Mike McGrew is the Co-Founder, CEO and Executive Director of the 911 At Ease Foundation.
Mike spent 31 years with the Santa Barbara Police Department where he recently retired as a sergeant. Mike held positions in major crimes, traffic, and POA president among many other assignments.
Those assignments took a toll on Mike who struggled with self-destructive behavior as a poor coping mechanism for what he dealt with on the job.
But honestly, what he had to deal with at home was where he found the real test of his strength and character.
Mike has suffered the loss of two of his children, one to illness and one to addiction. He had his own struggles with addiction and multiple divorces as he tried to bury the effects of his career. Eventually, Mike received his own near-death diagnosis of cancer.
But this episode is not about what happened to Mike. It’s about what he used what happened to him to create something incredibly amazing for other first responders and their families so that others wouldn’t have to go through what he went through. That’s when he created 911 At Ease.
911 At Ease is a non-profit organization that provides free culturally-competent counseling for first responders and their families around the nation. Local donors provide the funding and treatment is received outside of the department E.A.P. or health insurance so confidentiality and discretion remain intact and the agency never knows about it. To learn more about them and their amazing work, visit them at 911aei.org.
Follow their work on Instagram @911ateaseinternational
Check out the book, “A Higher Call to Duty: The Unimaginable True-Life Story of Sgt Mike McGrew.”
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