Interview with Battalion Chief Garrett Wienckowski

Explicit content warning

10/30/20 • 65 min

Garrett Wienckowski is a 20+ year veteran of Orange County Fire Rescue, a battalion chief, TF4 Team Leader, special operations technician, and leadership instructor. In this episode Garrett talks about his experiences as an officer in special operations, what has influenced him most in his career, and recommends training courses that are applicable to every firefighter. We discuss Lencioni’s Pyramid and the book “Extreme Ownership” by Jocko Willink. Garrett talks about his son following in his footsteps and how proud he is of him; he gives some advice for new firefighters, a group which happens to include his son.

Previous Episode

Interview with Kelly Savage, Community Outreach Director for the IAFF Center of Excellence

Kelly Savage is the community outreach director for the IAFF Center of Excellence. She assisted with opening the Center of Excellence in 2017. She spends much of the year traveling the U.S. and Canada educating members on behavioral health issues and services available to them through the Center. She has spoken to over 50,000 IAFF members through the International’s peer support program, Partner Education Program (PEP) events, health and safety symposiums and state and district conventions. She is a graduate of the University of Mississippi with a degree in broadcast journalism, specializations in public relations and media management and a minor in political science.

Kelly gives a little bit of insight into what led her to be involved with the fire service. We talk about her leadership philosophy and some of her influences. She tells me some of her inspirational experiences while working in her current capacity at the Center. It is at the Center of Excellence that North America's Professional Firefighters are able to receive treatment for PTSD, substance abuse, and assistance with other mental health related needs.

Kelly and I discuss the resources and treatments available at the Center or through the Center and how to connect with them.

We discuss the research component of the Center's mission and how it is helping improve treatment approaches in the future.

We talk about the clinicians employed at the Center; their qualifications and experience and the resilience training that they receive in order to stay healthy themselves.

We discuss research from the A.C.E. study and how it influences the approaches used at the Center. https://americanspcc.org/how-childhood-trauma-can-affect-mental-and-physical-health-into-adulthood/

Throughout the podcast Kelly shares different resources available to firefighters and their families. Those resources are as follows:

https://www.iaffrecoverycenter.com/hotline/ 844-677-2605

https://www.iaffrecoverycenter.com/community-education/

https://www.iaffrecoverycenter.com/outreach/kelly-savage/

https://www.iaffrecoverycenter.com/hotline/ptsd-mental-health/

Next Episode

Interview with Lieutenant Julio Ramos

Retired Battalion Chief Dave Hollenbach interviews Special Operations Lieutenant Julio Ramos. The discussion centers around leadership philosophy and personal development to be better equipped to add value to the members of the team.