Maine Responder

15/10/2026

New episode: Officer Joshua Herrmann - Recovery, Trauma, and Showing Up for Others

Officer Joshua Herrmann joins me for an honest conversation about addiction, 20 years in recovery, and how his lived experience now helps him connect people with support. We also talk about trauma, faith, law enforcement, and the importance of building trust before someone reaches a crisis point.

This episode includes discussion of addiction, trauma, and suicidal thoughts. Please take care while listening. Support resources are included in the episode description.

Officer Joshua Herrmann

Watch or listen here:

Officer Joshua Herrmann joins us for a candid conversation about ad...

08/10/2026

We believe supporting first responders goes beyond conversations behind a microphone.

We were proud to provide lunch for the recent STRUGGLE WELL class at the York County Regional Training Center - Maine

Programs like this give first responders the tools to navigate the challenges of the job, on and off duty, something we believe strongly in.

Keep up the great work!

We want to give a shout out to the Maine Responder Podcast www.maineresponder.com for providing lunch for last week's STRUGGLE WELL class. https://bouldercrest.org/program/struggle-well/

03/10/2026

Memento mori: remember that you will die.
Sounds dark. It really isn’t.
The point isn’t to spend more time thinking about death, but as a reminder to actually be here while we’re alive.
You still have some time.
New solo episode of Maine Responder: You Still Have Some Time.
🎙️ Full episode out now.

19/09/2026

Happy Birthday to Maine Responder’s own Billy Dries!

Great cop, great friend, and the proud owner of a truly magnificent mustache.

Hope you have a great day, brother. Thanks for everything you bring to Maine Responder and for keeping things entertaining along the way.

Happy Birthday, Billy! 🎂🚔🎙️

17/09/2026

New Episode! "Are We Our Own Worst Enemy? Self-Talk, Peer Support & the Stories We Tell Ourselves"

After getting some constructive criticism about negative self-talk on a previous episode, Elliott and Billy dig into the difference between negativity, self-doubt, and simply being realistic. Can recognizing that something is going to be difficult actually help prepare you for it? And when does realistic self-talk cross the line into something that holds you back?

The conversation moves into law enforcement, where mindset, training, confidence, and the stories we tell ourselves can have real consequences. After a difficult call, first responders may have the facts—but the mind can keep digging, filling in unanswered questions and creating a story around what happened. Sometimes, having everything you need means allowing the facts to simply be the facts.

Elliott and Billy also discuss peer support after critical incidents and the role supervisors and command staff play in making it accessible. Instead of asking an officer, “Do you want peer support?” and putting the decision on them in the moment, maybe leadership should simply set it up, make it available, and then get out of the way.

And somehow, all of that leads exactly where you would expect a Maine Responder conversation to go: Tom Selleck, old-school cop mustaches, questionable modern mustaches, and the possibility of a Maine Responder mustache challenge.

In this episode:

• Negative self-talk vs. realistic self-assessment
• Confidence, self-doubt, and preparing for challenges
• How training builds genuine confidence
• The stories first responders can create around difficult calls
• Knowing when to stop searching for an answer that may not exist
• Peer support following critical incidents
• Why supervisors may need to simply set it up and step aside
• Building peer support into agency culture
• The return of the mustache
• Billy is going to grow one

Conversations about the work, the pressure, and the lives shaped by service.

Maine Responder Podcast

After getting some constructive criticism about negative self-talk on a previous episode, Elliott and Billy dig into the difference between negativity, self-doubt, …

06/09/2026

A good one to put on the first responder radar. 🇺🇸

Ci**rs 4 Soldiers is a nonprofit that sends ci**rs to deployed U.S. service members. I happen to know one of the guys involved with the organization, so I personally know this is not only a great cause, but one I trust.

I bought a handful of sticks today and dropped them in. If you’re local and want to do the same, there are Ci**rs for Soldiers donation boxes at both Slow Burn Lounge locations in Portsmouth and Dover.

It doesn’t have to be a huge donation. Next time you’re picking up a few sticks for yourself, grab an extra one or two and drop them in the box. A small gesture here can mean a lot to someone serving overseas.

