2023 Annual Conference Pre-Conference Education Session

Shaping Our Success - It Starts Here 

March 20 | Waco Convention Center, Waco, TX

Pre-Conference Handout

Comprehensive Wellness for Optimal Performance, Health, and Relationships

Please join us for this highly interactive 8-hour experience highlighting evidence based techniques to promote longevity, individual and organizational health, and quality- both on and off duty. The day will be led by multiple field experts including Dr. T (First Responder Psychologist), Dr. Chase (Physical Therapist and Board Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist), a registered dietician, and manual therapist/performance coach. The experience will include skills training, small group work, mobility and recovery focused movement, and the cognition lab. Each attendee will receive individual feedback and a swag bag including F1RST gear and a month’s supply of Thorne product (supplementation to target stress, sleep, and immunity).

Instructors

Dr. Heather Twedell, PSYD - CEO/Founder F1RST

Dr. Heather Twedell is a first responder psychologist and family member who is deeply dedicated to providing support to first responders and their families while relentlessly paving a new standard of wellness for fire and police departments. Her work with first responders, along with her family ties to law enforcement, gives her a strong appreciation and understanding of the culture and stressors specific to this line of work. Dr. Twedell’s clinical and professional background includes:

• Doctorate in Forensic Psychology
• Prior Law Enforcement Psychologist for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
• Work experience in emergency departments, outpatient hospital programs, neuropsychology rehabilitation centers, corrections, and with multiple police and fire departments in the DFW Metroplex
• Certified in FBI Crisis Negotiations
• Certifications in Peace Officer Standard & Training and the Institute of Criminal Investigation Instructors Course
• Currently training in Trauma-Informed Yoga
• Providing Trauma-focused and evidence-based treatment modalities to first responders and their family members
• Support, wellness, and posttraumatic stress. Dena is the founder and director of North Carolina Peer Support where she helped to develop their statewide curriculum.

Dr. Chase Twedell - Executive Director Physical Wellness

Dr. Chase Twedell, a licensed Physical Therapist since 2013, was a two-sport NCAA athlete, playing both football and baseball. His experience and passion for athletics led his physical therapy practice into orthopedic and sports injury management. He has vast experience assessing and treating all ages and ability levels from professional athletes to pediatric patients. He has a passion for teaching as he has served as an instructor to Physical Therapy students, from across the country, in patient management. His family ties to Law Enforcement and Military, as well as being married to a First Responder Psychologist, gives him an understanding of the physical and mental demands on First Responders. Dr. Twedell’s educational and professional experiences include:

• Doctorate of Physical Therapy from University of Southern California
• Board Certification as a Clinical Specialist in Orthopedics, demonstrating advanced clinical knowledge, experience, and skills in orthopedics
• Administrative and Clinical Director of a private orthopedic practice
• Credentialed as an ATPA Clinical Instructor
• Various clinical practices specializing in sports and orthopedic injury management, mentoring Sport Residents in patient management
• Development of didactic content for upper extremity anatomy, biomechanics and injury prevention and advanced patient management
• Development of evidence-based protocol for overhead injured athletes to return to competition
• Led special interest groups in discussion topics and development of criteria for treating overhead athletes