The cumulative effects of first-responder stress take a toll on your life and relationships. At Agate Counseling, I will help you take back your life, so you can do more of what matters. 🧵 agatecounseling.com

It's Monday. Remember... For those of you going back to work:

On to the next.

Found this playlist. Listening as I read: Haruki Murakami’s Late Night Jazz Music open.spotify.com/playlist/20…

Therapy be like

𝐀 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬. Recently, an LAPD officer was sh0t during an encounter with an armed suspect. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭. Incidents like this remind us that officer safety often comes down to the fundamentals! 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬. Never stop emphasizing the fundamentals. Stay Safe! 💙

As a Navy psychiatrist on a Marine base, I can tell you: my depressed Marines are already in peak physical shape with crystal-clear missions. Fitness and purpose help. They do not cure clinical depression. Oversimplified memes like this dismiss real suffering and delay proper treatment.

Broken sleep on shift does more than leave firefighters tired. This article breaks down how 24/48 schedules affect hormones, fatigue and cardiac risk, and what firefighters can do to recover more intentionally. trib.al/vMcSq1z

Brought this along on a business trip. I’m enjoying it more than I anticipated. Schopenhauer’s Porcupines by Deborah Anna Luepnitz.

An excellent piece, “Steven Hayes — the psychologist who developed Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) — coined the term “experiential avoidance.” He found that the more you treat your inner world as a threat to be managed, the more it becomes one. Three decades of research has confirmed it: experiential avoidance is one of the strongest predictors of anxiety disorders, depression, PTSD, and substance abuse. Too often, we hear the argument that “kids can’t handle discomfort anymore.” But I think that’s the wrong framing. The real piece is this: we’ve broken the system that lets humans read their internal world, and the consequences show up as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, addiction, and PTSD.”

For those of you who’ve recently been awarded a leadership position, congratulations. Continue to earn respect by mentoring every day. People still ask me to mentor, and I’m always honored to do so.

Bro got therapy

The first few times I watched No Country For Old Men, I remember it feeling so slow. I just finished the novel and this time watching the film, it feels like it’s moving so fast.

When bro gets therapy

“How does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?”

lol

The best street name you’ll see today.

Midnight fire and Cormac McCarthy.