Brad Neufeld: The American Dream Falls Apart

Brad Neufeld has hit many rock bottom moments in that have put him on a path to mentor troubled teens. He also shares life lessons learned in hard times. Brad J. Neufeld: The American Dream Falls ApartBrad’s BioBrad was born in Bakersfield, California and lived there until he was 13 years old. Moved to a very small town in Alabama where he worked on a 4,000-acre soybean farm. Moved to Utah and supported himself through high school. Married to Charlotte for almost 32 years, and has 6 children and 7 grandchildren Professionally—migrant worker, to trucker, to being the founder and President of Affinity Guidance Services, Inc. Developed the Positive Self-Management Learning System, the Winning Mindset Series, the Ultimate Self-Worth Workshop Series, and others. Over 30 years of experience in assisting others with overcoming personal challenges and helping them succeed with their own personal goals and desires. His passion is to help people discover their own self-worth, talents and value, and create for themselves success filled lives. Brad’s Story of Going from Gangs in California to Being SuccessfulHe lived in Bakersfield, California growing up and was often beat up, so he got really good at running, but that got old. Finally as he reached his teens he began to wonder if he should join a gang to get some protection. Just as he was deciding this he came home to find that his family was packing and moving–that night! Their family drove across the country and ended up in Alabama living in a trailer. After a few months his parents decided to go back to California to clean up their mess and Brad said he didn’t want to go back. They had come to such a small town where everyone left their keys in their car and their windows open at night. It was such a contrast and Brad didn’t want to leave and go back to gangs. So, he stayed with their friends Frank and Marlene Crabtree, but he had to support himself, even though he was 13-years-old, so he could make payments on their trailer. So, he worked on the Crabtree soybean farm making $1.85 an hour so he could stay in Alabama. He loved his time in Alabama and stayed there for two and a half years until his family moved to Utah, and Mr. Crabtree said he should probably join his family. So he went to Utah, graduated from high school, served a mission, got married, started working as a trucker and also got into sales which earned him a good living. The American Dream Falls ApartBrad felt he was living the American dream. He bought a home, a car, and had a wife and a couple of kids–and then the world seemed to drop out from under him. After working for the frozen food company and being one of their top sales people for several years, his boss called him in and split his sales territory in half. Brad went from being on top of the world, to losing his house, car, and living in his in-laws unfinished basement in 9 months. This was devastating to him. He started having a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. Brad finally went to see a doctor who told him he was depressed and gave him some medication. Brad went through several years trying different things, visiting psychiatrists and getting psychologists and they tweaked his meds, but nothing seemed to help. Considering SuicideAfter struggling for two years, Brad decided he was going to give up. He prayed and he told God, “I’m done. I don’t want to do this anymore,” and made a plan to end it all. Just at this moment of great despair a little voice inside of him said, “Give it one more shot.” So, he decided he would study everything he could for the next 6 months and see if it made any difference. During that 6 months of studying and he found options and avenues he could pursue. This began changing him. He realized a lot of his depression that due to people relations and abandonment issues. He figured out what people’s true needs were (including his own). After that he made a commitment to start teaching the...