About
P.J. Milne the Author
Author of The Urgent Connection | Speaker | Advocate | Former Police Sergeant
P.J. Milne is a storyteller with a badge-shaped past and a voice born of lived experience. With two decades of service as a Police Sergeant in the Northern Territory, Milne’s life has been marked by courage, confrontation, community, and, eventually, collapse. But it’s what followed the deep work, the healing, and the reconnection that has become the most powerful part of his journey.
The Urgent Connection: More Than a Memoir
In his debut book, The Urgent Connection, Milne offers an unfiltered reflection on trauma, emotional shutdown, and what it truly means to reclaim one's identity after years of compartmentalising pain. The book draws from his personal and professional experience policing remote Indigenous communities, leading emergency responses, confronting grief and suicide, and surviving his own mental health reckoning to explore the profound and often unseen toll of service work. It’s not just a memoir. It’s a mirror, a map, and an invitation for others to begin again.
Service and the Silent Weight of Experience
Born in Scotland, Milne joined the Northern Territory Police Force in his late twenties. He found purpose quickly, but the cracks came slowly. What began as commitment to service eventually became emotional armour. Over time, the weight of what he witnessed the deaths, the violence, the helplessness, the silence accumulated. But there were few spaces to talk about it. And fewer tools to process it.
Breaking the Silence Around First Responder Mental Health
Milne’s story is not unique in the world of frontline work. That’s precisely why he’s telling it. His mission now is to change the way we talk about men’s mental health, first responders’ wellbeing, and the human cost of silence. Through his writing, speaking engagements, and advocacy, he offers an honest and accessible language for experiences that too often go unnamed.
Beyond the Badge: Professional and Personal Impact
His professional background is vast: beyond frontline police work, Milne has managed critical incidents, coordinated search and rescue missions, and supported displaced and homeless populations. He’s also served in leadership roles in local government, emergency management, and health policy. But perhaps his most important qualifications are not formal they’re personal. He knows what it feels like to hit the wall. To question everything. To rebuild.
Leadership Built on Lived Experience
Former CEO of Fearless Australia & New Zealand, a lived experience-led organisation advocating for trauma recovery and reform. He is also a participant in the 2025 Williamson Community Leadership Program a scholarship recipient selected for his contributions to public safety, mental health, and governance. His leadership is grounded in authenticity, vulnerability, and a fierce commitment to connection.
What’s Next: Tools, Truth-Telling, and Transformation
The Urgent Connection is just the beginning. Milne is currently developing additional resources for men navigating emotional shutdown, as well as support tools for first responder organisations. His work is embedded in the belief that real change starts with storytelling and that healing becomes possible when we no longer have to do it alone.
Reconnection in Practice
When he’s not writing or speaking, Milne can be found on Victoria’s southern coast, walking barefoot on the sand, facing the sunrise, and practising the grounding rituals that have become his own reconnection anchors. He is a partner, a father, a leader, and a man who now makes space for both strength and softness.
To book P.J. Milne for speaking engagements, interviews, or workshops, or to learn more about The Urgent Connection, visit paulmilne.com.au.