Mari Fong interviews Ruby Carr and Natalia Panzarella of Bahari. Mari Fong (Life Coach for Musicians) and musician Kat Jensen discuss the Bahari interview, the benefits of journaling, and the medication naloxone or Narcan for the use of stopping an opioid overdose.
Natalia and Ruby share their story and solutions for bipolar, panic attacks and depression. The duo talks about how they bonded by helping each other with depression and other mood disorders, along with songwriting about their mental health. Natalia shares how losing her boyfriend to an opioid overdose inspired Bahari's new singles, "Jackie Kennedy" and "Bipolar" as well as the Luke Love Foundation, a nonprofit created in his name to fight opioid addiction and overdoses.
Next, Kat Jensen and Mari discuss the Bahari interview and how journaling can be a creative and therapeutic way to express your emotions and confidential thoughts. They also share information on naloxone or Narcan, the medication used to immediately stop an opioid overdose and possibly save a life. We share a clip of Bahari's single, "Jackie Kennedy."
“Be brave, ask for help, and be persistent in finding the mental help that you need.”
For free or affordable mental help, visit: http://checkyourheadpodcast.com/
* DONATE to our mission at checkyourheadpodcast.com or on our patreon.com page. Every dollar is appreciated, every listener is appreciated <3
- THANK YOU for following and liking us on social media @checkyourheadpodcast
- Watch and subscribe to our YouTube Channel: checkyourheadpodcast.youtube
Say hello and give us feedback! We love hearing from our Superhero fans ❤️🤘
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_03 (00:00):
I'm your host, Mari Fong, a music journalist and
life coach for musicians, andtoday is National Best Friends
Day, June 8th.
(00:21):
And what better artist tofeature but a musical duo who
have stuck by each other throughthick and thin, and have also
collaborated with musicalfriends such as Zedd, Bia, and
Illinium, and toured withmega-pop artist Selena Gomez.
Our featured guests today areRuby Carr and Natalia Panzarella
of the alt-pop duo Bahari.
(00:43):
These best friends have recentlyreleased two singles, one called
Bipolar, a mood disorder thatNatalia lives with, and the
other single called JackieKennedy about the loss of
Natalia's boyfriend to anaccidental opioid overdose.
Natalia and Ruby also share howthey've helped each other
through depression and panicattacks and their solutions and
(01:05):
also introduces us to the LukeLove Foundation, created in the
name of Natalia's boyfriend Lukeand the foundation's fight
against opioid addiction.
Later, we'll be featuring a clipof Bahari's song, Jackie
Kennedy, so be sure to staytuned for that.
Next, Kat Jensen and I talkabout journaling and how it can
(01:25):
be a fun, creative, andtherapeutic way to express your
emotions, and how the medicationnaloxone, or Narcan, can easily
be used to quickly save a lifeduring an opioid overdose.
But first, let's hear Nataliaand Ruby of Bahari share their
story.
SPEAKER_02 (01:44):
I'm Ruby.
I'm Natalia.
SPEAKER_03 (01:47):
First of all, congratulations on your two new
singles.
One is called Bipolar and theother one is called Jackie
Kennedy.
And a little fun fact is thatBahari means the ocean in
Swahili.
And Ruby, you're from Kenya.
SPEAKER_02 (02:03):
Yes, I am from Kenya.
And we came up with that name.
We were hanging out and she wasasking me to teach her Swahili
words.
And she was like, what does theocean mean?
It's like Bahari.
And she was like, me.
That's it.
We should just call ourselvesthat.
I was like, okay.
SPEAKER_03 (02:17):
Who doesn't love the ocean, right?
SPEAKER_02 (02:20):
We both grew up so far away from each other on
separate sides of the planet,but both of us grew up by the
ocean and on the beach.
That's something that we had incommon when we met.
We were just like, well, let'sgo to the beach.
And so it's something thatbrought us together.
SPEAKER_03 (02:32):
Very nice.
And you guys got together whenyou were 14, I read.
16.
SPEAKER_02 (02:36):
Oh,
SPEAKER_03 (02:36):
16.
Okay.
UNKNOWN (02:40):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (02:41):
Well, I want to start with the single bipolar
because it speaks about the upsand downs of a relationship.
But I've heard that Natalia, youhave bipolar and Ruby, you have
anxiety as far as mooddisorders.
Is that correct?
SPEAKER_02 (02:58):
Yeah, that's correct.
I mean, we both have struggledwith all sorts of mood disorders
our whole life.
And so I think we both haveanxiety and the song is just
something that we wanted toespecially the two songs
together and we wanted to bemore vulnerable and open with
our audience and just write fromthe heart.
And at first we weren't sure ifwe wanted to put these songs
(03:19):
out, you know, it's quiteintimidating to be so
vulnerable, but then we startedplaying them live and we were
just like, you know what?
I feel like these songs are socathartic to write for us.
And so if we can share that withanyone else, that's all that we
really want out of our music.
SPEAKER_03 (03:35):
Yeah, I think there's a really good feeling to
let all of that go and then alsoto give it to others because
there's something wonderfulabout music that you not only
capture the energy of theartist, but also the lyrics can
really speak to your fans.
But you said that you both havesuffered mood disorders
throughout your life.
(03:55):
And oftentimes, something likeDepression can be sort of an
umbrella over a lot of differentconditions.
What are some of the things thatyou've experienced beyond, let's
say, anxiety and bipolar?
SPEAKER_02 (04:09):
We both have struggled with depression since
we've met each other.
It was something that we reallybonded over, actually, when we
first started writing music.
And it's why we became so close.
I wasn't really fitting in in myhigh school, and she had just
moved here and was completely byherself.
And we were both reallystruggling with that.
After putting out our firstsong, Wild Ones, that was about
(04:31):
finding each other and helpingeach other get through
depression.
After putting it out and seeingpeople's reaction and knowing
that there was a community outthere that understood and that
we could write to and ended upbecoming friends with a lot of
those people, it made it allworth it.
Yeah, and I think, you know,when you're struggling through
any mental health thing, for us,we're really lucky that we have
(04:54):
music and songwriting as anoutlet.
That's really why we became soclose at first is when we were
writing Wild Ones.
You know, we didn't really sayit at the time, but the lyrics
of that song are aboutstruggling with depression and
feeling alone and feeling reallyvulnerable.
And so once we wrote thattogether, we were like, oh, you
know, there's a way for us toget through this.
(05:16):
And that's just by putting downour feelings on paper and
recording them and sharing itwith other people.
Yeah, it's a very specialfeeling.
SPEAKER_03 (05:24):
I'm glad you're doing that because sometimes
people will look at us from theoutside and everything looks so
nice and great on the outside,especially with social media.
People post all of thesewonderful pictures, but they may
not post the times where they'refeeling down or they're feeling
embarrassed or ashamed aboutsomething.
(05:44):
And I just find that when peopledo that, that people really do
respond to that.
They're like, oh, thankgoodness.
someone else feels that way.
SPEAKER_02 (05:54):
Yeah, definitely.
We're always trying to be asopen as we can be on Instagram
and all of our other socialmedia accounts because when you
hear someone else having a badday, just go, okay, I can get
through it too.
And it wasn't just me.
And it makes me feel a lotbetter when I see artists that I
look up to just being open.
SPEAKER_03 (06:16):
Yeah, that's important because I think
especially with young people, ifYeah.
Yeah.
(06:46):
I want to start with the bipolarbecause I think a lot of people
are curious about that and wantto understand it better.
But first of all, can youexplain when you started getting
symptoms, like how old you wereand what was that experience
like?
SPEAKER_02 (07:02):
Always diagnosed with manic depression my whole
life.
So I was completely unawareuntil my adult life, until I
started going to get help, untilI was accepting that for myself
and wanting that.
And then when I learned and goteducated on those things, I was
like, okay, this is normal.
And there are a lot of tools forme to help myself and not have a
(07:26):
panic attack or not go into adepressive state.
And I didn't know that.
So for me, it's just been overthe past year, really learning a
lot about myself and hopefullybeing able to communicate that
with other people that are goingthrough it.
So
SPEAKER_03 (07:44):
with that, Manic depression, are there phases of
like mania for you where youjust have a lot of excitement, a
lot of confidence, and thenperiods of depression?
How does that work for you?
SPEAKER_02 (07:56):
It's hard.
I mean, it's difficult,especially with touring and
having to work and do thingsthat I love so much and wanting
to be my best in thosesituations.
But honestly, for me, havingRuby get me through So many of
those things, just having aperson that I love, that I don't
(08:18):
want to let down, that I want todo great for, has really been
one of the things that hashelped me focus and get through
a lot.
Also, we spend so much timetogether.
We live together, we tourtogether, we share hotel rooms,
we spend a lot of time together.
It takes someone from an outsideperspective to be able to
(08:40):
identify certain things becausesometimes For Natalia, at a
certain point in your life, youjust kind of accept that's who
you are instead of realizingthat, oh, this is something that
I can work on and get help forand that this is an actual
disorder that is not her fault.
And so having someone to talk toabout that and someone to be
like, okay, this is what's goingon right now.
(09:01):
We know how to deal with thesesituations.
Let's sit down.
Let's take five.
Let's take a break.
To be able to identify that withher when she can't do that
sometimes, we're really luckythat we have each other.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (09:14):
Yeah, I can see that bond between both of you.
And to be able to rely on eachother is really a wonderful
thing and to understand eachother.
Now, Natalia, this is a quotethat I read.
It said, it's okay to feel sad,but it's really fucking scary
feeling alone.
Can you tell me when you felt soisolated where it was fucking
(09:37):
scary for you?
SPEAKER_02 (09:38):
Yeah, I think two years ago.
When I was really experiencingsome symptoms for the first time
or having full episodes, or Iwould have depressive months for
the first time, I had neverexperienced that before.
It was really isolating becauseI had no idea what was going on.
(10:00):
So that was probably the hardestpart of my life.
And then expressing that toRuby, expressing that to people
around me that loved me and wereable to understand, it just
really opened up a whole newperspective for me.
And I was like, okay, I can dothis.
And other people need to knowthat they can do this.
And having people around youthat support you and understand,
(10:22):
if you can trust them tocommunicate it, it's a beautiful
thing.
And it's what got me through it.
SPEAKER_03 (10:30):
Well, that's really brave of you because I know
sometimes with depression, justto communicate is difficult.
And sometimes you feel so unlikeyourself.
UNKNOWN (10:42):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (10:42):
And sometimes you feel really unmotivated, like
you don't want to do anything.
Was there anything in particularthat happened that made you
reach out to find help and totry to solve what's going on
with you?
SPEAKER_02 (10:58):
just everything in our life at that time.
My parents were divorcing.
I had just lost a boyfriend.
He had an overdose and I kind ofwent into a shock after that.
There was like a whole yearwhere I didn't really feel
anything.
I was having trouble writingmusic and I was just working.
(11:18):
It was just like, go, go, go.
I was so young.
So I just matured and my braindeveloping.
I was like, you need to processeverything that you've actually
gone through.
And after doing that, that'swhat was really helpful for me.
SPEAKER_03 (11:34):
For both of you, if you've experienced depression or
a mood disorder, what was itthat got you through it besides
the support of your friends andfamily?
Was it therapy?
Was it medication?
Was it meditation?
There's so many differentsolutions out there.
And it's really important tofind the one that fits for you.
SPEAKER_02 (11:54):
Yeah, it's very important.
And, you know, we both tried alot of different things to try
it.
And we still are working on it.
We're still trying.
I wish that we could easily saythat there's a solution for
everything.
But it's very depending on whoyou are as a person and what
works best for you.
You know, we both deal withthings very differently, which
is really funny because...
And we both understand that.
(12:14):
So if I'm going throughsomething very difficult...
I've started doing therapy andthat's been very helpful, but
where I came from and where Igrew up, you know, mental health
is not something that's spokenabout.
And it took me moving here andtalking to Natalia, who was
quite open about theconversation with me, for me to
really think about it andrealize, because at the time I
(12:34):
hadn't ever even thought aboutit.
I just thought that's just who Iwas.
I was just a sad person.
And actually being able to openthat conversation and realize,
oh, and speak to doctors andhave people tell me something.
I was like, okay, maybe this ismore serious than I think it is.
To be able to do my research andread about it, to be able to
understand the problem, make memore comfortable with it and
(12:56):
make me want to work on myselfand get better.
And I think therapy has beenvery helpful for both of us.
We both do it every week.
It's our sacred time.
It's in the calendar where wecan't book anything else during
that time.
We're doing our therapy.
