May 11, 2025 • 53 mins
Husky Talk with Cassie Kerns, former UConn Women's Basketball National Champion, back by popular demand, we try to give our viewers what they want and Cassie was kind enough to come on another show. She is one of a kind, multi-talented, way smarter than I am, and always gives back.
We received a huge amount of feedback and questions from Cassie's first appearance; she was gracious to answer our viewers questions. Cassie handles crisis mental health cases currently and is an excellent therapist. She diagnoses and helps many people set up for aftercare. Currently, she isn't taking on new clients. Cassie hopes to start a private practice by the end of the year, and then she will open her doors to new clients.
She talked about her art and how important it has been in her life. Cassie uses art to express herself, this is where you see her creativity come out. She does have pieces for sale and you can e-mail her at Cassandra.Kerns@gmail.com to see what is available and get more information.
Cassie answered many questions from our viewers, I could not keep her all day, but we got through a good amount. She has a tremendous amount of knowledge and wisdom to offer. From life experiences and her work as a therapist. Such an amazing story of someone who set goals, wouldn't take no for an answer, overcame incredible adversity to become an inspiration. Working as a therapist, artist, model, she is also a wonderful mother. A polarizing episode where you can learn more than you can imagine. It was a pleasure, and we wish her a happy Mother's Day!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
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(01:06):
construction being fell on you at a site, if your mother-in-law
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He's not afraid of insurance companies.
He will get you every dollar youdeserve and compensation.
Just go to thefinchfirm.com. Dynamic Human Performance owned
(01:29):
and operated by UConn legendary running back Andre Dixon.
He works with boys and girls of all ages, trains them in all
sports. He just started a new athletic
development program where he will train you from the ground
up and the sport of your choice and make you the best you can
possibly be and help you reach your potential.
(01:51):
Andre has sent kids to scholar on scholarship, boys and girls
of all sports all over the country to work with the best in
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Williams in Decatur, GA If you're in Gwinnett County or the
(02:15):
Atlanta area. Julius trains offensive and
defensive lineman. And I don't know what's in the
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I've never seen it. As far as high school kids go,
they go to tournaments all over the country.
(02:36):
It's 5 versus 5, which is one-on-one for offensive and
defensive lineman. And they are currently
undefeated and they are the second best ranked team in the
country as far as 5V5 go. So Julius has sent people to
Florida, Florida State, Miami, Clemson, Georgia, Tennessee,
(03:01):
Alabama, just to name a few. So if you want to work with the
best, go to the battle of the trenches.com.
And now for the lady of the hour, the lady with the power
too sweet to be sour. Joining us again by POC, back by
popular demand, UConn former national champion, now very
(03:28):
talented artist and mental health therapist, Cassie Kearns.
Cassie, so great to see you. I appreciate.
Well, I, I, you know, the demandwas so high.
I, I, I couldn't say no. You, you were such a hit last
time and people resonated with you and everyone wanted more.
(03:50):
So thank you for coming back andanswering some of the questions
because you definitely got some of the most feedback that I have
ever seen. So one of the questions we got
was from Megan in Worcester, shesays.
(04:14):
Cassie, you are work of art. Your story has been painted
perfectly. What kept you going through it
all? How did you get through it all?
Apparently you know the tough times, would you say?
Well, one, first, thank you for the wonderful compliment.
I greatly appreciate it. But two.
(04:35):
But what really kept me going isthat I have a deep passion and a
deep love for life. You do.
A lot of other things. And I knew that there was so
much more to life than what I was experiencing.
And I firmly believed that I could create that reality
(04:59):
through whatever I had to do. And so I know at that point in
time, there was a lot of deep faith in God and just really
praying during those times to open doors and allow me to walk
through it at the right opportunity.
That really helps keep me going.And I know during the darkest
(05:22):
times, it's interesting how in each stage of development that
you go through or your life, yourely on certain strengths of
yourself or talents that you have.
But I really relied fully on my art because at that time I
sucked at communicating. I was horrible and.
(05:42):
Well, our art is your passion too.
I mean, you're very passionate with your art.
Absolutely. And creative.
But it was definitely, it kept me whole because it allowed me
to get out a lot of the darknessthat was inside of me so that it
didn't kill me. That was your outlet.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
(06:02):
No, I, I can see that. I can see that.
And it happens to so many people.
You know, you and I, obviously Division One athletes at UConn,
you obviously much better than myself, but the expectations are
so high that it, it, it, it really can stress you out.
(06:25):
It can bring you down and it, it's, it's hurtful.
And you do need, you know, one thing my therapist says is you
need coping skills. And I, I, I, I have zero, you
have, you have a lot of coping skills and that's so important.
So I I totally get that. It was definitely a learned
thing, like I was blessed to already have a coping strategy I
(06:48):
wasn't really aware of at the time.
Because I think a lot of people who are hurt and who go through
trauma, we experienced trauma atour level because we weren't
given the tools that we needed to kind of overcome those
obstacles in that moment. So yes, my art was there, but I
(07:11):
know through intense therapy, intense treatment, I was able to
acquire those things. And learning that anything in
this world, anything can be a coping strategy, whether it's
writing, reading, music, exercise, whatever you choose.
(07:32):
And it like works for you, for the outlet, Yeah, yeah.
