Way of The Warrior with Bruce Schutter

WEBVTT

00:00:09.590 --> 00:00:15.778
This is All Clear Firefighter Wellness, where we help you light your fire with it.

00:00:15.778 --> 00:00:24.065
I'm, travis, good to have you here today.

00:00:24.065 --> 00:00:25.368
Welcome to All Clear.

00:00:25.368 --> 00:00:27.893
I've got a guest with us today.

00:00:27.893 --> 00:00:30.164
It's Mr Bruce Shooter.

00:00:30.164 --> 00:00:31.146
Did I get the last?

00:00:31.185 --> 00:00:31.746
name correct.

00:00:31.827 --> 00:00:32.868
All right, there we go.

00:00:32.868 --> 00:00:39.796
So Bruce is a gentleman who has experience in the world of first responders in the EMT.

00:00:39.796 --> 00:00:50.054
He said you worked with the fire department, said you did that for a number of years, but your specialty is mental health and that's something that's very important to us.

00:00:50.054 --> 00:00:52.261
I'm going to stop talking now, bruce.

00:00:52.261 --> 00:00:54.268
I'm going to let you introduce yourself.

00:00:54.268 --> 00:00:58.990
Tell us about the Mental Warrior Program that you're doing and what all you got going on.

00:00:59.810 --> 00:01:00.914
Okay, Sounds good.

00:01:00.914 --> 00:01:05.591
So I like to tell my story and it fits, how the program started and all of that.

00:01:05.591 --> 00:01:19.588
What happened was when I was in high school I actually joined the local rescue squad and there were some people that I joined with from the high school and at 16, I joined and started to jump in the deep end of the pool of life with things.

00:01:19.588 --> 00:01:21.180
I didn't know how to handle emotions.

00:01:21.180 --> 00:01:25.433
Obviously, at the same time I had some undiagnosed conditions.

00:01:25.433 --> 00:01:42.799
So I had anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, but nothing diagnosed, and a lot of times we didn't even talk about those things back then and the reason I'm starting there is that's when I first started to notice that things were a little bit not quite working the same as everybody else, let's just put it that way.

00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:45.004
My emotions went to the ends of the spectrum.

00:01:45.004 --> 00:01:50.762
Now I joined the rescue squad and I quickly then, with several others, we became EMTs.

00:01:50.762 --> 00:02:10.951
So I jumped right into it and we loved working to help people and we put in with this rescue squad like we would put in over a thousand hours of volunteer work, which meant we saw a lot of calls, and I bring that up because it was amazing the number of things that we jumped into whether life was just set up that way.

00:02:10.951 --> 00:02:13.467
We at certain times were on call with things.

00:02:13.467 --> 00:02:27.161
But at 16, I went on my first calls at Tech, before I even became an EMT, and it was for somebody who had had a heart attack and we had to do CPR and it was a person who was in their 90s and unfortunately did not make it.

00:02:27.161 --> 00:02:30.990
But, as you can understand, that was the first point of wow.

00:02:30.990 --> 00:02:40.943
This is amazing work but at the same time I certainly didn't know how to handle it and it progressed quickly through that, as I'm going through a dual thing.

00:02:40.943 --> 00:03:03.033
I'm going through high school trying to learn how to deal with things, studying but also jumping into this adult world of rescues and hitting calls and going through calls over the next several years while I was in high school and then in college, responding to all sorts of calls in our area and we had a lot of calls because of the times I was on, like on a Saturday night.

00:03:03.033 --> 00:03:14.248
I was there every Saturday night for seven to seven and we had a whole volunteer crew and we had calls that really just kept increasing in difficulty in order to handle.

00:03:14.792 --> 00:03:18.022
You start out with some unique calls and they make a good story.

00:03:18.022 --> 00:03:22.353
There was a pond in the town and it always ended up having accidents near it.

00:03:22.353 --> 00:03:25.199
So I remember we went out to rescue somebody from the accident.

00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:27.429
We're with the fire department, we're the EMTs.

00:03:27.429 --> 00:03:33.545
Everybody's out in the lake trying to get the people out of the car as the car's sinking due to the amount of silt in it.

00:03:33.545 --> 00:03:36.647
You can imagine as you're going through things like that.

00:03:36.647 --> 00:03:41.747
They're unique, they make you a little scared, but at the time you just push through it.

00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:48.550
And that was the start of where I started to realize, though I didn't know how to handle emotions and I started to hide from them.

00:03:48.550 --> 00:04:03.645
And I say that because that's where, as things went along 17, 18, as I go through more and more calls I was experiencing tougher and tougher emotions to deal with, and actually nobody even the people above me, no one was trained on how to deal with that.

00:04:03.645 --> 00:04:06.772
No one was even offered help back then, and this is many years ago.

00:04:06.772 --> 00:04:16.041
And so we had some calls where then we had things where people didn't make it, and we had a drug overdoses where we had people we tried to save.

00:04:16.041 --> 00:04:17.805
We ended up doing the CPR.

00:04:17.805 --> 00:04:22.723
They didn't make it, and you go home and you end at the door of the hospital helping them.

00:04:22.723 --> 00:04:24.329
But what do you do next?

00:04:24.329 --> 00:04:25.841
And again, nobody knew.

00:04:25.841 --> 00:04:28.588
So that's where I started to find ways to escape.

