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Beyond the Badge Finding Purpose and Joy After Policing · Heroes Behind the Badge

0:10
Paul Boomer: Previously on Heroes Behind the Badge, we opened the door to a
0:13
difficult truth, the weight our officers carry, and the cost of keeping it inside.
0:18
In this episode, we move forward toward recovery purpose and the work of
0:22
building a joyful life Beyond the Badge.
0:25
Here's part two, beyond the badge, the path forward.
0:29
Craig Floyd: That's- I wanna shift gears for just a moment.
0:32
we know, uh, bill has adjusted very well to his
0:36
post-law-enforcement career life, uh,
0:39
Bill Erfurth: supposedly
0:40
Craig Floyd: involved in so many great projects.
0:42
Depends on who you talk, depends on who you talk about.
0:44
Well, that's true.
0:45
it's subject to subjective, but, I, wanna go to David Berez.
0:51
Because one of the things that, Dave Howe's program a life plan,
0:55
deals with is the transition mm-hmm.
0:58
From either a military career to civilian life or a law enforcement
1:03
career to civilian life.
1:05
I mean, as we've alluded to a. That's your identity.
1:09
for 20 or 30 years, you're a cop and with a gun and a badge, and you
1:14
had all this authority and you could change people's lives in a second.
1:19
and now you're a civilian with none of those powers.
1:22
Your identity is lost.
1:23
You don't wear a badge anymore, you don't carry a gun.
1:26
Um, so David Berez.
1:29
What was your transition from law enforcement career, 20 years to civilian
1:35
life, and how did you deal with it?
1:39
David Berez: Well, it was a bit tumultuous and I did not deal with it with grace.
1:43
so for me it was a bit of a, a rough go.
1:47
And when I left it 20 years, I thought I had the greatest plan on the planet.
1:52
I was gonna be a stay at home dad.
1:54
I was gonna just do everything with my kids, which is awesome, by the way.
1:58
I, I enjoy every moment with my family.
2:00
And if I needed to work or wanted to work, I was just gonna be a greeter at
2:04
Walmart and say, Hey, how you doing?
2:05
Here's your weekly flyer.
2:08
But you know what?
2:08
That's not how I'm programmed.
2:10
That's not how my brain works, how my body works.
2:13
That would not be enough stimulation for me.
2:17
I quickly learned that being a stay at home dad as honorable and as awesome as
2:20
that was, I needed more immediately and, but I had lost everything that I knew.
2:27
I lost the ability to be that community influencer through
2:30
the platform of policing.
2:32
I lost the ability to have a say in an organization that I wanted to
2:38
take in maybe a different direction.
2:40
I've lost the ability to have any sort of meaning or mattering in my life.
2:45
And therefore the other parts of that equation went away too.
2:49
What was I accomplishing?
2:50
What was my relationships like?
2:52
I had to rebuild my marriage.
2:55
I had to rebuild my relationship with my kids.
2:58
I've lost all of the positive emotion or that I, I should say, I never gained any
3:03
of the positive emotion that I thought I was going to get upon retirement.
3:06
So for me, that un that transition was, was not graceful.
3:11
I became depressive in a way that I didn't really see coming.
3:15
I thought it was gonna be a good thing, but it actually went the other way.
3:19
And I didn't realize how bad I was until July 29th when my
3:23
buddy Danny took his own life.
3:25
And let's look at the timeframe that we have COVID mixed in.
3:28
We have.
3:30
Uh, you know, the civil unrest had all had just begun a couple weeks before that,
3:34
uh, following the George Floyd stuff.
3:36
So the timing was, was wild.
3:39
But when Danny died, I realized, you know what?
3:42
That may have been me, if I didn't catch this.
3:45
So I caught myself as a result of his death, and I realized I needed to make a
3:50
transition that was beyond the transition from law enforcement to civilian life.
3:54
I needed to identify what my new needs, my new purpose was.
3:57
Finding your why is so important and that why cannot be attached to the uniform,
4:03
the badge, the gun, the status, the title.
