Ryan Matthew, former detective, crisis specialist, survivor, and workplace safety leader, announces the release of A Life Undefined, a compelling new book that turns personal collapse into a practical blueprint for recovery, leadership, and human centred crisis response.
In A Life Undefined, Ryan Matthew shares his journey from law enforcement and crisis intervention to addiction, jail, near death, and the difficult reconstruction of a second life. The book challenges the harmful belief that people should be defined by failure, trauma, addiction, or public collapse. Instead, it presents a clear message of hope: no human being is a lost cause when the right structure, support, and safety are in place.
At the heart of the book is Ryan Matthew’s belief in SSS and SOS, Systems of Safety. These systems move beyond punishment, shame, and reaction. They focus on creating environments where people can regulate, recover, and rebuild. Ryan Matthew shows that safety begins inside the nervous system, then extends into families, workplaces, public transit systems, recovery spaces, and crisis response teams.
The book also introduces Train to Retain, a practical approach to training that helps people keep and use critical skills under pressure. For first responders, transit workers, leaders, counsellors, and public safety professionals, Ryan Matthew makes a strong case that training must be more than information. It must become usable in the moment when fear, anger, panic, or trauma takes over.
One of the book’s most important tools is the BREATHE Protocol, a framework designed to help people interrupt crisis, regain control, and move toward safety. Through breath, recognition, engagement, assessment, trust, human connection, and empowerment, the protocol offers a practical path back to clarity.
A Life Undefined is more than a memoir. It is a field guide for those who serve, those who struggle, and those who are rebuilding after failure. Ryan Matthew speaks with the authority of someone who has worn the badge, lived through collapse, and returned with tools to help others survive their own crisis.
For readers seeking a book about recovery, trauma, addiction, leadership, de escalation, and second chances, A Life Undefined offers a raw, practical, and deeply human message: a life can fall apart and still be rebuilt.
About the Author
Ryan Matthew is a former detective, crisis specialist, survivor, and Principal Talent Development Specialist. His work focuses on trauma informed safety, crisis intervention, nervous system regulation, workplace violence prevention, and human centred training. Through A Life Undefined, he shares the lessons of his first life, the collapse that nearly ended it, and the systems that helped him build a second.
Get Your Copy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H1DPZ6MD/
Book Name: A Life Undefined
Author Name: Ryan Matthew
ISBN Number: 979-8950388286
Paperback Version: Click Here
Media Contact
Company Name: Hutchinson Books
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City: Southampton
State: Hampshire, SO15 2BG
Country: United Kingdom
Website: https://hutchinsonpublishers.co.uk/