00:04:28.588 --> 00:05:07.725
I'm trying to drink, turning to alcohol to hide from my emotions, and what happened was a lot of these cases just kept getting tougher and tougher, and we were talking a little bit earlier, but there were some ones that really hit home, and one of the toughest cases I just want to lead off at some of the things I experienced Again at 17, 18 was one night on a Saturday night we go out to an accident scene where a car had hit another car and it's four kids that are my age, exactly, from the neighboring high school, and they had been drinking and the cars collided and we ended up doing CPR trying to pull them out, and of course we're trying to save them.

00:05:07.865 --> 00:05:14.375
But it was one of those horrific accidents where we could not save anyone and, like you had talked about we had just even mentioned.

00:05:14.375 --> 00:05:28.266
That's one of those cases where you almost see yourself now, where you identify so closely to it that that's where it just really pushed me over the edge as far as emotions and things, and we tried our best to deal with it.

00:05:28.266 --> 00:05:37.540
We tried to talk things out, but again, nobody really knew what to do with that and I kept locking things away and I kept pushing these things away.

00:05:37.540 --> 00:05:54.293
Hence the reason I talk about this is my challenges today I've been aware of, have been diagnosed in things are things like bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, alcoholism and PTSD, and that all started at a really early age.

00:05:54.613 --> 00:05:57.547
In this experience, it was one of those things too.

00:05:57.547 --> 00:06:04.771
I like to tell people it was one of the best and most amazing experiences, and people who do this for their whole career I'm sure would feel the same.

00:06:04.771 --> 00:06:09.791
Your involvement in saving someone's life or helping them through the toughest times is amazing.

00:06:09.791 --> 00:06:14.588
The problem is you're left with what do I do after the call?

00:06:14.588 --> 00:06:24.966
I always felt like we were told at that point to restock the ambulance, but nobody told us what to do with our emotions or to restock ourselves in order to handle things.

00:06:25.461 --> 00:06:26.406
It's interesting.

00:06:26.406 --> 00:06:29.788
I was talking with a therapist that we were interviewing.

00:06:29.788 --> 00:06:42.305
I think it was back last year and he brought up the point he said if you look at somebody like a professional baseball player that's played baseball for 18, 20 seasons, he's at the end of his career.

00:06:42.305 --> 00:06:46.822
When he retires, he's going to have bad knees, he's going to have a bad back.

00:06:46.822 --> 00:06:49.269
That stuff he's going to carry away with him.

00:06:49.269 --> 00:07:03.322
And in a lot of ways, when we work in the realm of a first responder whether it be in your case, like the EMT, fire, law enforcement, whatever you're going to have things you take away with you and there's really no way to get around it.

00:07:03.322 --> 00:07:08.894
But learning how to process it can definitely be a big issue, absolutely.

00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:18.892
And I want to just give you a quick synopsis of the rest of my story and why I started the Mental Health Warrior Program, because what happened is my first responder time and that experience.

00:07:18.892 --> 00:07:31.021
I also, at the time, was working for a paid ambulance company, like Summers, while I was at college, and we would do transports, mostly chemotherapy and dialysis treatments, and I referred, as you had, this one side.

00:07:31.021 --> 00:07:35.552
That was all the action side, and there was the immediate quick rush out to a call.

00:07:35.552 --> 00:07:38.326
The other side was people struggling with the challenges.

00:07:38.326 --> 00:07:44.336
That went on for a long time, but of course, those are very tough challenges to go through.

00:07:44.336 --> 00:07:58.824
They just every week going to dialysis, and you're trying to have a slow burn in your head with now, I have two types of experiences, and I do recognize that it's just like with all the other things the fire department, police and anybody first responder.

00:07:58.824 --> 00:08:01.932
Sometimes it's all the adrenaline, and then that wears off.

00:08:01.932 --> 00:08:08.367
Other times it's, you see, the cases that just stick because you see them multiple times, or maybe you go there multiple times.

00:08:09.209 --> 00:08:22.821
What happened was, though, is at that point, once I went to college, then I went into the IT field, and I thought I'll just keep moving forward, and I kept the same thing of hiding from my emotions, and what happened was I like to tell people.

00:08:22.821 --> 00:08:26.182
There was like two graphs, one going upwards, and what happened was I like to tell people.

00:08:26.182 --> 00:08:39.970
There was like two graphs, one going upwards, saying I'm moving along in my career, I'm getting married and buying a house, having cars, things like that on the outside looks great, on the inside, the line's going straight down as I'm crumbling, and all those experiences, the things that I never processed, they are still haunting me.

00:08:39.970 --> 00:08:50.816
They are still haunting me, they are still coming back, and they're causing me even worse anxiety as I get into tougher situations, as we grow up and we go into adult life and adult adventures.

00:08:50.816 --> 00:08:54.937
I called them, and eventually, though, the problem is, you reach a tipping point.

00:08:57.779 --> 00:08:59.027
Now, my tipping point didn't occur earlier.

00:08:59.027 --> 00:09:21.620
It occurred later, as I went on, and 20 years of this went on, and those last few years, I started to have the interactions with the police and spending a weekend in jail as you're trying to sober up, because you were basically conscious or you were just manic from the bipolar again, not even being diagnosed at that time, and my whole life, this was my new normal, and on the outside it was just crazy.