4:06
So when we think about.
4:08
Rank when we think about the uniform, those positions don't belong to us.
4:13
We are stewards of them along the course of our career.
4:18
I don't care if you're a patrolman that for life or PFL as we used to
4:22
call them, or if you rise to the level of chief of police in a major, you
4:26
know, metropolitan area, Miami-Dade, New York City, Chicago, any of them,
4:29
that position does not belong to you.
4:31
That job, that badge.
4:33
That honor does not belong to you.
4:35
You are steward of it.
4:36
So when that is no longer yours, you need to find something else to put that energy
4:41
into, or you're gonna run into trouble.
4:43
And I think the idea of life planning before you get to that stage of
4:46
retirement is super important because you can identify what your purpose is.
4:51
Your purpose may be service to others, but how are you going to
4:54
do that without the badge, the uniform, and the gun, or the title?
4:58
Wow.
4:59
Craig Floyd: Let me just say, David, that, uh, you have become incredibly purposeful,
5:04
maybe more so than you were as a cop with the work you're doing, the book you
5:08
wrote about resiliency and, and the, uh, training that you're giving other officers
5:15
to deal with the stress of the job.
5:17
Uh, you are literally saving lives, and, and I commend you for that, my friend.
5:21
I, wanna turn though to Dave Howe.
5:23
You've heard David Berez talk about the transition.
5:26
It wasn't an easy one.
5:27
You've seen it with yourself in your military career.
5:30
You've seen other soldiers, uh, deal with it.
5:33
how does a life plan help, address, the, transition from being a
5:38
military officer or a law enforcement to officer to civilian life?
5:44
Tell me about that.
5:47
Dave Howe: Well, again, uh, having a life plan is good at all points in your life.
5:55
there are certain milestones in life where it can be the difference
5:59
between success and failure.
6:02
Beginning your life as an adult is a critical milestone.
6:06
Transitioning out of the military or out of law enforcement is a massive change,
6:11
and a lot of people end up literally losing their identity when they take
6:15
that uniform off for the last time.
6:18
So having a written plan in advance that is holistically looking at all of the
6:23
aspects that make for a joyful life.
6:25
So not just what are you gonna do, make money, but you know.
6:31
Make sure your relationships are all where they need to be.
6:34
Make sure you have some kind of way of tapping into some kind of inner spirit.
6:38
Um.
6:40
Obviously you need to be solid financially.
6:42
You know, you have all these different components that go
6:45
into what a successful, plan is.
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And as you transition out of, a community like law enforcement, it really is
6:55
that much more important because unlike most of the civilian jobs, you know,
6:59
you were a shoe salesman for 20 years.
7:01
Okay?
7:02
We need shoe salespeople, but.
7:04
You're not suffering the same kind of loss of identity when you have sold your
7:10
last pair of shoes and you're moving on to whatever you're moving on to.
7:13
So this is a great way to make sure that people don't end up
7:18
in the situation that David has.
7:19
So, brilliantly described in his own life, where you suddenly literally start feeling
7:27
life is slipping away and you start.
7:29
You find yourself on a path that's, becoming darker and darker with each day.
7:34
And that's, that's ultimately how people end up, committing suicide is they
7:38
literally get to a point where living another day pain that is more painful
7:45
than the thought of ending their own life.
7:48
And that that's a truly, uh, difficult place for those that aren't.
7:55
Having any kind of suicidal thoughts to even understand much less,
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uh, uh, see that something like that could happen to somebody.
8:02
But it happens in the law enforcement community, almost every two or
8:05
three days happens in the military community almost two dozen times a day.
8:11
So it, it's, it's, it's a very simple way of making sure you end up on the right
8:16
path rather than on a path that leads ultimately, uh, potentially to nowhere.
8:22
Bill Erfurth: So Dave Howe, tell us, tell the audience we know, but.
8:27
Really put it in detail.
8:30
How are you bringing this together?
8:32
Who are you working with on this?
8:34
How is it going to be implemented?
