⚠️ Content Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and trauma that may be triggering for listeners with PTSD or related experiences. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

This is the conclusion of the story of Andrew Mclean who spent 18 years as a police constable with the Waterloo Regional Police Service, after starting his career as a news reporter. He served three years as a Detective in the General Investigations Unit, leading major cases involving shootings, stabbings, armed robberies, and gang‑related violence. On front‑line patrol, he stepped into the role of acting Sergeant and coached new recruits entering the job he once loved.

In May 2021, the weight of everything he had seen — and everything he had carried alone — finally broke through. Andrew was diagnosed with Post‑Traumatic Stress Disorder and has been off duty since. During that time, he wrote a book about his descent into PTSD and the long climb back, becoming an advocate for emergency‑service mental health and the people who are still silently drowning inside the uniform.

If you heard Part 1, you know Andrew’s story began with a collapse — a moment where the job, the pressure, and the untreated PTSD finally broke through. But the break isn’t the whole story. Part 2 is about the climb back.

This is where we look at the recovery, the counseling, the medication, and the support he finally received and also the parts of the system that tried to smooth it over. Because whitewashing doesn’t happen in the crisis — it happens in the cleanup. It happens when institutions try to make the story look cleaner than it really was.

Andrew Lorne McLean

Website: beaten-black-and-blue.com/beaten-black-blue

Book: https://www.amazon.ca/Beaten-Black-Blue-Journey-Light-ebook/dp/B0F5BMPPN3

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrew.mclean.90410

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beaten_black_and_blue_book

OTR Sites:

Podcast Website: https://bobadleman.wixsite.com/otrmentalhealth

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Public Square Community Ko-Fi.com/otrachieving

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-adleman/