Battalion Chief Dena Ali: ‘You can’t leave your baggage at the door’
The Raleigh firefighter and peer support advocate explains her perspective on healthy boundaries, therapy and why connection is life-sustaining
On this episode of the Better Every Shift podcast, Raleigh Battalion Chief Dena Ali joins the crew for a candid conversation about firefighter behavioral health, its connection to physical health, and her belief that the fire service needs its leaders to go beyond simply referring members to actually connect with their members. We dig into that, plus all this:
- The sleep stat that shocked us
- The power of replacing the term “selfish” with “self-care”
- How to embrace being a “not-knower”
What else …
- Question: Does taking a nap make you lazy?
- Hot seat sneak peek: Tear-inducing movies and “Big Bootie Blueprint”
- Episode power quote: “Most of us would love to set boundaries, but our culture never made us feel like it was OK to have boundaries.”
Note: We did experience some minor technical difficulties, so check out how we replaced Zam’s pixelated look on the video version about halfway through the show.
Resources we mentioned on the show …
- Firefighters go above and beyond call of duty for woman who lost home
- “Therapy is awesome”
- 'It's OK to not be OK': Firefighter focuses on breaking the silence around mental health
Connect with us!
Email bettereveryshift@firerescue1.com to share your feedback!
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