8:37
Or how do you think the best possible way is to implement this, not only for
8:43
the military folks, which is where you started, but how it can it be integrated
8:49
into the law enforcement circles?
8:51
Dave Howe: Sure.
8:52
So there's a lot, uh, to unpack in, in that question, but
8:55
I'll focus, uh, initially, on.
9:00
The best way, I believe, to bring this to, and it's the way I'm presenting
9:04
it to, uh, the members of Congress and members of the military to bring it,
9:09
uh, as part of the Transition Assistance Program, uh, for the military, is
9:14
to create sort of this opportunity.
9:17
It wouldn't be a formal program like what the military has
9:19
necessarily, but before you leave.
9:22
You've got your retirement papers in, or you've indicated that you're gonna go do
9:27
a different career, that this would be part of that process to make sure that
9:32
you are leaving on good terms, not so much with the department, but you're leaving
9:37
on good terms within your own self.
9:40
And one of the things that I would emphasize on the way that this
9:43
program needs to be implemented is it's designed for the family too.
9:48
because if your family is in support of.
9:52
What you're doing and they realize that there is light at the end of the
9:55
tunnel, whether it's a 20 year career or you're about to walk out the door
9:59
for the last time, you are gonna be in a much, much better place to deal
10:03
with that transition than if the family, the wife, wants to go one way.
10:07
The kids want to go another way and you're charging in off,
10:10
uh, in some other direction.
10:12
And I truly believe, 'cause the data supports it, that having a, a
10:17
life plan that brings in the family.
10:21
into that, crafting of the, the actual written document, you're gonna see
10:26
a, a much lower, uh, divorce rate.
10:29
You're gonna see a much lower incident rate of children
10:33
acting, and obviously the,
10:38
in a much place, emotionally, mentally, financially, every other way, by
10:44
having a written plan that's out there, uh, that they can look at.
10:48
Craig Floyd: David Berez somebody.
10:49
And if an officer though, uh, just to finish that point, if an officer
10:53
individually or a department, maybe a chief or sheriff wanted to, implement such
11:00
a program, wanted or to develop a life plan within their own department or within
11:05
their own lives, who can they contact?
11:08
Uh, give us some.
11:09
Is there some person yourself perhaps that they should go to or your organization?
11:17
Dave Howe: Yes, actually, um, the, uh, best way to get additional
11:22
information is to just send me a simple email at, daveHowe@kenrusk.com.
11:29
Ken Rusk is the, uh, architect of the program.
11:33
Uh, he created it, uh, not for the topic that we're talking about
11:37
today, you know, mental health and suicide prevention and so forth.
11:40
He created it, uh, when his young daughter.
11:43
Uh, was going through a case of melanoma, uh, while she,
11:51
and he wanted to.
11:55
To leave her a roadmap so that she could continue, uh, assuming she
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survived, uh, a very serious illness, she could have a successful life.
12:04
And that was the thing that was the catalyst that created this
12:07
program in the first place.
12:08
So again, it, it's program is not focused to make people that have
12:12
mental health problems better, that is merely a additional benefit
12:16
of people way earlier in life.
12:20
Developing the, plan to make sure that they're really squeezing
12:25
every drop of joy that they can out of their time on this earth.
12:30
and if when you're doing that, you end up having a life that looks very much
12:33
like, uh, Bill Erfurth rather than people that, uh, we all know that, if,
12:40
if they won a million dollars, they'd complain that it wasn't 2 million.
12:43
The glass half empty people, uh, are really the ones who,
12:47
this isn't a negotiable thing.
12:49
They really need to have a written plan for how to get
12:51
back into a joyful existence.
12:53
Wow.
12:54
Um, those that are the half full kind of people, this is a nice to have
12:58
thing that really ensures they are getting every last drop of gusto,
13:02
uh, that they can out of, uh, however much time they have left on earth.
13:07
Bill Erfurth: So maybe we can drop your email into, uh, into
13:10
the podcast here at the end so people can see it and reference it.
13:15
David Berez.
13:16
So you heard what Dave said.
