The Responder Reset: Practical Nervous System Regulation for Real Life Stress

Your Body Already Knows How to Heal. You Just Need the Manual.

I am going to be honest with you. When AK Dozanti came back on the show to talk about her new book, The Responder Reset, I had one of those moments where I wanted to grab every first responder I know and say, “This. This is the missing piece.”

Because we talk about burnout all the time. We talk about trauma exposure, compassion fatigue, moral injury, and stress like it is a badge you just have to wear until retirement. What we do not talk about enough is the fact that your body is already built to help you survive and recover from stress. You just were never taught how to use it.

AK gets that because she lived it. Former deputy sheriff. Victim advocate. Master’s degree in criminology and victimology. Trained in crisis intervention, EFT, and internal family systems. She has done the work academically and in real life. And instead of gatekeeping that information behind complicated language or expensive programs, she did something radical.

She made it usable.

A Field Manual for Real Life Stress

The Responder Reset is not a book you read once and feel inspired by. It is a book you use. It is a field manual. The kind that gets dog eared, highlighted, shoved in a duty bag, or kept next to your bed for the nights your nervous system refuses to power down.

Each of the 99 tactics is one page. That matters. When your brain is spiraling, you do not need a chapter. You need a lane.

The book is organized by situation. “Read this when…” Not “read this if you have time and emotional bandwidth.” AK meets people where they actually are.

Each tactic walks you through what she calls burnout bait, what you might instinctively default to. Then she offers a tactical trade off. Something you can do instead. She explains why it works in plain language and finishes with a simple way to lock it in.

No props. No apps required. No special equipment. Just your body.

This Is Not Voodoo. It Is Physiology.

One of my favorite moments in our conversation was when AK talked about how people dismiss regulation tools as “crazy voodoo stuff.” I hear that all the time too. And honestly, the skepticism makes sense.

First responders are trained to override instinct. You run toward danger. You suppress emotion. You keep it together when everything inside you wants to explode. That works on the job. It does not work at home. It does not work long term.

When you have never been taught how your nervous system works, anything that brings awareness back to the body feels foreign. But the truth is, your body has been doing this work since the day you were born.

When you hit your head, your hand automatically goes to the spot. That is not weakness. That is regulation. We just normalized physical healing and ignored emotional and physiological healing.

AK’s work brings those systems back online.

Regulation Is Not Changing the Facts

One of the most important takeaways from this episode is this. Regulation does not change what happened. It changes how your body experiences what happened.

You can still have a hard call. A bad shift. A difficult conversation. Regulation helps your nervous system stand down so you can think clearly, connect with people, and recover instead of staying stuck in threat mode.

That is why these tools work in real time. They build muscle memory. Just like firearms training or defensive tactics, repetition matters. You are not weak if it feels awkward at first. You are learning something you were never taught.

The Long Game and the Short Game

AK’s first book, Beat the Burnout, is the long game. It helps you understand burnout, the systems that feed it, and how to make sustainable changes over time.

The Responder Reset is the short game. It is what you reach for when your chest is tight, your jaw is clenched, and your thoughts are racing. Both matter. One does not replace the other.

Teaching Kids What We Were Never Taught

One of the most powerful parts of this conversation was AK talking about teaching regulation to her six year old. Breathing like you are smelling a birthday cake and blowing out candles. Letting kids regulate before demanding words. Modeling emotional intelligence instead of punishment.

That is how generational cycles change. Not by expecting kids to do better than we did, but by giving them tools we never had.

The Bottom Line

You are not broken. You are trained. And some of that training kept you alive. Some of it is keeping you stuck.

Your body already knows how to heal. It just needs guidance, repetition, and permission.

AK has done the heavy lifting. She took the science, the lived experience, and the thousands of conversations she has had with responders and turned them into something you can actually use.

If you want tools that work in the moment, not someday, this book belongs in your hands.

You can find The Responder Reset and everything AK offers at akdozanti.com.

And if this episode resonated with you, do not just nod along. Practice. Ten minutes can change your day.