00:09:21.620 --> 00:09:24.587
Now I look at it and think, wow, that was your new normal.

00:09:24.587 --> 00:09:29.831
But we on the inside, when you're struggling, you're just trying to keep moving forward each and every day.

00:09:29.831 --> 00:09:34.149
And it got to a point, as we had talked about what was the tipping point.

00:09:34.210 --> 00:09:40.451
There were two things One with the bipolar and some of those unable to handle the emotions.

00:09:40.451 --> 00:09:46.541
I actually went in and was stuck in twice for a three-day hold, a psychiatric hold.

00:09:46.541 --> 00:09:58.230
So we progressed to that level now, and the point being is, this is what happens when we just ignore our emotions and we keep trying to hide from, keep, don't process things, but we keep moving forward in life.

00:09:58.230 --> 00:10:07.907
And at that point I felt so powerless and I felt there was no answers to even my problems that I tried to end it all and I just didn't see a way out.

00:10:07.907 --> 00:10:14.051
Luckily, I got a second chance at life and that's when I decided to turn things around and find an answer.

00:10:14.393 --> 00:10:25.472
And that's what you alluded to was the mental health warrior program, and that's where I decided I found out wait, the one thing that was holding me back all this time was my emotions, the one thing I was hiding from.

00:10:25.472 --> 00:10:26.635
And in turn.

00:10:26.635 --> 00:10:42.336
If I put all my energy into accepting them, processing, learning to manage all of them, good and bad, I found that was the secret to triumphing over any challenge in life, because I basically looked around and I said there isn't anything we do that doesn't involve emotions.

00:10:42.336 --> 00:10:43.659
I challenge people sometimes.

00:10:43.659 --> 00:10:46.173
Is there anything you did last week without emotions?

00:10:46.173 --> 00:10:51.793
And again it's everything involves emotions, and sometimes they stop us in our tracks.

00:10:51.793 --> 00:11:01.395
They might stop you because you're so scared of going into a meeting or accepting a new job or going forward, or they can rise you to the heights because you're willing to manage the emotions.

00:11:02.116 --> 00:11:06.674
And so I created this program to try and help people in similar situations to me.

00:11:06.674 --> 00:11:15.893
It's called the Mental Health Warrior Program and the idea is it's a self-help approach, the idea being that we have the upper level, if you will.

00:11:15.893 --> 00:11:20.011
We have therapists, we have doctors and meds, but what can we do ourselves?

00:11:20.011 --> 00:11:22.461
And what can we do again, to accept things?

00:11:22.461 --> 00:11:30.143
First, because myself, when I first went into therapy or tried meds, I was resistant, so of course they failed before I even got going.

00:11:30.143 --> 00:11:45.258
And the idea is I want to empower people so that every day you feel empowered as you're going through the week and if you need advanced help, if you need that extra help, you also feel okay with asking for it, and it's so much more effective.

00:11:45.258 --> 00:11:54.003
Sorry, so that's the story, but that led to the mental warrior no that's really awesome, because you are hitting on.

00:11:54.090 --> 00:12:06.943
Something that I think a lot of people don't pay attention to, especially in our industry, is what can you do for yourself If you let the tachometer rev all the way up to 8,000 RPM?

00:12:06.943 --> 00:12:11.221
That's not the time you want to start figuring out how to back things down.

00:12:11.221 --> 00:12:15.297
You need to start figuring out when you get up to 2,000 or 3,000 RPM.

00:12:15.297 --> 00:12:18.081
All right, how do I start dealing with it?

00:12:18.081 --> 00:12:29.238
So you have to learn how to deal with it before it gets bad, and I know in your case you were talking about from the very beginning, you didn't know how to manage your emotions.

00:12:29.238 --> 00:12:35.572
When you say manage your emotions or acknowledge your emotions, what do you mean by that statement?

00:12:36.094 --> 00:12:49.095
What I'd like to tell people is a mental health warrior embraces the full spectrum of emotions, so I want to know and accept and be able to work with and learn from everything, from the best to the worst.

00:12:49.095 --> 00:13:03.041
And the reason that's so important is I think we also focus sometimes on we just need to be okay with dealing with the tough emotions, the dealing with the death and somebody dying in your hands as a first responder trying to save people.

00:13:03.041 --> 00:13:10.441
Obviously, we need to learn, through those tough ones, to process the emotions, and what I also mean by it is we.

00:13:10.441 --> 00:13:39.261
I have a kind of a three-step thing is basically you accept the emotions and then you process them, which is basically thinking what lessons they're teaching you and if you, when I've seen people pass away and we've been unable to save them, the lesson I learned was that we can't control everything in life, but we can also then turn around and celebrate life more because we're still here and we're trying to help people and people should be proud of that At the same time.

00:13:39.261 --> 00:13:41.759
Then you can take action and that's like the third step.

00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:52.999
So the idea of processing or getting comfortable with emotions to me is a three-step process where you learn to accept them and then you also feed them into your day so that they build your strength.

00:13:58.350 --> 00:14:00.475
And the reason I say the full spectrum is when you look at the good emotions.

00:14:00.495 --> 00:14:02.278
A lot of times we downplay that and we downplay even just a normal day.

