True North Alignment

Challenge Coin #35 from Jerry Galliford, the president of the Alberta First Responders Association (AFRA).

What started out as an appreciation gala back in 2023 has now turned into something much bigger. Jerry Galliford is a Sheriff in the downtown Edmonton law enforcement.

Alongside being in this role, Jerry is very passionate in the work he does in being the President of AFRA. One of those passions and goals is to raise funds to convert a retired ambulance into a provincial Mobile Support Unit to provide on-scene psychological support and mental health education directly to our frontline heroes.

When I connected with Jerry, he shared that some of the challenges within his role is dealing with the charges and details that involve inmates associated with court orders. There are so many sexual assaults where innocent people and children get harmed and how all of this connects to moral injury for people like Jerry who are in these roles and the tasks required to do the job.

Thank you Jerry for sharing your story and advocating for First Responders in support of mental health 🩵💜.

To hear more of Jerry’s story, watch the previous video and if you or someone you know would like to participate in the 100 Challenge Coin Challenge, I would love to hear from you 😉.

Alberta First Responders Association

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Challenge Coin #31, #32, #33, and #34 from James Hersey with GardaWorld Security.

I met James at the AFRA mental health conference in Edmonton where he gave me 4 challenge coins to share with you all.

James is in a management position with GardaWorld Security for the past 10 years. He deals with a lot of high profile and high risk operations where he mentioned one of the challenges is the increase in violence that he has noticed. More violence that involves gang shootings and biker gangs as well.

One event that he was in charge of operations was the 2025 G7 Leaders Summit that was held in Kananaskis, Alberta. He shared how busy this time was and the amount of security that was in place. Things like drowns with weapons attached, tanks, military walking around armed with guns…. Not your every day norm to say the least. He recalls meeting a lot of interesting people such as Terry Grant from the reality TV show “Man Tracker”.

James shared his passion in supporting others and some of the challenges that come with the role. He also had a hand in designing a few of the challenge coins.

Thank you James for sharing so openly and to hear more about his story, see previous video post.

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