13:19
I know what both of you have been talking about.
13:24
tell the audience, tell the police chiefs, tell the police administrators
13:27
out there, how do we implement this?
13:29
How does this happen?
13:32
David Berez: So I think it needs to come from leadership.
13:35
There has to be buy-in from the top to understand that there are ways to
13:41
satisfy your, the people that work for you to be able to give you the best.
13:47
Nobody.
13:48
Leaves their job because of money.
13:50
Nobody leaves their job because they don't like the work they're doing.
13:54
People of most often leave their jobs because leadership is terrible.
13:57
So if you can show your people that you care, which is what leadership is all
14:01
about, there's a distinct difference between being a leader and being a boss.
14:05
If you're just a boss of your agency.
14:07
This is gonna be troubling for you to to implement because nobody's
14:10
gonna have the respect for you that this means something to you.
14:13
So if you are a leader of your agency and you implement an amazing program like this
14:18
where you're showing that you care for your people, which is what leadership is
14:21
all about, leadership is not about you.
14:23
Leadership is not about your title.
14:25
It's about how you show up for your people.
14:27
And if you implement a program like this for your people,
14:30
they will get that from you.
14:32
They will get that you care about them.
14:33
They will get that.
14:34
Caring for you is the best thing for the agency.
14:38
So yes, if we put leadership in a place where they embrace this and
14:43
lead by example and do a program like this for themselves as well.
14:47
'cause I don't care what kind of stars, bars, or whatever you got
14:49
on your shoulder, if you're not doing it by example, nobody's
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going to trust your authenticity.
14:56
So get in there with your people, lead by example.
14:59
Show them that at any stage in your life.
15:01
Having a life plan will only make the rest of your life better no matter where, what
15:05
point you start from and bring it down.
15:08
Let the youngest guy or the youngest girl in your department be part of that with
15:12
you and show them the path, model the behavior you wanna see from your people.
15:16
And it starts with giving people a good life.
15:19
Bill Erfurth: Well, what do you need?
15:21
What what?
15:22
do you need to get behind this?
15:23
Do you need sponsors?
15:25
Do you need money?
15:27
What do you need?
15:29
Money's important, Dave, right?
15:31
Dave Howe: Oh, absolutely.
15:32
yeah.
15:32
And actually, uh, well, again, the program is designed for every
15:36
member of, uh, the law enforcement community to include family members.
15:41
there are lots of money that are, I know are out there because I
15:45
know they're definitely there in the military, uh, community.
15:49
Or suicide prevention, mental health issues, wellness programs.
15:54
Um, and there are probably other buckets of money that are available
15:58
at the local, state and federal level.
16:00
So that, that's one funding source.
16:04
there's also the foundation, uh, which we're trying to, uh, uh.
16:09
Put a campaign together so we can get the funds necessary to provide
16:14
this program free of charge to those families that suffer that worst day when
16:20
their loved one goes to work as a law enforcement officer and doesn't come home.
16:24
So subject to the availability of funds, we would like to be able to provide
16:28
the program free of charge, where people from our uh, organization would
16:33
literally be part of the grief management.
16:36
Scheme, whatever that looks like for that particular, uh, law enforcement agency,
16:42
we would plug into and support their efforts to support that family so that
16:47
they can take that horrible, negative energy, you know, what do we do now?
16:51
And turn that into how they can truly envision positive life moving
16:56
forward that their deceased loved one would want them to have and not
17:00
get stuck in the grieving process.
17:03
I haven't really heard
17:04
Bill Erfurth: yet how you plan on this being presented.
17:07
Is this gonna be in service training at a police academy?
17:11
At at the police headquarters?
17:13
It gonna be conferences, conventions.
17:15
Talk about that.
17:17
Dave Howe: Basically just like no cops, no two cops are the same.
17:21
No two organization law enforcement organizations are the same.
17:25
So the program is very customizable to fit the particular needs and
17:31
operations of a particular department.
17:34
So there is no one size fit all, but it ranges everything from an online
17:38
version, which I actually don't recommend because what I've seen is.