I agree. You had a question from Bill,
who's in Indiana. Cassie, you are nice and don't
have a big head. That's great, being the best
high school basketball players, one of the best high school
(07:54):
players in the state of Indiana.What helped you to stay
grounded? Because I know, you know, you
said UConn, Notre Dame, I mean, you had, you had three schools
that you were going to go to wasand that was it because you
wanted to be the best. And that's what you really
strive to be. I think the things that kept me
(08:17):
grounded was that I really had this vision like this.
You had tunnel vision. I really, I, I don't, I think
because I, I was so focused thatI was able to kind of push
things off to the side naturally, which kept me really
(08:38):
onto it. And I also think one of the
biggest motivators was is that like I was telling you before, I
think there's a little bit of oppositional defiant in me, but
like when somebody tells me. Tells you no.
Yeah. Tells me no.
That's the worst thing they can do.
I'm like, hold my beer or drink or whatever and I will prove you
wrong at whatever expense. Yes, yes.
(09:02):
And and to me, that's, I think that's my competitiveness.
Yes. But also my strive to just be
the best version of myself that I could be too.
Yes, and and you're just you're,you're definitely very grounded,
you're very humble. You always give back and for
someone with superstar talent and ability like you, they kind
(09:27):
of get a big head. And I'll even bring up if you
watch the NFL draft and not Shadur.
Sanders ended up falling to the fifth round after being
projected to be a first round pick.
And it was primarily his interviews and the way he
(09:48):
presented himself to teams like he was he he came off as
arrogant, conceited and thought he was just going to waltz into
the NFL and take it over, right?And it rubbed people the wrong
way. Right.
Well also there is a risk because with him there comes his
dad. So like, are they purchasing a
package of him and his dad or can this person survive as a
(10:10):
professional football player by himself, which I don't think he
can. Sorry dude.
I forgot you. I, I, you know football well
because I didn't. You say your dad was a coach.
My dad was a coach. My.
Husband is super into football. Yeah, yeah.
So that's why, I mean, you watchit and you know, you understand
the game and do you, you, you enjoy it.
(10:32):
Do you like it? I do.
Good, good, good. We need more.
We need more female fans. I agree.
This comes from Lisa at UConn. How important do you think
setting goals in all aspects of life is?
(10:53):
You set them from high school onabout where you want to do,
attend college, what you wanted to study, and you reached
everything you set for yourself.You're an inspiration, Lisa.
Oh. Thank you, Lisa.
Isn't that sweet? It is.
And I mean even in therapy, therapy a lot of times when
(11:16):
you're working with patients, it's all goals too.
And I, I firmly believe if you don't have an idea of where
you're going, then you're not going to get there efficiently
or kind of the way you want to. Right.
So I mean, I'm super. Was it was it taught to you?
(11:37):
Like, was it something instilledin you by your family or a coach
about setting goals? Because I know I mean, you
definitely had an idea of where you wanted to go and what you
wanted to do. I.
Think a lot of that is my personality, like my parents, I
don't know, like I was an enigma.
(11:59):
So I kind of just like my family.
They were just like, we're just going to go with whatever she
decides to do. And I know deep or when I was
really young, it was deeply ingrained in me to always work
hard. If you work hard, you'll get
what you want. And I saw my parents work their
(12:23):
tails off to provide for us. And I was like, OK, well, I know
I can work that hard if they're working that hard.
And I know as a big motivator for me to one initially was to
get a fluoride scholarship so I didn't have to make my parents
pay for it. I was like, what a great gift
(12:44):
would that be if I could get a fluoride scholarship, but they
don't have to pay for it and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And so. And they worked so hard.
And like when you were younger, would you have considered
yourself more of an introvert? Yes.
You were OK. Yes, I was.
(13:05):
I was the person that was very empathic, that was very, very,
very quiet. It was hard to get things out
of. I would be reading people's body
language and that was like a form of communication for me,
which as an adult is like a recipe for disaster if you
can't, if you're but. It it's true though, right?
(13:25):
Isn't 90% of communication body language?
It is to some extent, but if you're unhealthy mentally you
can take it into extremes which only extrapolates and hurts you
more. Right, right.
So I've learned through my own therapy and growing that I
(13:48):
really am like a tug of war of both.
I am very introverted at times, but I'm very extroverted at
times. When Yeah, I, I, you're, you're
very, you're obviously very easyto talk to, which I think is
because you're a therapist. But when you're asked questions,
I mean, you're not afraid to talk.
(14:09):
You're not afraid to Give your opinion and share your thoughts,
which is awesome. You had several questions from
people asking are you accepting new clients?
If they wanted to hire you as a therapist, how would they go
about doing so? That's very flattering, but
(14:30):
currently right now I'm not since I am working in a hospital
setting. Yeah.
So once I move from the hospitalsetting into private practice,
then of course I can take all the clients I want and I will
let you know when that happens. So basically I it's Sarasota, so
(14:52):
if someone comes in and they need a a site consult or they're
having mental health issues, youare the one that they will see.
Yes. So we have this wonderful team
currently 'cause we're in a hospital that has over 900 beds,
it's huge, It's best public hospitals in the country.
(15:14):
They're not paying me to say that they should, but.
