put them together too, because it's like, who doesn't want their raffle basket to be wanted, right? So you wanna make it fun and put stuff in there that people are gonna want to win.

Erin:
Yeah, so listener, if you have some kind of special gift, you're good at like macrame or like whittling wood,

Cinnamon:
A macramé hanging plant holder.

Erin:
yeah, whatever your thing is and you feel like, oh man, I got a slew of this in my closet, we will always accept donations for these raffle baskets

Cinnamon:
Hahaha!

Erin:
that we put together for your friends and brothers and sisters because, you know, everybody has a gift and we are here to. support

Cinnamon:
Some

Erin:
your

Cinnamon:
people

Erin:
gift

Cinnamon:
are

Erin:
as

Cinnamon:
just

Erin:
well.

Cinnamon:
still looking for it. Ha ha! That

Erin:
Yeah.

Cinnamon:
was so rude.

Erin:
So

Cinnamon:
So rude.

Erin:
what?

Cinnamon:
So can

Erin:
OK.

Cinnamon:
we talk a little bit about what we did with our recording booth? Because I think that was really cool and people are going to hear soon enough when we turn it into an actual ATTD episode.

Erin:
Yeah. And I am one of those people that can't just do anything simply. I've talked about it before on previous episodes. I just got to make everything, what's the word I'm looking for, a challenge.

Cinnamon:
She crafty.

Erin:
I'm crafty, but we had this idea of creating a recording booth, which most of you know by now, if you've been listening to the last five episodes, that we have the After the Tones Drop hotline. which is Confidential, a place for you to talk about an experience, a struggle, tell a story, ask a question, all of those fun things. So we

Cinnamon:
or

Erin:
had

Cinnamon:
simply

Erin:
this idea,

Cinnamon:
share a success.

Erin:
oh, please share this. So this idea was to bring a recording booth to the conference and allow people to get on there and leave a message about the aha moments that they had during the conference. which is what I'm so excited about. It'll be interesting to hear all of the things or even take the opportunity to ask a question or share their success or struggle. But it was no small feat. I mean, I got wood involved and hinges and soundproofing stuff, and it's turned out really freaking awesome. It ended up being a fun thing too for people to do and stretch themselves out of their comfort zone and leave a message.

Cinnamon:
And I would also say when I referenced you as being crafty, you are not like a Martha Stewart crafty, you're like a Beastie Boys crafty. Like you will walk around Lowe's with an idea and then you will just like schnizzle it together.

Erin:
Mm-hmm.

Cinnamon:
Like I don't even know how you come up with some of the things that you do. You're like, and then. I figured out to do this. And so that

Erin:
It's a

Cinnamon:
was.

Erin:
blessing and a curse really. Borderline obsessive at times, but I have fun. And Cinnamon knows that Lowe's is my target. I love

Cinnamon:
Her,

Erin:
coming.

Cinnamon:
her lo's as to her as TJ Maxx's to me.

Erin:
That's right.

Cinnamon:
Yeah.

Erin:
So we will be dragging this recording booth around to all of our events moving forward, giving people the opportunity to, one, learn about the hotline if they haven't learned about it, but also be able to drop a message right then and there. And it's fun. It's interactive. And so with these recordings, we will be putting together a episode or maybe more, depending on. what we end up finding is usable stuff to share with you so that you guys can hear what the come froms were, what the questions are, what the big takeaways were.

Cinnamon:
And it's just fun. Like

Erin:
And it's

Cinnamon:
it's

Erin:
just fun.

Cinnamon:
fun standing in the booth.

Erin:
Yeah, it is fun standing in the booth. Plus we aren't shy if you can't tell and so we will strongly encourage you to participate

Cinnamon:
Hey

Erin:
and enjoy.

Cinnamon:
everybody, you want a chance? Yeah.

Erin:
So the bullet points of today, the significance of attending these conferences is of course the importance of staying updated. We talked about the continuing education and the skill development. We touched a little bit on the inspiration and and the motivation that comes from leaving one of these conferences really fired up like we are today. And then, of course, the access to all of the resources and tools that are available for you just at the ready.

Cinnamon:
Well, and I think that this piece cannot be under, cannot be overstated enough. The, over the course of what six-ish, set for six years,

Erin:
Math.

Cinnamon:
yep,

Erin:
Mm-hmm.

Cinnamon:
math hard,

Erin:
Math-ing

Cinnamon:
so hard.

Erin:
is hard.

Cinnamon:
Over, you know, six years that I've been doing this, I've watched people climb onto the boat. Right? Like they're like, okay, I'm bought in, let's do this. And the one thing I will say is there is absolutely no reason to reinvent the wheel. There is so much out there. There are so many departments that have, have started this process, have, you know, work to perfect this process, um, where you can, you know, simply ask, can you give me a flash drive of all your documents that you've, you know, created based on what you've learned you needed. You know, I remember I've had this conversation. I was doing a explaining a breathing exercise and a training and it was like completely new. And then I went to do my own, it was like new to the audience, right? So then I went to go do Fire Ops 101. which I don't know if that is a national thing, but we have it here in Ohio and I got to play a fireman, fire girl for a day and a

Erin:
fighter

Cinnamon:
firefighter

Erin:
for

Cinnamon:
for

Erin:
a

Cinnamon:
a

Erin:
day.

