{"id":195359,"date":"2025-07-30T08:56:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T13:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=195359"},"modified":"2025-07-30T20:49:53","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T01:49:53","slug":"renowned-mental-health-speaker-coming-to-van-wert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2025\/07\/30\/renowned-mental-health-speaker-coming-to-van-wert\/","title":{"rendered":"Howze coming to Van Wert this fall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an effort to address the growing mental health challenges faced by first responders and others, Van Wert Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 681 and the Van Wert Fire Department will host a powerful and inspiring event featuring internationally recognized speaker, author and former first responder Travis Howze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event is scheduled for Saturday, November 1, at LifeHouse Church in Van Wert. It will bring together firefighters, law enforcement officers, EMS professionals, dispatchers, military veterans and mental health advocates to open up honest conversations about trauma, burnout and resilience in public safety professions.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Van Wert Fire Department Captain Brian Ankney talks about about Travis Howze’s upcoming appearance in Van Wert. Scott Truxell\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Members of the fire department and Van Wert Police Department gathered Wednesday morning to announce the upcoming event and discuss the importance of it. Howze\u2019s appearance has been in the works for over a year and Fire Captain Brian Ankney said Local 681 provided funds to secure the date. Since then, many local businesses and organizations have shown their support for the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howze, a former firefighter, police officer and U.S. Marine will bring what\u2019s described as a uniquely raw and personal perspective to the issue of post-traumatic stress. After surviving career-ending injuries and the loss of several colleagues, Howze turned to comedy and public speaking as a way to cope and to help others heal. Now, he shares his journey across the country, encouraging those in uniform to speak up, seek help and reclaim their mental well being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe spend our entire careers saving others,\u201d Howze said. It\u2019s time we start saving ourselves. Mental health should be a priority, not a stigma.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re actually to the point where we\u2019re losing more police officers and firefighters annually to suicide (nationally) than we are in line of duty deaths,\u201d Ankney said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howze\u2019s mental health issues started in his childhood and culminated in June, 2007, while a member of the Charleston, South Carolina Fire Deparment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cNine firefighters perished during the Sofa Super Store fire and he was on the body recovery team and that\u2019s what pushed him to develop his \u201cCreate Your Own Light\u201d book and podcast,\u201d Ankney explained. \u201cHe talks to us like he\u2019s sitting at the dinner table with us, like he\u2019s riding in the cruiser next to the officers \u2013 he was one of us and he knows how we speak, he knows how we respond to that sort of thing. That\u2019s what makes his message so powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited to have him come because he has experience with first responders and what they see on a daily basis that most people never see in their whole life,\u201d Chief Jon Jones said. \u201cHe gets it out there where people are more easily able to share those feelings and their concerns or whatever they\u2019re thinking at the time. The stigma over the years with fire, EMS and police is we have to be \u2018tough guys\u2019 and keep that all to ourselves and now that\u2019s changing \u2013 we\u2019re talking more about it amongst ourselves about how it affects us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chief Jones also said any leftover money from the Howze\u2019s appearance will be used to set up a fund to pay for assistance or counseling for future first responders in need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tickets for the event are $20 each and will go on sale this Friday, August 1. They can be purchased here<\/a> or here<\/a>. The doors to the November 1 event at LifeHouse Church will open at 8 a.m. and the program will begin at 9 a.m. The church seats about 800 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hoping to fill LifeHouse Church that Saturday morning,\u201d Ankney said.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Members of the Van Wert Fire Department and Van Wert Police Department gathered for this morning’s announcement. Scott Truxell photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor In an effort to address the growing mental health challenges faced by first responders and others, Van Wert Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 681 and the Van Wert Fire Department will host a powerful and inspiring event featuring internationally recognized speaker, author and former first responder Travis Howze. The event is scheduled for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-195359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 03:03:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195359"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195394,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195359\/revisions\/195394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}