We'll, we'll plug the Sarasota hospital, yes.
Great. So we're a team of seven
professionals, which is 3 nursesand four therapists.
So we we respond to all substance use, alcohol
(15:34):
withdrawal, opiate withdrawal, Baker acts, which is like mental
instability, meaning either suicidal or you're psychotic.
And then we also respond to any additional psychiatry consults
along with like a patient just got a new diagnosis of cancer,
(15:57):
we go up there and we provide some therapy for that 'cause
that's really difficult. Yeah.
No, I, I it's very, it's not good news.
So you work with these people depending on how long they end
up staying in the hospital. Yeah.
And and and then discharge them.It's short term crisis
(16:20):
intervention, so you have to kind of meet the patient where
they're at, find out the root problem, try to gather as much
information pertaining to the patient as possible, help
psychiatry, and then kind of help pass along that information
when they discharge to wherever they need to go.
True, OK. And you if they, if they, if
(16:41):
they aren't seeing therapist or psych psychiatrist,
psychologist, you will try to refer them out to somebody or
outpatient. OK, but your your your your goal
eventually would be to be in private practice.
Absolutely that'll happen. Yes, I I that'll happen.
(17:02):
Probably, I'm guessing around the new year.
That's awesome to hear. That's awesome to hear.
Is it something that you'll do on your own or is it someone
that you'll partner with? You think?
It'll probably be on my own because a lot of sorry,
corporate places or whatever, But I mean, I yes, I follow the
(17:26):
rules I do because there's rulesI have to follow, but there's
certain ways I like to do thingsthat are really not
conventional. They're all evidence based, but
it's not like your normal therapeutic environment that you
would go to is what I want to do.
Right. I was just curious, do you do
(17:47):
like hypnotherapy or CBT therapy, anything like that?
CBTDBT mindfulness solution focused.
I'm going to get certified and transference focus therapy,
which is wonderful. Yes.
Yes. So I'm excited for that.
(18:09):
Yes, yes. And I think you will have an
amazing practice because people,people, people definitely want
to work with you. This comes from Sally in
Manchester, CT Gino is the mad scientist.
How are you to decipher what he wanted while the other players
(18:34):
were confused? I know you mentioned that you
kind of became like a coach. Yes.
So, so there's a method to his madness.
If you don't understand the method to his madness, you will
be lost. And so me understanding it, if I
(18:58):
could help translate it to my teammates to make them get the
best out of what they're experiencing, that's what I did.
Because like, if I, if I could help someone digest what is
being said so that you can understand and increase like
your efficacy, your efficiency and playing basketball, then why
(19:21):
not? Why would I not help somebody?
Yeah, I mean, because they're you're, you're ending up getting
the most production out of them as well.
They're reaching their potential.
So you being there to to guide them was huge.
And you know, Gino, Gino has stated that several times.
What an important piece you wereon the on the national
(19:43):
championship team. So I definitely agree with that.
So we have Mackenzie from Denver, says Cassie, you are my
hero. To overcome the obstacles you
have in life is inspirational. How did you stay?
(20:04):
So driven during that time. But that's a good question.
Oh. Mackenzie, you asked a good
question. Yeah, that's a good question.
And how I stayed driven. I honest, I I held on to hope a
lot. During those and and you
(20:25):
mentioned praying too. You mentioned your spirituality,
that and. Like I know during those times,
like I'm like, listen, pardon mylanguage, but like, hey, I'm
fucking things up. Like I, I, I can't do this.
I need, I need help. Please guide me in whichever way
you can. And I know along my journey
there was little little Nuggets,little little goodies placed
(20:48):
along the way to be like, oh, OK, I'm going in the right
direction. Here's some relief.
But then getting the message saying, well, you're going to
have to go through something really, really hard after this.
And you're like, OK, but I thinkhaving those periods of like
seeing the results, seeing me progress motivated me to keep
(21:09):
going. And also like when you start
going through stuff, you're like, I don't think I can do
this. But then you remember, you're
like, wait a minute, I just wentthrough that.
I just dealt with that. I did this.
I can do that. I I'll make it through.
So it's a lot of reflection. It's a lot of internal dialogue.
It's a lot of trusting your team, your people around you and
(21:32):
trusting God and, and really understanding that you have the
power to determine where you want to go.
And once you kind of overcome that mindset of I'm unworthy,
I'm unlovable, I'm not good enough, I'm all these type of
things and really replacing it with what's the truth, then
that's where I think that's really where I took off and like
(21:54):
what really helped me. That makes, that makes a lot of
sense. Once you see that you're making
progress and it's working, you believe in it and that's what
keeps you motivated. That's what keeps you driven and
that's what gets you through those tough times.
And I, I had felt all those things that you've mentioned and
it, it is, it is tough to, to overcome.
(22:16):
So that is that makes a lot of sense.
That's, that is a great answer. We had a correct question from
Rachel in UConn. Mental health issues have a
stigma to this day. How did you ask for help without
being worried what other people would think?
(22:37):
It's probably my own insecurities, but that is my
fear for asking for help. So I guess Rachel is asking
that, you know, she's worried about the stigma.
I feel you in that one. And I got to a point.
