MSI Press Blog

  Mental Health Mayda y: A Firefighter’s Survival Guide From Recruit Through Retirement An inspiring reflection back on the journey of a firefighter, and a look toward the future of mental health care for emergency service professionals. “These are the real horrors brought on by the trade that so many of us revere…Some firefighters will not be fazed by these atrocities. They will simply go on with life and continue to be quite well adjusted. Others will act out in various ways…Our goal as counselors is to rest assured that all members go home to their families and have a happy, healthy, well-adjusted life. But, it needs to be recognized that the amount of horrors that firefighters see every day is astronomical. It is they that must harbor these scenes and simply move on to the next call.” -excerpt from Mental Health Mayday When you envision a firefighter, you may picture the perfectly chiseled men and stunning women you see on programs like Chicago Fire. Firefighters are everyda

  Release this week: hard cover edition of the popular Mental Health Mayday by Gregg Bagdade. Book description: From their swearing-in all to the way until retirement, even the most hardened firefighters can be affected by mental health concerns. A fascinating look behind the scenes of the career of a firefighter, this book explores the why and explains the how to better prepare these individuals for a healthy and productive career and life, based on the author's personal experience as a counselor, who also has 27 years as a firefighter and paramedic. Firefighters can learn how to acknowledge their mental health issues, such as PTSD, addiction, or anger issues while developing strategies to address these concerns with techniques and solutions throughout their career. This powerful book is part memoir and part call to action. Through the tales of his own journey from recruitment through his pending plans for retirement, Bagdade reveals the humanity behind the heroic archetype of t

Frederic Craigie Jr., Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, consultant, educator, speaker, and writer. His passions and areas of expertise include spirituality in health and health care, healing relationships, clinician well-being, and resiliency and positive mental health. Fred attended Dartmouth College during the tumultuous Vietnam War era and completed his doctorate at the University of Utah.  He served internships in the VA system in clinical psychology and in substance abuse rehabilitation.  Following his training, he began what was to become a 37-year full-time faculty role at the Maine -Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency in Augusta, Maine, where he coordinated behavioral health teaching for residents and students and provided behavioral health care to a largely underserved primary care population. He serves as Visiting Associate Professor at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine (AWCIM) at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, and held an appointment as Associa

  San Juan Books is the hybrid division of MSI Press LLC. It allows first-time writers to become published in a traditional way through the reduction of risk by sharing publication costs. All other publishing features are traditional in nature, and most SJB authors go on to be offered traditional contracts for their subsequent books. SJB publications are available as paperback, hard cover, and e-book versions. SJB authors' books very much hold their own against their contemporaries in the traditional publishing division. Indeed, a number of them have outsold their traditional compatriots. Today, San Juan Books presents author Dr. Frederic Craigie . BIO: Frederic Craigie Jr., Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, consultant, educator, speaker, and writer. His passions and areas of expertise include spirituality in health and health care, healing relationships, clinician well-being, and resiliency and positive mental health. Fred attended Dartmouth College during the tumultuous Vietnam

  Mental Health Mayday has remained in the top 100 bestselling on Amazon for mental health and first aid for the past two months. Well done, MSI Press author Gregg Bagdade. Book description: From their swearing-in all to the way until retirement, even the most hardened firefighters can be affected by mental health concerns. This book explores the why and explains the how to better prepare these individuals for a healthy and productive career and life, based on my personal experience as a counselor, who also has 27 years as a firefighter and paramedic. Firefighters can learn how to acknowledge their mental health issues, such as PTSD, addiction, or anger issues while developing strategies to address these concerns with techniques and solutions throughout their career. For more posts about Gregg and his book, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter  here  or on our  home page . Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI

  Excerpt from From Deep Within ; selection from Kew Gardens: The grounds of the mental health center were lovely, but the patients who wandered them seemed lost. The dangers of smoking were not yet known, and everyone in the hospital smoked, including me. The patients’ fingers were tainted yellow from the tar, their fingernails were long and unattended, and their clothing was mismatched and tattered. My heart broke watching them shuffle around. I chose to go onto the locked, dingy units and keep patients company as they ate their lunch. It was all about relationships to me. The room was filled with groaning people and the constant leg movements of tardive dyskinesia. Most patients knew me by my first name. “Susan, are you eating with us today?” they would ask.   Then, in 1973, one of the psychiatrists at the center was shot and killed by a patient while I was in the next building. I heard the gunshot, but no one knew what had happened. As the information trickled down that someone had

  Gregg Bagdade, author of Mental Health Mayday , appeared today on WGN9 Mid-Day (Chicago) with reporter-host Kristina Miller, in a segment, called "Mid-Day Fix: Firefighter and Author of Mental Health Mayday ." Listen to the interview HERE . For more posts on Gregg and his book, click HERE . For more posts on mental health, click  HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com. 

  Recently released - the audiobook for   Mental Health Mayday  by Gregg Bagdade. From their swearing-in all to the way until retirement, even the most hardened firefighters can be affected by mental health concerns. A fascinating look behind the scenes of the career of a firefighter, this book explores the why and explains the how to better prepare these individuals for a healthy and productive career and life, based on the author's personal experience as a counselor, who also has 27 years as a firefighter and paramedic. Firefighters can learn how to acknowledge their mental health issues, such as PTSD, addiction, or anger issues while developing strategies to address these concerns with techniques and solutions throughout their career. This powerful book is part memoir and part call to action. Through the tales of his own journey from recruitment through his pending plans for retirement, Bagdade reveals the humanity behind the heroic archetype of the American firefighter. In doin

  Excerpt from Creative Aging (Vassiliadis & Romer) - Creative Aging’s Impact on Health Recently, one of my dance students, Sandra O’Brien, age 75, pulled me aside after class. She told me, "You know, Cheryl, a few years ago I didn't like getting older because it meant there would be so many things that I wouldn't be able to do, but since I've started these dance classes, I don't feel that way anymore. I found something I like and feel good doing no matter how old I am.”   When Sandra went in for her annual checkup, the doctor was excited by all the positive changes in her health profile. She’d lost weight, her blood pressure was lower, her balance had improved substantially and most of all, Sandra’s outlook on life had shifted. She no longer dreaded the aging process and all the negative connotations that it had presented.   Sandra has learned to embrace the years ahead and rediscover the things that made her feel good about herself years ago. She pushed me t