Beyond PTSD: First Responder Mental Health, Therapy & What Actually Helps | Dr. Matt StiehmBeyond PTSD: First Responder Mental Health, Therapy & What Actually Helps | Dr. Matt Stiehm
No One Fights Alone
Dr. Matt Stiehm shares his journey from law enforcement to therapy and talks with Kevin Thacker about first responder mental health, stigma, and modern trauma treatments. The conversation reflects on practical resources, emerging therapies and why officers need both wellness and clinical support.
1:11:27•8 Oct 2026
Beyond PTSD: Real Talk on First Responder Therapy and What Actually Helps
Episode Overview
- Mental health and wellness are linked but distinct, and officers need support in both areas.
- Finding the right therapist and building genuine rapport matters more than any single technique.
- Peer support is valuable, but agencies need clearer ways to hand officers off to clinical care when issues deepen.
- New trauma treatments such as EMDR, ART, brainspotting, ketamine and psilocybin trials may offer options beyond traditional talk therapy.
- Talking about mental health early and routinely can prevent crises, and seeking help should not be a career death sentence.
“I think the officers need to know that no one walks alone. We all walked in similar shoes.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety and mental health when the job itself is constantly testing them? This episode of *No One Fights Alone* zooms in on first responder mental health, with a special focus on police officers and those working in corrections, fire and medical services. Therapist and former law enforcement officer Dr. Matt Stiehm joins host Kevin Thacker to talk frankly about what actually helps.
Matt shares how he spent over two decades in policing, corrections and criminal justice education before retraining as a therapist, after realising "the crooks and the cops were the ones that needed the mental health." His experience on both sides of the badge lets him speak plainly about stigma, fear of career damage, and the myth that a therapist is a direct line to the chief.
A big chunk of the conversation centres on Matt’s First Responder Wellness Summit in Minnesota. He explains why he started it, stressing the difference between wellness and mental health and why officers need both. You’ll hear how he blends clinical professionals and cops in the same room, using real stories and practical tools, such as simple self-report questionnaires that work "no different than a thermometer" for anxiety and depression.
The episode also talks through emerging treatments for trauma beyond standard talking therapy: EMDR, accelerated resolution therapy, brainspotting, stellate ganglion block, ketamine and psilocybin trials. Matt is clear that "not all treatments are going to work for everybody, but the more treatments we have, the more success we're going to have." He and Kevin also highlight the gap between peer support and clinical care, and why normalising early, routine mental health check-ins could prevent crises down the line.
If you or someone you care about wears a uniform and carries heavy stories, this conversation might be a nudge to ask: who are you talking to, and what support could you add before things reach breaking point?
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