David Whalley – Big incidents, the effects and how we can look after ourselves

David “Heavy” Whalley with his plethora of civilian and military search and rescue experience chats us through the effects events such as the Lockerbie disaster has had on him.  He discusses the culture and attitude change to the effects these incidents have on the responder, what to look for and how to create healthy coping systems and networks.

Key points from this podcast:

• Look after your team and know and look out for the signs that things are not going so well
• Its good to talk, never be ashamed to talk. 
• Look after your families

Resources related to this podcast:

Personal Website – www.heavywhalley.com

About David

David’s love of the mountains was inspired by his parents, a member of the RAF Mountain Rescue (MR) for 37 years in the roles of Team Leader of RAF Leuchars, RAF Kinloss and Deputy Team leader at RAF Valley in North Wales. He spent his last four years working in the ARCC Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre at RAF Kinloss. 

With over 1000 mountain and 80 aircraft incidents, David was also the Senior team leader at the Lockerbie disaster. 

As a member of the Scottish Mountain Rescue Executive Team for over 20 years, he fulfilled roles as the Chairman, Accident Statistician and Torridon Mountain Rescue Team member.

He was awarded the BEM, MBE and the Distinguished Service Award for Service to Mountain Rescue

Heavy is retired now and is in the process of writing a book and lecturing on Mountain Rescue and Mountain Safety in the UK and overseas.