FIRST RESPONDERS RESILIENCY - Key Persons
Bailey Farren Coming from a family of first responders, Bailey has always been inspired to work closely with first responder wellness. She merges her skills as an incredible artist with her degree in Cognitive Science from UC Berkeley, to lead first responders in our Art Therapy module and Hemi-sync Presentation.
Job Titles:
- Family Services Instructor
Carie Levar has been married to a firefighter for 20 years and has four children. Carie became a part of the FRRI team in July 2019 after her husband attended one of our conferences and she attended the family session. Simply put, Carie says, "The conference changed our lives and saved our marriage." She knew immediately that she needed to be a part of this organization. Carie's goal as an instructor is to share with loved ones what she wishes she knew earlier; that they're not alone and about the importance of self-care.
Cathy Wayne promoted early in her career from an EMT to Paramedic with Acme Western Ambulance in Oakland, CA. She transitioned in her career with the California Highway Patrol, spending 27+ years working in Road Patrol, Commercial Operations, K-9 Narcotics Interdiction, and Dispatch Communications in the East Bay and South Bay Areas. After several ranks over the years, she ended her career as a Captain, Field Commander in 2011.
Donn Gaede, DrPH, while currently retired, was a professor of public health at Loma Linda University as well as a practitioner both here in the U.S. and internationally. He worked for the last 20 plus years internationally with mission health care systems and community health. His interest and involvement with PTSD and trauma became more focused while working in Sierra Leone and Liberia during the Ebola epidemic when he was involved with both the community members as well as the health providers as they coped with the trauma of both living through the epidemic as well as providing professional care during the crisis. He initiated the implementation of a very successful community resiliency program by LLU to deal with PTSD which continues to operate today. He feels privileged to be able to continue to work to strengthen resiliency for first responders and family members through the work of First Responders Resiliency, Inc.®
Doug Endy is a 37-year veteran of law enforcement. He retired from the Marin County Sheriff's Office as a captain with 33 years of service. After retiring, his vision was to give back to the law enforcement community. As a member of the instructional staff, Doug wants to spread his personal knowledge and the principles he learned from FRRI to the younger members of his profession, providing them with modern science-based tools and modalities to assist them in being proactive with their health and welfare throughout their careers.
Job Titles:
- Secretary of the Board
- Resiliency Instructor
Dr. Gary McCalla has 30+ years of experience as a residency-trained, board-certified Emergency Medical Specialist. He has been trained as the Medical Director for both REACH Helicopters and American Medical Response, Inc. (AMR). Dr. McCalla currently teaches our Cognitive Behavioral Therapy module.
Dr. Jen Riegle is a licensed Naturopathic Doctor, with a degree from Bastyr University, one of the leading institutions in natural medical care and research. Riegle carries advanced certifications and training in environmental medicine, women's health, infertility, biofeedback, and traditional medicine practices. Dr. Riegle utilizes conventional treatment methods, as well as healing modalities such as herbal medicine, functional and physical medicines..
Job Titles:
- Director, Center for Health Research
- Principal Investigator or Co - Investigator of Several NIH
- Professor
Dr. Susanne Montgomery is a Professor in the Loma Linda School of Public Health (LLU SPH) Department of Preventive Medicine and the Director for the LLU SPH Center for Health Research. Trained at the University of Michigan as a social/behavioral epidemiologist, she has many years of experience in funded and non-funded community-based participatory action research, working in partnership with hard-to-access populations. Dr. Montgomery has researched and written extensively in the areas of cancer prevention, teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and alcohol and tobacco use in traditionally hard-to-access populations, including African American and Latino men and youth in San Bernardino County. She teaches courses in evaluation research, qualitative and quantitative research methods, as well as a year-long, practice-based program development lab focusing on issues of health disparities.
Dr. Montgomery has been the principal investigator or co-investigator of several NIH- and CDC-funded projects and has been an evaluator for several Foundation-funded community-based projects. Though committed to research, she advocates translating and applying research findings at the community level and participates as a member of several area community coalitions, planning groups, and advisory boards using her expertise and access to research data to enhance planning processes. Dr. Montgomery also conducts trainings and workshops on issues of diversity in the United States and abroad.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor at the School of Behavioral Health
- Psychology
Dr. Tori Van Dyk is an Associate Professor at the School of Behavioral Health within the Department of Psychology. She specializes in pediatric health psychology, providing instruction, conducting research, and guiding students in clinical care related to improving child physical and mental health.
