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Send us Fan Mail Firefighters know how to maintain equipment. The question Ryan Provencher raises in this episode is simple and uncomfortable. Why don’t we apply that same mindset to the people wearing the gear? In this conversation, Ryan and I talk about firefighter wellness as an operational issu…
Send a text What happens when the trauma you carry didn’t start with you? In this episode of After the Tones Drop, Cinnamon sits down with Dave Freeman for a conversation that moves through childhood violence, emotional survival strategies, suicide ideation, and the moment that changed everything. …
Send a text Sleep is not a luxury, and for first responders, poor sleep is not just inconvenient. It can impact mood, decision-making, trauma recovery, physical health, and even long-term brain function. In this conversation, Cinnamon sits down with Dr. Leah Kaylor, licensed clinical and prescribin…
Send a text What does it take to find peace after chaos? In Episode 147 of After the Tones Drop, Cinnamon sits down with Kelly Cheatham for a deeply honest conversation about marriage, addiction, grief, and the long road to personal healing. Kelly shares what it was like to grow up in a household w…
Send a text This episode is not a highlight reel. It’s a reckoning. I sit down with retired firefighter and transformational speaker Rick Cheatham and his wife Kelly for a raw, two-hour conversation about addiction, loss, paralysis, forgiveness, and what it actually means to commit when walking awa…
Send a text In this episode, Cinnamon sits down with former Louisville Metro Police Sergeant John Mattingly to talk about what really happened the night of March 13, 2020, and what it cost him to survive it. John was shot in the femoral artery while serving a warrant that was part of a larger drug …
Send a text In this episode of After the Tones Drop, Cinnamon sits down with AK Dozanti, former deputy sheriff, victim advocate, wellness coach, and author of The Responder Reset: 99 Real-Time Tactics for Frontline Regulation. This conversation is for the people who do not have the luxury of slowin…
Send us a text Episode 143: Healing Language That Hurts Some of the most damaging things we say about healing are said with the best intentions. In this short solocast, Cinnamon takes a hard look at the phrases we casually throw around when someone is hurting. Let it go. Move on. Put it behind you.…
Send us a text Episode 142: Frontline Strong Together – When Support Actually Shows Up In this episode, I sit down with Mike Mattern and Scott Taylor from Frontline Strong Together, a Michigan-based mental health program built by first responders for first responders. Here’s why this matters. It’s …
Send us a text In this episode, I’m joined by Justin Atherton for a conversation every first responder and leader needs to hear. Justin spent twenty years in law enforcement as a SWAT breacher, detective, and training lieutenant. But it was a nine-week internal affairs investigation and the identit…
Send us a text Episode 140: It Takes 15 Years to Get 15 Years – Cinnamon’s Sobriety Anniversary Solocast Fifteen years ago, my life split into a before and an after. In this deeply personal solocast, I’m marking 15 years of sobriety and reflecting on what time alone does not teach you, and what sta…
Send us a text Episode 139 | Doug White on Accountability, Leadership, and the Cost of Avoidance In this episode of After the Tones Drop, I sit down with Doug White for a conversation that isn’t comfortable, polished, or performative and that’s exactly why it matters. We talk about accountability i…
Send us a text January tells us to reinvent ourselves. Your body tells a different story. In this New Year’s solocast, Cinnamon pushes back on the pressure to start strong, fix everything, and become someone new just because the calendar flipped. January was never meant to be a season of blooming. …
Send us a text Christmas Eve is supposed to feel magical. For a lot of first responders, it just feels flat. In this solocast, I’m talking about the numbness that so many of you experience during the holidays and why it doesn’t mean you’re broken, ungrateful, or doing something wrong. You’ll hear p…
Send us a text Episode 135: After the Tones Drop with Michael Slocum of Frontline Freedom In this inspiring episode, Cinnamon welcomes Michael Slocum—active Lieutenant with the Painesville Police Department and a leader at Frontline Freedom: Adventure Therapy. Michael shares how his passion for the…
Send us a text In this deeply personal episode, host Cinnamon is joined by her friend and colleague, Lieutenant Kenny Schroeder, to explore the profound impact of losing someone to suicide within the first responder community. Together, they share their intertwined stories of grief, vulnerability, …
Send us a text What if the very traits that helped you survive your childhood, your career, and your trauma are now the same traits keeping you lonely, exhausted, or shut down? In Episode 133, I sit down with Jimmy Portner and Dr. Nate Tomcik — founders of Radically Open Connections — for a powerfu…
Send us a text This week I sit down with Chicago Police Officer Carrie Matthews for one of the most honest and needed conversations we have ever had on this show. Carrie talks about living on both sides of suicide. She is a cop, and she is the daughter of an officer who died by suicide. Her story i…
Send us a text In this powerful episode, Cinnamon sits down with David Dachinger, a retired fire lieutenant, Grammy-nominated music producer, cancer survivor, and mental wellness advocate to explore the intersection of trauma, healing, and transformation in the first responder world. From a stage-I…
Send us a text Episode 130: Out of the Warzone and Into the Water — Gage Hall on Stoke Therapy, Joy, and Healing in Motion What happens when the battlefield follows you home? In this powerful conversation, Cinnamon sits down with Gage Hall—Army veteran, firefighter, EMT, and founder of Stoke Therap…
Send us a text Podcast Episode Description - Episode 129Episode 129: Rick Markley on CRACKYL Magazine, Wellness, and Why Every Firefighter Should Register for the NIOSH Cancer Registry Rick Markley doesn't just talk about firefighter wellness—he's building the infrastructure to support it. As Execu…
Send us a text Episode 128: From Burnout to Breakthrough — How Kory Pearn Built CRACKYL Magazine and a New Model for Firefighter Wellness When passion becomes overdrive, the crash can be devastating. In this episode, Cinnamon sits down with firefighter, captain, and CRACKYL magazine founder Kory Pe…
Send us a text In this powerful episode of After the Tones Drop, Cinnamon sits down with retired NYPD detective Tom Smith. Tom is a man who’s lived through the kind of calls most of us only read about. From growing up as the son of an NYPD cop to spending 30 years in service and leading on the FBI …
Send us a text Let’s not pretend. Leading is hard! Especially when you’re carrying your own scars. In this episode, I sit down with Matt Davis, a law enforcement leader and former crisis negotiator who’s walked through the fire and lived to talk about it. We get honest about mental health in law en…