About Our Team
Shawn and Jeff Thomas
Shawn Thomas- Founder and CEO
Jeff Thomas- Executive Director
Shawn and Jeff are deputies for the King County Sheriff's Office in Seattle, WA. Shawn has been a deputy for 23 years and Jeff has been a deputy for 31 years.
In September 2016, Shawn's peer support captain suggested she organize a health and wellness conference for first responders and their families. The conference was a huge success and first responders reached out for assistance. That is when Shawn realized how important the conference was and other department's and organizations asked for her to organize a conference for them. In the first year they organized five conferences in Seattle, North Carolina, Florida, Texas and Arizona. Now they have had twelve conferences and have many more planned in the coming year. Shawn and Jeff are passionate about helping first responders because they have experienced their own difficult times and want to help guide others so they can maintain an enjoyable career and live a healthy life.
Please feel free to contact us if you are in need of confidential assistance. We are here to help refer you to any resources you may need.
Jacki Briggs
Assistant Director
Jacki is the wife of a USMC Veteran and a LEOW (wife of an Ada County Sheriff's Office Sergeant) for the past 28 yrs. She is the mother of four beautiful young women, all of which have struggled with extreme depression, suicide ideation, self-harm, anxiety, and PTSD (Two of which are suicide attempt survivors). Unfortunately, her family is all too familiar with the deep, gut wrenching turmoil, heartaches, and struggles that partner with you along the journey of mental health challenges. She is very passionate about helping others, especially our heroes. Her goal is to help them not just find ways to survive, but to surround them with the resources they and their families need to thrive. Jacki is very involved in her community as a suicide prevention advocate, raising awareness for mental health, networking, serving alongside many veterans’ organizations through the Joining Forces Task Force for Treasure Valley Veterans, and is working towards becoming a personal strengths coach.
Laura Price
Volunteer Coordinator
Laura Price currently serves as the Detective Sergeant with the Island County Sheriff’s Office in Washington state. Her career began in 1999 as a Reserve Deputy. Laura has focused her law enforcement career on community involvement where she was honored as Hometown Hero in 2008, Citizen of the Year in 2016 and the Grand Marshal of the Max Welton Parade in 2016. She currently serves as Board President of Whidbey Island Farm Animal Assistance Program, whose mission is to work directly with the county Animal Control Deputy.
Laura owns Life by Design and is a Transformational Coach and Speaker, working with clients around the globe as an accountability partner for making personal and professional changes through thought-provoking and creative processes.
Laura lives with her husband Tony Hartman on Whidbey Island, WA. They have 5 grandchildren who keep them up to date on the important things in life, such as their favorite flavors of ice cream and discussions on where rainbows live.
Matt Dorsey
Social Media Coordinator
Matt started his career in public safety in January of 2009. He started working in the Gooding County Jail where he was a certified Detention Deputy with the State of Idaho. Matt worked with Gooding County for five years. During that time he was promoted to Corporal and also was a Patrol Reserve Officer for the Shoshone City Police Department. Matt then left the Gooding County Sheriff's office and started his career in emergency communications. He started working with the Southern Idaho Regional Communications Center as a emergency 911 dispatcher. During his time with SIRCOMM, Matt was also a patrol reserve officer for Wendell City Police Department and a patrol reserve for the Jerome County Sheriff's Office. About a year later Matt went to work for the City of Twin Falls as a emergency dispatcher. During his time with the City of Twin Falls Communication Center he implemented their Tactical Dispatch team and became one of the only few Tactical Dispatchers in the Magic Valley. Matt has worked numerous SWAT call-outs and was utilized in many high stress incidents. After working for the City of Twin Falls, Matt went on to become the Deputy Director of SIRCOMM in May of 2018. After working in the role for close to a year Matt separated from SIRCOMM and has turned his focus to help raise his two daughters. Matt has been married to his wife Shilah for the last 7 years and they have two beautiful daughters Harleigh and Abigail. They are expecting their third daughter as well. Matt now spends his time to help market and spread awareness in the seriousness of PTSD in first responders and veterans.
Kelly, Amanda & Nicole
Meet some of our other volunteers!
Kelly Gibbons-Communications Coordinator
kelly@1stresponderconferences.org
Amanda Brumbaugh- Donations Coordinator
amanda@1stresponderconferences.org
Nicole Stevenson-Venue Coordinator
Help us Make a Difference!
Interested in Helping?
Organizing conferences can be a lot of work. If you are passionate about helping first responders and would like to contribute your strengths to helping our mission, we would love to speak with you. Please fill out our volunteer form and we will contact you soon.