CHRIS SUITT

FOUNDER FACILTATOR INSTRUCTOR

Throughout my career, I have been asked, “What qualifies you to create, let alone teach, such a course for law enforcement personnel and other first responders?” The answer to that question is simple – a career’s worth of experiencing it work.

I have been a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Chaplain since 2002. I have gone on weekly ride-a-longs, sometimes twice a week, at a very busy station. In one year alone, this station had 10,713 calls for service that could be considered critical incidents depending on the officer’s prior experience.

I have personally witnessed what our officers brought into their brains through their senses while patrolling. I have seen the statistics of the major coping mechanisms first responders use to deal with these experiences firsthand. Some of which led to catastrophic consequences in both their professional and personal lives lasting well into retirement!

During this same time, I have been counseling not only the general public, but military and first responder personnel using what I came to name the FREEdom First Aid Process:℠ Operational Resiliency Training for a healthy Professional and Personal Life for a healthy Professional and Personal Life. These tools, experientially developed over 20 years on-the job, work because they are based on, and backed by, research and peer reviewed neuroscience studies. These studies are appropriately attributed throughout the FREEdom First Aid Process:℠ Operational Resiliency Training for a healthy Professional and Personal Life training curriculum.

Additionally, I graduated from a self-sponsored Level III Modular Police Officer Academy in 2019 and completed two California POST use of force courses in 2022. I wanted to learn for myself, firsthand, what it took to become a law enforcement officer. I also wanted to better understand how they were trained, so I could better relate to and help them as their chaplain.

Formally educated with a Master of Divinity degree in Practical Theology, I used a combination of this formal education, law enforcement field and classroom experience, and police academy training to translate complex concepts into a usable and practical model for everyday use in modern law enforcement to create the FREEdom First Aid Process:℠ Operational Resiliency Training for a healthy Professional and Personal Life.

Even though I am a chaplain, this practical training is not religious. It is scientifically based and designed with the first responder in mind. It uses various adult learning techniques and styles to give each person the tools they need to keep their most vital organ – their brain – healthy.

FREEdom First Aid Process:℠ Operational Resiliency Training for a healthy Professional and Personal Life are those practical first aid tools for the first responder’s brain. They are meant to be used by the first responder themselves in order to begin the healing process as soon as possible or what is called “forward treatment”, in order to save lives, theirs.

Using first aid now, can alleviate the need for expensive and time consuming treatment later, which saves both time and money for the individual as well as their department.

Finally, the FREEdom First Aid Process:℠ Operational Resiliency Training for a healthy Professional and Personal Life course is designed with the first responder and their spouse/significant other in mind. As a team, they can debrief and download their job-related experiences, including the “It’s no big deal” or “I'm fine” situations, in order to keep both their personal and professional lives what they both dreamed it would be – thriving and healthy.

Chris Suitt

Owner/Instructor/Trainer

Code4+ Better than Good dedicated to keeping first responders and their families safe and healthy.