Over the last couple of months I have taken a break from feature blogs. Between the holidays, fire life, mom life, and planning my nonprofits first seminar it has been a little hectic to say the least. Still is a little crazy but I embrace it knowing full well it is all for the better of my brothers and sisters in the fire service. If you’re curious as to what I am talking about go and check out our events tab and see what we have going on there!

But to the feature blog…

I wanted to highlight this next amazing lady and her business but not just that I want to bring you her amazing book too! Rachelle Zemlok is a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of California. Since her license is in California that is who she is available to help whether in person or through video chat. She grew up in the first responder world and with different aspects of it. From law enforcement to ER nurses. She is a also a fire wife so trust me when I say she just gets it on the personal level, as well as the professional. Rachelle’s passion is for the family of the first responders and helping them navigate the lifestyle and talk about the things that come along with that. I had the privilege of sitting down with her over coffee and you can just tell she has a genuine and sweet spirit. My four year old daughter was with me and she is always skeptical about new people and usually pretty shy. But she opened right up to Rachelle and they chatted while I ordered my coffee. My point behind that is her demeanor with children is pure and heartfelt. My daughter could instantly tell she was a good person and felt comfortable with me taking 5 steps away to grab coffee. Rachelle is constantly going to different places to learn and become better equipped with bringing education to a group or to one on ones. We will be partnering with her in the future to bring some fun classes so be on the lookout for those!

Can’t wait or make it to one of those no problem! Let me tell you about the book that Rachelle has poured a lot of her experience into. The Firefighter Family Academy is a book you will want to get your hands on. She told me this book was meant for fire couples in the beginning of their relationships or just getting into the fire service. Buuuuttt… I found things in this book that were so relatable and helped me, who has been in the fire life for about 12 years now. She breaks down all the different aspects about how things work with our firefighters from types of vehicles, academies, positions, promotions, station life, PTSD, etc. She then also gives a guides for this part of the fire life and shares some of her own personal experience with it. One of my favorite parts in this book was the section about having quirky rules! Yes, your firefighter will have some rules that don’t make sense to you, but trusting that they have them for a reason and being okay with them is something she talks about. I literally giggled reading this section knowing my husbands and completely relating. There truly is something for everyone in her book.

Rachelle Zemlok’s passion and drive to help others in the first responder world was something we absolutely bonded over during our coffee. And I could see her heart to make a difference. Her social media page is full of relatable content and advice posted weekly on how to deal with certain things only the first responder life might bring to us. I want to encourage you to check out her webpage, book (buy one), and her social media pages. Per the norm I will be adding the link to her website HERE and on the featured links tab. So go check her out and if you’re in California and need someone to talk with give her a call.