Work Life Balance With Ben Strahan

Podcast Host Thomas Wurm and Co-host Anne Martin welcome Ben Strahan, the Superintendent for the Eldorado Hotshots, an elite wildland firefighting crew out of California. Ben has years of Hotshot experience, provides quality insight on mental health in the wildland community, and shares his story of suicidal thoughts and his beneficial journey with plant medicine. 
 
We dive into how identifying ourselves as our jobs can be problematic but serve up solutions to become more than just what you do. We learn the importance of life and how to share that gift with our crews, our families, and everyone we love doing life with. 
 
We cover mental health, depression, suicidal thoughts, plant medicine, resiliency in the wildland fire community. Ben gives us the best metaphor for peaks and valleys we've ever heard and Ben's super effective list of daily check-ins that keep him healthy, sound, resilient, and the best leader he can be. 
 

Links:
Instagram @benstrahan
 
Wildland Wellness Foundation - https://www.wildlandwellnessfoundation.com/
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies - https://maps.org/
Mountain Mind Tricks - mountainmindtricks.com