You’ve heard from experts who teach the tools.
Now meet the guy who had to use every damn one of them to save his own life.

Jim Burneka, retired Dayton firefighter/paramedic, wellness coordinator, and co-author of Overcoming Tuesday, joins Erin to talk about what happens when the helper finally admits he needs help too.

From hiding behind the optics of being “the strong one,” to quietly testing every program out there (Save A Warrior, neurofeedback, Center of Excellence, you name it), Jim’s story is brutally honest about shame, guilt, and the resistance to ask for help. But it’s also about the payoff: the moment vulnerability opens doors, relationships heal, and purpose comes back online.

Now he’s repurposed still serving, still leading, but with different weapons: peer support, education, and the Firefighter Health & Wellness Conference, where he’s helping others skip the snake oil and get to what works.

This episode is equal parts recovery playbook and permission slip: you don’t have to fix yourself alone, and you’re not broken because you need help.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Why wearing both “wellness coordinator” and “union rep” hats nearly broke him
• How shame and optics delayed him from getting real help
• The truth about “shopping” programs and sniffing out snake oil
• Why vulnerability is the key that unlocks peer support
• How repurposing gave him a new mission beyond the firehouse
• The origin of Overcoming Tuesday and why the name matters
• Why the Firefighter Health & Wellness Conference is unlike any other

MENTAL FIREPOWER

Repurposed ≠ Broken.
When the job changes, when your body changes, when life changes—you’re not done. You’re being repurposed. That shift is not weakness. It’s survival with meaning.

WHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR

• First responders resisting the idea of getting help
• Leaders worried about how “it looks” to struggle
• Spouses living with the fallout of silence and overwork
• Anyone trying to reconcile identity after the job ends
• Responders looking for real, tested resources

Overcoming Tuesday available online
Firefighter Health & Wellness Conference → exoticbeavercreek.com

Music from #Uppbeat

https://uppbeat.io/t/needmospace/chill-power

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