And for me personally, readingbooks about therapy My mental
health situations has beenhelpful.
I'm a person who likes tounderstand what's going on.
(13:19):
And I feel like it's a lot lessscary when you know how it
works.
And it's not this daunting thingthat's happening to you.
It's something that you canlearn about.
You can read about it so thatyou understand how it works and
so that you can go about fixingit for yourself.
Yeah, for me, therapy works.
I try medication.
Currently, I'm not doing thatand I'm trying to do meditation
(13:43):
and exercises.
And that's just what I think isbest for me for now.
And I don't know what will be inthe future, but that's what I've
been doing.
And I do the three things I canhear, three things I can see,
and three things that I feel.
I know it sounds weird, but mytherapist will give me
exercises.
I'm always like, okay, sure.
But you have to find the onesthat click with you.
(14:06):
And for me, that one really,really helps.
I'll be on the floor, and I justgo through it in my head, and it
really brings me back.
And that's just one thing thatworks for me.
SPEAKER_03 (14:15):
Yeah.
So that's all about not onlybeing self-aware, but also being
present.
It forces your mind to reallythink about what do I have right
in front of me?
What am I currently feelingright now?
And being present is also reallyimportant for appreciation and
gratitude because they say wecan't change our past and the
(14:36):
future is untold, but everythingthat we do at this moment is is
building for our future and alsocreating our realities.
SPEAKER_02 (14:46):
Definitely.
SPEAKER_03 (14:47):
Ruby, you mentioned reading a book about learning
more about your condition.
What book was that about?
SPEAKER_02 (14:55):
That book was about...
I don't remember the exact name,but it was about identifying the
moments, being able to catchyourself before you fall into a
dark place or being able toidentify...
the symptoms right before apanic attack so that you know
that it's coming or being ableto understand why that happens
(15:17):
and what your mind is goingthrough in that process.
And so it was very interestingfor me to learn about the
science of what your brain goesthrough.
The science of how your brainsgo through certain things and
how childhood traumas can affectthat and how going through
separation at a young age fromyour family can affect that.
(15:38):
For me, I read it and Iidentified the reasons behind
why that can happen.
And it also explains how somepeople are just born with a
chemical imbalance in your brainand that it's not your fault.
And that was something that washard for me to accept at first.
It was like, oh, why am Ifeeling like this?
Why am I getting stressed andanxiety about going for a walk
outside?
(15:59):
And that's just something thatreally helped me is to identify
the tools to be able to helpmyself get out of something like
that.
SPEAKER_03 (16:09):
You mentioned panic attacks, both of you did.
And that is something prettycommon for musicians.
I've had quite a few artistscome on the program and talk
about panic attacks and talkabout different ways to stop
that cycle of anxiety to get toa point of a panic attack.
What have you both personallylearned as far as how to deal
(16:31):
with those and maybe even try tostop those in their tracks if
that's possible?
SPEAKER_02 (16:36):
I mean, yeah, there's not a perfect answer.
And I feel like not all of them,for me, I'm learning can be
stopped.
So sometimes you have to justtake a moment or a day to
yourself.
But yeah, definitely theexercises are incredibly
helpful.
Can
SPEAKER_03 (16:54):
you describe an exercise that you would do for a
panic attack?
SPEAKER_02 (16:59):
There's a thing called tapping.
And so you tap all of yoursenses.
And you can repeat things overagain.
I don't have anxiety about this.
This is going to be okay.
There's all different types ofthings that you can do that I'm
learning.
And sometimes I'll be like, Idon't know if that works for me.
And sometimes I'm like, okay,yeah, that actually really
(17:20):
works.
helped I did not believe itwould but I came out of it and I
can like see clearly again andcommunicate my feelings again
yeah and I feel like people gettold this a lot when they're
having a panic attack oranxieties oh just breathe and
you're like I am breathing butit is very helpful to work on
breathing exercises at least forme personally I've noticed that
(17:42):
when I am having a panic attackor when I have anxiety I forget
to breathe deeply and that canbe very helpful is counting to
20 and just taking very deepbreaths and holding your breath
for 10 seconds and then doing itagain over and over again can
seriously calm me down and onething that I also learned that's
helpful is identifying when I'mhaving a panic attack because
(18:02):
sometimes when you're in thatmoment you don't realize what's
going on because everything'sreally intense at the time and
so being able to stop yourselfbe like okay I'm having a panic
attack right now What am I goingto do about it?
I'm going to go outside.
I'm going to take a second tomyself, and I'm going to breathe
for 20 seconds.
And if that doesn't work, youjust have to go through the
motions and be able to feel itand to know that it's actually
(18:25):
okay to feel that way.
And sometimes people are like,oh, what can you do to stop it?
And sometimes you can't stop it,and that's okay.
SPEAKER_03 (18:33):
Yeah, I mean, I've never had a panic attack, but
I've heard that it almost feelslike you're dying.
Like, it's so frightening.
And I've also had...
People say that they will havean out-of-body experience.
Will they actually seethemselves on stage or something
like that?
So that's the part that's alwaysconfusing is these things that
(18:54):
happen and how did that happenand where did that come from?
Yeah,
SPEAKER_02 (18:58):
it's so interesting learning about it because It can
be the smallest of things thatwill trigger something like
that.
Or it could be something that'sa really big deal to you.
And it could be anything, youknow.
And for me, I always get veryscared of having panic attacks
because I have asthma.
And when I have a panic attackin my breathing, and then I get
really freaked out, and thatmakes it like 10 times worse.
(19:19):
And so that's why the breathingexercises really help me.
But, you know, panic attacks canbe different for everyone.
And they have a range.
They can be really intense or itcan just be completely internal.
where you're just like frozenand you're not actually
physically having symptoms of apanic attack, but internally
you're really having one.
And so those are the mostdifficult ones because you could
(19:41):
be sitting at dinner orbackstage at a show and you're
internally completely freakingout and everyone thinks
everything's fine, but you'relike, no, no, no, I'm not okay
right now.
It's really isolating.
It's very scary.
And, you know, we bothexperienced that.
And again, we keep saying it,but we're so lucky that we have
each other because we know wecan give each other a look and
(20:01):
we're like, okay, everyone leavethe room or Natalia needs five
seconds or give Ruby some spaceright now, you know?
And so I think that can be veryhelpful because when you're
going through something likethat, it's very difficult to
advocate for yourself.
The discussion of mental healthis really reaching so many
people now and it's way easierto go to your friend and say,
(20:21):
hey, I'm struggling with this.
And if I need a second, I'mgoing to need a second.
And I feel like people are waymore understanding or open to
understand now.
And it's much easier to findsomebody that will be your
person and help you get throughthat or have a lot of people
that will help you get throughthat.
SPEAKER_03 (20:39):
Yeah, I think even if people don't understand
exactly what you're goingthrough, just having the
compassion and saying, I want tohelp you.
What can I do to help?
Just those words of empathyreally can make a difference.
SPEAKER_02 (20:56):
You don't even need them to do anything.
You just need them to not judge,you know?
And I think that compassion issuch a big thing and more people
are really becoming open tothat, especially after COVID.
A lot of people are strugglingright now with their mental
health and becoming moreunderstanding.
SPEAKER_03 (21:12):
Yes, I agree.
You had a tour that was plannedcalled the Group Therapy Tour,
which is really an awesome name.
How is it that you are able tokeep up your mental health while
you're on tour?
SPEAKER_02 (21:27):
It's not easy.
It's definitely
SPEAKER_03 (21:31):
a huge
SPEAKER_02 (21:31):
toll on your physical body and on your
emotional well-being becauseit's exhausting.
You're driving around all day.
You're staying up really lateevery night.
You're not getting proper foodand nutrients and rest and for
me what makes it all so worth itis meeting people and playing
shows it's so scary right beforeyou do it but then as soon as
(21:52):
you're on stage and you're infront of your people and your
fans who know your music itmakes it so worth it and just
trying to maintain a schedule isvery difficult when you're on
tour because you're all over theplace and you just kind of wake
up you don't know where you areyou don't know what city you're
in and then you just go for itbut especially on the group
therapy tour we were opening forElohim and she's an artist that
we greatly look up to and she'svery open about her mental
(22:15):
health and meeting her fans whoare the same way was just an
incredible experience for usbecause they really inspired us
to put out those songs that wewanted to put out because we
played it on that tour and theywere like, this song made me
feel this way or this song mademe feel that way and we were
like, okay, we want to sharethat with everyone else who
(22:36):
wasn't on the tour, you know?
SPEAKER_03 (22:39):
Yeah.
You know, you did talk about thechallenges of being on tour, all
the highs and lows.
You're on this high plane to allthese people that are cheering
for you.
And then the quiet moments whereyou're just on the tour bus.
But it does take work.
I mean, you talk about howtherapy is important.
Do you do therapy on tour, likethrough computer or phone call?
(23:03):
Or how does that work?
SPEAKER_02 (23:05):
For me, my therapist is really flexible.
And that's something that helpsmy anxiety a lot because I am
always nervous about changing myschedule or letting people down.
So she will just let me call orFaceTime or whatever is like
easiest for me to just have theconversation.
And that was something thatfinding a new therapist was such
(23:25):
a relief for me and reallyhelpful.
Yeah.
For me, this is just a tool Iuse.
I write everything down like ajournal a lot.
I go spend eight hours a day onthe bus and I will literally sit
there for eight hours a day justwriting everything that I'm
feeling and thinking onto myjournal.
And I think that's reallyhelpful for me because sometimes
(23:46):
when you think things over andover again, it doesn't feel
real.
But if you put it down on paper,that's a real feeling that you
had and it validates that.
And so that's been very helpfulfor me on tours.
No matter what I'm feeling,whether that's stress or anger
or being lonely or whatever itis, I just scribble it down in
my journal.
SPEAKER_03 (24:06):
Ruby, I saw your journal in one of the videos
that you have.
SPEAKER_02 (24:11):
Yeah, the YouTube series that we did.
SPEAKER_03 (24:15):
Right, right.
Gosh, you are a great artist.
The sketches you've put togetherthroughout the years are so
beautiful.
And I saw that you had writtenin it also, almost like it was
an artist's diary or something.
SPEAKER_02 (24:29):
I'm very vigilant about them.
I think drawing is somethingthat's very healing for me
because most of them I don'tshow anyone apart from Natalia.
I'm like, look at this weirdthing that I drew today.
I'm like, I want it.
So it's a feeling of emotionalrelease, if that makes sense.
And I fill those books up.
I mean, I have so many of them.
(24:49):
We have a box full of them inour house.
And it's something that's veryhelpful to me.
And some of them, whateveryou're feeling, whether that's
really dark thoughts or reallyhappy things, you can just let
it out.
And that's something that's beenhelpful to me.
SPEAKER_03 (25:01):
I think that's the key thing there is letting it
out.
And I've been journaling myself.
And I think what it is, is thatwhen we put how we feel into
something else, whether it'sjournaling or music, the lyrics,
the melodies, maybe somethingthat we paint, it gives those
emotions respect.
(25:24):
And once it's out, there'salmost a sense of relief.
Like your body, not that it'srid of it, but it's releasing
it.
It's releasing it.
It
SPEAKER_02 (25:35):
lets it go from you holding it in internally.
And that's something that Ialways think about when I'm
writing it down.
I'm like, This is just for me.
This is my personal journey.
No one's going to look at this.
I can say whatever I want.
No one's going to judge me.
This is a relationship I havebetween myself and myself.
And so I can say anything Iwant.
(25:55):
And I don't have to worry aboutanyone being involved with that.
It's a form of letting go ofwhatever you can hold on to.
SPEAKER_03 (26:03):
Well, you know, the other thing I want to talk about
is something that a lot ofpeople have gone through,
especially during the pandemic.
People have lost loved ones,people have lost partners.
And I know, Natalia, youmentioned that you lost your
boyfriend to a drug overdose.
And with that comes a lot ofemotions, some of them not even
(26:26):
expected.
Why don't you respond tosomething that was so shocking
to you?
You mentioned that for about ayear you were numb.
I could expect that there wouldbe a depression.
But I was reading...
In one of your songs, I think itwas Jackie Kennedy, where you
said something about, I'm sosorry it was you.
(26:46):
And it almost felt like you hada sense of guilt or something.
And that is an emotion that canhappen after somebody passes
away.
What was going on with that?
SPEAKER_02 (27:00):
For me personally, I loved him so much.
And he was such an incredibleperson.
But it was a struggle that hecouldn't see past.
And it was a struggle I didn'tsee, I didn't know about for
most of our relationship.
