True North Alignment

Challenge Coin #35 from Jerry Galliford, the president of the Alberta First Responders Association (AFRA).

What started out as an appreciation gala back in 2023 has now turned into something much bigger. Jerry Galliford is a Sheriff in the downtown Edmonton law enforcement.

Alongside being in this role, Jerry is very passionate in the work he does in being the President of AFRA. One of those passions and goals is to raise funds to convert a retired ambulance into a provincial Mobile Support Unit to provide on-scene psychological support and mental health education directly to our frontline heroes.

When I connected with Jerry, he shared that some of the challenges within his role is dealing with the charges and details that involve inmates associated with court orders. There are so many sexual assaults where innocent people and children get harmed and how all of this connects to moral injury for people like Jerry who are in these roles and the tasks required to do the job.

Thank you Jerry for sharing your story and advocating for First Responders in support of mental health 🩵💜.

To hear more of Jerry’s story, watch the previous video and if you or someone you know would like to participate in the 100 Challenge Coin Challenge, I would love to hear from you 😉.

Alberta First Responders Association

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Challenge Coin #31, #32, #33, and #34 from James Hersey with GardaWorld Security.

I met James at the AFRA mental health conference in Edmonton where he gave me 4 challenge coins to share with you all.

James is in a management position with GardaWorld Security for the past 10 years. He deals with a lot of high profile and high risk operations where he mentioned one of the challenges is the increase in violence that he has noticed. More violence that involves gang shootings and biker gangs as well.

One event that he was in charge of operations was the 2025 G7 Leaders Summit that was held in Kananaskis, Alberta. He shared how busy this time was and the amount of security that was in place. Things like drowns with weapons attached, tanks, military walking around armed with guns…. Not your every day norm to say the least. He recalls meeting a lot of interesting people such as Terry Grant from the reality TV show “Man Tracker”.

James shared his passion in supporting others and some of the challenges that come with the role. He also had a hand in designing a few of the challenge coins.

Thank you James for sharing so openly and to hear more about his story, see previous video post.

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Challenge Coin #30 with Service Dog Shadow from the LSRFS in the town of Slave Lake 🐾

Shadow is a service dog in training with partner Bianca Martens. He is the sweetest and most loving boy who offers his support to whoever needs it. When he is not working, he is eager to come up to you for attention with his tail wagging and pure doggy joy in his face.

Service dogs are becoming more and more common amongst first responders and offer so much support with people’s emotional and mental health. Given the nature of first responder work who deal with calls that most people never have to imagine, what a gift to have a dog’s presence at the place of work ♥️.

Some stats on Shadow:

Birthday: January 14th, 2025
Best Friends: my doggy sister Nova, Joel with K9 Luna
School: Summit Service Dogs
Favourite Toy: my blue dragon
Superpower: Disappearing into the dark (just like Batman)
Career Path: I’m going to be a firedog
Fun Fact: named after inspector “Shadow” from the movie Backdraft.

To hear more of Shadow’s story, watch previous Instagram video.


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Challenge Coin #28 & #29 with Operations Supervisor for EHS, Christa Bissell in the town of Slave Lake.

Christa started out in the emergency services in 2017 as an EMR. She then went on to receive her P*P training in 2019, worked for AHS in 2021 to now is an Operations Supervisor with EHS.

Christa is very passionate about the work she does and has an amazing attention to detail to notice when things do not look right. She has a “know how” on how to make improvements that are safe, with a background of coming from the trades as a welder prior to switching careers to the emergency services.

She also has a passion for dogs. During my first visit to Slave Lake and meeting her, I remember seeing many photos and hearing stories of her dogs. I always appreciate her pure joy around dogs and how near and dear to the heart she holds them. Christa has a way of making you feel like you have known her your whole life and is always eager to connect.

Thank you Christa for sharing your passions of the emergency services and in dogs 🐾. And like your quote you shared with the dumpster fire challenge coin - “life is a s**t show and we’re all in it together”.

To hear more of her story, watch previous Instagram video.

Christa Bissell

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