Sgt. Julien Ponsioen: Pride and Policing

10/21/23 • 44 min

Sergeant Julien Ponsioen began his policing career with the Metro Vancouver Transit Police in 2014 after a 21 year career as a Paramedic and Supervisor and was the first openly gay male police officer hired by his department and the only openly gay male in his police academy class.

Moving from patrol to Neighbourhood Policing in Downtown Vancouver, he began to connect with his community both in person and on social media to show that policing was for everyone and emphasize to members of the 2SLGBTQ community that they had an ally on the transit system.

While initially reluctant, he embraced his social media role and launched “Coffee with a Cop”, a very successful series of one minute safety tips and question and answer sessions that expanded across other platforms and developed a following that spans the globe.

He has been a very active and successful volunteer recruiter and is now the non-commissioned officer in charge of Operational Planning.
On this episode, Julien shares his coming out story, the bridge he's building between the 2SLGBTQ community and police and offers his perspective, as a former paramedic and police officer, on BC's opioid crisis.
You can connect with and follow Julien on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and LinkedIn.

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Previous Episode

Daniel Sundahl: The Art of Healing

Daniel Sundahl (a.k.a. Dan Sun) is a former advanced care paramedic and firefighter, a published artist and writer who has produced three art books and whose writing has been featured online and, in several periodicals, including Canadian Paramedicine, the Journal of Emergency Medicine (JEMS), Fire Rescue Magazine, EMS One, EMS World Magazine, The Canadian Journal of Emergency Nursing and the Finnish magazine Asystole.

His powerful artwork and images are recognized worldwide. He travels internationally, speaking about his art and personal experiences with occupational stress injuries and post-traumatic growth.
His mission? To reduce the stigma of PTSD for first responders and use his art to raise awareness of occupational stress injuries worldwide.
Dan joins us to discuss his experiences as a first responder, his artistic process and how it has helped him heal, and whether we are where we need to be when it comes preventing and protecting the in service community from operational stress injury.
To connect with Dan and learn more about his artwork, please visit https://www.dansungallery.com/

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Next Episode

Dr. Olivia Johnson: The Fatal Ten

Dr. Olivia Johnson is a United States Air Force veteran, a former police officer, and published author.

She holds a master’s in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Missouri, St. Louis, a doctorate in Organizational Leadership Management from the University of Phoenix, School of Advanced Studies and is considered a subject matter expert in police officer health and wellness, police officer suicide, and suicide prevention and awareness in first responders.

She founded the Blue Wall Institute to focus on research, publishes articles, and support agencies coping with increased mental health and suicide risk.
Dr. Johnson joins us on this episode to discuss her research and what she coins as the "fatal ten" indicators of suicide risk, and explains how it is so much more than "the job" that's driving suicide rates among first responders.
You can connect with and follow Dr. Johnson on X, Instagram and LinkedIn.

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