Our Experts. Our Allies. Our Voice.

Ryan Collyer is a retired Advanced Care Paramedic from Calgary, Alberta. He is currently serving as the Team Lead and Clinical Liaison for Before Operational Stress Inc., supporting proactive protection programs for Public Safety Personnel, healthcare workers, military members, and others who work in trauma exposed professions. Ryan’s time in public service includes over 25 years in EMS holding positions spanning from frontline to leadership, along with time serving fire suppression (wildland and structural), and a current role as a Disaster Medical Specialist with Canada Task Force 2.

Ryan has dedicated the past 15 years of his career to advocacy for comprehensive first responder mental health supports and is a respected subject matter expert, having both served and provided support services. Ryan is a peer support specialist trained in Group Crisis Intervention (ICISF), Suicide Prevention Intervention and Postvention (ICISF), Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), and Prolonged Exposure Therapy. Additionally, Ryan is a certified educator of the Before Operational Stress and Trauma Informed Leadership programs. Ryan aims to inspire others to embrace courageous authenticity and pursue meaningful change in self and others. He firmly believes in the concept of “in service of others” and lives by the Latin phrase “acta non verba” (actions, not words).

Gwen Krawczyk is the Divisional Wellness Unit Manager for K Division (Alberta) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, where she leads a multidisciplinary team responsible for mental health education, peer support, fitness and health promotion, workplace wellness, informal conflict management, and spiritual wellness services across Alberta and the Northwest Territories.

With nearly a decade of service in the RCMP, Gwen has dedicated her career to supporting employees through critical incidents, organizational challenges, mental health concerns, and some of the most difficult moments of their lives. Her work focuses on helping create healthy workplaces where people feel supported, valued, and equipped to navigate adversity.

Beyond her professional role, Gwen brings a deeply personal perspective to conversations about resilience. Having navigated burnout, compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, moral injury, sanctuary trauma, and ADHD, she understands firsthand the cumulative impact that helping professions can have on those who serve.

These experiences have shaped her belief that resilience is not about pushing through hardship alone, but about self-awareness, courage, and recognizing when it’s time to reach for support. She is passionate about helping people care for themselves with the same compassion they so freely extend to others.

Superintendent Darren Berglind is a 25-year veteran of the Calgary Police Service whose career has spanned frontline patrol, homicide, undercover operations, organized crime investigations, district leadership, and executive command. Throughout his career, he has built a reputation for driving meaningful change while supporting officer wellness and developing future leaders. Those who know him best would likely tell you that his greatest contribution has never been defined by rank, but by the way he cares for people.

Over the course of his policing career, Darren has led major investigations, pioneered innovative policing initiatives, and guided people through some of the most challenging moments of their professional and personal lives.

What many people do not know is that some of the most important lessons Darren learned about leadership, resilience, mental health, and human connection came not from policing, but from his own life. More than a decade ago, while building what appeared to be a successful career, Darren was privately struggling with addiction. Behind the rank and professional success was a man wrestling with shame, isolation, and questions about his own worth and future.

The decision to ask for help changed the course of his life.

For the past 13 years, Darren has remained committed to recovery while quietly supporting police officers, first responders, and others facing addiction, mental health challenges, and personal crises of their own. Those experiences have profoundly shaped the way he leads, the way he cares for people, and his belief that no one should have to suffer alone.