After The Tones Drop
Embark on a journey that goes beyond sirens and flashing lights After The Tones Drop Podcast provides a safe haven to explore, demystify, and destigmatize mental health and wellness for first responders.
Join Cinnamon and her guests as they pull back the curtain, sharing powerful stories and expert insights that resonate with the heartbeat of those who run towards danger when others step back. It's more than just a podcast; it's a lifeline for the ones who dedicate their lives to saving others.
In each episode, stories get unraveled and struggles behind the badges are shared, showcasing the human side of heroism. Discover the strength in vulnerability and the power in sharing. It's more than a conversation; it's a revolution—a revolution in mental health care for our first responders.
So, tune in for candid conversations, practical strategies, and a sprinkle of humor—because healing begins with understanding, and understanding starts here.
Let's break down the barriers, one episode at a time. Because after the tones drop, the real conversation begins, and we're here to make sure it's heard loud and clear.
Episodes
159 episodes
Who Protects the Guardians? Awakening a Culture That Has Failed First Responders
In this episode of After the Tones Drop, Cinnamon sits down with Ron Clark of Protecting the Guardian for a conversation that feels like a history lesson, a warning, and a call to action all at once.Ron has spent decades in and ...
When the Call Turns Critical: Mental Readiness for First Responders
Retired Las Vegas Police Captain Josh Bitsko spent 24 years in law enforcement and was one of the responding officers who breached the suspected shooter’s door during the 2017 Mandalay Bay mass shooting. In this episode of After the Tones D...
When Depression Comes Back: 3 Small Steps to Take Back Your Life
In this solocast, Cinnamon responds to a listener who asked a question a lot of people are quietly carrying: if I’m doing all the right things, why did depression come back?Cinnamon takes that question seriously and goes ...
Forgiving the Unforgivable with Rick Cheatham
What do you do when resentment makes perfect sense, but it is also slowly poisoning your life?In this episode, I sit down with Rick Cheatham for a raw conversation about forgiveness, bitterness, grief, and what it takes to heal when life...
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Wrong Place, Right Time: How the Boston Marathon Bombing Shaped One Officer's Mission
What if the worst day of your life became the thing that clarified your purpose?In this episode of After the Tones Drop, Cinnamon sits down with Michael Chase for a conversation about trauma, service, and the kind of perspective...
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The Rockstar of Mental Health: Mark DiBona’s Story of Survival
In this episode, I sit down with retired law enforcement officer and Protecting The Guardian founder Mark DiBona for a conversation about what really pushes first responders to the edge.We talk about accumulated trauma, bullying, alcohol...
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What Saves First Responders: Dena Ali on Peer Support, Belonging, and the Culture That Keeps People Alive
In this episode, I sit down with Dena Ali for a conversation that goes way beyond “one bad call.”We talk about firefighter suicide, peer support, belonging, bullying, leadership, and the culture inside first responder organizations that ...
How Healthy Firefighters Become the Standard with Ryan Provencher
Firefighters know how to maintain equipment. The question Ryan Provencher raises in this episode is simple and uncomfortable. Why don’t we apply that same mindset to the people wearing the gear?In this conversation, Ryan and I talk about...
Breaking the Trauma Inheritance | Dave Freeman on Suicide, Childhood Trauma, and Choosing a Different Ending
What happens when the trauma you carry didn’t start with you?In this episode of After the Tones Drop, Cinnamon sits down with Dave Freeman for a conversation that moves through childhood violence, emotional survival strategies, ...
Biohacking Sleep: What the FBI’s Sleep Expert Wants First Responders to Know
Sleep is not a luxury, and for first responders, poor sleep is not just inconvenient. It can impact mood, decision-making, trauma recovery, physical health, and even long-term brain function. In this conversation, Cinnamon...
Finding Magic in the Mayhem: A Fire Wife's Story of Death, Addiction and Finding her way to peace.
What does it take to find peace after chaos?In Episode 147 of After the Tones Drop, Cinnamon sits down with Kelly Cheatham for a deeply honest conversation about marriage, addiction, grief, and the long road to personal healing....
