Our Mission: Provide a highly responsive and effective wellness resource that serves the unique needs of first responders and their family members.
Our Leaders
Nick Bauer
Nick Is a sergeant with the Seattle Police Department, with over 28 years of tenure. Including tours in patrol, precinct detectives, Major Crime Task Force, Federal Task Force assignments, undercover operations including a one-year long term undercover assignment, Homicide detective in the Force Investigations Team that investigated all officer involved shootings for the department, Robbery, and Narcotics. Nick has been involved in lethal shootings and has been involved in countless critical incidents thru out the years. He is the recipient of the Medal of Valor, Excellence award (2 citations), Inspiration award, and Impact award. Nick has personally surmounted acute critical incident stress related issues and has now devoted his collateral time to helping other first responders through his work Operations Director for Code 4 Northwest, founding the Lethal Incident response team for the department’s peer support team, over 15 years as a peer support team leader, and other outreach opportunities such as training, CISM debriefs, interventions, and general resource referrals for counseling and treatment. Nick has appeared in several news segments and has recorded numerous podcasts on the subjects of peer support, wellness, and treatment options for first responders and their family members.
Dr Stephen Odom
Dr. Stephen Odom is a notable healthcare and addiction treatment professional with more than 30 years of expertise in the field. He is the founder and Chief Clinical Officer of First Responder Wellness by Simple Recovery and Shift Wellness.
He possesses an educational background in organizational behavior, clinical psychology, and healthcare administration. This valuable combination allows him to integrate current research knowledge, clinical and administrative practice understanding, and practical, directly relevant experience. Stephen holds a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Behavior from Covenant College, a Master’s in Experimental Psychology (Univ. of Tennessee), a Master’s in Clinical Psychology (Palo Alto University), and a Doctorate (Ph.D.) with a focus in Healthcare Administration (Capella University). He is also a licensed marriage and family therapist in the state of California.
Stephen has served in multiple roles during his career, including CEO & Chief Clinical Officer of New Vista Behavioral Health, a Director’s post of Program Development for CRC Health and multiple Administrative and Clinical Director posts at various behavioral health and chemical dependency treatment centers and hospitals in California, including Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach and El Camino Hospital in the San Francisco Bay area. Moreover, Stephen served as a university adjunct faculty member in Psychology and Child Development and continues to work in private practice. Dr. Odom has been coined as a wellness and behavioral health expert with peer-reviewed articles published on mental health, substance abuse and technology; was presented the national Behavioral Health Champion award in 2018; has appeared on The Today Show; the 2016 documentary film California High, and multiple print, radio, and podcast media channels.
Dr. Odom’s focus on First Responder Wellness was born of his family’s career backgrounds with the military, healthcare, law enforcement and public safety, and was honed as he created and led specialty programs for physicians, nurses, first responders and their families. In his distinguished and extensive career in behavioral health and addiction treatment, Stephen’s empathetic and therapeutic approach has allowed him to connect not only with his clinical teams but each first responder who walks through the door.
Devin O’day
Devin is the Chief Development Officer for First Responder Wellness. He is a seasoned business professional with extensive experience in building intra-organizational collaborations that produce streamlined pathways for first responders and their family members to get top quality behavioral health resources. Devin has helped hundreds of first responders surmount acute trauma and co-existing substance challenges. His experience has earned him a regard as a top subject matter expert in the field of outreach and advanced needs treatment resources for first responders, as well as civilians.
Hotline
We staff our referral hotline with seasoned first responders and clinicians. We know and we care.
Vetted referrals
We take pride in serving each individual client at the highest level possible by referring only the best in the business.
Dedicated
We have dedicated years to refine our proven level of service.
Why Responder Assistance Program?
We have decades of experience in the field as first responders and in peer support roles. Our proven vetting process produces associations with only the best clinicians, with the training, education, and experience to help you get to a better place. we have helped hundreds of first responders heal from the trauma brought by the job…and life.
Help is just a call away. Peer led, clinically supported wellness, training, crisis intervention, and referral services for first responders and their families. Members have access to our hotline and related services every day of the week.
Our story
Our leadership is comprised of professionals who are leaders in their respective fields, and possess the common thread of dedicating their lives to helping first responders, veterans, and their family members with top quality resources to address acute trauma, behavior health issues, and substance use disorders.
Our individual and collective experience in helping hundreds of first responders seek help for trauma, stress, substance abuse, and wellness caused us to wonder how delivery of these critical services can reach a maximum number of first responders while maintaining a high degree of individual effectiveness and service. The idea of developing a service that is delivered like an EAP, but with specifically relevant resources and operations that are tailored to fill the needs of first responders and their families was developed from hours of contemplation and collaboration, as well as from numerous inquiries from first responders in regions all over the country. Delivery has to be effective and scalable to handle all of the needs of responders and employers who subscribe to the service. Hence the Responder Assistance Program was born; a PREMIUM EAP service delivered in a Concierge style that allows infinite customization to meet a wide range of needs and budgets.
The reality is that most first responders do not trust conventional EAPS; not necessarily due to their potential quality, but because the services are geared towards civilians at large. Responders have an incredibly difficult job that often leaves them with horrific trauma just for doing their job. Trauma exposure is the source of emotional disturbance, PTSI, PTSD, Critical Incident Stress, Compassion Fatigue, and Vicarious Trauma to name a few of the issues that first responders face. the result of unaddressed trauma is often poor health, emotional distress, long-term PTS related issues, and long-term health concerns. Offering first responders the best available clinicians and treatment options to help them surmount issues they face is the least we can do to show our gratitude for giving of themselves to keep us safe.
Mal-adjusted or self medicated first responders are a liability for departments. Short-term implications include absence from work, high use of sick time and PTO, poor quality of services, and legal and financial liability. Long term implications include protracted absences, long term and terminal health issues, and serious interruption of vital services. We need healthy and well-adjusted responders.
As you review our pages and services, please keep in mind that the driving force in our operations is to provide answers that effectively address the specific needs of first responders and their family members. Our guiding light is to deliver our services in a highly ethical and discreet manner.
Responder Assistance Program 