Cinnamon:
day.

Erin:
Yeah, you talked

Cinnamon:
And

Erin:
about that in episode one too.

Cinnamon:
so somebody gave to me the advice of how to breathe to ensure that I didn't panic in my SCBA gear. And I just looked and I was like, you're kidding me, right? So tactical breathing and breathing for mindfulness were like the same thing. I'm like, how did I need to teach you all this if you already knew it, but they never put two and two together that...

Erin:
So then you could say, you know, tactical breathing, you already know mindful breathing.

Cinnamon:
Yes, exactly. So to be able to expedite your implementation of whatever wellness or mental health program you have by avoiding trying to reinvent the wheel and using the tools and the resources that are already out there, that have already been established for the places and the people and the departments and agencies who have said... Hey, we think we need this and then go back to the drawing board and say, actually, we need this instead, or we need to tweak it this way. Like that, that there's enough of a learning curve in all of this. When there's all of these resources and tools out there. Grab onto them. Don't sit in that isolated office, trying to build this entirely. you know, alone or with just a few from your department when there's so much already out there.

Erin:
Yeah. And so the upcoming training specifically for first responder conferences is going to be the Columbus, Ohio event that we will be presenting at. So that's pretty

Cinnamon:
as

Erin:
legit.

Cinnamon:
well as being

Erin:
And

Cinnamon:
a resource partner.

Erin:
as well as having a resource partner and a swag basket to potentially

Cinnamon:
That's

Erin:
win.

Cinnamon:
September 7th and 8th.

Erin:
in Columbus, Ohio. So

Cinnamon:
We can

Erin:
come,

Cinnamon:
put the link.

Erin:
yeah, I will put the link in the show notes. Of course, that is the next one for this one. Then they have them booked all the way out all over the country through October of 2024. Well, they're tentative, but you know, they'll happen

Cinnamon:
Well,

Erin:
one way or the other.

Cinnamon:
I would even say one of our great resources that provides tools is the FRC newsletter.

Erin:
Mm-hmm.

Cinnamon:
And so we can also make sure that we put, okay, we can also make sure that Erin puts into the show notes the link if you would like to sign up for that newsletter because I love it. Like it is so much information every time. Um, that it comes in and I actually get it in three different mailboxes, three different email boxes. Um, yeah,

Erin:
obsessed.

Cinnamon:
either that or I've just signed up for a lot of their shit using different emails.

Erin:
Or you just want to make sure you don't miss it. That's all.

Cinnamon:
That's right. It's across everything in

Erin:
Yeah.

Cinnamon:
it goes.

Erin:
Yeah. So

Cinnamon:
So.

Erin:
First Responder conferences isn't the only one. There's a lot out there. I'm certain there's some in your area. Do a little Google search, hook yourself up, find one local to you. There's ones that are also virtual. So if for some reason you can't attend in person, there might be one that's shorter that's virtual, but would still be a great resource to get more information. So we'll make sure that you have everything. that we've talked about today in the show notes. And I strongly invite all of you to attend the Columbus Ohio one so we can meet you.

Cinnamon:
And if you aren't in our region, by all means, any of the FRC provided conferences that are endorsed or sponsored by your local departments, or if you're interested in having FRC come your way, we can, oh, Sean may be like, what did you do to my inbox? But we can go ahead and. include that information too of if this is something of interest to you.

Erin:
For sure. Although Columbus, Ohio is pretty sweet. It's

Cinnamon:
It

Erin:
not

Cinnamon:
is

Erin:
just

Cinnamon:
sweet.

Erin:
a cow town with corn. I mean, we got that too, but it's a great city if you haven't been here. So I'm gonna, there's

Cinnamon:
It

Erin:
no

Cinnamon:
is.

Erin:
such thing as, I mean, you can travel, right? And do

Cinnamon:
Right,

Erin:
some

Cinnamon:
there's

Erin:
other stuff.

Cinnamon:
an airport

Erin:
There's a thing

Cinnamon:
in

Erin:
called

Cinnamon:
Columbus.

Erin:
an airplane, right? So

Cinnamon:
Yep.

Erin:
we hope that we see you in September specifically at that one, or we wanna encourage you to attend any that are local to you. Hopefully this provided some information that supports you and encourages you to check out conferences and allows you to see why they are significant and important. and cinnamon and so

Cinnamon:
I'm so tired. I mean, I'm like, right, I'm taking notes, but that's why I'm not like, woo. I'm

Erin:
Whoopee!

Cinnamon:
mentally wooing and physically I'm, whoa.

Erin:
All right, well, we're going to let Cinnamon go take another one.

Cinnamon:
Shit. Take care everyone.