Ride Along with RobRide Along with Rob
No One Fights Alone
Rob D. shares his raw journey from medically retiring out of law enforcement, through depression and suicidal thoughts, to finding new purpose at Gigi’s Playhouse. Austin and Brad guide a candid talk about identity loss, tough retirement processes, peer support, and learning to give yourself grace on the bad days.
49:46•12 May 2023
Ride Along with Rob: From Medical Retirement to New Purpose
Episode Overview
- Medical retirement is a long, emotionally heavy process that requires self-advocacy, patience, and extensive documentation.
- Strong peer support and family backing can make the difference between feeling abandoned and feeling held during retirement and treatment.
- Losing the identity of being a cop or first responder can trigger deep depression, so planning to retire to something meaningful is crucial.
- Volunteering and then working with a new community, like Gigi’s Playhouse, can restore purpose, connection, and daily joy.
- Bad mental health days are inevitable; the key is accepting them, choosing small controllable steps, and giving yourself grace instead of self‑blame.
“You are not her. You are Rob. And I want you to be Rob.”
Rob shares how his post-retirement spiral looked in real life: “I had some days of depression that were just awful… at times I forgot to take showers.” He talks about nightmares, flashbacks, explosive anger, and the moment a therapist at Chateau challenged him with, “Do you want to be miserable for the next four years… or do you want to get right?” You’ll hear a rare, nuts-and-bolts walk-through of medical retirement: endless paperwork, anxiety, board hearings, doctor evaluations in lockdown facilities, and the emotional punch of being told, “Yeah, you’re done, sir.
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety and mental health when the badge comes off? This conversation follows Rob D., a medically retired Phoenix police sergeant, as he talks candidly about depression, suicidal thoughts, retirement, and finding purpose again. Aimed squarely at first responders and their families, the chat with hosts Austin Pederson and Brad Shepherd mixes dark humour, honesty and some pretty raw admissions.
You are to retire.” Rob doesn’t glamorise it; he admits feeling like his career was being signed off as a failure and describes the identity crash that followed. The mood shifts as he talks about volunteering, then working, at Gigi’s Playhouse, supporting children and adults with Down syndrome. From teaching sign language to karaoke with his “adults”, he finds a new kind of team and purpose. His boss telling him, “You are not her. You are Rob.
And I want you to be Rob,” becomes a turning point. Along the way, Austin and Brad tease out themes of self-advocacy, peer support, and learning to give yourself grace on the bad days. If you’re a first responder wondering what life after the job might look like—or how to survive until you get there—this ride along with Rob might be exactly the perspective you’ve been waiting for.
So what would it look like for you to retire to something, rather than just from something?
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