Cleared Hot - Powered By BRCC Wellness and Resiliency Are Not the Same Thing | Erica Gaines | Ep. 436
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Mar 9, 2026 Erica Gaines, founder of TacMobility and former 'Knife Girl' who trains law enforcement in stress physiology and resiliency. She recounts a life-changing use-of-force simulator and explores why suicide tops line-of-duty deaths. Short takes cover policing culture, tactical mobility (rebranded yoga), dispatch trauma, women improving de-escalation, cynicism after service, and the gap between wellness programs and real resiliency training.
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Two Minute Simulator Changed Her View Of Use Of Force
- Erica Gaines walked a domestic-violence simulator with a shock pack, shot a suspect, got hit, and left shaking and crying despite knowing it was not real.
- The two-minute scenario revealed involuntary physiological responses that changed her view on use-of-force and bias assumptions.
Stress Responses Often Explain Split-Second Decisions
- Gaines realized many perceived biases in police encounters can stem from unconscious physiological limits under stress, not only prejudice.
- The simulator showed how audio exclusion, tunnel vision, and tremor-like reactions remove cognitive space for deliberation.
Build Friendships Outside Policing To Break The Echo Chamber
- Develop a social circle outside law enforcement to avoid the self-reinforcing cycle of constantly reprocessing job trauma with peers.
- Spend off-duty time with non-police friends so conversations and identity aren't dominated by policing.