Matt volunteers as a chaplain and peer support for police agencies in Los Angeles. He also is a volunteer for nonprofits that support police officers in crisis, as well as those that are injured and disabled. Matt believes all first responders can have careers that provide deeper meaning and add richness to their spiritual lives if approached in the right manner.
Matt is a medically retired police officer that worked patrol, Peer Support, SWAT, and as a full-time police academy instructor. Matt was the Wellness Coordinator for his agency integrating sports nutrition, strength and conditioning, stress management, combatives-and-scenario training regarding officers as tactical athletes. He also was concurrently a collegiate strength coach at Yale and Georgetown Universities while a full-time police officer. Later he was a strength coach and mental skills trainer for NFL combine athletes. At Yale he volunteered for Athletes in Action and at Georgetown he created an ecumenical ministry Hoyas for Christ. Matt also has been a volunteer with Hockey Ministries International summer camps.
Matt played linebacker and was a competitive powerlifter for the Air Force Academy and Colgate University. He has an MS in Forensic Science under Dr. Henry Lee, an MS in Sport Psychology under Dr. Ken Ravizza, a MA in Pastoral Theology with a concentration in Spiritual Direction from Loyola Marymount University, and an additional spiritual direction certificate from Stillpoint. Matt focused his studies and additional immersion experiences in the contemplative traditions as well as masculine spirituality and psychology.
His ministry vision is to spend time in the trenches with officers, provide confidential peer support and spiritual direction, and facilitate a contemplative prayer group with “way of council” sharing for first responders and veterans in Los Angeles. Matt also plans to offer free wellness events integrating various aspects of fitness and martial arts, mindfulness and yoga, small group sharing, and fellowship with ribeyes on the grill. In a variety of ways, he hopes to provide platforms where first responders learn to use their unique career experiences as a spiritual path, rather than it leading to breakdown which unfortunately happens too often in these professions.
Personally, Matt is a cradle Catholic who was fascinated with exposure to other denominations when arriving at college. Through football injuries he had a deep conversion in undergrad and was drawn towards the contemplative Christian tradition, which has nourished him for over 20 years. Yet in a similar time frame, he found great fellowship and growth while serving with Evangelicals. His heart is very ecumenical, and he also always felt a calling to serve those in athletics and first responder professions who either got turned off or traumatized by religion, have no religious upbringing, or have left their church because they did not feel spiritually fed or understood. He wants to provide a safe community for them to take off their armor, share their sacred stories with others who understand, and not have to fear judgement of any kind.
To contact Matt about his ministry, email Matt.domyancic@globalassociates.org
Matt’s Instagram: Click Here
Recommended Books:
On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace - Dave Grossman
On Killing - Dave Grossman
Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement: A Guide for Officers and their Families - Kevin M. Gilmartin