Caring for the Responders: The Power of Permission with Sean Malone
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Who takes care of the people who show up to help? This week on the Disaster Podcast, hosts Jamie Davis and Sam Bradley join Dr. Joe Holley in welcoming Sean Malone, founder of Crisis Response International, for a conversation about responder trauma, volunteer preparation, and the importance of giving ourselves permission to step back.
Sean’s commitment to disaster response grew from his experience at Ground Zero following the September 11 attacks. He describes arriving on September 12, 2001, and working alongside his father to bring movie industry lighting equipment into the response area. Their effort helped illuminate the rubble where emergency personnel were working.
Sam shares that her team arrived on September 13, and the two reflect on serving in the same area during those difficult early days. Their memories highlight both the determination to help and the challenges of coordinating volunteers amid an overwhelming disaster.
The conversation moves beyond the work itself to the emotional weight responders carried afterward. Sean describes how compassion and adrenaline can keep people moving even as exhaustion and trauma build. Joe offers a related perspective from the response to the Pentagon attack, recalling the support available to Urban Search and Rescue teams during deployment and the less individualized approach to follow-up care at the time.
Sean went on to establish Crisis Response International in 2007. During the interview, he shares that the organization has trained more than 20,000 responders for disasters around the world. Those experiences have helped shape an approach to volunteer preparation that includes emotional readiness, team support, and care that continues beyond the immediate assignment.
One of the episode’s central ideas is what Sean calls “the power of permission.” He credits his wife with helping him recognize the value of team members explicitly giving one another permission to take breaks and attend to their own needs. For people driven to keep helping, hearing that encouragement from a trusted teammate can make it easier to acknowledge their limits.
Jamie reflects on how responder care has developed over the past 25 years. The group discusses greater awareness of trauma among both professional responders and volunteers, along with the growing place of practical self-care in disaster training.
Sean explains how CRI prepares volunteers for unstable environments and incorporates stress management and member care into its work. He describes the organization’s faith-based approach, including prayer and peer support, alongside access to professional counseling when needed. The discussion emphasizes the importance of recognizing when someone needs additional help.
Throughout the episode, the team returns to the lasting effects of catastrophic events. A deployment may end, but processing what happened can take much longer. Building a culture where responders can speak honestly about their needs is an important part of the conversation.
Listen as Sean, Sam, Jamie, and Joe share their experiences and explore how caring for responders can become a regular part of disaster operations—from preparation through the return home.
Learn more about Sean’s organization, volunteer training, and disaster response work at Crisis Response International.
Our thanks to Dr. Joe Holley from Paragon Medical Education Group for sponsoring the Disaster Podcast.
Thank you as always to Paragon Medical Education Group for their long-term support of the Disaster Podcast. Dr. Joe Holley and the team at Paragon continue to provide excellent and customized disaster response training to jurisdictions around the U.S. and internationally as well.
