5 minute read
SHINING A LIGHT ALI ROTHROCK
SHINING A LIGHT
By Martha Chapman
Volunteer firefighter and author, counselor and motivational speaker Ali Rothrock helps us recover from trauma and understand how we can better help each other
Reading Pennsylvanian Ali Rothrock’s resume, you will be forgiven if you think you are reading about more than one person. Ali has founded and now runs three businesses centered around first responders or trauma survivor communities. She is a trauma counselor, motivational speaker, book author, and volunteer firefighter.
SHE IS ALSO 32 YEARS OLD.
How did Ali become so accomplished and so driven at the same time?
“I grew up in central Pennsylvania where my parents ran a customer service business. I was fascinated at a young age by the firefighter service and just knew it was what I was meant to do and that it was where my future lay. I was captivated by the ability to have such a tangible presence in people's lives when they were experiencing a scary incident. I think most people in high school thought it was cool. It was certainly a unique after-school activity.”
As soon as she could, at age 16, she enrolled as a volunteer firefighter.
But constant sexual harassment, both subtle and not so subtle, and instances of sexual violence, including an assault when she was 18, wore her down until she no longer believed she could exist safely in that world. The trauma of these experiences eventually resulted in a diagnosis of PTSD, which was actually, she says, the first step towards healing.
She quit volunteering for a while as she attended Bucks County Community College outside Philadelphia for her Associates Degree in Fire Science. During that time she wrote her first book, “Where Hope Lives" (published under her maiden name Ali Warren), a memoir detailing her journey through her first years in the fire service.
Since graduating college, Ali has racked up an impressive wall-full of diplomas including: a B.A. in psychology; Certified Fire Service Instructor; Certified Trauma Responder; and QPR Suicide Prevention instructor. She has worked in a domestic violence shelter and does one-onone and group counseling with a local critical incident stress management team. She’s also the Eastern Division Trustee for Women in Fire.
But she is perhaps proudest of her simplest title: story teller.
Even though Ali’s entry into the fire service was, as she points out, literally half her lifetime ago, she’s still in touch with the teenager she was. What would she tell her 18 year old self? Does she wonder how she could have handled the assault differently? Today, she says that she wouldn’t have kept it to herself, and yet she has no regrets for how that version of herself handled it, given the tools she had at the time.
“I have that conversation all the time with people from all over. I tell young women that firefighting is my favorite way to help people and take up space in this world, and if you want it, it will repay you in spades with an amazing sense of purpose and community, and give you the chance to be with people in their very hard moments. But if you find yourself in a place where you don’t feel safe, that place doesn’t deserve you.
“The fire service is a microcosm of our society with prejudices against gay people and people of color. It was created for one type of person, and we see this outdated model in their policies, language used, and issues which don’t include women.”
At this point, the entrepreneur’s portfolio comprises three businesses: “On the Job and Off”, a site which includes
podcasts promoting mental health for first responders. There is also “First Responders Care”, a free program to train first responders to recognize and report child abuse, neglect and trafficking.
Ali’s portfolio also includes “Hope Lives Co.”, which promotes books and other creative endeavors in the same field. “Hope Lives” promotes Ali’s two books, “Where Hope Lives” and “After Trauma” (to be published early this year), which explores the fallout from trauma, the ripples that these experiences have in people’s lives and the hope for a way ahead. As well as personal stories, it includes advice and suggestions for recovery. “The book outlines the demarcation in my life before and after deciding to ask for help for my mental health. That’s when I started becoming the person I am today.”
“Hope Lives Co.” also promotes her public and motivational speaking career which has included a prestigious TED Talk.
How does she juggle it
all? Ali, who now lives in Harrisburg with her husband says, “Well, I’ve been traveling less since Covid, but life continues to be everchanging. I still get up at 5 a.m. to write –and make coffee!”
Is the first responders’ world getting any
better? Ali pauses and replies: “It depends on the day, but overall: yes. I see policies changing, conversations being had, changes on an international level. So yes, there is fantastic progress being made. But I still get weekly messages from female firefighters who are experiencing what I experienced.”
Most of the time, she says, while she can’t fix what’s happening, she can create a space for these women to talk where they don’t have to justify what they’re saying. “We can talk about the best next steps for them.”
And yes, she is still a firefighter – “as much as I can do, and my certificates are still active.” It’s no doubt an invaluable way to keep her finger on the pulse of the challenges of those who need her wisdom most.