00:14:02.298 --> 00:14:27.602
And there are so many amazing things I found because, I'll tell you, when I was in the darkness of depression and bipolar would send me in it for weeks at a time Today, if I can get up and I can see just going out to get my morning soda and the joy of just driving out and not being in a rush, not having 17 problems I caused last evening, that is a fantastic thing that I should celebrate and that is celebrating all of life.

00:14:27.909 --> 00:14:30.455
So we're celebrating again all the good things too.

00:14:30.455 --> 00:14:42.933
And I think that's what I'm trying to say with this program is we get people to accept all that and then you also remove the limits because again you can use the good to motivate you to keep going.

00:14:42.933 --> 00:15:02.576
You can use I made some progress today and I made progress this week on, say, bipolar disorder, my anxiety disorders, and I look and I say, boy, years ago the whole week was filled with stress and anxiety and I would bail out of everything possible because I was just so scared to go and do anything with people or interact.

00:15:02.576 --> 00:15:06.873
Today I'll look back and think a week wow, look at these accomplishments.

00:15:06.873 --> 00:15:12.332
I may have been nervous, but again, it's so positive that now I'm ready to tackle the next week.

00:15:12.874 --> 00:15:17.124
No, and that's a good way to approach it little by little.

00:15:17.124 --> 00:15:28.798
But you said you started real early as a first responder and when you have traumas early on in life, sometimes they stick with you for the rest of your life.

00:15:28.798 --> 00:15:47.235
That's just a reality and a lot of times particularly when you talk about volunteer firefighters or you're talking about folks that are explorers or things like that, that are young in the process if they're not taught early on how to start processing things, they can have a really hard time as they go further.

00:15:47.235 --> 00:15:54.873
But during your time that you were working through all of these things, it sounds like you've had your ups and you've had your downs.

00:15:54.873 --> 00:15:57.739
How did you know you had a problem?

00:15:57.739 --> 00:16:00.711
What was the first trigger that man?

00:16:00.711 --> 00:16:01.714
There's something not right.

00:16:01.714 --> 00:16:03.820
I need to probably stop and look at it.

00:16:03.820 --> 00:16:07.076
What was your first signal, bruce, that you probably needed to take some steps?

00:16:08.279 --> 00:16:23.143
There were two things One, with some of the challenges I have, so the anxiety or the bipolar, I was always at the ends of the spectrum of emotions, so either it was almost like flat and everything was so depressive always at the ends of anxiety and that.

00:16:23.143 --> 00:16:32.734
So I knew, and I think a lot of people know, that you're not I don't want to say gliding through life that sounds too long but you're, that you're struggling with your emotions.

00:16:32.734 --> 00:16:38.063
That was my first clue, because they were spinning around so much and I couldn't seem to handle them.

00:16:38.063 --> 00:16:52.955
The second part was experiences and when I started to find that I just didn't want to talk about them, I didn't want to acknowledge them, or I also found there were times when I acknowledged them, but it was a very flat line.

00:16:52.955 --> 00:16:58.400
So you have to become aware and I'm talking about, like some of the experiences, the EMT early on and things like that.

00:16:59.270 --> 00:17:05.544
And it was very important to me to realize and step back a bit and start to see how I was treating my emotions.

00:17:05.544 --> 00:17:12.499
And that's the part where I started to think I had some problems, some issues, and I did start to go to some doctors.

00:17:12.499 --> 00:17:24.683
Again, I want to throw my story and have to date myself a little bit here, but this was 20, 30 years ago and times were so different there wasn't even any information to give me a starting point.

00:17:24.683 --> 00:17:30.000
I like to think today we have lots of starting points for people and they can help to at least figure out a little bit.

00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:36.720
I would go to a doctor, wouldn't even know what to say, so it took a long time to track it down and diagnose it.

00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:41.976
But it's that awareness is my, is basically where I'm going, Sure.

00:17:42.195 --> 00:17:53.298
So when you were aware you had a problem and I know you said you've had lots of things going on, you had interactions with the police and all kinds of things and what was the point?

00:17:53.298 --> 00:18:09.401
That you were at your lowest before you started that rebound to come back up and it's good to see that you have another chance to make a big change in your life and help others but what was that lowest point you hit where you knew that it was time to turn around and start making the track back up.

00:18:10.250 --> 00:18:17.556
And I'm not trying to be too obvious, but when I just decided to end it and end my life, the point came out of the blue.

00:18:17.556 --> 00:18:21.351
It wasn't planned, it wasn't that, I had just had enough.

00:18:21.351 --> 00:18:25.980
And I think what happened it was a wake-up call where I stepped back.

00:18:25.980 --> 00:18:36.614
Now I'm not saying you have to get to that point, but I'm saying great way is if you step back for a few days and look at how you're living your life.

00:18:36.614 --> 00:18:38.278
And that was that point I did.

00:18:38.278 --> 00:18:40.411
Now, I had to do it because I was forced to.

00:18:40.411 --> 00:18:43.700
At that point, you know, I had to stop work, I had to stop everything in life.

00:18:44.442 --> 00:18:58.086
But basically, my lowest point was when I took a real hard look at myself and how I was living and I said to myself you can continue this way because you know, I've managed to do this for 20 years and lots of people do this.

00:18:58.086 --> 00:19:00.395
We get through the day and we just get through the next day.

