Crisis = Opportunity (eBook)

Introduction
From the Desk of Author Michael Pellegrino

While I officially authored this book, it would not exist without the many other caring, dedicated people who contributed to the material. My eternal gratitude goes out to them for taking their valuable time to help me create the book and review it for accuracy. It is designed to give you tools and resources to better handle the adversities you will inevitably experience throughout your life. By utilizing these tools, you will live a happier and more fulfilled life.

As a young boy, my natural tendency was to help others. My mother remembers me coming to the aid of the underdog or bringing home a latchkey kid to help with his homework. As a paper boy, I won a trip for my family to Disney World because of the positive comments I received from customers on my paper route. During my baseball years, I was recognized not for how well I played the game, but rather for motivating my fellow players to win when we were losing. My trophies read, “Good in the Dugout” and “Most Helpful to the Team.” I learned at an early age how the right attitude sets the stage for positive growth.

My helping hand attitude comes from my belief in God, and it has served me well. My life is defined through the biblical verse Philippians 2:3, which says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” It has never been about me; it has always been about others. My faith gives me the hope and courage to help people make changes for the better.

After graduating from high school, I was drawn to a career in law enforcement. I was hired by the Ewing Police Department in New Jersey where I attended the Trenton Police Academy. The academy required me to shoot a firearm and hit targets from a certain distance within a limited timeframe. Never having held a gun before, much less pulled the trigger, I found myself consistently missing the targets. On the last day of training, I was approached, handed a classified section of the newspaper, and told to go look for a different job, since I obviously was not going to be a police officer. That was the moment I realized I must help myself before I can help others. Fueled by determination and prayer, I aimed, pulled the trigger, and successfully hit multiple targets, qualifying me to graduate. I went on to work in law enforcement for twenty-five years, serving and protecting others to the best of my ability. In 2019 at my retirement party, I was humbled by the stories many of my colleagues shared about my service and the impact I had on their lives.

Their many stories reminded me of the times in a front liner’s life when we must respond quickly to a life-or-death situation. One such instance happened on January 18, 2012. My fellow officers Fred Dow, Jeff Caldwell, and I were called to the scene of a vehicle that had crashed into a wooden utility pole. The pole supported a transformer and high-voltage electric lines had broken off and fallen along the passenger side of the van. Sparking wires draped over the driver’s side of the vehicle and caused a fire. Inside the car, a mother and her disabled son were trapped. Despite the inherent risks, we worked around the live wires and managed to extract the woman from the van. Watching the flames grow, we realized we only had seconds to rescue her son, so we returned to the burning vehicle and quickly pulled him to safety. Within moments, the van became an inferno. Both victims were transported to a hospital where they recovered from their injuries. For that effort, Jeff Caldwell, Fred Dow and I received the prestigious Carnegie Medal of Honor, National Law Enforcement Police Officer of the Month, 200 Club Honoree, the Ewing Police Medal of Honor, the New Jersey State Police Benevolent Association Unit Citation Award and the Knights of Columbus Exceptional Service Award. I would go on to receive other awards such as the Police Officer of the Year for the Ewing PD and the Pablo Santiago Award.

While proud of these honors bestowed upon me throughout my career, receiving awards has never been what drives me to help others. I am a problem solver at heart and want to be part of a solution, not part of the problem.

I am indebted to my wife Diana (fondly call Dee) who has been my constant partner and supporter. I met Dee when I was enrolled in a Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) trainer course. She walked into our graduation ceremony and after being introduced by my friend Lisa, it was love at first sight. We married in 2007 and looked forward to starting a family. Unfortunately, life had other plans. After several miscarriages and various unsuccessful attempts at in-vitro, we realized that dream would not become a reality. It was a tough realization and the first major obstacle we faced as a married couple. If we had the tools in this book, it would have helped us move forward more quickly.

