BRYANT, Ark. — For people working stressful first-responder jobs, there's added significance to having a local bar or pub where everybody knows your name and your line of work.

"This is what we do. We get together. We talk about problems back and forth and kind of, you know, figure out how we're going to resolve the world," said firefighter Juan Acosta, as he described what he and his colleagues often do after work.

One day, the realization that those gatherings could offer support and healing led the California native to an idea.

"We were all talking about just having a place we could gather, firefighters, law enforcement, EMS," Acosta said. "We just all get together, enjoy each other's brotherhood, [and] be able to talk through things."

Those talks turned into a non-profit called the

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