START Where You Stand: Commitment, Forgiveness, and the Courage to Rebuild
This episode is not a highlight reel. It’s a reckoning.I sit down with retired firefighter and transformational speaker Rick Cheatham and his wife Kelly for a raw, two-hour conversation about addiction, loss, paralysis, forgiveness, and ...
The Cost of A False Narrative: Separating Fact from Fiction of the Breonna Taylor Case
In this episode, Cinnamon sits down with former Louisville Metro Police Sergeant John Mattingly to talk about what really happened the night of March 13, 2020, and what it cost him to survive it.John was shot in the femoral artery while ...
The Responder Reset: 99 Ways to Regulate in Real Time with AK Dozanti
In this episode of After the Tones Drop, Cinnamon sits down with AK Dozanti, former deputy sheriff, victim advocate, wellness coach, and author of The Responder Reset: 99 Real-Time Tactics for Frontline Regulation.This ...
Healing Language That Hurts: How Good Intentions and Bad Metaphors Undermine Recovery
Episode 143: Healing Language That HurtsSome of the most damaging things we say about healing are said with the best intentions.In this short solocast, Cinnamon takes a hard look at the phrases we casually throw around when...
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Frontline Strong and the Power of Peer-Led Mental Health Support
Episode 142: Frontline Strong Together – When Support Actually Shows UpIn this episode, I sit down with Mike Mattern and Scott Taylor from Frontline Strong Together, a Michigan-based mental health program built by first r...
What Did I Say? Internal Accountability in High-Risk Roles with Justin Atherton
In this episode, I’m joined by Justin Atherton for a conversation every first responder and leader needs to hear.Justin spent twenty years in law enforcement as a SWAT breacher, detective, and training lieutenant. But it was a nine-week ...
It Takes 15 Years to Get 15 Years: Cinnamon's Sobriety Anniversary Episode
Episode 140: It Takes 15 Years to Get 15 Years – Cinnamon’s Sobriety Anniversary SolocastFifteen years ago, my life split into a before and an after.In this deeply personal solocast, I’m marking 15 years of sobriety and ref...
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Accountability, Leadership, and the Cost of Avoidance
Episode 139 | Doug White on Accountability, Leadership, and the Cost of AvoidanceIn this episode of After the Tones Drop, I sit down with Doug White for a conversation that isn’t comfortable, polished, or performative and...
New Year, Same You – And Why That’s Not a Bad Thing
January tells us to reinvent ourselves.Your body tells a different story.In this New Year’s solocast, Cinnamon pushes back on the pressure to start strong, fix everything, and become someone new just because the calendar flipped. Jan...
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When the Magic Feels Missing – Navigating Numbness and Disconnection During the Holidays
Christmas Eve is supposed to feel magical. For a lot of first responders, it just feels flat.In this solocast, I’m talking about the numbness that so many of you experience during the holidays and why it doesn’t mean you’re broken, ungra...
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When the Crisis Is Inside of You With Brad Shepherd
Episode 136: From Crisis to Connection with Brad ShepardWhat happens when the crisis isn’t on the call sheet, but inside you?In this episode of After the Tones Drop, I sit down with retired Oklahoma Highway Patrol Captain...
Backpacks, Badges, and Burnout: Finding Freedom on the Trail
Episode 135: After the Tones Drop with Michael Slocum of Frontline FreedomIn this inspiring episode, Cinnamon welcomes Michael Slocum—active Lieutenant with the Painesville Police Department and a leader at Frontline Freedom: Adve...
Kenny Schroeder When Someone You Care About Doesn’t Survive: A Conversation About Loss, Humanity, and the Work We Do
In this deeply personal episode, host Cinnamon is joined by her friend and colleague, Lieutenant Kenny Schroeder, to explore the profound impact of losing someone to suicide within the first responder community. Together, they share their inter...
Radical Openness: Healing Over-Control with RO-DBT
What if the very traits that helped you survive your childhood, your career, and your trauma are now the same traits keeping you lonely, exhausted, or shut down?In Episode 133, I sit down with Jimmy Portner and Dr. Nate Tomcik — founders...
