KEN TWOREK  |  FOUNDER & PRINCIPal CONSULTANT

For 18.5 years, I lived my childhood dream as a fourth-generation lawman in my family. I worked patrol, served on SWAT, tac teams, investigated cases, trained new officers, and taught cops. Policing was a significant part of who I was, and I thought I knew where that road was taking me.

On April 8, 2021, I was ambushed while field training a new officer. I was shot four times. The first round severed the brachial artery in my left arm and caused permanent damage to my median nerve, among other injuries. I returned fire, applied my tourniquet with the help of two extraordinary heroes, and survived. In fourteen seconds, my actions saved my life, my trainee’s life, and the life of another person I would never meet. Those actions earned me the Medal of Valor and other awards for bravery and service.

I survived. But a year of occupational and physical therapy could not restore enough function for me to return to full duty. When I learned I could no longer serve as a police officer, I lost more than a career. I lost the future I had pictured since childhood. I had fought to stay alive. Now I had to figure out who I was and what I was living for.

I looked back over my career, from where it started to how it ended. The mistakes, disappointments, and personal and professional struggles were easy to find. Accepting my accomplishments was harder. Through a different lens, I began to see a dedicated police professional, husband, father, son, and friend who had kept going through every hardship. Those experiences belonged to my story. They did not get to write the rest of it.

Still, I had questions. Why had my thinking become so cynical, jaded, and negative? Why was it easier to expect the worst than recognize what was good? I was content with my service to the community, but I still wanted to serve my people—the First Responders continuing to live the dream I had lost. My career’s ending was unique. Many of the struggles surrounding it were familiar across the profession.

I wanted to bring more than my story into that work. I needed to understand why we think, feel, and respond the way we do. I returned to school and earned my Master of Social Work from Aurora University. The transition made sense. As I often say, as a police officer, I was already a social worker with a gun.

My studies and research focused on cumulative trauma. I began to understand that what I had accepted as normal was not always healthy or sustainable. The job had taught me to look for danger, anticipate what could go wrong, and stay ready to act. That thinking helped keep me alive. It also followed me into places where I no longer needed it—into my relationships, my home, and the quiet moments when I struggled to let my guard down.

That understanding gave me something I wanted to share. We are human beings responding to extraordinary demands. Our responses can make sense within those circumstances, and we can still question what they are costing us. We can learn to recognize them, address them, and develop another way forward.

First responders choose a life much of the population cannot fathom. That does not make us better than anyone else. It speaks to our willingness to put our own lives on hold for someone who needs us. If you are willing to risk your life for a stranger, what else are you capable of? What could happen if you brought that same commitment to your own life?

Those questions became the purpose behind Three Block Solutions. I want people to recognize their capacity to be extraordinary and question the beliefs, habits, and pressures that keep them stuck. Life is hard. We cannot control everything that happens to us. But we still have a say in what we do today and who we choose to become.

Resilience, adaptability, and courage are the three blocks at the foundation of that work. Resilience is finding a way through life’s hardest moments with purpose. Adaptability is staying flexible, reconsidering what we think we know, and recognizing when we can act alone and when we need help. Courage is entering the arena and doing the work to become the person we want to be. Together, they give us something solid to stand on as we face what comes next.

The name Three Block Solutions also pays homage to Detective Allan Reddins #442, who was murdered in the line of duty on November 29, 2024. Allan was part of “Three Block,” a patrol shift of men and women who embodied those qualities. Under relentless pressure, they took ownership of what they could control and built their strength through a commitment to one another. The name honors Allan and carries that foundation forward.

Today, I bring my law enforcement experience, lived experience, research, and clinical training into the rooms where I train, speak, and consult. We talk about trauma, wellness, leadership, and organizational culture. We examine what people carry, how leaders respond, and whether the support we promise is the support people experience. My purpose is to challenge what we have accepted and help people recognize what they are capable of next.

My career in uniform ended. My commitment to serve did not.

Three Block Solutions is how I carry it forward.

Ken Tworek, MSW, LSW, CADC, DAIS