All Clear Foundation is fortunate to have amazing people with lived experience and expertise in the Responder field to facilitate our ResponderStrong Mental Health curriculum, Train the Trainer.
Let us introduce you...
Rhonda Kelly
Rhonda served in emergency response for more than 20 years, starting out as an expanded practice EMT in the Antarctic then transitioning to career and volunteer EMT roles in Colorado. For 17 years, she served as a firefighter/paramedic for the Aurora Fire Department, working part-time as an ER and Psych ER nurse. During the last few years of her fire career, she promoted to Health & Safety Officer, developing physical fitness, nutrition, wellness, injury prevention, crisis response, and mental wellness programs. In 2016, she founded ResponderStrong, a collaborative initiative to build better mental health supports for responders and their families. In January 2020, ResponderStrong transitioned to its new home within the All Clear Foundation as Rhonda became the National Director of Health & Wellness for Global Medical Response. In November 2020, she was appointed Executive Director of the All Clear Foundation, continuing her work to improve the overall wellness of responders and frontline healthcare workers.
Craig Bettis
Craig Bettis is a Public Safety & Operational leader with over 22 years in law enforcement and 13 years of tactical experience. He is credited with leading/managing a world-class police organization through expertise in Change Management, Organizational Team Building & Intelligence Based Policing. Craig also brings extensive experience performing under stressful operational & administrative environments. His passion for Responder wellness has taken his career in new direction. Currently he serves as the Director of Tactical Health for SIGMA Tactical Wellness, a tactical health initiative to provides emergency responders with cardiometabolic screening to diagnose and prevent early stages of cardiac and metabolic disease. A founding member of ResponderStrong and active partner of the All Clear Foundation, Craig is also a leader in the Responder mental health field.
Mike Pitrusu
Mike Pitrusu is a sergeant with a major city agency of 746 sworn officers that provides comprehensive police services to a diverse city of 374,000 residents. He has served as the Executive Officer to the Chief of Police and led the department’s Employee Support and Wellness Unit (ESWU) for several years. Currently Mike leads the Fugitive Unit. During his 20-year law enforcement career, he has been assigned to the Patrol Division as a Patrol and Community Resource officer and the Special Operations Bureau as a Special Weapons and Tactics Team Leader, Sniper, and Sergeant. One of the founding members of the ResponderStrong Mental Health Initiative, Mike has a deep passion for Responder Wellness and has been a valuable contributor to our content.
Emily Hitchings
Emily served as a police officer for the Aurora Colorado Police Department for nearly 17 years in a variety of uniform and undercover assignments, including patrol, vice and narcotics, and fugitive apprehension. Most recently, she served as the department’s employee support and wellness officer, overseeing physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual support programs. She led the department’s peer support team, lethal response team, and trauma response team. Currently, she serves as the Director of Agency Partnerships and Programming at the National Emergency Responder and Public Safety Center. Emily is also working on a MA in counseling, to allow her to assist emergency responders through therapy, crisis response, and trauma treatment.
Matt Philbrick
In January 2021, Matt Philbrick joined Global Medical Response as Manger of GMR Life (Health, Wellness & Resilience). With more than 17 years working in Emergency Medical Services as a Paramedic, Matt brings a background of both BLS and ALS ground ambulance service as well as Critical Care medicine in both rotor and fixed-wing platforms. From 2014-2021, Matt served as the Medical Operations Manager for a non-profit air and ground ambulance company in Southern Oregon where he supervised a ground department, air medical department, communications center, and training department. Matt believes in "taking care of the people that are taking care of our communities" through fostering a culture of Wellness and equipping individual responders with the tools and skills to thrive. To that end, he recently joined the ranks of All Clear Foundation’s Master Trainers, further leveraging his passion and expertise.
Brandon Daruna
Brandon is the Chief of the Gilpin Ambulance Authority and a 20-year EMS veteran, serving most of his career as a Paramedic in New Orleans. Brandon currently serves on the Foothills RETAC Board of Directors, the Gilpin County LEPC and Emergency Services Council, the North Central Region HCC Board of Directors, The North Central Region UASI Board of Directors, and the Rocky Mountain Combined SWAT Team. Brandon holds an Executive Masters in Business Administration from the University of Denver, Daniels College of Business and is a faculty member teaching the University of Denver Public Safety Leadership Development Program. Brandon is also a certified Insights Discovery Practitioner.