00:19:00.395 --> 00:19:05.633
But I stopped for a few days and asked myself a singular question.

00:19:05.633 --> 00:19:08.219
I said is this what the path you want to take?

00:19:08.219 --> 00:19:10.042
Is this how you want to live?

00:19:10.042 --> 00:19:24.941
And and I finally had to get honest with myself and say no, that I was willing to take that 1% chance that there might be a better direction which would be accepting things, dealing with my challenges, dealing with problems.

00:19:24.941 --> 00:19:26.932
And that was the turning point.

00:19:26.932 --> 00:19:31.036
It was that little conversation with myself over a day or two, Sure.

00:19:56.744 --> 00:19:56.845
Sure.

00:19:56.845 --> 00:20:02.117
So once you started that path back I know you've talked about that there's what are the things that have really helped you make those small progressive steps yourself?

00:20:02.984 --> 00:20:09.707
The biggest thing I decided to do was to throw myself into this, into learning about emotions and helping others.

00:20:09.707 --> 00:20:14.756
What I had done was as the first responder, and I wanted to replicate that.

00:20:14.756 --> 00:20:19.835
So I decided to leave the IT field and do something to help people with this.

00:20:19.835 --> 00:20:27.434
And so what I started to do was some of the basic stuff take care of myself better eating, try to do some general things.

00:20:27.434 --> 00:20:42.857
But I started to put together this program and the biggest thing I started to do was to talk to others, to talk to people, and that meant being open to talking to doctors, being open to talking to family and starting to accept what they had to say and learn from that.

00:20:42.857 --> 00:20:49.788
And that was the start of how I started to put together the program, and the idea being is it came as I was growing.

00:20:49.788 --> 00:20:57.221
I was building the program, so some of the things I needed to do for myself I put into the program.

00:20:57.221 --> 00:21:30.255
So I needed some structure and I decided I'm going to be a mental health warrior and I want to encourage other people to be that, and there's some components to it, and one of the components is a warrior creed where I would bend, not break, and so I started applying those things each day and I started to say it doesn't sound like a lot three words, but when you stop breaking over everything which means running back for me to short-term solutions like drinking or checking out then you can make a huge difference in your day, in your week and the next thing you've built a lot of those changes.

00:21:30.255 --> 00:21:35.053
Like we said, all those small changes add up and it's fantastic how you move forward.

00:21:35.053 --> 00:21:37.319
Sure, I also started to realize that the second part was while I.

00:21:37.319 --> 00:21:38.904
All those small changes add up and it's fantastic how you move forward.

00:21:40.285 --> 00:21:43.030
I also started to realize that the second part was while I was taking care of my mental health and emotions.

00:21:43.050 --> 00:21:58.309
Another big part of the program was the values, what I valued in life, and I was so caught up in material goods and the never ending having to have more bigger is better, everything needs more that I had no time for a life and I always didn't even realize how much pressure I'd put on myself.

00:21:58.309 --> 00:22:07.577
Again, I feel like it's some of these other outside I call them mindset or lifestyle changes that have a big impact on our mental health.

00:22:07.577 --> 00:22:10.171
So what I started to do is take care of those things.

00:22:10.171 --> 00:22:47.051
I started to simplify my life, and this is like one of the books I've written is about one bag life, where it's about less stuff, more experiences, and that made a huge difference in my mental health because I was going after living life and again, there's a lot less overhead, obviously, and a lot less stress and pressure when we're not going after a million material goods, absolutely Simplification I think the modern term is minimalism that seems to be a big push around the world and it seems that people are happier when they have less things to worry about.

00:22:47.874 --> 00:22:51.847
And that's one of the things as I've gotten older, I've learned to.

00:22:51.847 --> 00:22:54.731
I'm trying to produce more and consume less.

00:22:54.731 --> 00:23:01.421
I try to give more back to, whether it be when I'm dealing with my son and working with him, or even with my wife.

00:23:01.421 --> 00:23:11.493
I try to make sure that I give quality time and it's not about where we're going, it's about the fact we're going together and that's how a lot of that works.

00:23:11.493 --> 00:23:13.952
And you talk about the warrior creed.

00:23:13.952 --> 00:23:15.130
I've heard a lot.

00:23:16.605 --> 00:23:21.875
I've got several friends that work in the mental health realm and one of the things is trust the program.

00:23:21.875 --> 00:23:27.073
Once you find the path, trust the path, it'll be fine from there on in.

00:23:27.073 --> 00:23:34.913
And sometimes getting to that point is the hardest is admitting you have a problem or you need help.

00:23:34.913 --> 00:23:37.297
That's always hard to do.

00:23:37.297 --> 00:23:47.874
But I know one of the things that you mentioned in particular and I know this is a reality for a lot of first responders and that's self-medication, and most frequently with alcohol.

00:23:47.874 --> 00:23:59.573
A lot of times I know it can be turned to by first responders as a better way to sleep, because sleep is something that is foreign to us for many reasons at times.

00:23:59.573 --> 00:24:06.548
Sometimes they turn to it to cope with what's going on around them, to forget something.

00:24:06.548 --> 00:24:22.116
When you start talking about this self-medication and things like that, what are some signs that you have an issue that you need to address with that before it starts impacting your life, your family, your job, your marriage and things like that?