17:45
The people that do well with the online course are the billers first of the world.
17:50
So yeah, their life becomes maybe a little bit better, but they were gonna,
17:54
they were gonna do really well anyway.
17:56
People that really, really need this are the ones that probably aren't
18:01
gonna get through a self-paced on your own, no outside accountability.
18:07
And you just sort of give them an online access.
18:10
And they hope, and hope that they make it all the way through and
18:12
come up with a, a role viable plan that they're gonna commit to.
18:17
So the way we recommend doing this is for an organization, uh,
18:21
department to contract with us.
18:23
We figure out what the right way is to do it, but mostly it's probably
18:27
going to involve a train the trainer model that I take from the military,
18:32
background that I have, which is we would come in, the department would
18:35
identify one or more super, uh, users that would then become the trainers for.
18:41
Future members of the department, we could do the initial training
18:44
at the same time so that you get a cohort of law enforcement officers
18:50
through the program at one time.
18:53
But then the plan would be we would take one step back, leave the train
18:57
the trainers there to, to train people as they come into the department and
19:01
or as they're leaving the department.
19:02
Whenever you think the critical milestones it are for that
19:06
particular, uh, agency and then we.
19:11
Provide quality control to the trainers to make sure that they're
19:15
providing the instruction exactly the same way that our people would do it.
19:19
And most importantly, we would review a number of the plans to make sure that
19:24
we're seeing the kind of quality that needs to be there for the plan to really
19:27
have the lifelong, support that the plans are decided, designed to provide.
19:36
You know, the plans are, are.
19:39
Written, but they're also designed to be updated as things in your life change.
19:44
So it's not a static thing where you do it, you know, when you're 20 something
19:48
years old, first day on the job, and that plan looks exactly the same 30
19:53
years later when you're walking out of the department for the last time.
19:57
There's a lot of interaction that needs to go on to make the plan a living
20:01
document, which is where you really get, the return on the investment or.
20:07
Putting a program like this into place, and Dave, lemme say, so train the trainer
20:11
is really the right way to do this.
20:13
Craig Floyd: I have, um, had a discussion with Dave Howe about
20:16
how we can maybe help amplify, uh, the availability of this program.
20:20
And I'm gonna be, uh, sending it out to the State associations of
20:23
Chiefs of Police, the state Sheriff's associations across this country, and
20:28
encourage them to share this program, availability to their membership.
20:33
So hopefully we citizens behind the badge.
20:36
We'll be able to help get the word out.
20:38
And in closing, Dennis, I wanna pass it on to you, but let me just say
20:42
that, uh, Dave, how hit on something interesting, he said, there's a lot of
20:47
officers like Bill Erfurth and I would suggest the overwhelming majority of
20:51
officers who probably end their career.
20:53
On a high note, they feel like they've accomplished something very,
20:57
uh, honorable, having served, uh, in the law enforcement profession, and
21:01
they go on to lead wonderful lives.
21:04
and this program will just make it that much easier for them, that much
21:08
better for them, uh, than it already is.
21:11
And yet there are officers who are struggling, and this would be a minority,
21:16
of the officer population, I would suggest having met so many of them.
21:21
But, uh, we need to make these types of programs positive
21:25
psychology, uh, resiliency training.
21:28
Uh, life plan.
21:29
Uh, those are important tools in making sure that our officers, uh, get through
21:34
their careers healthy and well, and, have a great life afterwards, a joyful life.
21:39
So, uh, thank you David and Dave for sharing all of this with us.
21:43
And Dennis, I'll turn it over to you to close.
21:47
Dennis Collins: Thank you, Craig.
21:48
I can't wait to get the transcript to this episode.
21:51
You guys drop gold nuggets all throughout this, episode.
21:56
And I, I, I, our listeners and viewers can get the transcript as well along
22:01
with, when they view this or listen to it, please get the transcript and look at it.
22:07
There are gold nuggets throughout from these two gentlemen.
22:11
I just have one more question.
