SPONSORED SPECIAL SECTION FIRST RESPONDERS RESILIENCY
Raven Drum Foundation bangs the drum for first responders Rick Allen is a legend in music circles. The Def Leppard drummer famously came back from a 1984 car crash that resulted in the loss of his left arm. With the support of his bandmates and drum technicians who designed a specialized kit for the Dronfield, England native, Allen is still pounding the sticks for Def Leppard to this day. In 2001, he and spouse Lauren Monroe founded the Raven Drum Foundation, a nonprofit supporting veterans and first responders by hosting drum circles and other healing events which provide skills and methods to navigate physical and emotional symptoms of trauma, anxiety, pain and isolation. Raven Drum is one of First Responders Resiliency’s biggest supporters, partnering with the Sonoma County nonprofit for events, fundraising and to raise awareness and build techniques for mitigating stress, anxiety and the health effects of trauma. Visit ravendrumfoundation.org .
Trainings include stress-reducing physical activities.
As of press time, more than 12,000 emergency personnel and their families have attended the nonprofit’s trainings. Above, the Redwood City Fire Department. modalities, yoga (taught by a military veteran), breathwork, meditation and other stress-mitigation techniques, it’s time for home. At that point, the families reunite with attendees—and many feel like, for the first time, they both understand what’s happening, says Farren. Carie Levar was so impacted by family day
currently under review by the county’s planning department, Permit Sonoma. “If we can get the permits, we’ll break ground,” says Farren. Construction will be done in three phases. First the classrooms and rooms for research and other core services. Second, the self-care sanctuary. And, finally, administrative offices. (In typical first-responder fashion, Farren and her team’s space comes last.)
when her firefighter husband attended a 2019 training, she became the nonprofit’s director of Family Services. “This conference changes people,” says Levar. “You can watch the metamorphosis—letting down that guard, getting down [from] fight or flight.” Levar describes the relief first responders feel as being like, “when you finally know somebody gets it—you are not alone.” Donner, the Oakland firefighter, recalls family day at his first training weekend in 2024. His engagement was crumbling following a breakdown—his fiancé was ready to leave him, when she agreed to attend the family day. “I’ll never forget this,” he says. “She drove home with me, and when we got in the car she started crying. And she said, ‘I had no idea—you have every symptom they were describing.’” Adds Donner: “At the end of the day we are ordinary men and women doing extraordinary work, for decades. How could it not affect us?” A year later, Donner and his fiancé are still together. “We are closer now than we have ever been.” n
Key to realizing the project will be reaching their fundraising goal of $3 million, which will make them eligible for the full construction loan. Farren says some interested donors are taking a wait-and-see approach before cutting a check. “When a woman comes out of nowhere, with five children and an idea—it’s easy to step back and say, let’s see if she can maintain this,” says Farren. “And I do, with an incredible team of first responder instructors and volunteers beside me. It’s not something we’re doing for fun, we’re doing this because our partners were dying prematurely or taking their own lives.” Adds Farren: “We mean business.” ‘You are not alone’ Back at Bishop’s Ranch, the third and final day of training is “family day.” Spouses, partners, kids over 14 and various significant others gather in an area separate from their first-responder loved ones and are given an abbreviated 8-hour course of what’s been presented at the training that weekend. This is the time for families to better understand what’s happening physiologically as a result of their loved ones' careers. And, reminds Farren, it’s a chance for families to understand what they can be doing to care for themselves during the process. By this time, the pages have been colored, the pipe cleaners bent into all sorts of shapes and knots. Membership in the F- Your Feelings Generation has dropped to nil. After three days of lectures,
For information on First Responders Resiliency, Inc., including trainings, resources, family services and how to join the capital campaign to build the world’s first resiliency center for first responders, visit resiliency1st.org .
Please email comments to jwalsh@NorthBaybiz.com
December 2025
NorthBaybiz 55
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online