Marc Wysocki

Despite a decade of growing awareness around firefighter mental health, suicide rates in the fire service haven't come down. In some areas, they've climbed. That's the finding that stopped Dr. Marc Wysocki cold when he was writing his 2025 Darley Award-winning essay, "Behind the Mask: Uncovering the Root Causes of Mental Health Challenges in the Fire Service" — and it's the starting point for this conversation. Marc brings a rare combination to the table: 30 years as a certified athletic trainer, a doctorate in athletic training, 12 years on an ambulance service, and real experience as a volunteer fire captain. He knows the culture from the inside, and he came prepared to talk about what comes after awareness. In this episode, Marc and Arjuna dig into recovery debt — the physiological load that quietly builds across a shift, even when you feel like you made it through okay. They talk about identity fusion, what happens when the uniform stops being something you wear and starts being…