22:13
A lot of police chiefs, a lot of sheriffs, a lot of, police management,
22:19
law enforcement, management have this little phrase that they use.
22:24
I want your opinion on this.
22:26
It's okay not to be okay.
22:29
I hear that from our sheriffs here in Florida.
22:32
I've heard of from police chiefs around the nation.
22:35
They do little videos for their troops.
22:39
For the guys, David, the two, Davids particularly and perhaps
22:44
Miller for can weigh in on this.
22:46
Is it okay to not be okay in policing today?
22:52
David Berez: I'll, I'll just, I'll tackle that real quick and say, yes,
22:54
it's okay to not be okay if you're going to get the support to be okay.
22:58
I would add to that it's also okay to be okay.
23:02
We don't have to be victims all the time.
23:04
Correct.
23:05
We can be in good shape.
23:06
We can be the best version of, we should be the best version of ourselves for our.
23:12
Agencies for our communities, and most importantly for our families at home.
23:16
That's where we need to be, is for our families at home.
23:19
The job is a job.
23:20
It's a good one.
23:20
It's an important one.
23:21
Our communities depend on us, but it's okay to be okay and if you're
23:25
not, figure out how to get there.
23:28
There are avenues, there are programs, but it's okay to not be okay, but only
23:33
if you're gonna do something about it.
23:34
If you're not doing anything about it, it's time to go.
23:36
Dennis Collins: We talked earlier about the stigma.
23:39
Bill Orford talked about that.
23:41
We all discussed that.
23:43
is there still a stigma to not be okay?
23:46
Are you in fear of your job?
23:48
Are you in fear of, uh, your reputation, et cetera?
23:52
Is there still that stigma?
23:55
David Berez: Uh, either I would say, I would say yes.
23:57
but I would also add that.
24:00
The leadership has a responsibility to make sure that what you have
24:05
is not going to be a problem for the agency or the community.
24:08
Absolutely.
24:08
Uh,
24:09
Dennis Collins: and this ties back, uh, Dave Howe, uh, about leadership.
24:13
This goes back to leadership.
24:15
We talked about this a lot during this episode.
24:18
Yeah,
24:19
Dave Howe: absolutely.
24:21
A program like the, uh, Program to develop a joyful life, plan of action,
24:28
it has to have the support of the senior leadership, for a number of reasons.
24:32
One, they have to emotionally believe in this or otherwise no one belong.
24:37
I mean, you can force people to sit and get another death by PowerPoint
24:41
experience, uh, uh, that I'm sure they're being subjected to all the times
24:46
on a wide range of ridiculous topics.
24:51
And, and in which case it's a waste of everybody's time.
24:55
This, actually can be a total game changer in so many ways.
24:58
I mean, everything from, you'll have not just better law enforcement officers,
25:03
but you'll have better law enforcement families to community does well.
25:07
The retirement community will be in better shape.
25:11
and you can actually see by finding an avenue.
25:16
Of creating a positive plan forward to get rid of a lot of that stress
25:21
that oftentimes leads to officer involved incidents, which when the
25:25
lawyers hear that, they're like, yeah, if I can bend the, the cost
25:29
curve of lawsuits and other, legal.
25:34
Trouble, through something like this, you know, it, it's a huge return
25:40
on the investment of the time and whatever money it might take to,
25:43
to implement a program like this.
25:47
Excellent, excellent.
25:47
Bill Erfurth: So, Dave Berez, we're talking about things that are okay.
25:52
It is okay for you to go ahead and promote your book.
25:54
So why don't you hold your book up for everybody?
25:58
Dennis Collins: What a segue.
25:59
What a segue,
26:03
David Berez: self-promotion for me is actually not very easy, so I
26:05
appreciate you putting that out there.
26:07
Then I'll do it.
26:08
A resilient
26:09
Dennis Collins: life, A cop's journey of Pursuit and Purpose, A Resilient Life
26:14
by David Berez, B-E-R-E-Z, Berez, right?
26:18
David Berez: That's it.