(22:57):
Well, First off, like growing upin my generation, it was like,
well, like mental health, like as a kid or like even in my
family structure like mental health doesn't really exist.
Like what is this stuff? And to be the person that kind
of like was like, OK, there has to be an answer to this and
seeking an answer to what's going on.
(23:18):
I'm like, listen, I, I'm not OK.And I know at that point, to me
it was like life, life or death.So the stigma wasn't there.
No, you. You.
You were worried about. You wanted to save your life.
Right. And I was like, OK, how can I do
that? And I know God put in my life
(23:41):
people strategically, like therewere God moments and I'm like,
huh, that never would have happened on my own doing.
But going back to the stigma, and I want to comment on her
awareness that she's like, well,maybe it's my own internal self
that's doing this, but in athletics and college, stigma is
(24:05):
a is a huge thing. And there's a lot of research
going on right now trying to break trying to identify that as
a problem and formulate solutions to solve that.
And I think they started doing that through like Simone Biles,
Michael Phelps and saying, hey, like this stuff is real and like
we struggle and we right. And I think the more people that
(24:28):
talk about it, the more people that advocate for it, the more
people that really start to likejust shut that up.
I think things will be a lot better.
And I firmly believe, I firmly agree with you that that one
(24:48):
someone, let's say a top athlete, has mental health
concerns and they go to a therapist, not a sports
psychologist, I would say a therapist that I think that
their performance and their overall athletic ability will be
so much better. Improve, yeah.
(25:08):
And I, I mean, that's one of thethings I want to do my research
on and is doing mental health for collegiate athletes.
I already put together like a proposal and things like that.
That's. Great.
Yeah, 'cause my, my perfect world, my vision is that each
team would have a therapist. I agree.
(25:30):
I agree it's it's definitely needed and I think it would make
a huge difference if every team had a mental health therapist
for people to talk to. And then I also think, like you
said, that would definitely remove the some of the stigma
behind it. Of course, of course, of course.
(25:53):
Several people asked about. I mean, I know that you're doing
you do short term treatment. Do you also would you also
recommend medication along with that treatment?
If you're referring someone out?Do you do you go there or no?
I do. So it does go.
It goes like per patient. So as a therapist, I'm never
(26:16):
going to push a patient to do something they they don't want
to do. I will recommend things, but
I'll try to gather in a holisticpicture to see who this person
is, what they're about, really what's going on and create a
diagnosis off of that. Because based off a diagnosis,
then you can do medications and things like that.
(26:39):
There's a lot of people these days that are scared of
medication or people that don't want to do medication, but I
always come in, I describe it tothem of like, OK, one medication
is not permanent. It's not 2.
When I always say like, OK, you need to get down to your
(27:00):
baseline, but in order to do that, you need to kind of get
something to help you there. So the medication helps you get
there. And when you process and talk
with therapy, you can formulate tools and things to utilize so
that when things happen, you're able to cope better.
And so the symptoms of the diagnosis don't present itself.
(27:24):
So with that being said, once you gain the tools that you
need, you practice, you implement, you tackle hard
things in real life in real time, then you can slowly come
off of medications. But if you, if you're, if
you're, if you have like psychotic disorder like bipolar
and schizopenia. Those kind of things.
(27:45):
Your medication is OK to stay on.
Yeah, yeah, it it's something that you're going to need to
regulate you for life. That's just what it is, just
like taking your vitamins in themorning.
I've been obviously scared to take medication because my view
has always been I, I argue with my therapist putting me on
(28:09):
medication. It's may make me feel better,
but it's not going to change thecircumstances of my life.
That, that, that that was my argument against taking
medication. I was like, you can, you can put
me on it, but is it, how's it how, how's, how's it going to
change the things that I want changed in my life?
(28:32):
It may make me feel better, but I I didn't think that it would
help. So so that was.
That was my argument. This is my response to that
though, is that the medication can help you feel better to a
point where you can tackle the hard things that are so
uncomfortable in life and so that you can manage managely,
(28:54):
manageably attack that in a safespot when you're somewhat
regulated because. When you're not depressed or
whatever. Right, because if you, I mean,
you're not going to start digging through trauma when
you're like completely like borderline suicidal or things
like that. You don't want to do that.
You have to be at A, at a level ground where you can tackle
(29:17):
things with a clear mind and conscious.
And I will tell you this too, myself, when I first started
getting help, I was like, I do not want any medication.
I don't want any of that stuff. And they explained it to me the
way I'm explaining it to you. And so I tried it and I was able
to get myself regulated and so Icould think clearly and gather
(29:40):
all those things I needed to. And shortly after I weaned
myself off. Right, right.
So. Yeah.
And you, you can still wean yourself off and keep the value
of what the medication is given to you.
Absolutely. If done properly.
Absolutely. OK, OK, so we have Christine.
(30:06):
She's out from California. She wants to know, Cassie, how
was it playing with the best team in the country?
How would you describe that experience and do you have fond
memories from it to this day? Yeah, so, so playing for a team
(30:32):
like that, it's interesting you ask that question because I
don't I don't allow myself to. And during that time, I didn't
allow myself to like imagine what it was like playing for
other teams like this was it? This was the one thing and and
so I had high expectations. I had high visions of what this
would be for me. And like I call them the most
(30:57):
rewarding, most beautiful but ugly time of my life.
