Life Satisfaction Convergence: Late Bloomers and the Happiness Curve

Life Satisfaction Convergence: Late Bloomers and the Happiness Curve

Families, Leaders, Officers/Agents
[mc4wp_form id="746"] Dave and Katie Prestwich with their Favorite Non Alcoholic Beverage on New Year's Eve By Sgt. Joshua Browne, M.P.S. My Paradoxical Dissatisfaction Conundrum: As I progressed through my thirties and now into my forties, I could not conjure a satisfactory explanation for the disparity between my positive objective reality and my internal discord, manifested in general dissatisfaction for the current state of my life.  My marriage and family life were thriving, and I felt gratitude for the abundance permeating my existence.  I was growing professionally, academically and personally and I could formulate a concrete list of achievement in all these realms.  While I could appreciate the bounty I was experiencing, including meaningful experiences assisting others in their pursuit of achievement, in quiet moments, I felt haunted by a…
Read More
Service: A Pathway to Meaning and Healing

Service: A Pathway to Meaning and Healing

Families, Leaders, Officers/Agents
[mc4wp_form id="746"] By: Joshua Browne, M.P.S. This morning, I began pondering the mission of Heal the Badge Consulting, or simply put, the reason I have chosen to expend the effort to create articles, organize and deliver presentations, and finish my first book.  I asked myself why I “seek to realize the goal of fortifying law enforcement professionals, leaders and their families, by providing the necessary resilience tools for success within, outside and beyond the law enforcement career.”  I also pondered my extended vision to utilize my “law enforcement and academic experience, to lead individuals outside the first responder community, towards reconciling their traumatic experiences and realizing the meaning and growth embedded therein.”  It occurred to me that while I have articulated my motivation in various portions of my website, I…
Read More
The Healing Power of Autonomy: Attenuating Career Over-investment

The Healing Power of Autonomy: Attenuating Career Over-investment

Leaders, Officers/Agents
[mc4wp_form id="746"] By: Joshua Browne, M.P.S. The Meme of Autonomy The ability to pursue our own course is embedded as a meme or shared relic in western culture.  The concept of autonomy has been communicated in many cultural traditions throughout time, with its western cultural significance manifested in historical events, government structure, media productions and contemporary philosophy.  The founding document of the United States of America, the Declaration of Independence, can be characterized as a forceful assertion of the cultural tenet of individual sovereignty.  This value was so entrenched in the American cultural tradition, the idea of securing individual freedom was deemed worth reckless rebellion against the preeminent world military power, leading to the American Revolutionary War (Burger, 1988).  While the codification of individual liberty, as contained in the Bill…
Read More
First Responder Trauma and Resilience: Remembering the Resilient Majority

First Responder Trauma and Resilience: Remembering the Resilient Majority

Leaders, Officers/Agents
[mc4wp_form id="746"] Unintended Consequences Dr. Stephanie Conn’s (2018) recent book entitled, “Increasing Resilience in Police and Emergency Personnel,” commences with a chapter labeled, “Are Police Resilient?”  She explores the emergence of a growing trauma, PTSD and suicide awareness campaign within the first responder community, examining its positive implications for organizations, as well its unintended consequences.  As one engaged in the culture war, seeking to champion the cause of addressing first responder resilience needs within our organizations, I have often sounded the alarm in my articles, university teaching roles, training sessions and personal communication.  As Conn (2018) discussed in her book, the urgency in some of our communication drawing attention to first responder PTSD and suicide, may inadvertently portray the false idea that the preponderance of law enforcement and fire/paramedic personnel…
Read More
The Power of Gratitude: A Tribute to Leading with Encouragement

The Power of Gratitude: A Tribute to Leading with Encouragement

Leaders
[mc4wp_form id="746"] By: Joshua Browne, M.P.S. A Profound Feeling of Gratitude and Joy Recently, while reading a book entitled, “Prisoners of our Thoughts” by Alex Pattakos and Elaine Dundon (2017), I was suddenly struck with a profound sense of gratitude for the beauty of the authors’ creation.  The expertly crafted ideas expressing the profound truths, originating from Pattakos’ and Dundon’s (2017) operationalization of Viktor Frankl’s (1984) philosophies contained in the classic book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” penetrated my soul, infusing it with love and gratitude for both Pattakos’ (2017) and Frankl’s (1984) desire to encourage and elevate others.  As I connected with the profound principles contained in this book, I was inspired, enlightened, and certain the same spirit that encouraged these two elegant books was living inside of me.  These…
Read More
How Leading Emotional Resilience in Law Enforcement Supports a Gritty Culture

How Leading Emotional Resilience in Law Enforcement Supports a Gritty Culture

Leaders
[mc4wp_form id="746"] By: Sgt. Joshua Browne, M.P.S. Fundamental Misunderstandings and Culture I wonder if a significant portion of the deep cultural obstructions in the law enforcement community towards acknowledging and supporting emotional resilience ventures, can be traced to fundamental misunderstandings.  Our legacy cultural principle requiring steely grit, manifested in a “suck it up and drive on” philosophy, must be maintained within our operational capacity.  However, there is an unspoken and insidious rider attached to this philosophy that has been wreaking havoc on our profession for generations.  This deeply rooted cultural tenet was modeled for me beginning in the academy and reinforced by senior officers on the street.  After sucking it up and driving on, while operating in a traumatic environment, I was taught to ignore and mask the emotional implications…
Read More
Leading First Responder Well-being: Love as the Catalyst

Leading First Responder Well-being: Love as the Catalyst

Leaders, Officers/Agents
[mc4wp_form id="746"]                  Leading First Responder Well-being: Love as the Catalyst Emotional Well-being and First Responder Culture: Fortunately, a slow cultural shift towards first responder well-being is emerging.  Although much work remains in altering organizational cultural impediments towards realizing greater levels of success in the arena, I am encouraged by the steady positive developments in awareness, advocacy, education and mostly, the burgeoning cadre of leaders wielding love as a catalyst towards leading their subordinates, peers, and superiors towards recognition and action.  Especially in police and fire/paramedic cultures, where steely grit in the face of trauma and tragedy are expected and required, displaying vulnerability by acknowledging or expressing love towards colleagues can be problematic. Yearning for Resolution: Throughout my nearly 19 years in law enforcement,…
Read More
Positive Multi-Directional Leadership: Ascending, Descending and Horizontal Emotional Support

Positive Multi-Directional Leadership: Ascending, Descending and Horizontal Emotional Support

Leaders
[mc4wp_form id="746"] Positive Multi-Directional Leadership: Ascending, Descending and Horizontal Emotional Support By Joshua Browne, M.P.S. The Vital Role of Law Enforcement Professionals Law enforcement professionals perform a vital, but unique role in a free society.  Lt. Col. Dave Grossman (2004) postulated the rapid deterioration and subsequent annihilation of a free society, almost immediately following the removal of police officers, who regulate its delicate balance between individual liberty and safety.  Western society demands consistent, valiant and ethical performance from its police forces.   Police officers are among a small group of professionals, expected to suppress typical human emotional reactions to traumatic, stressful and life threatening circumstances.  Thus, when the public withdrawals from corrosive, dangerous and emotionally traumatizing events, it expects its police officers to confront such incidents with a measured and professional…
Read More