When Stacie Brasher saw the protests and riots happening in Minneapolis after the killing of George Floyd by a police officer last May, the scenes from the city where she’d lived for six years were all too familiar.
“Having lived in that area and seeing the pain of my former neighbors and friends, it just really impacted me, and I saw a lot of people hurting on both sides,” Brasher said.
That led her to want to do something to help bring citizens and law enforcement together in her current community of Ringgold, Georgia, where she founded the nonprofit organization Building the Blue Bridge.
“I decided to start this nonprofit that would offer programs that would give the opportunity to both law enforcement and first responders as well as to the community to come together and find a way to bridge the gap that’s been created,” she said. “Because I’m not in law enforcement and I’m not one to pick up a protest sign, I kind of struggled with what I could do to help, and starting this nonprofit was my way of helping.”
The organization began offering Reboot Recovery, a 12-week program for first responders focused on helping them deal with traumatic situations they face in their line of work. The peer-led program is free to first responders and their spouses.