Eric Strom has a 31-year career as an award-winning Firefighter and Paramedic. He has served as Captain for the Town of Corte Madera and City of Vallejo and Chair of the Vallejo Fire Department's Health and Safety Committee. In 2017 Eric received the Hero's Award from Congressman Mike Thompson for his work in the department's safety program and for actions taken during the 2017 Sonoma County Tubbs Fire.
Gina Poe has been working since 1995 on the mechanisms through which sleep serves memory consolidation and restructuring. Dr. Poe is a southern California native who graduated from Stanford University then worked for two post-baccalaureate years at the VA researching Air Force Test Pilots' brainwave signatures under high-G maneuvers. She then earned her PhD in Basic Sleep in the Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program at UCLA under the guidance of Ronald Harper then moved to the University of Arizona for her postdoctoral studies with Carol Barnes and Bruce McNaughtons looking at graceful degradation of hippocampal function in aged rats as well as hippocampal coding in a 3-D maze navigated in the 1998 space shuttle mission. She brought these multiunit teachings to answer a burning question of whether REM sleep were for remembering or forgetting and found that activity of neurons during REM sleep is consistent both with the consolidation of novel memories and the elimination of already consolidated memories from the hippocampus, readying the associative memory network for new learning the next day. Moving first to Washington State University then to the University of Michigan before joining UCLA in 2016, Poe has over 80 undergraduates, 6 graduate students, and 6 postdoctoral scholars, and has served in university faculty governance as well as leading 5 different programs designed to diversify the neuroscience workforce and increase representation of people of the global majority in the STEM fields. At UCLA she continues research and teaching and Directs the COMPASS-Life Sciences and BRI-SURE programs and co-Directs the MARC-U*STAR program. Nationally she is course director of the Marine Biological Lab's SPINES course and co-Directs the Society for Neuroscience's NSP program which earned the nation's highest mentoring honor in 2018. These programs have served over 600 PhD level trainees over the years.
Jan Myers has over 30 years of First Responder experience, ranging from 9-1-1 Dispatch (Training Officer & Tactical Dispatch), Recruit Training Officer (Oregon DPSST), CA POST Master Instructor, and Co-founder of a week 6-day intensive program in 1999 for First Responders experiencing post traumatic stress injuries, as well as a spouse/significant other program. Jan is now a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (CA LPCC#6929) working for a large telehealth company as well as a private practice (Santa Rosa & Petaluma, Sonoma County, CA), with a focus on First Responders.
Jeff has served his career as an MFT with more than 37 years of experience. Stone found his niche working with first responders and their families, becoming a pioneer in the industry of supporting first responders in preventative mental health training. Jeff now provides insight, support, and professional expertise to First Responders Resiliency, Inc. by continuing to run a thriving private and virtual practice in New Hampshire for those in the industry.
Ron Shull served 31 years with the Santa Rosa Fire Department, retiring in 2014 from the department's busiest station, Station 1. Shull additionally served on the department's Union Executive Board as well as pioneered their wellness and fitness program. In 2012, he was voted by his peers as Firefighter of the Year.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Founder
Susan Farren is the founder of First Responders Resiliency, Inc.™ A graduate of the Stanford paramedic program, Susan has served her entire career in the industry of pre-hospital care. Serving in both the private and public sectors as a paramedic, she has occupied the roles of supervisor, operations manager, peer counselor, clinical manager, EMS educator and consultant throughout the greater Bay Area.
After being diagnosed with kidney cancer in early 2016 and undergoing major surgery, Susan was floored by the research she found about first responder physical, emotional and mental impacts her career had on her personal and professional life. This is where the Resiliency Training Program was born.
After her treatment and recovery, Susan dove into the research and subsequent data discovered involving the mental and physical impacts the industry had taken on her. Armed with that knowledge she pulled together a team of experts from every division of the industry who are working as a team to change the lives of First Responders.
Tod Ceruti is a military veteran, certified Fire Flex, Veteran Warrior, and Prison Yoga Instructor who teaches a unique form of physical resilience to civilians, first responders, and prisoners alike. Ceruti's experience as a military vet, combined with his own incredible journey into physical wellness is a life-altering benefit to anyone who learns from him.
Job Titles:
- Coordinator of Family Services
Veronica Stirnus is a Sonoma County native who is a graduate from Sonoma State University. Her husband, Gabe, is both a captain with Sonoma Valley Fire Dept, as well as a part-time paramedic on the Sheriff's Department helicopter. Veronica balances being a busy mom of 2 young sons, with working in the spouse and family component of First Responders Resiliency, Inc.™, training families and loved ones how to support themselves and their loved ones.