Episode
#056: Breaking the Silence: Trauma and Healing in First Responders — with Keven McNeill
- Podcast
- Sit Around the Fire
- Published
- Jun 16, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3529
- Processing state
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Summary
Most of us think the clock on trauma starts the first day on the job. Keven McNeill is here to tell you it started a long time before that. In this episode, Keven shares his journey through law enforcement, a defining 2016 incident, and the depression and PTSD that followed — and the long road back. What makes his story land isn't just the hard parts. It's the honesty about how trauma accumulates quietly, how it follows you home, and how the same hypervigilance that keeps you alive on shift can quietly take apart your life off the clock. As a former firefighter and paramedic, I've sat in a version of this. The culture, the pride, the unspoken rule that you handle it. Keven and I get into all of it — and where that culture has to change. We talk about what proactive mental health actually looks like (not the version you reach for after everything's already on fire), why leadership has to be part of the solution, and how the bravest thing a responder can do is find their voice and ask for help. In this conversation: Why trauma doesn't start with the uniform — and how childhood shapes who's drawn to this work Keven's 2016 incident and the aftermath that pulled him into a deep depression The toll 2020 took on first responders, and the weight of deadly-force decisions Hypervigilance — how it shows up at the dinner table, not just on duty, and why it's so hard to switch off Where leadership fails responders, and what it looks like when leaders "act like humans" Rebuilding identity and purpose after the career, and the journey to acceptance and giving back Resources mentioned: EMDR Therapy — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMDR Acute Stress Adaptive Protocol (ASAP) — https://www.firstrespondercenter.com/ Connect with Keven McNeil: LinkedIn — https://linkedin.com/in/kevinmcneil…