National Instructor

James C. Boomhower, LMHC-A, MS, FP-C, C-NPT, CCISM is a Critical Care Transport Specialist-Paramedic and the Peer Support Director at Boston MedFlight, where he leads multidisciplinary initiatives supporting provider wellness, psychological safety, and the delivery of high-acuity critical care. A veteran paramedic, crisis worker, and mental health professional, he brings more than twenty years of experience across emergency medicine, air medical transport, and clinical behavioral health.

Mr. Boomhower is the founder of Stay Fit 4 Duty, a national platform dedicated to mental health, resilience, and peer support education for first responders and healthcare professionals. He is also an Instructor with the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, providing training in crisis intervention and organizational wellness to agencies across the United States. In addition to his clinical and educational work, he has authored chapters on mental health, resilience, and provider wellness in several industry-standard textbooks within the flight and critical care transport profession.

A widely sought-after national speaker, Mr. Boomhower integrates his dual perspectives from the field and the therapy room to advance evidence-informed, culturally competent mental health practices throughout the public safety and critical care transport communities.

Paul D. Watkins III is a Captain with the Verona Police Department in norther New Jersey and has been in law enforcement since 2003. Paul has been a supervisor since 2011 and he spent his first eighteen years of his career in patrol, to which he is most proud, as he feels this is where you have the most contact with the public and can best serve the community.

Paul earned his BA degree in Criminal Justice from Caldwell University (Caldwell, NJ) and completed a MS degree in Criminal Justice Leadership at Northeastern University (Boston, MA). Paul is a Certified Public Manager (CPM), conferred through Rutgers University and has graduated from the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police (NJSACOP) Command & Leadership Academy (formerly known as the West Point Command School), as well as the FBI Supervisory Leadership Institute, Command Leadership Institute, and Executive Command Institute, to complete the FBI LEEDA Trilogy. Paul is an Accredited Command Executive (ACE), certified through the New Jersey Association of Chiefs of Police (NJSACOP).