So that was a big shockwave forme to find everything out.
(27:21):
And yeah, I decided to take abreak from him because I was
very young.
And I do think that that's whatwas best for him at the time.
But I wasn't with him when hepassed.
And so there was guilt there,for sure.
But I don't think me stayingwould have helped because so
(27:45):
many people were trying topersuade him to believe in
himself and to do the rightthing.
And he really was for a while.
And a lot of people's effortsdid work.
And there was so much love forhim.
SPEAKER_03 (27:59):
I'm sorry to hear about that.
And it's a love that's going tostay with you and hopefully
inspire you and it's definitelyinspired your music but you
mentioned about drugs andoftentimes in music it seems
that it could be there rightdrinking or doing drugs to help
(28:20):
relax whatever the reasons arehave you ever had to deal with
something where substance abusewas something that was personal
to you or somebody close to youyou
SPEAKER_02 (28:30):
know it is sad to say it but
SPEAKER_03 (28:32):
it
SPEAKER_02 (28:33):
It's definitely something that's true in the
world of music.
We have a lot of friends who arevery dependent on certain
substances and it's scary towatch, especially after losing
someone that's very close.
And it's very sad how manyincredibly talented, amazing
artists that this world has lostto drug abuse.
(28:54):
And that's something that was abig wake-up call to Natalia and
I.
You know, there's a lot ofpeople within our circle or
people that we've looked up tothat have lost their lives to
that and so that's somethingthat we've always wanted to stay
away from but at the same time Ican understand how working in
the music industry and living alife as an artist you can have
(29:16):
those tendencies it's a verydifficult subject because you
know Natalia lost Luke to it butwe've lost a couple of friends
or people in our circle to thatespecially in LA there's a lot
of really young talented kidsthat have sadly lost their lives
to it And it's a difficultconversation, but there isn't
(29:36):
just like a no more.
It's not going to stop.
And that's why we're workingreally closely with the Luke
Love Foundation, which is whothis Jackie Kennedy song is
about.
And they are working closely tosupply Narcan to a lot of
households so that things likethat don't happen.
Yeah.
So it's the medication or drugthat's given to you at a
(29:56):
hospital if you have anoverdose.
And that can save a lot ofpeople's lives.
If Luke had it, it would havesaved his life.
Or if someone around him had it,it would have saved his life.
And so that's something that westrongly believe in.
A lot of people in LA oranywhere in the world that are
in certain circles, you know,lots of people do drugs and lots
(30:17):
of young people do drugs.
It would just be beneficial foreveryone to be educated.
Yeah, to be educated about itand understand that there are
ways where you can savesomeone's life.
And just opening thatconversation and letting people
know that there are tools.
You can reach out, you can gethelp, you can go to group
meetings, you can go to therapy,and all of those things are very
helpful when you have substanceabuse issues.
SPEAKER_03 (30:38):
I'm glad you brought that up because I am familiar
with Narcan.
I worked with a organizationcalled Homeless Healthcare Los
Angeles, and they would give outfree kits of Narcan.
In fact, the girl that I talkedwith, she had overdosed twice.
And twice, she was saved byNarcan.
And basically, it's just a shot.
(31:00):
that you could just put insomeone's leg and immediately,
immediately, it will stop theeffects of the overdose.
So if you have a friend orfamily member, someone you love
that has substance abuse, youknow, Keep it with you.
Keep it in your household justin case.
I mean, no one wants to think ofthat.
(31:20):
But we also have to berealistic, right?
SPEAKER_02 (31:22):
Exactly.
That's what we mean by that.
SPEAKER_03 (31:24):
No one wants to
SPEAKER_02 (31:25):
think, oh, I'm going to have a party.
Oh, I should have Narcan in thefridge just in case.
You don't want that to be aroundyou.
But unfortunately, it's around.
You never know.
And it's just a good thing to beeducated on and to have just so
you never know.
I mean, this isn't really...
strange analogy, but where Icome from, there's a lot of
(31:47):
snakes everywhere and everyonein their house has an antivenom
in their fridge.
And you know, overdoses are anaccident.
Some people do it on purpose,but most of the time it's a
mistake.
And if you have the opportunityto have that available to you,
everyone should take that.
Hopefully this foundation issomething that we're really
looking forward to working withand we want to Try and get as
(32:08):
much sponsorship as possible sothat they can give out to a lot
of people to just have it intheir home.
Just normalize the conversationand get everybody educated on it
and hopefully prevent that asmuch as possible.
SPEAKER_03 (32:21):
It's called the Luke Love Foundation.
Can you tell me more about that?
SPEAKER_02 (32:24):
Yeah.
So Luke's mom, Sheila Scott,started it in his name.
It originally was for grievingmothers.
She wrote a poem book and a lotof mothers came forward to help.
to give her support.
And she created such a beautifulcommunity.
It was such an open environmentwith people talking about their
(32:45):
experiences and what they knew.
And that's how she learned aboutNarcan and how to get that into
her foundation and starteducating and helping other
people.
So it's been really incredibleto see somebody go through one
of the hardest things a womancan go through and try to help
others.
It's just been really inspiring.
SPEAKER_03 (33:05):
Well, I'm going to put that on our website, which
is checkyourheadpodcast.com.
We have over 100 organizationsand foundations and clinics and
telehealth and chat lines andtext lines, ways for people to
get mental help when they needit.
Because sometimes when you're inthe middle of grieving,
(33:25):
sometimes you don't feel likeyou have the energy to look.
to research and find what'sgoing to work for you.
So hopefully this is a way wherepeople can just go on the
website and just try differentthings.
So I will be sure to put theLuke Love Foundation on our
website so people can look intothat.
SPEAKER_02 (33:46):
Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_03 (33:48):
You're welcome.
You have the two singles thatyou've dropped, which I really
love.
Does that mean that you'replanning on dropping an EP or an
album soon?
SPEAKER_02 (33:59):
Yeah,
SPEAKER_03 (33:59):
during
SPEAKER_02 (34:00):
COVID, we've been locked up at home.
And so we've been writing a lotof music.
And we're really hopeful thatwe'll make a full body of all of
that and put it together.
And so yeah, we're reallylooking forward to that.
It's not finished yet, but it'sdefinitely on its way.
SPEAKER_03 (34:16):
Well, that brings me to a question about COVID.
Because we've all been in thissituation that is really not
normal.
And a lot of people are We're inour homes, and maybe with a
small group of people, maybejust one other person, maybe by
ourselves.
What are some of the dailyroutines that you have to keep
(34:39):
up your mental health?
SPEAKER_02 (34:41):
We've been just trying to mix it up as much as
possible, which gets difficult.
But just trying a new takeoutplace and sitting in Malibu,
just trying things that wedidn't do last week, or...
new hobbies.
Yeah, it's definitely difficult.
At first, I was going a bit stircrazy.
We both were.
(35:02):
I was like, I'm going to startgardening.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do that.
I'm going to do all of this.
And then eventually we both werejust like, okay, let's watch
seven seasons of Vampire Diariesin two weeks, you know?
Which was done.
Which we did not do.
And so I think there was just somany emotions that you have to
go through.
And what everyone realized at acertain point was like, it's
okay to feel really discouragedwhen all of this is happening.
(35:24):
And it's okay to feel lonely andmiss your friends and miss your
family.
You know, my family, I was stuckon the other side of the world
from them.
It was very overwhelming for alot of people, including us.
The first couple of months, itwas just a mess.
We had no idea what was goingon.
And then eventually we werelike, okay, let's wake up, let's
get coffee, let's makebreakfast, and then let's do
work for this amount of time.
(35:44):
And then, so in the mornings wewould wake up and do work,
whether that's like Zoommeetings or writing.
And then with the afternoon, wewere just trying to do something
fun.
Like I started a herb garden.
It was awesome.
We did a lot of painting.
We'd go for picnics, you know,do little things to get out of
the house.
It was really important for us.
SPEAKER_03 (36:02):
Yeah, I can't wait till things start to open up.
But it's funny, there's going tobe a transition also from doing
all the things that we'velearned to do to possibly going
on tour for you two.
I
SPEAKER_02 (36:16):
know, and we are really excited about that.
Hopefully we can do that as soonas possible.
But it's also going to be reallyweird because we've gotten so
used to virtual shows and justliving life at a very different
level where we're a lot more...
We're home.
We're constantly working.
We have a studio at home wherewe wake up, we make music every
(36:37):
day.
It would be weird.
It's going to be weird, but veryexciting to go out.
Also, we spent so much time withour pets and just been wearing
pajamas for months.
So it's definitely going to takea while to get used to it once
everything goes back to normal.
But I think the most excitingthing for us is going out and
playing shows again.
SPEAKER_03 (36:56):
Yeah, for me too.
I mean, not that I play music,but to go to a live show, it's
the most incredible thing.
SPEAKER_02 (37:05):
Yeah, hopefully soon.
SPEAKER_03 (37:08):
Yes, and I can't wait to see you two on stage.
That's going to be reallyexciting.
Is there anything else that youwould like to say about mental
health or about Mahari?
In
SPEAKER_02 (37:19):
regards to mental health, something that I
experienced was having a reallyhard time acknowledging it.
We're speaking out about it.
And I think that people shouldknow that no matter what you're
going through, it's so scary totell other people.
But it's something that's veryimportant to let the people
around you know what's going on.
(37:40):
Because when you're depressed,you feel as though no one could
possibly understand and no one'sthere for you.
But I promise you, once you tellthe people that love you and
care about you, it's a hugerelease because then...
know people are aware of thatand they can take measures to
get you the help that you needor you can take that for
yourself so yeah and we'rereally excited and we feel
(38:01):
really lucky to be able to talkabout these things and share
music that gets to expressthings that we were scared to
talk about and there's a lotmore that's coming in our music
we're really excited for peopleto hear that and also some happy
songs
SPEAKER_03 (38:20):
That's always nice to hear.
Thank you, girls.
You're so brave and talented.
And now that you've spoken outon mental health, you are a
check your head superhero.
I'm going to show you this.
Do you see this?
SPEAKER_02 (38:36):
Wow.
That's so cute.
SPEAKER_03 (38:39):
That's so cute.
Isn't it cute?
I just put these on our website.
We have hoodies and t-shirts.
But you know what's funny isthat not only are there
superheroes that you'd want togive this to, maybe to each
other because you're eachother's superheroes, but it
feels good to wear because itreminds you every day that
(39:00):
you're taking on dailychallenges that oftentimes are
not seen.
And that's what it's like tohave a mood disorder like
depression or anxiety.
You're experiencing a personalbattle that hopefully once you
open up, you can have otherscome in and help you.
SPEAKER_02 (39:18):
Yeah, definitely.
We love that.
We're going to go and ordersome.
They're so cute.
Thank you for having us.
We love what you're doing, andwe're super excited to listen to
everything else that you'reputting out.
SPEAKER_03 (39:32):
Next, Kat Jensen and I talk about the Bahari
interview and the benefits ofjournaling, a fun, creative way
to express your emotions, and aneasy addition to your mental
health toolkit.
We also share information onnaloxone, or Narcan, a
medication used to stop anopioid overdose in its tracks.
The Luke Love Foundation is alsooffering free Narcan training on
(39:56):
June 26, 2021, with a freeNarcan kit given to everyone who
participates.
You can sign up for the class atLukeLoveBlog.org.
We're here to talk about Bahariand their interview.
SPEAKER_04 (40:13):
Oh, yeah.
I really enjoyed that.
Those girls, they're not onlytalented, but they're very
introspective as far as gettingin touch with what's going on
with their feelings.
And that's half the battle isbeing able to recognize what's
going on with us.
SPEAKER_03 (40:29):
Well, the other thing that I really loved was
that they, first of all, theymet because they were both going
through depression and theyhelped each other with that and
they bonded over that.
And then they started writingabout their depression and their
feelings and other peoplestarted to relate to that and
really started, they started togain a following.
(40:50):
So now they rely on each otherfor their mental health.
They take care of each other.
And they look after each otherand they understand what
depression and anxiety andbipolar is.
So they know what to look forand they could speak for the
other when the other is not ableto maybe speak for themselves.
SPEAKER_04 (41:09):
Well, and that's kind of the beauty of having a
support system and an outlet tolet your feelings and emotions
flow.
Because just talking aboutthings doesn't always work for
people, especially when they'rein the midst of an episode of
depression.
Usually the first thing we wantto do when you're having any
(41:31):
kind of mood disorder, you feellike something's not right, is
to recoil.
I'm the same way.