26:19
Uh, no thank you for, for doing that.
26:20
It's, uh, it's.
26:22
It's my life story and the tools I've used to overcome some of, some of the things
26:26
that have encountered throughout my life.
26:28
Uh, it ends before I actually got my education in all of this.
26:33
So I think somewhere along the line, there may be a part two,
26:36
but Sounds like the sequels.
26:38
Yeah.
26:38
We'll see.
26:39
But yeah, it's, uh, I, I appreciate you putting that out there.
26:41
It means a lot
26:41
Craig Floyd: me say I've read it.
26:43
I read it before it was even published.
26:45
Uh, I was given that honor.
26:47
It is powerful, it is riveting, and it is courageous.
26:51
Uh, he put himself out there.
26:54
you, you know everything about David Berez when you finish this book.
26:57
Uh, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
27:00
And uh, and he's using it for a good purpose now as he, um, serves
27:04
as a master resiliency trainer.
27:07
God bless you, David.
27:10
Dennis Collins: It's authentic.
27:11
It's, it's real.
27:12
It's not some, uh, performative bullshit.
27:15
It's real.
27:16
David Berez: So Craig and, and Dennis, thank you for mentioning that.
27:18
I appreciate that.
27:19
Uh, what I would add is, Craig, you have mentioned to me over the course
27:23
of our time since the book has come out about your shock on how I forgot
27:28
how to love and I learned how to ReLove, following my experiences.
27:32
And I would say love is the most important.
27:34
Thing that we do in life.
27:36
And if we forget how to do that, everything else begins to fall apart.
27:41
Uh, so a program that Dave is talking about with building all of these life
27:45
skills gives us the ability to focus on how we love each other because we're
27:50
not so concentrated on the little things that this life skill program will be
27:55
able to build for us naturally, where these things become natural for us.
27:59
So if we can have those items work for us, we can f. Get back to
28:05
loving each other in a way I don't think we're all doing right now.
28:09
And it, I know it sounds a little hinky, a little corny, whatever,
28:12
but the um, ability to build those relationships is so important because
28:17
that in the end is what matters.
28:19
Who cares how much money you made?
28:21
Who cares what your title was?
28:23
It's irrelevant if you don't have those relationships in
28:26
your life that support you.
28:27
And building a program like Dave is, is talking about, gives us the
28:30
ability to get back to those basics.
28:33
Dennis Collins: Well said.
28:34
And if you want more about, uh, the program that Dave is working with, uh,
28:40
the entrepreneur is named Ken Rusk, RUSK.
28:43
Did I get that right?
28:44
Ken Rusk.
28:45
you got that right.
28:46
And book.
28:47
This is
28:48
Dave Howe: his book.
28:48
Blue Collar Cash.
28:50
Blue Collar, which is a terrible title.
28:52
Yes.
28:52
And it's very confusing about, we've been talking about, uh, today.
28:58
Um, but.
29:00
he really wrote two books.
29:02
One is the virtues of blue collar work versus having to Go to College.
29:06
But mo half the book is a, a step-by-step description of how to craft your own,
29:13
uh, holistic plan for a joyful life.
29:17
Dennis Collins: Good.
29:17
And you can pick that up wherever books are sold.
29:19
And, uh, I, have done a little deep dive on that since meeting, uh, Dave
29:26
yesterday, and it's worth the dive.
29:28
So guys, we could go on and on.
29:31
I appreciate your being so vulnerable and transparent and so forthcoming.
29:37
With ideas on this very, very difficult subject.
29:41
Uh, I know that what Dave Howe does is more than just dealing with
29:44
police suicides, but I think that, I think Dave Berez would even agree
29:49
that is part of what has to happen and the blend between the positive
29:55
psychology and resiliency and a life plan, that's where the magic happens.
30:00
Happens, and that's the word that we as citizens behind the badge must spread.
30:05
Let me remind everyone, number one, thanks for listening.
30:08
Thanks for watching.
30:10
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31:26
Thank you, Davids, and we'll see you next time on Heroes Behind the Badge.