meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Behind The Shield

Phyllis Rogers (First Responder Mental Health, Chaplaincy and the 2020 Riots) - Episode 1056

Behind The Shield

James Geering

Health & Fitness, Mental Health, Fitness

4.9667 Ratings

🗓️ 11 March 2025

⏱️ 90 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Phyllis O. Rogers is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) in the State of Washington. Phyllis holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Behavioral Science, Family Systems Counseling, from the Leadership Institute of Seattle, Bastyr University. She has been a family therapist since 1998, serving hundreds of clients. In 2010, Phyllis opened inLife Clinic, LLC and serves as the Director. She created the name from the saying, Sometimes in life, everyone needs a little help. She specializes in working with police officers, firefighters, medics, and their family members who face a myriad of issues, including cumulative stress, PTSD, admin betrayal, anxiety, depression, critical incidents, OIS, LODD and relationship challenges. She is trained in EMDR and the Gottman Method for couples counseling.

Phyllis also contracts with several agencies as a consultant working onsite with their peer support teams, Chaplains, wellness programs, officer involved shootings, critical incident stress defusings and debriefings.

Due to her unique combination of training and personal experience with trauma, in 2008 Phyllis was asked to become a volunteer Police and Fire Chaplain for the City of Redmond, WA, where she served on the days she was not seeing clients. As a Chaplain, she supported police and fire personnel and their families, as they managed on-going stress, critical incidents, and traumatic experiences in their roles as first responders. Phyllis was also dispatched on scene to critical emergency situations in order to provide emotional support to individuals dealing with major trauma, life-threatening situations, or the loss of a loved one.

Eventually, the Police Chief hired Phyllis to work on site at the agency. She is now the Police Resilience Coordinator for three police agencies and provides support to other agencies when requested. As a consultant, she is available to support officers through one on ones, facilitate critical incident stress debriefings, supervise the Peer Support Team and Chaplains, all with the goal of building resiliency throughout the agency.

Phyllis has been a trainer and speaker for the Chaplain Academy, the International Conference of Police Chaplains, and been a featured speaker for trainings at many law enforcement, fire and EMS agencies, and other first responder events.

Phyllis’ passion to help people through trauma was developed through her own personal tragedy. At the age of 34, her late husband was in a near-fatal car accident, leaving him in a vegetative state for 10 years. Phyllis became his caregiver while raising their three children alone, ages 3, 6 & 8 years. To provide for her family she returned to school, during the last few years of Scott’s life, to complete her undergraduate studies and obtain her Master’s Degree in Family Systems Counseling. Today, she finds meaning and purpose in her own painful journey by helping others deal with trauma.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

I'm extremely excited to announce a brand new sponsor for the Behind the Shield podcast,

0:04.2

that is Transcend. Now, for many of you listening, you are probably working the same brutal shifts

0:10.1

that I did for 14 years, suffering from sleep deprivation, body composition challenges, mental

0:16.3

health challenges, libido, hair loss, etc. Now when it comes to the world of hormone replacement and

0:22.5

peptide therapy, what I have seen is a shift from doctors telling us that we were within normal

0:27.0

limits, which was definitely incorrect all the way to the other way now where men's clinics

0:31.8

are popping up left, right and center. So I myself wanted to find a reputable company that would do an analysis of my physiology

0:39.7

and then offer supplementations without ramming, for example, hormone replacement therapy down my

0:45.5

throat. Now I came across Transcend because they have an altruistic arm and they were a big reason why

0:51.0

the 7X project I was a part of was able to proceed because of their

0:55.1

generous donations. They also have the transcend foundations where they're actually putting

1:00.0

military and first responders through some of their therapies at no cost to the individual.

1:05.2

So my own personal journey so far, filled in the online form, went to Quest, got blood drawn, and a few days later

1:12.5

I'm talking to one of their wellness professionals as they guide me through my results

1:16.2

and the supplementation that they suggest. In my case specifically, because I transitioned

1:21.6

out the fire service five years ago and been very diligent with my health, my testosterone was

1:27.0

actually in a good place. So I went down

1:29.4

the peptide root and some other supplements to try and maximize my physiology, knowing full well

1:34.4

the damage that 14 years of shift work has done. Now, I also want to underline because I think this is

1:39.4

very important that each of the therapies they offer, they will talk about the pros and cons.

1:45.0

So, for example, a lot of first responders in shift work are testosterone will be low,

1:49.4

but sometimes nutrition, exercise and sleep can offset that on its own.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from James Geering, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of James Geering and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.