I will recoil.
I'll get the hell out of here.
I don't want to talk to anybody.
And those are the times when youreally need the most help to get
out of yourself.
But the automatic response is toisolate.
So they've been able torecognize when that's happening
(41:53):
to each other.
But there are tons of supportgroups.
I know on your website, you'vegot several resources that are
available, and that's
SPEAKER_03 (42:01):
wonderful.
Wouldn't it be wonderful to havea loving partner in your life to
be able to be that Thank you somuch.
(42:23):
And that if somebody isstruggling, you know, with a
personal issue or with a mooddisorder, that there are other
people there that can understandand support you.
The other thing I really likedis that they read about their
condition.
They, they educated themselves.
SPEAKER_04 (42:38):
Oh, so important.
That's so important right there.
And you're able, they were ableto talk to their bandmates about
it too.
So that everybody's on the samepage.
That's great.
SPEAKER_03 (42:49):
When a mood disorder is, first happening to you, it's
so confusing and it'sfrightening, but you have to be
your own advocate, right?
Because it's like the silentcondition.
SPEAKER_01 (43:01):
So
SPEAKER_03 (43:03):
by researching, finding out solutions that might
be good for you, these arethings that need to be done even
when we don't feel like it.
And I think that's the struggleis trying to find help and
trying to reach out when youjust don't feel like it.
SPEAKER_04 (43:20):
Right.
But yet it can be empowering tooif you allow yourself to to
educate yourself that way.
Just say, I'm going to take fiveor 10 minutes.
I'm going to look this up.
I'm going to see what's going onout there.
Is there any great readingmaterial?
See if you could find a resourcelike NAMI or somebody that might
(43:40):
have articles on things that youwant to research.
That can be empowering.
Sometimes it's feeling powerlessthat keeps us stuck.
And it's a good idea to takethat power back.
Yes.
Just like that.
SPEAKER_03 (43:56):
Just like the Rage Against the Machine song.
Take the power back.
SPEAKER_04 (43:59):
Take the power
SPEAKER_03 (44:02):
back.
The other thing to help with ourmood disorders and emotions in
general is journaling.
I
SPEAKER_04 (44:08):
have an acronym for that one, and this one's pretty
good because, you know, whatyou're going to do when you're
going to journal is you're goingto write.
So you're going to, let's say,W.
What do you want to write about?
Put a name to it.
Don't worry about it.
Just open up the page and say,huh, what am I feeling?
(44:30):
Let's write about something.
But don't worry about what ittruly has to be.
You don't have to write a big,intricate story or anything like
that.
Just write.
Just write.
You have an R.
Reflect.
Breathe.
Try to focus.
Even if it's just for fiveminutes.
Just give yourself a littlespace to reflect on how you're
(44:52):
feeling.
I investigate.
Dive into your thoughts andlabeling those feelings, getting
in touch with those things.
Time.
Don't worry about the time.
It could be five minutes.
It could be 15 minutes.
It could be an hour.
Just take that time foryourself.
Invest in yourself.
Let it flow.
Just let it flow, baby, andwrite down anything you need to.
(45:16):
And then time.
would be exit reread what you'vewritten give yourself a chance
to do that reflect a bit andthen maybe write one or two
sentences based on what you havejust written because that
teaches your mind to reflect onwhat you've already put down
SPEAKER_03 (45:34):
that is a really great acronym to remember when
you're doing it and I love thewhole free-flowing sort of thing
I think one of the bestexercises that i had an english
class i had a teacher that saidwe're going to take five minutes
we're going to write whatever ison our mind whatever that is
we're not going to judge itwe're just going to write and
(45:54):
just not even think and there'sa freeing to that to be able to
put whatever's on your mind onthe paper and i mean an example
of that is just the other nighti couldn't sleep Because I was
worried about this personalissue that I'm going through.
And I was angry.
And I was sad.
I was disappointed.
(46:15):
And I could not go to sleepbecause all these thoughts were
going through my head.
So I wrote them on paper.
And the great thing is that onceit's on paper, it's somewhere
else.
SPEAKER_04 (46:27):
It controls a lot of those intrusive thoughts that
tend to hit us at two in themorning or something, right?
It can really help with thatwhere they're just so rude.
Those thoughts, they just comeright into your head and won't
let you sleep or something likethat.
So it does give them a place togo.
And
SPEAKER_03 (46:44):
the other thing too, is that, Yeah, I think we all
have
SPEAKER_04 (47:03):
those things.
SPEAKER_03 (47:04):
You could be angry and say, you know, I hate my
sister or I hate my mother.
These are things that are notacceptable to say out loud, but
you could say it in a journal.
And as those feelings pass, youstart to, I mean, I started to
write down resolutions.
What am I going to do?
Who am I going to call and talkwith about this
SPEAKER_01 (47:26):
to resolve this?
SPEAKER_03 (47:28):
And your feelings start to change.
And I know one thing that youmentioned to me was that You
write on a continuous basis withyour journals, and you start to
see different chapters in yourlife, different themes.
You could start to chart whatyour triggers might be.
SPEAKER_04 (47:46):
Yes, yes.
Now, this is what I was going topoint out that might break it
down a little bit.
When you get into using writingas therapy, you'll start to look
at it where you may want todecide to use prompts to write
off of, like, what's thehappiest memory I can recall?
And what feelings are attachedto that memory?
(48:08):
You could even say, what is oneof the saddest memories that I
have?
And how was I feeling?
And you can start to see whatthings trigger you.
You can see into your feelings.
Because see, we have a tendencyto not know what we're feeling.
But when you can start focusingon that and you put it down into
(48:29):
writing, it will start comingoff the page to you.
I started to see actualpatterns.
If you are working in therapy,you can use this to combine with
other types of therapy likecognitive behavioral therapy or
something like that too.
SPEAKER_03 (48:46):
One thing you mentioned was looking back and
looking at difficult memoriesand looking at happy memories.
And sometimes those pastmemories will help explain our
present behavior.
Sometimes people are confused,like, why did she act like that?
Why did she say that?
Or why does she have such agreat connection with addiction?
(49:08):
There are things in your pastthat can really explain what
you're doing presently andreally explain to you why you
may like or dislike certainthings.
SPEAKER_04 (49:18):
Yeah, it's all...
inside and it's a matter ofreaching it and getting it out.
And that's what's so hard forus.
We keep pushing things down.
And I'm here to tell you that ifyou try to hold things in and
you try to push them down, oneday they're going to come
roaring right back up like youjust barf it right out of your
face and you're in troublebecause feelings, you cannot
(49:42):
keep swallowing them.
They just are going to eat youup.
SPEAKER_03 (49:46):
They will rear their ugly head in some way.
And usually it's sort of adysfunctional way too that is
not healthy.
So we're trying to figure outhealthy ways to get those
feelings and emotions out andalso try to process those and
try to understand what they'retrying to tell us.
SPEAKER_04 (50:04):
Exactly.
And if you can't write, doodle,draw.
I used to collage.
I used to pull things out ofmagazines and just things that
spoke to my feelings, and I'dwrite around them in order to
say, what does that picturebring out for me?
It was very interesting later togo back and analyze what I was
(50:25):
thinking at the time.
SPEAKER_03 (50:26):
Natalia, Ruby, they're both so artistic, and
oftentimes that can come out ina journal.
The first time I had gonethrough a depression, this was
in my 20s, I remember drawing apicture of myself in a glass
globe, just screaming and tryingto get my feelings out.
(50:48):
But I was trapped inside thisglass globe, and outside of it
were just a few words that wereable to come out.
And that kind of described how Ifelt when I was in the midst of
this depression, that I...
I wanted to express myself, butI wasn't able to.
And sometimes sketches candescribe how we feel even more
(51:09):
so than words.
SPEAKER_04 (51:10):
Exactly.
I love the whole idea of a glassglobe like that.
And I mean, it paints such aperfect picture.
So
SPEAKER_03 (51:19):
the other thing I want to talk about is the opioid
epidemic and overdoses.
And she talked about the LukeLove Foundation that was...
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_04 (51:54):
And an opioid antagonist will kind of block
those receptors so that receptorcannot attach to and process
that opioid.
There's been such an uptick ofpeople having overdoses on
opioids.
And boy, it's really been badsince the pandemic,
(52:14):
unfortunately.
And it's been a rising concern.
If you or someone has had someissues with opioids that Narcan
doesn't exists.
I know it's available on aspray.
It goes right up your nose.
It's non-prescription.
And if you suspect thatsomeone's becoming unresponsive,
this can be a life-savingmeasure.
(52:35):
It's something you should havein your emergency kit.
SPEAKER_03 (52:38):
Yes, exactly.
And I wanted to show you, Iactually have one of these
emergency kits You can see.
That's great.
(53:04):
And usually if you get it at thepharmacy, it comes in a two pack
because sometimes a person mayneed two sprays or additional
sprays of the Narcan.
It lasts about 30 to 90 minutes.
So immediately if somebody isoverdosing, you've got to shake
them to see if they're havingany signs of overdose, like blue
lips or if they're choking orvomiting, any of those things.
(53:26):
And if you're not sure, you cango ahead and use it and it's not
going to harm the person in anyway.
But it is only for opioids.
So opioids like Percocet,Fentanyl, Vicodin, Morphine,
Heroin, Oxycodone, Oxycontin,Methadone, Tylenol with codeine
SPEAKER_01 (53:48):
is
SPEAKER_03 (53:49):
really common.
These are all opioids.
And it also comes with a CPRshield.
Yeah.
This I thought is reallyimportant.
There's a good Samaritan lawthat people should know about.
If you are a bystander orsomebody that is going to save
somebody with Narcan, there areprotections so that there's no
(54:10):
crime or arrest with the wholesituation.
So I want to look into that.
SPEAKER_04 (54:15):
That might come across people's minds because
they don't know if they want toget involved.
They're afraid to get involvedor they don't know what to do.
And that's great.
Yeah, you can feel free to getto 911.
This can give you the chance toget some real help to someone.
SPEAKER_03 (54:32):
Exactly.
You don't want to have to worryabout that.
And you're right.
You can get it without aprescription in all states.
It's usually covered byinsurance.
But if you don't have insurance,it's about$130 to$140 out of
pocket, which really isn't toobad if it's there and if it
saves a life.
(54:52):
So they say that if you have anykind of opioids in your house,
it's Good to have it on handbecause we were talking about
accidental overdoses when peoplemight forget what they've taken
or people take it and they havea drink and there's a
synergistic effect with a lot ofother drugs.
And also like Nick Petty, wejust talked with Nick Petty.
(55:15):
He raided his father's medicinecabinets.
And got his old fricassee oropioids.
And that
SPEAKER_04 (55:22):
happens all the time.
I know it happens.
And I mean, stuff happens.
We're just trying to say that ifthere's a way to prevent these
horrible things from happening,why not do it?
Let's protect ourselves.
Let's protect our loved ones.
There's nothing wrong withhaving one of those kits on
(55:42):
hand.
Heaven forbid a child gets intothe medicine cabinet, but to
have the protection there andknowing you have it, that's just
the best thing in the world andthat you could save a life.
SPEAKER_03 (55:55):
Right.
It's peace of mind.
Yeah.
And it's an easy thing to do.
SPEAKER_04 (56:00):
I was going to mention also naltrexone, which
is another type of antagonistthat if you or someone might
know that you've had problemswith opioids, there are
treatment facilities and throughprescription, naltrexone is
available after they're able tostabilize you and get you down
off of these drugs.
where it can help you withrelapses or cravings for these
(56:23):
types of drugs.
So this stuff is available.
You don't have to just sit thereand say, well, I got to go cold
turkey.
Because if you're trying to dothat, then that addiction is
going to be more powerful thanyou.
SPEAKER_03 (56:36):
A big thank you to our musical guests, Ruby Carr
and Natalia Panzarella ofBahari, and our special co-host
musician, Kat Jensen.
For more information on Bahari,visit bahari-music.com, follow
Bahari on their socials, atBahari, and stay tuned for a
(56:56):
clip of their new single, JackieKennedy.
For more information on the LukeLove Foundation and their
upcoming Narcan training, visitlukeloveblog.org.
So until next time, be brave,ask for help, and be persistent
in finding the mental help thatyou need.
