Crisis Response: Managing Acute Stress After the Unthinkable

What happens to the mind and body after we witness something terrible—and what can we do before acute stress begins controlling our lives?

In this episode of The David Burnell Podcast, David sits down with longtime friend Jeffrey Denning for a deeply personal and practical conversation about crisis response, trauma, acute stress, and the cumulative emotional weight carried by first responders, veterans, rescuers, families, and ordinary people exposed to extraordinary events.

Jeffrey brings an unusual combination of experience to the conversation. A retired Salt Lake City police officer, former federal air marshal, military veteran and officer, author, crisis-response professional, and trained mental health counselor, he has spent years working both in environments where traumatic events occur and with the people left carrying their effects afterward.

Drawing from recent critical incidents, decades of law-enforcement and military experience, and his work conducting critical-incident stress interventions, Jeffrey explains why trauma does not always come from a single catastrophic moment. Sometimes it accumulates quietly—one call, one loss, one disturbing image, one deployment, one recovery, and one difficult day at a time.

David and Jeffrey explore primary, secondary, and tertiary trauma and discuss a growing challenge of the modern world: people no longer have to be physically present at a violent event to be affected by it. Graphic videos, breaking news, social-media algorithms, repeated viewing, political anger, and endless online speculation can keep the nervous system engaged long after the immediate danger has passed.

The conversation moves beyond identifying the problem to what people can actually do.

They discuss the importance of sleep, nutrition, hydration, physical activity, meaningful human connection, prayer and mindfulness, managing intrusive thought patterns, stepping away from destructive coping mechanisms, practicing gratitude, finding productive purpose, and resisting the natural tendency to isolate.

For first responders, veterans, and others who have spent a lifetime putting difficult experiences into mental compartments, Jeffrey offers another important warning: retirement does not necessarily erase what happened. Years of suppressed memories can surface when the noise finally stops. Early intervention, honest conversation, meaningful activity, service, and professional help can make an enormous difference.

One of the most powerful ideas from the episode is simple:

“Healing hurts, and helping heals.”

David and Jeffrey also talk about lowering the temperature in a divided culture. Anger may be a normal response to frightening events, but constantly feeding anger through social media does not bring peace. David shares a principle learned through years of tactical training and crisis work: calm breeds calm.

The episode ultimately becomes a conversation about something even more fundamental than trauma management: human connection.