Ep 146. Haunted by the Badge: Jay Prothero’s Battle with PTSD and Redemption

Behind The Smile with Ash Butterss · Oct 26, 2025 · 55m

After decades on the front line, retired police officer Jay Prothero found himself fighting a different kind of battle—the one inside his own mind. In this raw and powerful conversation, Jay opens up about the toll that years of trauma, high pressure, and suppressed emotion took on his mental health.He shares how anxiety, depression, and PTSD slowly crept in, and how alcohol became his escape from the pain he didn’t know how to face. But Jay’s story goes far deeper than his time in uniform. It’s also about the heartbreak of watching his own child spiral into ice addiction, and the painful…