UNKNOWN (57:13):
Music
SPEAKER_03 (57:15):
But I know I
SPEAKER_00 (57:16):
can't fix it And you know that I'm sorry Even though
you were the one to go And I'mnot making excuses but It's hard
for me to let go We lost alifetime, you and I That's all I
(57:44):
know We lost our lifetime I usedto watch you fall asleep I'm
laying here, can barely breatheI miss the way you'd laugh at me
(58:06):
No goodbye, no apologies
SPEAKER_03 (58:30):
Check Your Head Podcast is kindly supported and
partnered with Sweet ReliefMusicians Fund, DBSA San Gabriel
Valley, Earshot Media, and LemonTree Studios in Los Angeles.
Visit checkyourheadpodcast.comwhere we have over 100 solutions
for mental health.
Be our friends on social mediaat Check Your Head Podcast.
(58:50):
Watch us on YouTube and supportus with a kind donation on
checkyourheadpodcast.com.
Check Your Head podcast issponsored by a 501c3 nonprofit
with all donations being taxdeductible.
Thank you for your support andthank you for listening.
I'm your host, Mari Fong, a music journalist and
life coach for musicians, andtoday is National Best Friends
Day, June 8th.
(00:21):
And what better artist tofeature but a musical duo who
have stuck by each other throughthick and thin, and have also
collaborated with musicalfriends such as Zedd, Bia, and
Illinium, and toured withmega-pop artist Selena Gomez.
Our featured guests today areRuby Carr and Natalia Panzarella
of the alt-pop duo Bahari.
(00:43):
These best friends have recentlyreleased two singles, one called
Bipolar, a mood disorder thatNatalia lives with, and the
other single called JackieKennedy about the loss of
Natalia's boyfriend to anaccidental opioid overdose.
Natalia and Ruby also share howthey've helped each other
through depression and panicattacks and their solutions and
(01:05):
also introduces us to the LukeLove Foundation, created in the
name of Natalia's boyfriend Lukeand the foundation's fight
against opioid addiction.
Later, we'll be featuring a clipof Bahari's song, Jackie
Kennedy, so be sure to staytuned for that.
Next, Kat Jensen and I talkabout journaling and how it can
(01:25):
be a fun, creative, andtherapeutic way to express your
emotions, and how the medicationnaloxone, or Narcan, can easily
be used to quickly save a lifeduring an opioid overdose.
But first, let's hear Nataliaand Ruby of Bahari share their
story.
SPEAKER_02 (01:44):
I'm Ruby.
I'm Natalia.
SPEAKER_03 (01:47):
First of all, congratulations on your two new
singles.
One is called Bipolar and theother one is called Jackie
Kennedy.
And a little fun fact is thatBahari means the ocean in
Swahili.
And Ruby, you're from Kenya.
SPEAKER_02 (02:03):
Yes, I am from Kenya.
And we came up with that name.
We were hanging out and she wasasking me to teach her Swahili
words.
And she was like, what does theocean mean?
It's like Bahari.
And she was like, me.
That's it.
We should just call ourselvesthat.
I was like, okay.
SPEAKER_03 (02:17):
Who doesn't love the ocean, right?
SPEAKER_02 (02:20):
We both grew up so far away from each other on
separate sides of the planet,but both of us grew up by the
ocean and on the beach.
That's something that we had incommon when we met.
We were just like, well, let'sgo to the beach.
And so it's something thatbrought us together.
SPEAKER_03 (02:32):
Very nice.
And you guys got together whenyou were 14, I read.
16.
SPEAKER_02 (02:36):
Oh,
SPEAKER_03 (02:36):
16.
Okay.
UNKNOWN (02:40):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (02:41):
Well, I want to start with the single bipolar
because it speaks about the upsand downs of a relationship.
But I've heard that Natalia, youhave bipolar and Ruby, you have
anxiety as far as mooddisorders.
Is that correct?
SPEAKER_02 (02:58):
Yeah, that's correct.
I mean, we both have struggledwith all sorts of mood disorders
our whole life.
And so I think we both haveanxiety and the song is just
something that we wanted toespecially the two songs
together and we wanted to bemore vulnerable and open with
our audience and just write fromthe heart.
And at first we weren't sure ifwe wanted to put these songs
(03:19):
out, you know, it's quiteintimidating to be so
vulnerable, but then we startedplaying them live and we were
just like, you know what?
I feel like these songs are socathartic to write for us.
And so if we can share that withanyone else, that's all that we
really want out of our music.
SPEAKER_03 (03:35):
Yeah, I think there's a really good feeling to
let all of that go and then alsoto give it to others because
there's something wonderfulabout music that you not only
capture the energy of theartist, but also the lyrics can
really speak to your fans.
But you said that you both havesuffered mood disorders
throughout your life.
(03:55):
And oftentimes, something likeDepression can be sort of an
umbrella over a lot of differentconditions.
What are some of the things thatyou've experienced beyond, let's
say, anxiety and bipolar?
SPEAKER_02 (04:09):
We both have struggled with depression since
we've met each other.
It was something that we reallybonded over, actually, when we
first started writing music.
And it's why we became so close.
I wasn't really fitting in in myhigh school, and she had just
moved here and was completely byherself.
And we were both reallystruggling with that.
After putting out our firstsong, Wild Ones, that was about
(04:31):
finding each other and helpingeach other get through
depression.
After putting it out and seeingpeople's reaction and knowing
that there was a community outthere that understood and that
we could write to and ended upbecoming friends with a lot of
those people, it made it allworth it.
Yeah, and I think, you know,when you're struggling through
any mental health thing, for us,we're really lucky that we have
(04:54):
music and songwriting as anoutlet.
That's really why we became soclose at first is when we were
writing Wild Ones.
You know, we didn't really sayit at the time, but the lyrics
of that song are aboutstruggling with depression and
feeling alone and feeling reallyvulnerable.
And so once we wrote thattogether, we were like, oh, you
know, there's a way for us toget through this.
(05:16):
And that's just by putting downour feelings on paper and
recording them and sharing itwith other people.
Yeah, it's a very specialfeeling.
SPEAKER_03 (05:24):
I'm glad you're doing that because sometimes
people will look at us from theoutside and everything looks so
nice and great on the outside,especially with social media.
People post all of thesewonderful pictures, but they may
not post the times where they'refeeling down or they're feeling
embarrassed or ashamed aboutsomething.
(05:44):
And I just find that when peopledo that, that people really do
respond to that.
They're like, oh, thankgoodness.
someone else feels that way.
SPEAKER_02 (05:54):
Yeah, definitely.
We're always trying to be asopen as we can be on Instagram
and all of our other socialmedia accounts because when you
hear someone else having a badday, just go, okay, I can get
through it too.
And it wasn't just me.
And it makes me feel a lotbetter when I see artists that I
look up to just being open.
SPEAKER_03 (06:16):
Yeah, that's important because I think
especially with young people, ifYeah.
Yeah.
(06:46):
I want to start with the bipolarbecause I think a lot of people
are curious about that and wantto understand it better.
But first of all, can youexplain when you started getting
symptoms, like how old you wereand what was that experience
like?
SPEAKER_02 (07:02):
Always diagnosed with manic depression my whole
life.
So I was completely unawareuntil my adult life, until I
started going to get help, untilI was accepting that for myself
and wanting that.
And then when I learned and goteducated on those things, I was
like, okay, this is normal.
And there are a lot of tools forme to help myself and not have a
(07:26):
panic attack or not go into adepressive state.
And I didn't know that.
So for me, it's just been overthe past year, really learning a
lot about myself and hopefullybeing able to communicate that
with other people that are goingthrough it.
So
SPEAKER_03 (07:44):
with that, Manic depression, are there phases of
like mania for you where youjust have a lot of excitement, a
lot of confidence, and thenperiods of depression?
How does that work for you?
SPEAKER_02 (07:56):
It's hard.
I mean, it's difficult,especially with touring and
having to work and do thingsthat I love so much and wanting
to be my best in thosesituations.
But honestly, for me, havingRuby get me through So many of
those things, just having aperson that I love, that I don't
(08:18):
want to let down, that I want todo great for, has really been
one of the things that hashelped me focus and get through
a lot.
Also, we spend so much timetogether.
We live together, we tourtogether, we share hotel rooms,
we spend a lot of time together.
It takes someone from an outsideperspective to be able to
(08:40):
identify certain things becausesometimes For Natalia, at a
certain point in your life, youjust kind of accept that's who
you are instead of realizingthat, oh, this is something that
I can work on and get help forand that this is an actual
disorder that is not her fault.
And so having someone to talk toabout that and someone to be
like, okay, this is what's goingon right now.
(09:01):
We know how to deal with thesesituations.
Let's sit down.
Let's take five.
Let's take a break.
To be able to identify that withher when she can't do that
sometimes, we're really luckythat we have each other.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (09:14):
Yeah, I can see that bond between both of you.
And to be able to rely on eachother is really a wonderful
thing and to understand eachother.
Now, Natalia, this is a quotethat I read.
It said, it's okay to feel sad,but it's really fucking scary
feeling alone.
Can you tell me when you felt soisolated where it was fucking
(09:37):
scary for you?
SPEAKER_02 (09:38):
Yeah, I think two years ago.
When I was really experiencingsome symptoms for the first time
or having full episodes, or Iwould have depressive months for
the first time, I had neverexperienced that before.
It was really isolating becauseI had no idea what was going on.
(10:00):
So that was probably the hardestpart of my life.
And then expressing that toRuby, expressing that to people
around me that loved me and wereable to understand, it just
really opened up a whole newperspective for me.
And I was like, okay, I can dothis.
And other people need to knowthat they can do this.
And having people around youthat support you and understand,
(10:22):
if you can trust them tocommunicate it, it's a beautiful
thing.
And it's what got me through it.
SPEAKER_03 (10:30):
Well, that's really brave of you because I know
sometimes with depression, justto communicate is difficult.
And sometimes you feel so unlikeyourself.
UNKNOWN (10:42):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (10:42):
And sometimes you feel really unmotivated, like
you don't want to do anything.
Was there anything in particularthat happened that made you
reach out to find help and totry to solve what's going on
with you?
SPEAKER_02 (10:58):
just everything in our life at that time.
My parents were divorcing.
I had just lost a boyfriend.
He had an overdose and I kind ofwent into a shock after that.
There was like a whole yearwhere I didn't really feel
anything.
I was having trouble writingmusic and I was just working.
(11:18):
It was just like, go, go, go.
I was so young.
So I just matured and my braindeveloping.
I was like, you need to processeverything that you've actually
gone through.
And after doing that, that'swhat was really helpful for me.
SPEAKER_03 (11:34):
For both of you, if you've experienced depression or
a mood disorder, what was itthat got you through it besides
the support of your friends andfamily?
Was it therapy?
Was it medication?
Was it meditation?
There's so many differentsolutions out there.
And it's really important tofind the one that fits for you.
SPEAKER_02 (11:54):
Yeah, it's very important.
And, you know, we both tried alot of different things to try
it.
And we still are working on it.
We're still trying.
I wish that we could easily saythat there's a solution for
everything.
But it's very depending on whoyou are as a person and what
works best for you.
You know, we both deal withthings very differently, which
is really funny because...
And we both understand that.
(12:14):
So if I'm going throughsomething very difficult...
I've started doing therapy andthat's been very helpful, but
where I came from and where Igrew up, you know, mental health
is not something that's spokenabout.
And it took me moving here andtalking to Natalia, who was
quite open about theconversation with me, for me to
really think about it andrealize, because at the time I
(12:34):
hadn't ever even thought aboutit.
I just thought that's just who Iwas.
I was just a sad person.
And actually being able to openthat conversation and realize,
oh, and speak to doctors andhave people tell me something.
I was like, okay, maybe this ismore serious than I think it is.
To be able to do my research andread about it, to be able to
understand the problem, make memore comfortable with it and
(12:56):
make me want to work on myselfand get better.
And I think therapy has beenvery helpful for both of us.
We both do it every week.
It's our sacred time.
It's in the calendar where wecan't book anything else during
that time.
We're doing our therapy.
And for me personally, readingbooks about therapy My mental
health situations has beenhelpful.
I'm a person who likes tounderstand what's going on.
(13:19):
And I feel like it's a lot lessscary when you know how it
works.
And it's not this daunting thingthat's happening to you.
It's something that you canlearn about.
You can read about it so thatyou understand how it works and
so that you can go about fixingit for yourself.
Yeah, for me, therapy works.
I try medication.
Currently, I'm not doing thatand I'm trying to do meditation
(13:43):
and exercises.
And that's just what I think isbest for me for now.
And I don't know what will be inthe future, but that's what I've
been doing.
And I do the three things I canhear, three things I can see,
and three things that I feel.
I know it sounds weird, but mytherapist will give me
exercises.
I'm always like, okay, sure.