00:24:22.845 --> 00:24:26.759
I found for me the biggest thing was it was like my go-to.

00:24:26.759 --> 00:24:29.728
It was the way to handle anxiety.

00:24:29.728 --> 00:24:34.637
It was a way to handle those bad memories, bad experiences, and I put it first.

00:24:34.637 --> 00:24:40.569
And I find if you put that first all the time, that might be a good indication right there.

00:24:40.569 --> 00:24:47.076
If you're using that as a solution all the time, you're definitely hiding and you're probably hiding, like I was, from your emotions.

00:24:47.076 --> 00:25:05.718
And that's the second part too is a lot of times I turn to the alcohol and then the emotions would come out and of course you'd have a few and you release your inhibitions, but then the anger, the frustration at life or unable to save somebody, or just the injustice of it would come out.

00:25:05.718 --> 00:25:19.480
So another thing is, if you find your emotions are going to the extreme even if you just start to have a few all the time, but that sends you to the extremes that to me was another warning sign that maybe I'm choosing the wrong solution.

00:25:19.480 --> 00:25:23.394
You know, maybe I'm choosing the wrong answer to handle what's happened to me.

00:25:24.037 --> 00:25:25.991
Yeah, and that is a good point.

00:25:25.991 --> 00:25:46.236
You have to know yourself better, because you know yourself better than anybody else when it comes to when something doesn't feel right or something is not where it needs to be whether it be the alcohol, or even if you've got other conditions that need addressing you're the one that knows when it's not right and it's time for help.

00:25:47.244 --> 00:25:58.528
Right and again, to phrase it in the warrior terms, mindset rules are one of the warrior weapons I created and I ended up actually creating a whole book of 53 of them.

00:25:58.528 --> 00:26:02.626
Now they're rules, but they're not rules that you follow in a traditional sense.

00:26:02.626 --> 00:26:14.487
They're reminders of certain truths in life that you can use every day to keep yourself growing as a person, to keep yourself out of trouble, and one of them, for example, is mindset.

00:26:14.487 --> 00:26:21.805
Rule two that I depend on all the time, and even used at the beginning, was learn to respond, not react, and that made a huge difference.

00:26:21.805 --> 00:26:27.645
Again, like we're saying, if we just let everything boil up all the time, we don't get good answers ever.

00:26:27.645 --> 00:26:35.950
And that mindset rule you can use by just jotting it on a piece of paper or reminding yourself in the morning today I will respond, not react.

00:26:35.950 --> 00:26:38.955
Right and hugely helpful to build that mindset.

00:26:39.435 --> 00:26:49.228
Yeah, and mindset, like you said many times, is the key and it's that warrior mindset that you're not going to give up, you're going to keep moving forward regardless.

00:26:49.228 --> 00:26:53.133
That will help you make the most progress.

00:26:53.133 --> 00:27:00.530
But during your time with the Mental Health Warrior program, how many folks have you interacted with?

00:27:00.530 --> 00:27:04.368
How many folks have you worked with, have you helped with this program?

00:27:05.612 --> 00:27:11.211
Well, I don't have an exact number, so we've got hundreds of different ways I communicate with people.

00:27:11.211 --> 00:27:15.156
So I have worked with people direct, when I run into them a lot.

00:27:15.156 --> 00:27:16.849
I've also given talks at companies, things like that.

00:27:16.849 --> 00:27:17.492
So I have worked with people direct, when I run into them a lot.

00:27:17.492 --> 00:27:18.817
I've also given talks at companies, things like that.

00:27:18.817 --> 00:27:22.868
So I've direct where we're on a Zoom call we'll have a question and answers, and things like that.

00:27:23.530 --> 00:27:32.816
The biggest joy I get with it is I've put together all the resources in books and a challenge point and carry around to empower people.

00:27:32.816 --> 00:27:40.436
And then I try to interact with them daily, almost, if you will, through my blog articles to keep them motivated, offer new tools.

00:27:40.436 --> 00:27:44.809
I also go out and do interviews like this to bring the word out to people.

00:27:44.809 --> 00:27:51.015
But I also find what's amazing is things like just wherever you go, I end up talking about it.

00:27:51.015 --> 00:27:55.785
So I don't have, like you would, traditional appointments set up or something.

00:27:56.346 --> 00:28:02.515
But I can't tell you the number of times I've been in the line at the grocery store, maybe wearing my little shirt, and somebody says what's mental health warrior?

00:28:03.205 --> 00:28:09.684
I tell them about my challenges and I get to open the door for a great conversation and then we talk.

00:28:09.684 --> 00:28:25.569
And sometimes we talk so long that we've both gone through line and the groceries are put away, and yet we're still speaking, because I feel so many people just need that that door opened and then you can empower yourself, then you can take charge and that's where the resources I built come to play.

00:28:25.569 --> 00:28:32.991
Then you can do what you were saying be prepared each and every day and start to empower yourself, grow to accept things.

00:28:32.991 --> 00:28:45.708
And again, I'd love to have a great number, but I just keep talking to more and more people through everywhere I run into them in all sorts of interesting locations and talks like this.

00:28:45.708 --> 00:28:50.211
And this will lead to other discussions on social media and things.