Like so much was learned, so much was given, so much was.
There's just, it's indescribableto say what you gain from doing
that. Yeah, 'cause you're, you know,
you're, you're, you're with the best and you're, you're still
(31:18):
having to manage your own struggles as you're with the
best and the expectations that go along with it with, you know,
when you're at UConn, you're at UConn, there's those
expectations never ever go away.So.
No. And I and I think we all, I
think the ones that are very successful there, they have such
high expectations of themselves.So that aligns with like the
(31:42):
core of the program. And so when you're along the
same vision, the same line, Sky's the limit.
Right, Right. No, I agree.
I agree. We have Matthew from Nebraska.
(32:02):
Cassie, you are beautiful and I enjoyed your story so much.
I am an addict, I need to get help.
How would you describe the best way to do that?
I guess like maybe go to the hospital or how would he do?
(32:24):
It him for saying all that stuffbecause that's like the first
part of the process is to say, hey, I'm struggling.
This is what I this is what I deal with.
I need help. So when I know you asked that
question, you can receive help, so kudos to you.
My advice for that is if you have a therapist, they should
(32:46):
have some resources for you to help you find what you're
looking for. If you don't have a therapist,
you're more than welcome to e-mail me and I can help you
find a facility if a treatment inpatient treatment facility is
(33:06):
what you want, or if you want a partial hospitalization or
intensive outpatient to assist with your with your substance of
choice. Will your hospital do something
like that if someone is an addict and wants treatment?
Absolutely. Will they?
They'll keep them hospitalized and treat them through
withdrawal and everything. So right now, I mean, obviously
(33:29):
I can't say any names, but a patient has been at the hospital
for four months. Wow.
OK, so they will do it. They had extreme endocarditis,
which is the hardening of the heart due to IV substance use.
And they cleaned out the patient's heart and she's
getting ready maybe like a couple weeks to discharge.
(33:50):
And I started having the conversation of like, well, what
do you think you would want to do after this?
And they wanted to go to inpatient treatment.
So I have a bunch of people in my pocket out here that I handed
her the the resources, I helped talk through her each one and
she chose 1. So then I worked with case
(34:10):
management to form a safe discharge to that facility.
That's incredible that you did all that.
That's huge because a lot of people like, they don't know how
to do it. But I mean, is it something that
you think people could overcome on their own with, you know,
just going to therapy, going to meetings?
(34:33):
Or would you recommend more starting off with doing
inpatient? My go to So if you are in
substance use, as you know, you need to change your complete
your entire environment. You need to kind of isolate
yourself from your normal activities.
You need to be an environment where it's healthy, it's
(34:54):
conducive other like minded people to help you.
Cause a lot of times when we're left in our addiction, like like
our addiction is our unhealthy coping strategy.
When we're hurt, we run to something that will create an
immediate fix and it just perpetuates the wound.
(35:14):
But to answer the question, if you're ready for treatment, if
you're wholehearted ready, readyfor it, I suggest that you go to
inpatient cause a lot of inpatients, what they'll do is
they'll give like a what 28 day program?
Or if you need more, they can approve for more.
And then a lot of them have a step down unit of like IOP and
(35:38):
that's what. I did.
Yep, Yep. And then a lot of them will have
graduate housing. So it's like a step down thing
just to make sure that the person really does well.
Because one of the biggest things is when you leave
inpatient treatment and you go back into the real world,
there's so many relapses with any type of addiction because
(35:58):
there wasn't the baby steps. You're not in the bubble of
treatment. Right, because when you, when
you look at it like I had conversations with my mom, she's
like, that was not reality. And I said I understand that,
but I needed that to get back toreality.
Exactly. Yeah, and I agree with you.
(36:21):
What's what's sad for me, I havea picture from rehab with our
group when we went out to dinnerone night.
And out of the 18 or so people, only two are still alive.
And it's, it's a, it's a lot because our rehab place did not
(36:45):
do a very good job setting up aftercare as far as housing,
where to go, You know, once yourinsurance was up, you got a bus
ticket, you're out of town. You know, they had case
managers, but the case managers weren't great at getting SSI.
They weren't great at helping them with jobs and obviously
(37:06):
housing. So it just, I, I look at that
and I, it just, it's scare, it scares me.
And then it makes me wonder like, does, does AANA, does it
really work? Like how, how can you say that,
yeah, you should go to treatmentand it works when everyone ends
(37:29):
up dead or it has like a 50% success rate.
And everyone always tells me that it right now it's the best
treatment that is available. And and that's, that's what
that's what happens because you go and you get clean and you end
up relapsing and using a dose that you'd taken before that's
(37:51):
obviously too high because you're clean and you, you
overdose and that's that, that's, that's so hard to deal
with. But I I mean.
Go for it. No, I was just going to say I
cause I've, I've asked you a lotof questions about addiction.
Is that a field that you would get into with your private
(38:15):
practice? Would you want to treat addicts?
Would that be part of it or would you prefer?
Definitely part of it. I mean, cause eating, eating
disorders, full blown addiction.Like I'm, I'm willing to help
out where I can. Like I know if, if someone comes
to me and they're in full blown addiction, I'm going to be like,
(38:36):
this is definitely not appropriate for you.