But you have to find the onesthat click with you.
(14:06):
And for me, that one really,really helps.
I'll be on the floor, and I justgo through it in my head, and it
really brings me back.
And that's just one thing thatworks for me.
SPEAKER_03 (14:15):
Yeah.
So that's all about not onlybeing self-aware, but also being
present.
It forces your mind to reallythink about what do I have right
in front of me?
What am I currently feelingright now?
And being present is also reallyimportant for appreciation and
gratitude because they say wecan't change our past and the
(14:36):
future is untold, but everythingthat we do at this moment is is
building for our future and alsocreating our realities.
SPEAKER_02 (14:46):
Definitely.
SPEAKER_03 (14:47):
Ruby, you mentioned reading a book about learning
more about your condition.
What book was that about?
SPEAKER_02 (14:55):
That book was about...
I don't remember the exact name,but it was about identifying the
moments, being able to catchyourself before you fall into a
dark place or being able toidentify...
the symptoms right before apanic attack so that you know
that it's coming or being ableto understand why that happens
(15:17):
and what your mind is goingthrough in that process.
And so it was very interestingfor me to learn about the
science of what your brain goesthrough.
The science of how your brainsgo through certain things and
how childhood traumas can affectthat and how going through
separation at a young age fromyour family can affect that.
(15:38):
For me, I read it and Iidentified the reasons behind
why that can happen.
And it also explains how somepeople are just born with a
chemical imbalance in your brainand that it's not your fault.
And that was something that washard for me to accept at first.
It was like, oh, why am Ifeeling like this?
Why am I getting stressed andanxiety about going for a walk
outside?
(15:59):
And that's just something thatreally helped me is to identify
the tools to be able to helpmyself get out of something like
that.
SPEAKER_03 (16:09):
You mentioned panic attacks, both of you did.
And that is something prettycommon for musicians.
I've had quite a few artistscome on the program and talk
about panic attacks and talkabout different ways to stop
that cycle of anxiety to get toa point of a panic attack.
What have you both personallylearned as far as how to deal
(16:31):
with those and maybe even try tostop those in their tracks if
that's possible?
SPEAKER_02 (16:36):
I mean, yeah, there's not a perfect answer.
And I feel like not all of them,for me, I'm learning can be
stopped.
So sometimes you have to justtake a moment or a day to
yourself.
But yeah, definitely theexercises are incredibly
helpful.
Can
SPEAKER_03 (16:54):
you describe an exercise that you would do for a
panic attack?
SPEAKER_02 (16:59):
There's a thing called tapping.
And so you tap all of yoursenses.
And you can repeat things overagain.
I don't have anxiety about this.
This is going to be okay.
There's all different types ofthings that you can do that I'm
learning.
And sometimes I'll be like, Idon't know if that works for me.
And sometimes I'm like, okay,yeah, that actually really
(17:20):
works.
helped I did not believe itwould but I came out of it and I
can like see clearly again andcommunicate my feelings again
yeah and I feel like people gettold this a lot when they're
having a panic attack oranxieties oh just breathe and
you're like I am breathing butit is very helpful to work on
breathing exercises at least forme personally I've noticed that
(17:42):
when I am having a panic attackor when I have anxiety I forget
to breathe deeply and that canbe very helpful is counting to
20 and just taking very deepbreaths and holding your breath
for 10 seconds and then doing itagain over and over again can
seriously calm me down and onething that I also learned that's
helpful is identifying when I'mhaving a panic attack because
(18:02):
sometimes when you're in thatmoment you don't realize what's
going on because everything'sreally intense at the time and
so being able to stop yourselfbe like okay I'm having a panic
attack right now What am I goingto do about it?
I'm going to go outside.
I'm going to take a second tomyself, and I'm going to breathe
for 20 seconds.
And if that doesn't work, youjust have to go through the
motions and be able to feel itand to know that it's actually
(18:25):
okay to feel that way.
And sometimes people are like,oh, what can you do to stop it?
And sometimes you can't stop it,and that's okay.
SPEAKER_03 (18:33):
Yeah, I mean, I've never had a panic attack, but
I've heard that it almost feelslike you're dying.
Like, it's so frightening.
And I've also had...
People say that they will havean out-of-body experience.
Will they actually seethemselves on stage or something
like that?
So that's the part that's alwaysconfusing is these things that
(18:54):
happen and how did that happenand where did that come from?
Yeah,
SPEAKER_02 (18:58):
it's so interesting learning about it because It can
be the smallest of things thatwill trigger something like
that.
Or it could be something that'sa really big deal to you.
And it could be anything, youknow.
And for me, I always get veryscared of having panic attacks
because I have asthma.
And when I have a panic attackin my breathing, and then I get
really freaked out, and thatmakes it like 10 times worse.
(19:19):
And so that's why the breathingexercises really help me.
But, you know, panic attacks canbe different for everyone.
And they have a range.
They can be really intense or itcan just be completely internal.
where you're just like frozenand you're not actually
physically having symptoms of apanic attack, but internally
you're really having one.
And so those are the mostdifficult ones because you could
(19:41):
be sitting at dinner orbackstage at a show and you're
internally completely freakingout and everyone thinks
everything's fine, but you'relike, no, no, no, I'm not okay
right now.
It's really isolating.
It's very scary.
And, you know, we bothexperienced that.
And again, we keep saying it,but we're so lucky that we have
each other because we know wecan give each other a look and
(20:01):
we're like, okay, everyone leavethe room or Natalia needs five
seconds or give Ruby some spaceright now, you know?
And so I think that can be veryhelpful because when you're
going through something likethat, it's very difficult to
advocate for yourself.
The discussion of mental healthis really reaching so many
people now and it's way easierto go to your friend and say,
(20:21):
hey, I'm struggling with this.
And if I need a second, I'mgoing to need a second.
And I feel like people are waymore understanding or open to
understand now.
And it's much easier to findsomebody that will be your
person and help you get throughthat or have a lot of people
that will help you get throughthat.
SPEAKER_03 (20:39):
Yeah, I think even if people don't understand
exactly what you're goingthrough, just having the
compassion and saying, I want tohelp you.
What can I do to help?
Just those words of empathyreally can make a difference.
SPEAKER_02 (20:56):
You don't even need them to do anything.
You just need them to not judge,you know?
And I think that compassion issuch a big thing and more people
are really becoming open tothat, especially after COVID.
A lot of people are strugglingright now with their mental
health and becoming moreunderstanding.
SPEAKER_03 (21:12):
Yes, I agree.
You had a tour that was plannedcalled the Group Therapy Tour,
which is really an awesome name.
How is it that you are able tokeep up your mental health while
you're on tour?
SPEAKER_02 (21:27):
It's not easy.
It's definitely
SPEAKER_03 (21:31):
a huge
SPEAKER_02 (21:31):
toll on your physical body and on your
emotional well-being becauseit's exhausting.
You're driving around all day.
You're staying up really lateevery night.
You're not getting proper foodand nutrients and rest and for
me what makes it all so worth itis meeting people and playing
shows it's so scary right beforeyou do it but then as soon as
(21:52):
you're on stage and you're infront of your people and your
fans who know your music itmakes it so worth it and just
trying to maintain a schedule isvery difficult when you're on
tour because you're all over theplace and you just kind of wake
up you don't know where you areyou don't know what city you're
in and then you just go for itbut especially on the group
therapy tour we were opening forElohim and she's an artist that
we greatly look up to and she'svery open about her mental
(22:15):
health and meeting her fans whoare the same way was just an
incredible experience for usbecause they really inspired us
to put out those songs that wewanted to put out because we
played it on that tour and theywere like, this song made me
feel this way or this song mademe feel that way and we were
like, okay, we want to sharethat with everyone else who
(22:36):
wasn't on the tour, you know?
SPEAKER_03 (22:39):
Yeah.
You know, you did talk about thechallenges of being on tour, all
the highs and lows.
You're on this high plane to allthese people that are cheering
for you.
And then the quiet moments whereyou're just on the tour bus.
But it does take work.
I mean, you talk about howtherapy is important.
Do you do therapy on tour, likethrough computer or phone call?
(23:03):
Or how does that work?
SPEAKER_02 (23:05):
For me, my therapist is really flexible.
And that's something that helpsmy anxiety a lot because I am
always nervous about changing myschedule or letting people down.
So she will just let me call orFaceTime or whatever is like
easiest for me to just have theconversation.
And that was something thatfinding a new therapist was such
(23:25):
a relief for me and reallyhelpful.
Yeah.
For me, this is just a tool Iuse.
I write everything down like ajournal a lot.
I go spend eight hours a day onthe bus and I will literally sit
there for eight hours a day justwriting everything that I'm
feeling and thinking onto myjournal.
And I think that's reallyhelpful for me because sometimes
(23:46):
when you think things over andover again, it doesn't feel
real.
But if you put it down on paper,that's a real feeling that you
had and it validates that.
And so that's been very helpfulfor me on tours.
No matter what I'm feeling,whether that's stress or anger
or being lonely or whatever itis, I just scribble it down in
my journal.
SPEAKER_03 (24:06):
Ruby, I saw your journal in one of the videos
that you have.
SPEAKER_02 (24:11):
Yeah, the YouTube series that we did.
SPEAKER_03 (24:15):
Right, right.
Gosh, you are a great artist.
The sketches you've put togetherthroughout the years are so
beautiful.
And I saw that you had writtenin it also, almost like it was
an artist's diary or something.
SPEAKER_02 (24:29):
I'm very vigilant about them.
I think drawing is somethingthat's very healing for me
because most of them I don'tshow anyone apart from Natalia.
I'm like, look at this weirdthing that I drew today.
I'm like, I want it.
So it's a feeling of emotionalrelease, if that makes sense.
And I fill those books up.
I mean, I have so many of them.
(24:49):
We have a box full of them inour house.
And it's something that's veryhelpful to me.
And some of them, whateveryou're feeling, whether that's
really dark thoughts or reallyhappy things, you can just let
it out.
And that's something that's beenhelpful to me.
SPEAKER_03 (25:01):
I think that's the key thing there is letting it
out.
And I've been journaling myself.
And I think what it is, is thatwhen we put how we feel into
something else, whether it'sjournaling or music, the lyrics,
the melodies, maybe somethingthat we paint, it gives those
emotions respect.
(25:24):
And once it's out, there'salmost a sense of relief.
Like your body, not that it'srid of it, but it's releasing
it.
It's releasing it.
It
SPEAKER_02 (25:35):
lets it go from you holding it in internally.
And that's something that Ialways think about when I'm
writing it down.
I'm like, This is just for me.
This is my personal journey.
No one's going to look at this.
I can say whatever I want.
No one's going to judge me.
This is a relationship I havebetween myself and myself.
And so I can say anything Iwant.
(25:55):
And I don't have to worry aboutanyone being involved with that.
It's a form of letting go ofwhatever you can hold on to.
SPEAKER_03 (26:03):
Well, you know, the other thing I want to talk about
is something that a lot ofpeople have gone through,
especially during the pandemic.
People have lost loved ones,people have lost partners.
And I know, Natalia, youmentioned that you lost your
boyfriend to a drug overdose.
And with that comes a lot ofemotions, some of them not even
(26:26):
expected.
Why don't you respond tosomething that was so shocking
to you?
You mentioned that for about ayear you were numb.
I could expect that there wouldbe a depression.
But I was reading...
In one of your songs, I think itwas Jackie Kennedy, where you
said something about, I'm sosorry it was you.
(26:46):
And it almost felt like you hada sense of guilt or something.
And that is an emotion that canhappen after somebody passes
away.
What was going on with that?
SPEAKER_02 (27:00):
For me personally, I loved him so much.
And he was such an incredibleperson.
But it was a struggle that hecouldn't see past.
And it was a struggle I didn'tsee, I didn't know about for
most of our relationship.
So that was a big shockwave forme to find everything out.
(27:21):
And yeah, I decided to take abreak from him because I was
very young.
And I do think that that's whatwas best for him at the time.
But I wasn't with him when hepassed.
And so there was guilt there,for sure.
But I don't think me stayingwould have helped because so
(27:45):
many people were trying topersuade him to believe in
himself and to do the rightthing.
And he really was for a while.
And a lot of people's effortsdid work.
And there was so much love forhim.
SPEAKER_03 (27:59):
I'm sorry to hear about that.