We tapped into our positivity and realized that we could now spend more time with our nieces and nephews. We also decided to get into the real estate business and learned how to flip and market properties. We took cash advances on our credit cards, bought our first property, and sold it at a nice profit. This story demonstrates how we moved forward, took a risk, and came out ahead. Crisis = Opportunity in action!

My journey into resilience training officially began in 2019. After retiring from the police department, I was approached by Prosecutor Angelo Onofri, who asked me to fill the position of Chief Resiliency Officer for Mercer County, New Jersey. This position was created to address the concern of higher suicide rates occurring among front liners versus the general population.

The State of New Jersey, recognizing this serious problem, developed a resilience program to address it. My years of experience in helping fellow officers deal with tough times on and off the job had given me the reputation of being the “go-to guy” in times of need. This expertise qualified me to fulfill this role. I am grateful for the opportunity given to me by Prosecutor Onofri.

In December of 2019, I took a resilience class in Georgia where I met Randy Richert, retired Air Force Colonel along with Joe Collins, retired Police Chief of Two Rivers Wisconsin. I also met Dr. Michelle Freeman, retired Police Chief of Las Vegas Public Safety, and Tina Braun, retired Lieutenant of Fond du Lac Wisconsin PD. During the course, they asked me to join their team as a facilitator for the FBI National Academy. I accepted, and in February of 2020, went to Quantico, Virginia, where I met Joe Maranowicz, a retired law enforcement officer from Addison Illinois, Buddy Johnson, a retired captain from Georgia State Patrol, and several others who would become personal friends and eventually help us create Resilient Minds on the Front Lines.

On a cold winter day in March 2020, a national lockdown was initiated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. My wife Dee and I were at home, where my duty as chief resiliency officer was to take calls from other colleagues. I spent eight hours on the phone talking to two police officers who were very concerned about how this virus could affect them, their coworkers, and their families. Hanging up from the second call, I looked at Dee and said, “Our police officers are very worried, and we need to find a way to help them. They need resources and tools to cope.” That was when our program Resilient Minds on the Front Lines was born.

Dee and I knew we had the tools, resources, and expertise to help, but needed capital to finance the project. We sold our home, moved into a garage apartment, and invested the money into this new business.

Because of the quarantine, our only way to reach people was through the Internet. We decided to develop a series of webcasts designed to give front liners hope, positivity, and the tools and resources to cope with this invisible enemy. My first phone calls were to my friends Reverend Gary Holden and Barry Vazquez to share our thoughts with them. After receiving affirmation from them that this was a worthwhile pursuit, I reached out to Joe Collins and Randy Richert who agreed and jumped on board to help outline the course. Joe, Randy, and I then reached out to subject-matter experts which included Dr. Kate Tumelty Felice, EdD, Executive Law Enforcement Professional and Army Veteran Dimitri Collins, Buddy Johnson, retired Deputy Chief of Police Bill Mazur, IT administrator Ray Luberto, and Michelle Alberts, graphic artist educator and editor of the webcast series. They helped us put this series designed to help our first responders and many in the community who were facing the fears brought on by a world turned upside down. In six months, we produced thirty-four webcasts reaching audiences in all fifty states and seventy-six countries worldwide. The success of the webcasts made us realize that these resiliency tools were needed not only during the pandemic but in everyday life. Individuals coping with other traumas like divorce, illness, death, physical pain, and financial burdens, could greatly benefit from this information.

In August, I once again called upon Randy Richert to discuss developing a curriculum, but this time for in-classroom training. We put together a curriculum committee that consisted of Dr. Kate Tumelty Felice, Dimitri Collins, Reverend Gary Holden, Buddy Johnson, and Michael Runyon, retired city of Trenton, New Jersey police. After the curriculum team had developed the material, we reviewed everything through a vetting team who put the final touches on the product. Dee and I realized what we needed was an attorney and chief executive officer (CEO). We hired Rob Czepiel, retired Deputy Attorney General...