Responder Resilience, February 23, 2022
Grace Under Fire - Spirituality In The Trenches
In this episode, David and Stacy speak with Matt Domyancic, The Tactical Chaplain, about how to enjoy a career that provides deeper meaning to your spiritual life. Matt will share some strategies for transitioning from a responder career while staying highly connected with the job and the mission. We’ll also learn what a Patrol Chaplain is.
Matt is a medically retired police officer who volunteers as a chaplain and peer support for police agencies in Los Angeles. Matt believes all first responders can have careers that provide deeper meaning and add richness to their spiritual lives if approached in the right manner. He worked patrol, Peer Support, SWAT, and was a full-time police academy instructor.
Matt speaks about the hurdles of the emergency services professions, especially in a culture with macho attitudes, and the reluctance to seek help or to practice self care. He also talks about how being a cop be an opportunity to learn about psychology, ministry and humanity. He shares his vision for creating retreats combining Warrior Alpha-Male activities like tactical shooting with stress management, and finding meaning in suffering and adversity.
Matt’s definition of spirituality is the living out of your most important values and beliefs. He sees spirituality as a police officer to be how you relate to your community and humanity. Who more than cops are involved in the nitty-gritty of a community? He views spirituality as how you relate to your higher power, and as part of the framework for how you continue to find meaning and purpose through change, loss, adversity and suffering, which is inevitably coming to everybody, and which cops are immersed in.
Who more than cops, whether they say they’re spiritual or not, understands the highs and lows of the things that human beings are going through, because they’re immersed in that stuff all the time. Matt has seen some of the most hard-nosed cops turn out to be some of the most empathetic and compassionate people, helping somebody cope after a rape or a murder. He saw this as a cop, and now he sees it as a chaplain.
Headlined Show, Responder Resilience February 23, 2022
In this episode, David and Stacy speak with Matt Domyancic, The Tactical Chaplain, about how to enjoy a career that provides deeper meaning to your spiritual life. Matt will share some strategies for transitioning from a responder career while staying highly connected with the job and the mission. We’ll also learn what a Patrol Chaplain is.
Matt is a medically retired police officer who volunteers as a chaplain and peer support for police agencies in Los Angeles. Matt believes all first responders can have careers that provide deeper meaning and add richness to their spiritual lives if approached in the right manner. He worked patrol, Peer Support, SWAT, and was a full-time police academy instructor.
Matt speaks about the hurdles of the emergency services professions, especially in a culture with macho attitudes, and the reluctance to seek help or to practice self care. He also talks about how being a cop be an opportunity to learn about psychology, ministry and humanity. He shares his vision for creating retreats combining Warrior Alpha-Male activities like tactical shooting with stress management, and finding meaning in suffering and adversity.
Matt’s definition of spirituality is the living out of your most important values and beliefs. He sees spirituality as a police officer to be how you relate to your community and humanity. Who more than cops are involved in the nitty-gritty of a community? He views spirituality as how you relate to your higher power, and as part of the framework for how you continue to find meaning and purpose through change, loss, adversity and suffering, which is inevitably coming to everybody, and which cops are immersed in. Who more than cops, whether they say they’re spiritual or not, understands the highs and lows of the things that human beings are going through, because they’re immersed in that stuff all the time. Matt has seen some of the most hard-nosed cops turn out to be some of the most empathetic and compassionate people, helping somebody cope after a rape or a murder. He saw this as a cop, and now he sees it as a chaplain.
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Guest, Matt Domyancic The Tactical Chaplain with a modern spiritual approach for police officers and firefighters
Matt Domyancic "the Tactical Chaplain"
Former Police Officer, Strength Coach, Police Chaplain, Spiritual Director, Peer Support and Wellness Advocate
Matt volunteers as a chaplain and peer support for police agencies in Los Angeles. He also is a volunteer for nonprofits that support police officers in crisis, as well as those that are injured and disabled. Matt believes all first responders can have careers that provide deeper meaning and add richness to their spiritual lives if approached in the right manner.
Matt is a medically retired police officer that worked patrol, Peer Support, SWAT, and as a full-time police academy instructor. Matt was the Wellness Coordinator for his agency integrating sports nutrition, strength, and conditioning, stress management, combatives-and-scenario training regarding officers as tactical athletes. He also was concurrently a collegiate strength coach at Yale and Georgetown Universities while a full-time police officer. Later he was a strength coach and mental skills trainer for NFL combine athletes. At Yale, he volunteered for Athletes in Action and at Georgetown, he created an ecumenical ministry Hoyas for Christ. Matt also has been a volunteer with Hockey Ministries International summer camps.
Matt played linebacker and was a competitive powerlifter for the Air Force Academy and Colgate University. He has an MS in Forensic Science under Dr. Henry Lee, an MS in Sport Psychology under Dr. Ken Ravizza, a MA in Pastoral Theology with a concentration in Spiritual Direction from Loyola Marymount University, and an additional spiritual direction certificate from Stillpoint. Matt focused his studies and additional immersion experiences in the contemplative traditions as well as masculine spirituality and psychology.
Responder Resilience