00:28:50.211 --> 00:28:59.727
And again, I like to say that because I like to use all the electronic communications these days, because before it was so hard to communicate and it was so hard to find information.

00:28:59.727 --> 00:29:03.184
I think it's fantastic what we can do today to talk to everybody.

00:29:03.674 --> 00:29:08.267
And when you get to be an old fart like me, understanding social media is not easy.

00:29:08.267 --> 00:29:22.688
So the reason I do this podcast is to talk about the things that impact us in our industry but, more importantly, how to build a stronger first responder from the inside out.

00:29:22.688 --> 00:29:26.777
And the social media is huge, reaching out.

00:29:26.777 --> 00:29:31.488
Even if it's just a funny comment that gets people thinking.

00:29:31.488 --> 00:29:36.847
If it's a clip from this interview that goes out, it gets people thinking.

00:29:36.847 --> 00:29:41.006
And I know that you mentioned that you do a lot of multimedia stuff.

00:29:41.006 --> 00:29:54.925
You have a podcast you do yourself and things like that Do you think that through podcasting, through social media and these interactions I know one-on-one personal interaction is the best thing that's going to slice bread.

00:29:54.925 --> 00:29:57.315
It doesn't get any better than that Right?

00:29:57.315 --> 00:30:09.328
Do you think that if somebody hears our conversation today and that motivates them to seek help talk to a buddy at work do you think you've done your job?

00:30:10.570 --> 00:30:12.903
I do and I do believe we can do that.

00:30:12.903 --> 00:30:18.519
And that's one of the things where I know earlier we talked and I went on a little bit long, but on my story You're fine.

00:30:18.519 --> 00:30:24.063
I know earlier we talked and I went on a little bit long, but on my story, because anytime I can share that story I want to show people and I've had this happen.

00:30:24.063 --> 00:30:32.288
Back when I was stuck in my challenges, I might have picked up a book and read about somebody who was willing to stand up and talk about it, and that's what I love.

00:30:32.327 --> 00:30:42.897
What we're doing, and these podcasts, any way to bring the message out, I think can help people Absolutely, because it really it goes back to your point.

00:30:42.897 --> 00:30:48.397
It all starts with us and accepting who we are and what challenges we have, and you never know.

00:30:48.397 --> 00:30:59.962
Sometimes you need, like myself, you need weeks or months before you're going to come to terms and have that talk with yourself and say, hey, I might have challenges and then, hey, I want to do something about them.

00:30:59.962 --> 00:31:18.550
And I think what we're doing is open the door with that conversation but also providing then some direction, and that's again what I'm hoping to do with the program is having all these various books and different things you can use so that people can pick and choose what do they need for their life and what will work best.

00:31:18.643 --> 00:31:26.836
Right them pick and choose what do they need for their life and what will work best, right A lot of times, particularly in the first responder realm field, industry, whatever term, you want to use.

00:31:27.638 --> 00:31:33.088
A lot of our problems come upon us later in our career.

00:31:33.088 --> 00:31:42.282
I run a nonprofit, the North Carolina Firefighter Cancer Alliance, where we focus on cancer and the fire service, and that's a huge thing, right.

00:31:42.282 --> 00:31:49.449
But we've learned that if your mind's not in the game, it's hard to make a complete recovery or an efficient recovery.

00:31:49.449 --> 00:32:00.576
If you're not eating well, if you're not sleeping, it's hard to push off the exposures and you're weakening your body when you are exposed to carcinogens and things like that.

00:32:00.576 --> 00:32:10.624
So it's a huge big circle and mental health is definitely one of the cornerstones of that and that's why we always tell people if you think you need help.

00:32:10.624 --> 00:32:12.788
It's okay to not be okay.

00:32:12.788 --> 00:32:15.319
Ask somebody, talk to somebody.

00:32:15.319 --> 00:32:23.884
Even if it's you know, somebody that you met in line at the grocery store, that might be the kickover to get you doing what you need to do.

00:32:24.705 --> 00:32:28.482
Exactly, and sometimes I'll even throw in, as we talked about social media.

00:32:28.482 --> 00:32:48.078
I like to do blog posts and I right now I've been posting a lot of interesting kind of fun articles to bring in tools you can use, but using analogies, trying to make it a little less clinical, a little more fun, so that we can accept our challenges or maybe even chuckle a little bit, but you can comment back and then we can comment back.

00:32:48.078 --> 00:32:50.044
You can start online conversations.

00:32:50.044 --> 00:32:53.499
I know, I agree with you, it's not as great as being in person.

00:32:53.499 --> 00:33:12.108
But with the hectic pace of life and with everything that goes on, I figured we might as well also use those devices that everybody has in their hand that phone and if we can reach people and give them something to look at for five, six minutes, maybe that'll help them have the courage then to talk to their family, friends or anybody.

00:33:12.209 --> 00:33:16.203
Yep, absolutely, and sometimes five minutes is all it takes to make a difference.

00:33:16.203 --> 00:33:24.586
Yep, so, bruce, if folks want to learn about the Mental Health Warrior Program, where can they learn about you, find out about you and all that good stuff?

00:33:25.414 --> 00:33:31.185
Well, the website is brucechutercom, so it's S-C-H-U-T-E-R.

00:33:31.185 --> 00:33:32.828
I know it's an odd spelling.