I'm going to get you to where you need to go.
Right. You know that part, you know
enough that you need, you need ahigher level of care than what I
can offer. But like it like for instance,
someone like me who has been clean for several years and is
doing kind of maintenance treatment for addiction, that is
(38:59):
something that you would do. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, you don't. You don't mind treating addicts,
OK? Absolutely not.
Because what I have to? Say before you ask the next
question is that I know a lot ofpeople when I encounter them at
the hospital and they're in addiction and they're just
shameful and whatever. And I, I try to paint a picture.
(39:21):
I said, listen, this wasn't yourfault.
And they're like, what do you mean?
I, I use every day. I'm like, well your decision to
use it every day is your fault, but the reason why is not your
fault. It's not.
No. So you are you on the side?
You believe it's a disease? Absolutely, absolutely,
absolutely. Because listen, so people don't
(39:46):
just use drugs because they wantto use drugs.
People don't drink alcohol and be an alcoholic because I want
to be an alcoholic. It's never that there's always a
root wound. There's always a root cause as
to why we do that often stems inchildhood.
We weren't given the proper coping strategies.
Or we weren't loved the way thatwe need to be loved.
(40:07):
We weren't protected the way that we need to be protected.
So what do we do? We run to things that that in
the moment give us a temporary fix of protection, of feeling
loved. And so when you're young and
your brain is still forming, thesynapses in your brain are like,
oh, alcohol equals love, alcoholequals love.
(40:27):
So when you feel unloved and unworthy, you run to the alcohol
to feel that that wound or that void which it never will be
filled. So you're right, disease.
No, I could. I when I was in treatment, my
roommate was DMX, if you can believe that.
(40:47):
It was. Yeah, it was right before he
died. He hated me because I snored too
much. No, we were, we were buddies.
But he, you know, we'd go to meetings and everyone would go
nuts, say hey, XXX, he's like, he's like mother fucker.
I'm Earl. I'm just like you guys.
(41:08):
And he, I would debate with him about it because, you know, he,
he was of the mindset that this is a disease and I was of the
mindset. It's a choice.
Like you made the choice to do it.
So we would go back and forth. And his nickname for me, he
would call me the professor because he said that I, I was
(41:30):
too smart for my own good. He said.
He said it's, it's a 100% of disease.
And until you realize that you're going to continue to have
self loathing and guilt and blame yourself.
You can't, you can't blame yourself.
That was always his advice. Yeah, a good advice, because we
(41:52):
can't blame yourself. You can take.
You can take accountability. For.
Your actions and your reactions and things, but you can't blame
yourself for what happened to you.
I will give you Diana from Sarasota wants wants to know how
(42:14):
was it for you going from Indiana to Connecticut?
Was it completely different as far as lifestyle and culture, or
was it an easy transition for you?
(42:35):
I'm trying to think like my hometown.
Sorry, Valparaiso. Yeah, but I, I, I can see you
being put anywhere and you'd be fine there.
Was there was it was an easy, the only difficult transition is
of course, like you're, you're there on your own, like living
(42:56):
your life the way that you're choosing to to live it.
And obviously mixed in school. I don't know.
I was always a hard worker. I was always deep in my studies.
So yes, it was a bigger. Yeah, you buried your head and
you did your work. Yeah, yeah.
I got you. That makes sense.
(43:19):
I'll give you a couple more. George out of Illinois wanted to
know. Cassie, I've seen your art.
It's beautiful. Is anything up for purchase and
how would I purchase your artwork?
Well thank you, I love my artwork too.
(43:43):
I do have a handful that are forsale.
OK. I did have a website, but I'm in
the process of revamping everything because I I kind of
want to brand myself as a total package with like therapy, art,
(44:04):
hopefully podcasts in the future.
Yes. You you can offer it all.
Right. So I, I kind of want to form out
that what that's going to look like before I just start
creating a web page with with not the full intent that I want
it to have. So to answer your question, yes,
there's artwork. I don't have a.
(44:25):
It will be for sale at some point.
And I think I think that's a great idea because you you
definitely belong on a podcast and there's people who really
like love you and appreciate your advice and need help.
(44:46):
And you could offer that. And then, you know, you, you
have your art that you could market because people want like
your artwork and they've seen it.
They've seen plenty of it. So yeah.
That, that that's what he had wanted to know.
And then I have. Let's see Lisa.
(45:09):
Lisa from Maine wants to know. Cassie, your artwork is
outstanding. What is your inspiration when
you when you do your art? That's a really good question.
That's a tough one. It really, I would say it's the
(45:34):
most authentic form of myself when I'm in that moment, meaning
that there's no walls, everything is just fluid and a
lot of my paintings go off of feelings.
A lot of like music, like I'll, I'll listen to music and like,
(45:54):
if certain songs resonate with me, I start creating based off
of that song or I'll write as I'm like, if I'm painting, I'll
take a break and then I'll writeand then whatever I'm writing,
I'm like, oh, that's yes, let's do that.
So it's like a intuitive collaborative process with
myself. Like I never, not all my
(46:17):
paintings, but I never for abstract.
I never really know where it's going because it's all about the
process of it. And that's super exciting to me.