And it's a love that's going tostay with you and hopefully
inspire you and it's definitelyinspired your music but you
mentioned about drugs andoftentimes in music it seems
that it could be there rightdrinking or doing drugs to help
(28:20):
relax whatever the reasons arehave you ever had to deal with
something where substance abusewas something that was personal
to you or somebody close to youyou
SPEAKER_02 (28:30):
know it is sad to say it but
SPEAKER_03 (28:32):
it
SPEAKER_02 (28:33):
It's definitely something that's true in the
world of music.
We have a lot of friends who arevery dependent on certain
substances and it's scary towatch, especially after losing
someone that's very close.
And it's very sad how manyincredibly talented, amazing
artists that this world has lostto drug abuse.
(28:54):
And that's something that was abig wake-up call to Natalia and
I.
You know, there's a lot ofpeople within our circle or
people that we've looked up tothat have lost their lives to
that and so that's somethingthat we've always wanted to stay
away from but at the same time Ican understand how working in
the music industry and living alife as an artist you can have
(29:16):
those tendencies it's a verydifficult subject because you
know Natalia lost Luke to it butwe've lost a couple of friends
or people in our circle to thatespecially in LA there's a lot
of really young talented kidsthat have sadly lost their lives
to it And it's a difficultconversation, but there isn't
(29:36):
just like a no more.
It's not going to stop.
And that's why we're workingreally closely with the Luke
Love Foundation, which is whothis Jackie Kennedy song is
about.
And they are working closely tosupply Narcan to a lot of
households so that things likethat don't happen.
Yeah.
So it's the medication or drugthat's given to you at a
(29:56):
hospital if you have anoverdose.
And that can save a lot ofpeople's lives.
If Luke had it, it would havesaved his life.
Or if someone around him had it,it would have saved his life.
And so that's something that westrongly believe in.
A lot of people in LA oranywhere in the world that are
in certain circles, you know,lots of people do drugs and lots
(30:17):
of young people do drugs.
It would just be beneficial foreveryone to be educated.
Yeah, to be educated about itand understand that there are
ways where you can savesomeone's life.
And just opening thatconversation and letting people
know that there are tools.
You can reach out, you can gethelp, you can go to group
meetings, you can go to therapy,and all of those things are very
helpful when you have substanceabuse issues.
SPEAKER_03 (30:38):
I'm glad you brought that up because I am familiar
with Narcan.
I worked with a organizationcalled Homeless Healthcare Los
Angeles, and they would give outfree kits of Narcan.
In fact, the girl that I talkedwith, she had overdosed twice.
And twice, she was saved byNarcan.
And basically, it's just a shot.
(31:00):
that you could just put insomeone's leg and immediately,
immediately, it will stop theeffects of the overdose.
So if you have a friend orfamily member, someone you love
that has substance abuse, youknow, Keep it with you.
Keep it in your household justin case.
I mean, no one wants to think ofthat.
(31:20):
But we also have to berealistic, right?
SPEAKER_02 (31:22):
Exactly.
That's what we mean by that.
SPEAKER_03 (31:24):
No one wants to
SPEAKER_02 (31:25):
think, oh, I'm going to have a party.
Oh, I should have Narcan in thefridge just in case.
You don't want that to be aroundyou.
But unfortunately, it's around.
You never know.
And it's just a good thing to beeducated on and to have just so
you never know.
I mean, this isn't really...
strange analogy, but where Icome from, there's a lot of
(31:47):
snakes everywhere and everyonein their house has an antivenom
in their fridge.
And you know, overdoses are anaccident.
Some people do it on purpose,but most of the time it's a
mistake.
And if you have the opportunityto have that available to you,
everyone should take that.
Hopefully this foundation issomething that we're really
looking forward to working withand we want to Try and get as
(32:08):
much sponsorship as possible sothat they can give out to a lot
of people to just have it intheir home.
Just normalize the conversationand get everybody educated on it
and hopefully prevent that asmuch as possible.
SPEAKER_03 (32:21):
It's called the Luke Love Foundation.
Can you tell me more about that?
SPEAKER_02 (32:24):
Yeah.
So Luke's mom, Sheila Scott,started it in his name.
It originally was for grievingmothers.
She wrote a poem book and a lotof mothers came forward to help.
to give her support.
And she created such a beautifulcommunity.
It was such an open environmentwith people talking about their
(32:45):
experiences and what they knew.
And that's how she learned aboutNarcan and how to get that into
her foundation and starteducating and helping other
people.
So it's been really incredibleto see somebody go through one
of the hardest things a womancan go through and try to help
others.
It's just been really inspiring.
SPEAKER_03 (33:05):
Well, I'm going to put that on our website, which
is checkyourheadpodcast.com.
We have over 100 organizationsand foundations and clinics and
telehealth and chat lines andtext lines, ways for people to
get mental help when they needit.
Because sometimes when you're inthe middle of grieving,
(33:25):
sometimes you don't feel likeyou have the energy to look.
to research and find what'sgoing to work for you.
So hopefully this is a way wherepeople can just go on the
website and just try differentthings.
So I will be sure to put theLuke Love Foundation on our
website so people can look intothat.
SPEAKER_02 (33:46):
Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_03 (33:48):
You're welcome.
You have the two singles thatyou've dropped, which I really
love.
Does that mean that you'replanning on dropping an EP or an
album soon?
SPEAKER_02 (33:59):
Yeah,
SPEAKER_03 (33:59):
during
SPEAKER_02 (34:00):
COVID, we've been locked up at home.
And so we've been writing a lotof music.
And we're really hopeful thatwe'll make a full body of all of
that and put it together.
And so yeah, we're reallylooking forward to that.
It's not finished yet, but it'sdefinitely on its way.
SPEAKER_03 (34:16):
Well, that brings me to a question about COVID.
Because we've all been in thissituation that is really not
normal.
And a lot of people are We're inour homes, and maybe with a
small group of people, maybejust one other person, maybe by
ourselves.
What are some of the dailyroutines that you have to keep
(34:39):
up your mental health?
SPEAKER_02 (34:41):
We've been just trying to mix it up as much as
possible, which gets difficult.
But just trying a new takeoutplace and sitting in Malibu,
just trying things that wedidn't do last week, or...
new hobbies.
Yeah, it's definitely difficult.
At first, I was going a bit stircrazy.
We both were.
(35:02):
I was like, I'm going to startgardening.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do that.
I'm going to do all of this.
And then eventually we both werejust like, okay, let's watch
seven seasons of Vampire Diariesin two weeks, you know?
Which was done.
Which we did not do.
And so I think there was just somany emotions that you have to
go through.
And what everyone realized at acertain point was like, it's
okay to feel really discouragedwhen all of this is happening.
(35:24):
And it's okay to feel lonely andmiss your friends and miss your
family.
You know, my family, I was stuckon the other side of the world
from them.
It was very overwhelming for alot of people, including us.
The first couple of months, itwas just a mess.
We had no idea what was goingon.
And then eventually we werelike, okay, let's wake up, let's
get coffee, let's makebreakfast, and then let's do
work for this amount of time.
(35:44):
And then, so in the mornings wewould wake up and do work,
whether that's like Zoommeetings or writing.
And then with the afternoon, wewere just trying to do something
fun.
Like I started a herb garden.
It was awesome.
We did a lot of painting.
We'd go for picnics, you know,do little things to get out of
the house.
It was really important for us.
SPEAKER_03 (36:02):
Yeah, I can't wait till things start to open up.
But it's funny, there's going tobe a transition also from doing
all the things that we'velearned to do to possibly going
on tour for you two.
I
SPEAKER_02 (36:16):
know, and we are really excited about that.
Hopefully we can do that as soonas possible.
But it's also going to be reallyweird because we've gotten so
used to virtual shows and justliving life at a very different
level where we're a lot more...
We're home.
We're constantly working.
We have a studio at home wherewe wake up, we make music every
(36:37):
day.
It would be weird.
It's going to be weird, but veryexciting to go out.
Also, we spent so much time withour pets and just been wearing
pajamas for months.
So it's definitely going to takea while to get used to it once
everything goes back to normal.
But I think the most excitingthing for us is going out and
playing shows again.
SPEAKER_03 (36:56):
Yeah, for me too.
I mean, not that I play music,but to go to a live show, it's
the most incredible thing.
SPEAKER_02 (37:05):
Yeah, hopefully soon.
SPEAKER_03 (37:08):
Yes, and I can't wait to see you two on stage.
That's going to be reallyexciting.
Is there anything else that youwould like to say about mental
health or about Mahari?
In
SPEAKER_02 (37:19):
regards to mental health, something that I
experienced was having a reallyhard time acknowledging it.
We're speaking out about it.
And I think that people shouldknow that no matter what you're
going through, it's so scary totell other people.
But it's something that's veryimportant to let the people
around you know what's going on.
(37:40):
Because when you're depressed,you feel as though no one could
possibly understand and no one'sthere for you.
But I promise you, once you tellthe people that love you and
care about you, it's a hugerelease because then...
know people are aware of thatand they can take measures to
get you the help that you needor you can take that for
yourself so yeah and we'rereally excited and we feel
(38:01):
really lucky to be able to talkabout these things and share
music that gets to expressthings that we were scared to
talk about and there's a lotmore that's coming in our music
we're really excited for peopleto hear that and also some happy
songs
SPEAKER_03 (38:20):
That's always nice to hear.
Thank you, girls.
You're so brave and talented.
And now that you've spoken outon mental health, you are a
check your head superhero.
I'm going to show you this.
Do you see this?
SPEAKER_02 (38:36):
Wow.
That's so cute.
SPEAKER_03 (38:39):
That's so cute.
Isn't it cute?
I just put these on our website.
We have hoodies and t-shirts.
But you know what's funny isthat not only are there
superheroes that you'd want togive this to, maybe to each
other because you're eachother's superheroes, but it
feels good to wear because itreminds you every day that
(39:00):
you're taking on dailychallenges that oftentimes are
not seen.
And that's what it's like tohave a mood disorder like
depression or anxiety.
You're experiencing a personalbattle that hopefully once you
open up, you can have otherscome in and help you.
SPEAKER_02 (39:18):
Yeah, definitely.
We love that.
We're going to go and ordersome.
They're so cute.
Thank you for having us.
We love what you're doing, andwe're super excited to listen to
everything else that you'reputting out.
SPEAKER_03 (39:32):
Next, Kat Jensen and I talk about the Bahari
interview and the benefits ofjournaling, a fun, creative way
to express your emotions, and aneasy addition to your mental
health toolkit.
We also share information onnaloxone, or Narcan, a
medication used to stop anopioid overdose in its tracks.
The Luke Love Foundation is alsooffering free Narcan training on
(39:56):
June 26, 2021, with a freeNarcan kit given to everyone who
participates.
You can sign up for the class atLukeLoveBlog.org.
We're here to talk about Bahariand their interview.
SPEAKER_04 (40:13):
Oh, yeah.
I really enjoyed that.
Those girls, they're not onlytalented, but they're very
introspective as far as gettingin touch with what's going on
with their feelings.
And that's half the battle isbeing able to recognize what's
going on with us.
SPEAKER_03 (40:29):
Well, the other thing that I really loved was
that they, first of all, theymet because they were both going
through depression and theyhelped each other with that and
they bonded over that.
And then they started writingabout their depression and their
feelings and other peoplestarted to relate to that and
really started, they started togain a following.
(40:50):
So now they rely on each otherfor their mental health.
They take care of each other.
And they look after each otherand they understand what
depression and anxiety andbipolar is.
So they know what to look forand they could speak for the
other when the other is not ableto maybe speak for themselves.
SPEAKER_04 (41:09):
Well, and that's kind of the beauty of having a
support system and an outlet tolet your feelings and emotions
flow.
Because just talking aboutthings doesn't always work for
people, especially when they'rein the midst of an episode of
depression.
Usually the first thing we wantto do when you're having any
(41:31):
kind of mood disorder, you feellike something's not right, is
to recoil.
I'm the same way.
I will recoil.
I'll get the hell out of here.
I don't want to talk to anybody.
And those are the times when youreally need the most help to get
out of yourself.
But the automatic response is toisolate.
So they've been able torecognize when that's happening
(41:53):
to each other.
But there are tons of supportgroups.
I know on your website, you'vegot several resources that are
available, and that's
SPEAKER_03 (42:01):
wonderful.
Wouldn't it be wonderful to havea loving partner in your life to
be able to be that Thank you somuch.
(42:23):
And that if somebody isstruggling, you know, with a
personal issue or with a mooddisorder, that there are other
people there that can understandand support you.
The other thing I really likedis that they read about their
condition.
They, they educated themselves.
SPEAKER_04 (42:38):
Oh, so important.
That's so important right there.