Check out Ci**rs4Soldiers.org to learn more about the mission.

Send a little piece of home overseas.

**rsForSoldiers

Help us send ci**rs and care packages to active-duty service members both at home and abroad today!

06/09/2026

There comes a point in a man’s life…

You’ve got the family. The house. The kids are growing up. You’ve handled your responsibilities.

At some point, you’ve earned it.

Grow the damn mustache. 😂

Apparently Billy has reached that point.

Maine Responder

10/08/2026

New Episode! "Maybe It Was Me: When the Job Becomes Your Identity"

What happens when the career you dreamed about doesn't become what you thought it would?

In this episode of the Maine Responder Podcast, Elliott and Billy have an honest conversation about identity, purpose, expectations, and disappointment in first responder careers.

We come into police work—and many first responder professions—with an idea of what we're joining. Brotherhood. Sisterhood. Camaraderie. Purpose. Lifelong friendships. A calling.

But what happens when reality doesn't match the version of the job we built in our heads?

Maybe the profession didn't fail us. Maybe some of our disappointment comes from asking the job to be something it never promised to be.
Elliott and Billy talk about the difference between finding purpose in the work and allowing the work to become your identity, why disappointment can hit first responders so hard, and why the academy and traditional Field Training Officer (FTO) programs may prepare officers to do the job without necessarily preparing them for what a career will do to them.

That leads to a bigger idea: what if we prepared new officers for the emotional side of a career with the same intentionality we use to teach tactics, policy, and procedure?

They also get into personal accountability, bad supervisors, missed promotions, mistakes, organizational disappointment, and the uncomfortable question that runs underneath the entire conversation:

How much of ourselves are we asking the job to hold?
Love the job. Take pride in it. Give a s**t about what you do.

Just don't forget who you are without it.
In this episode:

Identity vs. purpose • First responder culture • Police officer wellness • Career disappointment • Law enforcement leadership • FTO and officer development • Emotional intelligence • Personal accountability • Brotherhood and camaraderie • Life beyond the badge

What happens when the career you dreamed about doesn't become what you thought it would? In this episode of the Maine Responder Podcast, Elliott and Billy have an …

02/08/2026

We spend a lot of time talking about trauma in first responder professions. But what if one of the biggest threats to a long, healthy career isn't always trauma...

What if it's disappointment?

The disappointment that comes when the job, the people, or the organization doesn't match the expectations we walked in with.

This week, we're going to have an honest conversation about why that happens, why it affects us more than we realize, and how we can better prepare ourselves—and the next generation of first responders—for that reality.

If you've been enjoying the podcast, we'd appreciate it if you both could take a minute to like, follow, or leave a review. It genuinely helps us reach more people who might need these conversations.

Know someone who could benefit from this topic? Share it with them.

And if you have an idea for a future episode, head over to MaineResponder.com. You can join the email list to be notified when new podcasts and articles are released, or even leave me a voicemail with a topic you'd like us to cover.

See you this week.

Everyone talks about trauma in first responder professions. But wha...

28/07/2026

New Episode! "Don’t Drag Sh*t Into the House"

Some conversations last five minutes and somehow leave you exhausted.

You were fine before they walked into the room. Now you’re irritated, tense, anxious, or replaying the conversation in your head.

So how much of what you’re carrying is actually yours?

In this episode of the Maine Responder Podcast, Elliott talks about paying attention to what we absorb from the people around us—especially as first responders and leaders. We don’t get to avoid every difficult conversation, and sometimes the uncomfortable conversations are the ones we need to have.

But we can become more aware of what we carry away from them.

And there’s another side to it: if other people can change the energy we bring into a room, what are we bringing into theirs?

Because eventually the shift ends. You get in the car. You drive home. And the people waiting for you didn’t step in whatever you stepped in that day.

Check your boots.

You might have stepped in some sh*t today. That’s life.

Just don’t drag it through the house.

Some conversations last five minutes and somehow leave you exhausted. You were fine before they walked into the room. Now you’re irritated, tense, anxious, or repl…