But when it comes to so like fora lot of clients that I have,
they, they love the hyper realistic portraitures and
paintings for those. Those are very, very therapeutic
(46:41):
because people ask me, how do you Draw Something real?
And I was trained to look at theshapes of color.
So when I'm painting these things that look realistic, I'm,
I don't look at the whole image.I look at what I I look at the
shapes that I'm painting, if that makes sense.
(47:03):
No, it does. It does, it does.
I mean that that's your process.And that's incredible how it
works. And I love the freedom and the
creativity and you go with your gut, you go with your feelings.
And that's how you come up with a lot of a lot of the stuff that
you have. And I think that's why a lot of
my art is really, really good isbecause it's authentic, it's
(47:26):
real. There's no, there's no critique.
There's no, I mean it, it just is.
And I think that's what people love because this world is so
much about critique and about perfection and about how like
(47:47):
how to do something. And I think that's the magical
part of it is like, well, I can't tell you how.
I just, I just do it and right, yeah, I think people feel a lot
of me in the paintings and I think that's why a lot of people
like them. The last question I'll give you
is Ashley from UConn wanted to know if you take requests for
(48:15):
art or painting if someone wantsto get a piece done by you.
All the time. You do OK.
Yes, a lot of requests. OK, and I I gave you a request
to. Yes, you did.
But you do you do take them and the the best way would be to
e-mail you to get in contact. OK, so in the show notes, is it
(48:41):
OK if I put your e-mail in? Absolutely.
OK from people, but again, I definitely think that your your
show has made an impact on a lotof people made a difference with
a lot of people. I've, I've never gotten the
response that I got from, from you.
(49:03):
So when you had, I know you're working on the House and
everything. When you do have time.
And if you do decide that you want a podcast, I am here to
help and would, would definitelylove to, to work with you on it
'cause I think, I think that I think that you're great.
(49:26):
I think that you'll get, you know, we'll get you a sponsor
and you know, you'll be able to showcase your artwork and do
everything that you want to do. You know, you're helping people
with therapy. So many people asked about
therapy and your art and your playing days.
So you, there's so many different things that you can
(49:48):
talk about and offer to people. And I, I again, I appreciate the
help that you you gave to me when I had to speak at that
event and was about to run away.That was that was very kind of
you to do, no? Problem.
You have been. You have been fantastic.
(50:09):
Do you have I know it's Mother'sDay.
Do you have any plans for the weekend as being the mom of the
year the. Mom of the Year.
With your family. Tomorrow I have to work, which
I'm fine with. Then Sunday, what are we doing
Sunday? I think they have a day planned
for me, so I'm just going to allow that to happen.
(50:30):
Good and your work is in the hospital like you'll you'll do.
Is it like 3-12 hour shifts? Oh, you do the four. 10s.
Oh, you do the four 10s. OK.
Yeah, yeah, OK. Beautiful.
Well, again, you're the best. Thank you SO.
(50:52):
Sorry about in my own mind I am thank you again for for coming
on and answering the people's questions.
Just know that I picked a few and you, you got a tremendous
response. Everything was positive.
Everyone supports you and everyone thinks that you can you
(51:14):
make a difference. So and they, they commend you
for sharing your struggles and how you got through them.
And everyone is happy, especially me that you're
successful and living such a good life right now.
Well. Thank you.
Thank you. I just have to mention Ned Von
(51:35):
Young Fresh himself. He has the Fresh Fold laundry
company just outside of Chapel Hill.
It has a high end laundry service as I found out, not a
laundry mat. You can book online, drop off
your clothes, they wash, dry andfold them and lightning speed
and you come back and you pick them up.
(51:57):
They are a state-of-the-art facility.
They've been open since January.They also have deals for college
students and they have online subscriptions so you can do a
weekly or bi weekly subscriptionto have your laundry done and
soon they will offer a pickup service where they will come to
your house and pick up your laundry.
(52:18):
Go to theirwebsite@freshfold-laundry.com.
And then finally, we have AndrewAdams and pro Level recovery.
It's a rehab place in Georgia, Gwinnett County, Atlanta.
Andrew Adams played in the NFL for several years.
He's from UConn and he is doing treatment, rehab, chiropractic
(52:44):
work on any athlete that is injured.
He will do the physical therapy and get you back on your feet or
any person who has an injury andneeds physical therapy, go to
Pro Level Recovery and it's prolevelrecovery.com.
So for UConn national champion and mental health therapist and
(53:10):
a spectacular artist, Cassie Kearns, I'm Steve Kelly, the
best podcast host in the universe.
Remember, when life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade.
Take two oranges. Throw them right back at life.
Hello and welcome to Husky Talk.I am your host, the best podcast
host in the universe, Steve Cully.
I would like to thank our sponsors at Procyon Partners.
They're one of the top 50 fastest growing companies in the
nation. They specialize in wealth
management, employee benefits and retirement planning.
(00:24):
President Sean Rabinowitz is a proud supporter of Husky Talk
and he is going to give me a Tesla any day now.
Green Street Trust International, It's in West Palm
Beach, FL owned and operated by Rennell JUMP.
They will save you money or giveyou a big fat return on your
(00:45):
taxes. Any small or large business.