And you're able, they were ableto talk to their bandmates about
it too.
So that everybody's on the samepage.
That's great.
SPEAKER_03 (42:49):
When a mood disorder is, first happening to you, it's
so confusing and it'sfrightening, but you have to be
your own advocate, right?
Because it's like the silentcondition.
SPEAKER_01 (43:01):
So
SPEAKER_03 (43:03):
by researching, finding out solutions that might
be good for you, these arethings that need to be done even
when we don't feel like it.
And I think that's the struggleis trying to find help and
trying to reach out when youjust don't feel like it.
SPEAKER_04 (43:20):
Right.
But yet it can be empowering tooif you allow yourself to to
educate yourself that way.
Just say, I'm going to take fiveor 10 minutes.
I'm going to look this up.
I'm going to see what's going onout there.
Is there any great readingmaterial?
See if you could find a resourcelike NAMI or somebody that might
(43:40):
have articles on things that youwant to research.
That can be empowering.
Sometimes it's feeling powerlessthat keeps us stuck.
And it's a good idea to takethat power back.
Yes.
Just like that.
SPEAKER_03 (43:56):
Just like the Rage Against the Machine song.
Take the power back.
SPEAKER_04 (43:59):
Take the power
SPEAKER_03 (44:02):
back.
The other thing to help with ourmood disorders and emotions in
general is journaling.
I
SPEAKER_04 (44:08):
have an acronym for that one, and this one's pretty
good because, you know, whatyou're going to do when you're
going to journal is you're goingto write.
So you're going to, let's say,W.
What do you want to write about?
Put a name to it.
Don't worry about it.
Just open up the page and say,huh, what am I feeling?
(44:30):
Let's write about something.
But don't worry about what ittruly has to be.
You don't have to write a big,intricate story or anything like
that.
Just write.
Just write.
You have an R.
Reflect.
Breathe.
Try to focus.
Even if it's just for fiveminutes.
Just give yourself a littlespace to reflect on how you're
(44:52):
feeling.
I investigate.
Dive into your thoughts andlabeling those feelings, getting
in touch with those things.
Time.
Don't worry about the time.
It could be five minutes.
It could be 15 minutes.
It could be an hour.
Just take that time foryourself.
Invest in yourself.
Let it flow.
Just let it flow, baby, andwrite down anything you need to.
(45:16):
And then time.
would be exit reread what you'vewritten give yourself a chance
to do that reflect a bit andthen maybe write one or two
sentences based on what you havejust written because that
teaches your mind to reflect onwhat you've already put down
SPEAKER_03 (45:34):
that is a really great acronym to remember when
you're doing it and I love thewhole free-flowing sort of thing
I think one of the bestexercises that i had an english
class i had a teacher that saidwe're going to take five minutes
we're going to write whatever ison our mind whatever that is
we're not going to judge itwe're just going to write and
(45:54):
just not even think and there'sa freeing to that to be able to
put whatever's on your mind onthe paper and i mean an example
of that is just the other nighti couldn't sleep Because I was
worried about this personalissue that I'm going through.
And I was angry.
And I was sad.
I was disappointed.
(46:15):
And I could not go to sleepbecause all these thoughts were
going through my head.
So I wrote them on paper.
And the great thing is that onceit's on paper, it's somewhere
else.
SPEAKER_04 (46:27):
It controls a lot of those intrusive thoughts that
tend to hit us at two in themorning or something, right?
It can really help with thatwhere they're just so rude.
Those thoughts, they just comeright into your head and won't
let you sleep or something likethat.
So it does give them a place togo.
And
SPEAKER_03 (46:44):
the other thing too, is that, Yeah, I think we all
have
SPEAKER_04 (47:03):
those things.
SPEAKER_03 (47:04):
You could be angry and say, you know, I hate my
sister or I hate my mother.
These are things that are notacceptable to say out loud, but
you could say it in a journal.
And as those feelings pass, youstart to, I mean, I started to
write down resolutions.
What am I going to do?
Who am I going to call and talkwith about this
SPEAKER_01 (47:26):
to resolve this?
SPEAKER_03 (47:28):
And your feelings start to change.
And I know one thing that youmentioned to me was that You
write on a continuous basis withyour journals, and you start to
see different chapters in yourlife, different themes.
You could start to chart whatyour triggers might be.
SPEAKER_04 (47:46):
Yes, yes.
Now, this is what I was going topoint out that might break it
down a little bit.
When you get into using writingas therapy, you'll start to look
at it where you may want todecide to use prompts to write
off of, like, what's thehappiest memory I can recall?
And what feelings are attachedto that memory?
(48:08):
You could even say, what is oneof the saddest memories that I
have?
And how was I feeling?
And you can start to see whatthings trigger you.
You can see into your feelings.
Because see, we have a tendencyto not know what we're feeling.
But when you can start focusingon that and you put it down into
(48:29):
writing, it will start comingoff the page to you.
I started to see actualpatterns.
If you are working in therapy,you can use this to combine with
other types of therapy likecognitive behavioral therapy or
something like that too.
SPEAKER_03 (48:46):
One thing you mentioned was looking back and
looking at difficult memoriesand looking at happy memories.
And sometimes those pastmemories will help explain our
present behavior.
Sometimes people are confused,like, why did she act like that?
Why did she say that?
Or why does she have such agreat connection with addiction?
(49:08):
There are things in your pastthat can really explain what
you're doing presently andreally explain to you why you
may like or dislike certainthings.
SPEAKER_04 (49:18):
Yeah, it's all...
inside and it's a matter ofreaching it and getting it out.
And that's what's so hard forus.
We keep pushing things down.
And I'm here to tell you that ifyou try to hold things in and
you try to push them down, oneday they're going to come
roaring right back up like youjust barf it right out of your
face and you're in troublebecause feelings, you cannot
(49:42):
keep swallowing them.
They just are going to eat youup.
SPEAKER_03 (49:46):
They will rear their ugly head in some way.
And usually it's sort of adysfunctional way too that is
not healthy.
So we're trying to figure outhealthy ways to get those
feelings and emotions out andalso try to process those and
try to understand what they'retrying to tell us.
SPEAKER_04 (50:04):
Exactly.
And if you can't write, doodle,draw.
I used to collage.
I used to pull things out ofmagazines and just things that
spoke to my feelings, and I'dwrite around them in order to
say, what does that picturebring out for me?
It was very interesting later togo back and analyze what I was
(50:25):
thinking at the time.
SPEAKER_03 (50:26):
Natalia, Ruby, they're both so artistic, and
oftentimes that can come out ina journal.
The first time I had gonethrough a depression, this was
in my 20s, I remember drawing apicture of myself in a glass
globe, just screaming and tryingto get my feelings out.
(50:48):
But I was trapped inside thisglass globe, and outside of it
were just a few words that wereable to come out.
And that kind of described how Ifelt when I was in the midst of
this depression, that I...
I wanted to express myself, butI wasn't able to.
And sometimes sketches candescribe how we feel even more
(51:09):
so than words.
SPEAKER_04 (51:10):
Exactly.
I love the whole idea of a glassglobe like that.
And I mean, it paints such aperfect picture.
So
SPEAKER_03 (51:19):
the other thing I want to talk about is the opioid
epidemic and overdoses.
And she talked about the LukeLove Foundation that was...
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_04 (51:54):
And an opioid antagonist will kind of block
those receptors so that receptorcannot attach to and process
that opioid.
There's been such an uptick ofpeople having overdoses on
opioids.
And boy, it's really been badsince the pandemic,
(52:14):
unfortunately.
And it's been a rising concern.
If you or someone has had someissues with opioids that Narcan
doesn't exists.
I know it's available on aspray.
It goes right up your nose.
It's non-prescription.
And if you suspect thatsomeone's becoming unresponsive,
this can be a life-savingmeasure.
(52:35):
It's something you should havein your emergency kit.
SPEAKER_03 (52:38):
Yes, exactly.
And I wanted to show you, Iactually have one of these
emergency kits You can see.
That's great.
(53:04):
And usually if you get it at thepharmacy, it comes in a two pack
because sometimes a person mayneed two sprays or additional
sprays of the Narcan.
It lasts about 30 to 90 minutes.
So immediately if somebody isoverdosing, you've got to shake
them to see if they're havingany signs of overdose, like blue
lips or if they're choking orvomiting, any of those things.
(53:26):
And if you're not sure, you cango ahead and use it and it's not
going to harm the person in anyway.
But it is only for opioids.
So opioids like Percocet,Fentanyl, Vicodin, Morphine,
Heroin, Oxycodone, Oxycontin,Methadone, Tylenol with codeine
SPEAKER_01 (53:48):
is
SPEAKER_03 (53:49):
really common.
These are all opioids.
And it also comes with a CPRshield.
Yeah.
This I thought is reallyimportant.
There's a good Samaritan lawthat people should know about.
If you are a bystander orsomebody that is going to save
somebody with Narcan, there areprotections so that there's no
(54:10):
crime or arrest with the wholesituation.
So I want to look into that.
SPEAKER_04 (54:15):
That might come across people's minds because
they don't know if they want toget involved.
They're afraid to get involvedor they don't know what to do.
And that's great.
Yeah, you can feel free to getto 911.
This can give you the chance toget some real help to someone.
SPEAKER_03 (54:32):
Exactly.
You don't want to have to worryabout that.
And you're right.
You can get it without aprescription in all states.
It's usually covered byinsurance.
But if you don't have insurance,it's about$130 to$140 out of
pocket, which really isn't toobad if it's there and if it
saves a life.
(54:52):
So they say that if you have anykind of opioids in your house,
it's Good to have it on handbecause we were talking about
accidental overdoses when peoplemight forget what they've taken
or people take it and they havea drink and there's a
synergistic effect with a lot ofother drugs.
And also like Nick Petty, wejust talked with Nick Petty.
(55:15):
He raided his father's medicinecabinets.
And got his old fricassee oropioids.
And that
SPEAKER_04 (55:22):
happens all the time.
I know it happens.
And I mean, stuff happens.
We're just trying to say that ifthere's a way to prevent these
horrible things from happening,why not do it?
Let's protect ourselves.
Let's protect our loved ones.
There's nothing wrong withhaving one of those kits on
(55:42):
hand.
Heaven forbid a child gets intothe medicine cabinet, but to
have the protection there andknowing you have it, that's just
the best thing in the world andthat you could save a life.
SPEAKER_03 (55:55):
Right.
It's peace of mind.
Yeah.
And it's an easy thing to do.
SPEAKER_04 (56:00):
I was going to mention also naltrexone, which
is another type of antagonistthat if you or someone might
know that you've had problemswith opioids, there are
treatment facilities and throughprescription, naltrexone is
available after they're able tostabilize you and get you down
off of these drugs.
where it can help you withrelapses or cravings for these
(56:23):
types of drugs.
So this stuff is available.
You don't have to just sit thereand say, well, I got to go cold
turkey.
Because if you're trying to dothat, then that addiction is
going to be more powerful thanyou.
SPEAKER_03 (56:36):
A big thank you to our musical guests, Ruby Carr
and Natalia Panzarella ofBahari, and our special co-host
musician, Kat Jensen.
For more information on Bahari,visit bahari-music.com, follow
Bahari on their socials, atBahari, and stay tuned for a
(56:56):
clip of their new single, JackieKennedy.
For more information on the LukeLove Foundation and their
upcoming Narcan training, visitlukeloveblog.org.
So until next time, be brave,ask for help, and be persistent
in finding the mental help thatyou need.
UNKNOWN (57:13):
Music
SPEAKER_03 (57:15):
But I know I
SPEAKER_00 (57:16):
can't fix it And you know that I'm sorry Even though
you were the one to go And I'mnot making excuses but It's hard
for me to let go We lost alifetime, you and I That's all I
(57:44):
know We lost our lifetime I usedto watch you fall asleep I'm
laying here, can barely breatheI miss the way you'd laugh at me
(58:06):
No goodbye, no apologies
SPEAKER_03 (58:30):
Check Your Head Podcast is kindly supported and
partnered with Sweet ReliefMusicians Fund, DBSA San Gabriel
Valley, Earshot Media, and LemonTree Studios in Los Angeles.
Visit checkyourheadpodcast.comwhere we have over 100 solutions
for mental health.
Be our friends on social mediaat Check Your Head Podcast.
(58:50):
Watch us on YouTube and supportus with a kind donation on
checkyourheadpodcast.com.
Check Your Head podcast issponsored by a 501c3 nonprofit
with all donations being taxdeductible.
Thank you for your support andthank you for listening.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.