00:33:32.828 --> 00:33:36.986
So I always tell people go to a search engine and type in Mental Health Warrior Program.

00:33:36.986 --> 00:33:39.462
That will also get you there a little bit easier.

00:33:39.462 --> 00:33:47.563
But that website has all the information about this program I've created.

00:33:47.563 --> 00:33:49.990
It has everything about my story, it has links to the blog, it has links to the podcast.

00:33:49.990 --> 00:33:51.676
It has all the books that I've created.

00:33:51.676 --> 00:33:56.635
I've also created a Mental Health Warrior Challenge Coin and you might be familiar.

00:33:56.635 --> 00:34:01.163
I worked with the military at one point and they have the challenge coins about size of a silver dollar.

00:34:01.183 --> 00:34:05.459
We have several of them Okay, and it serves where you served or something.

00:34:05.459 --> 00:34:09.135
You met that challenge, and the same thing with a lot of recovery groups.

00:34:09.135 --> 00:34:12.724
You love to have something tangible and I thought where's our mental health one?

00:34:12.724 --> 00:34:15.782
So I created a mental health warrior challenge coin.

00:34:15.782 --> 00:34:20.699
Oops, I always carry it around, so I have it here, but and it has warrior wisdom on the back.

00:34:20.699 --> 00:34:24.596
But the idea is we have something tangible to carry with us each and every day.

00:34:24.596 --> 00:34:28.806
Those are all things you'll find on the website and there's links to them.

00:34:28.806 --> 00:34:32.463
You can read about the development of them and what purpose you can use them for.

00:34:32.463 --> 00:34:36.442
My idea is to encourage people and you can go there and sign up.

00:34:36.442 --> 00:34:43.041
We also have a newsletter so that we can keep in touch and I can keep showing you the new stuff we're creating and help everybody out.

00:34:43.481 --> 00:34:43.864
Excellent.

00:34:43.864 --> 00:34:47.664
It's good to know that, and in our show notes we'll have all your contact info.

00:34:47.664 --> 00:35:00.224
Bruce, I really appreciate you sharing your story and all the information that you have developed through your personal battles and your path of the warrior, so to speak.

00:35:00.224 --> 00:35:02.222
So thank you so much for that.

00:35:02.222 --> 00:35:08.186
There is something that I do for my own well-being and I have a question I'd like to ask you.

00:35:08.186 --> 00:35:13.849
Okay, all right, did you hear about the mathematician who was terrified of negative numbers?

00:35:13.849 --> 00:35:15.434
No, I did not.

00:35:15.434 --> 00:35:17.740
He would stop at nothing to avoid them.

00:35:17.740 --> 00:35:21.481
Okay, I have to tell a bad dad joke, and I feel much better after that.

00:35:21.481 --> 00:35:21.702
I did not.

00:35:21.702 --> 00:35:22.565
He would stop at nothing to avoid them.

00:35:22.565 --> 00:35:24.012
Okay, I have to tell a bad dad joke, and I feel much better after that.

00:35:24.012 --> 00:35:24.213
I love it.

00:35:24.213 --> 00:35:24.675
That's fantastic.

00:35:24.675 --> 00:35:26.740
You might feel worse, but hey, I feel better.

00:35:27.021 --> 00:35:30.460
No, trust me, I love to laugh at myself.

00:35:30.460 --> 00:35:34.405
I tell people, if you can laugh at yourself, that's a sure sign you're making improvement.

00:35:34.405 --> 00:35:36.096
Yep, because all of a sudden we're okay with it.

00:35:36.096 --> 00:35:38.777
Because all of a sudden we're okay with it Yep, we might have some mistakes we made.

00:35:39.239 --> 00:35:39.918
Absolutely.

00:35:39.918 --> 00:35:43.021
And, like we like to tell our folks, you've got your website.

00:35:43.021 --> 00:35:45.023
We've got allclearpodcastcom.

00:35:45.023 --> 00:35:56.692
If you go there you can learn about Bruce, you can learn about his programs, you can catch up on back episodes of our podcast, learn about everything from mental health to sleep to you name it.

00:35:56.692 --> 00:35:57.896
We've got it going.

00:35:57.896 --> 00:35:59.742
We've even got our new coffee out there.

00:35:59.742 --> 00:36:06.525
We've had challenge coins, but we've got coffee that we've got out to help keep the lights on for the nonprofit and things like that.

00:36:06.525 --> 00:36:08.702
So we have to keep moving forward.

00:36:08.702 --> 00:36:16.135
But we encourage you guys to listen in the future and, as we always say on our podcast, light your fire within.

00:36:16.135 --> 00:36:29.445
You have been listening to All Clear, firefighter Wellness.

00:36:29.445 --> 00:36:33.387
All Clear is presented by the North Carolina Firefighter Cancer Alliance.

00:36:33.387 --> 00:36:37.190
You can find out more about us at allclearpodcastcom.

00:36:37.190 --> 00:36:38.570
Leave us a message.

00:36:38.570 --> 00:36:41.373
We'd love to hear from you, like what you hear.

00:36:41.373 --> 00:36:47.677
Tell someone.

00:36:47.677 --> 00:36:51.510
All opinions expressed on the podcast Do not always reflect the opinions of the podcast.

00:36:51.510 --> 00:36:52.994
As always, light your fire with it.