MEET YOUR HOST
Your host, DUSTIN REICHERT, has lived through the weight that this series is about. Critical incidents. Accumulated trauma. And a 20+ year rollercoaster battle with Complex PTSD that didn’t come from one moment, but built over time.
Like many first responders, he learned early on how to push it down, keep moving, and do the job. Until that stops working.
His journey didn’t end when the uniform came off. In many ways, that’s where the real work started. Through therapy, reflection, and hard internal work, he began unpacking not just the major incidents, but the layers underneath them. The buildup. The patterns. The things that were there long before the job ever began.
Not just what happened. But why it stayed.
That perspective is what drives this series.
Dustin showing of his reconstructed arm.
Behind every story shared on STORIES IN THE STRUGGLE is someone who’s lived it.
Your host, Dustin Reichert, is a retired Deputy Sheriff out of Minnesota, where he spent the majority of his career working patrol, responding to the calls most people never see and carrying the ones that don’t go away when the shift ends. He mixed the concepts of community oriented policing with proactive enforcement style of patrolling building relationships with the good, the struggling and even the bad in his community. His work focused heavily on drug and alcohol enforcement, and he later served as a detective on a regional drug and violent crimes task force, working cases that impacted entire communities. But this isn’t built on a resume. It’s built on experience.
STORIES IN THE STRUGGLE is not about headlines or highlight reels. It’s about what people carry. Law enforcement, fire, EMS, military, and others who have lived through moments that changed them. The goal isn’t to fix anyone or force answers. It’s to create space for real conversations that most people never get to hear.
BECAUSE ONE STORY OPENS ANOTHER.
Dustin receiving purple heart.
- Dustin is a nationwide speaker for law enforcement, first responder & corporate events in the area of trauma, stress, mental health & more.
- A faculty instructor for Law Enforcement Training Academy & Consulting (LETAC) for wellness & crisis intervention.
- The author of 10-88! Officer Down & contributing author of Amazon #1 best selling The Transformational Journey.
- A nationwide team building specialist for corporate events.
- A specialized facilitator for firewalks, glasswalks & board breaking.
- A volunteer & common presence for Invisible Wounds Project.
- An advocate in all things PTSD, Wellness & Mental Health