To get a free strategic tax planning session go to
www.greenstreettrust.com. Pete Finch and the Finch Law
Firm out of Bridgeport, CT. You've suffered any type of
personal injury. If you had a slip and fall, if a
(01:06):
construction being fell on you at a site, if your mother-in-law
tried to run you over with a car, Pete Finch is the attorney
for you. He's won legal battles and wars
all over the state of Connecticut.
He's not afraid of insurance companies.
He will get you every dollar youdeserve and compensation.
Just go to thefinchfirm.com. Dynamic Human Performance owned
(01:29):
and operated by UConn legendary running back Andre Dixon.
He works with boys and girls of all ages, trains them in all
sports. He just started a new athletic
development program where he will train you from the ground
up and the sport of your choice and make you the best you can
possibly be and help you reach your potential.
(01:51):
Andre has sent kids to scholar on scholarship, boys and girls
of all sports all over the country to work with the best in
Hartford, CT. He has a 5000 square foot
state-of-the-art facility. Go to
dynamichumanperformance.com And then down South we have Julius
Williams in Decatur, GA If you're in Gwinnett County or the
(02:15):
Atlanta area. Julius trains offensive and
defensive lineman. And I don't know what's in the
water down there, but there's something because I've been on a
show and the talent he has is incredible.
I've never seen it. As far as high school kids go,
they go to tournaments all over the country.
(02:36):
It's 5 versus 5, which is one-on-one for offensive and
defensive lineman. And they are currently
undefeated and they are the second best ranked team in the
country as far as 5V5 go. So Julius has sent people to
Florida, Florida State, Miami, Clemson, Georgia, Tennessee,
(03:01):
Alabama, just to name a few. So if you want to work with the
best, go to the battle of the trenches.com.
And now for the lady of the hour, the lady with the power
too sweet to be sour. Joining us again by POC, back by
popular demand, UConn former national champion, now very
(03:28):
talented artist and mental health therapist, Cassie Kearns.
Cassie, so great to see you. I appreciate.
Well, I, I, you know, the demandwas so high.
I, I, I couldn't say no. You, you were such a hit last
time and people resonated with you and everyone wanted more.
(03:50):
So thank you for coming back andanswering some of the questions
because you definitely got some of the most feedback that I have
ever seen. So one of the questions we got
was from Megan in Worcester, shesays.
(04:14):
Cassie, you are work of art. Your story has been painted
perfectly. What kept you going through it
all? How did you get through it all?
Apparently you know the tough times, would you say?
Well, one, first, thank you for the wonderful compliment.
I greatly appreciate it. But two.
(04:35):
But what really kept me going isthat I have a deep passion and a
deep love for life. You do.
A lot of other things. And I knew that there was so
much more to life than what I was experiencing.
And I firmly believed that I could create that reality
(04:59):
through whatever I had to do. And so I know at that point in
time, there was a lot of deep faith in God and just really
praying during those times to open doors and allow me to walk
through it at the right opportunity.
That really helps keep me going.And I know during the darkest
(05:22):
times, it's interesting how in each stage of development that
you go through or your life, yourely on certain strengths of
yourself or talents that you have.
But I really relied fully on my art because at that time I
sucked at communicating. I was horrible and.
(05:42):
Well, our art is your passion too.
I mean, you're very passionate with your art.
Absolutely. And creative.
But it was definitely, it kept me whole because it allowed me
to get out a lot of the darknessthat was inside of me so that it
didn't kill me. That was your outlet.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
(06:02):
No, I, I can see that. I can see that.
And it happens to so many people.
You know, you and I, obviously Division One athletes at UConn,
you obviously much better than myself, but the expectations are
so high that it, it, it, it really can stress you out.
(06:25):
It can bring you down and it, it's, it's hurtful.
And you do need, you know, one thing my therapist says is you
need coping skills. And I, I, I, I have zero, you
have, you have a lot of coping skills and that's so important.
So I I totally get that. It was definitely a learned
thing, like I was blessed to already have a coping strategy I
(06:48):
wasn't really aware of at the time.
Because I think a lot of people who are hurt and who go through
trauma, we experienced trauma atour level because we weren't
given the tools that we needed to kind of overcome those
obstacles in that moment. So yes, my art was there, but I
(07:11):
know through intense therapy, intense treatment, I was able to
acquire those things. And learning that anything in
this world, anything can be a coping strategy, whether it's
writing, reading, music, exercise, whatever you choose.
(07:32):
And it like works for you, for the outlet, Yeah, yeah.
I agree. You had a question from Bill,
who's in Indiana. Cassie, you are nice and don't
have a big head. That's great, being the best
high school basketball players, one of the best high school
(07:54):
players in the state of Indiana.What helped you to stay
grounded? Because I know, you know, you
said UConn, Notre Dame, I mean, you had, you had three schools
that you were going to go to wasand that was it because you
wanted to be the best. And that's what you really
strive to be. I think the things that kept me
(08:17):
grounded was that I really had this vision like this.
You had tunnel vision. I really, I, I don't, I think
because I, I was so focused thatI was able to kind of push
things off to the side naturally, which kept me really
(08:38):
onto it. And I also think one of the
biggest motivators was is that like I was telling you before, I
think there's a little bit of oppositional defiant in me, but
like when somebody tells me. Tells you no.
Yeah. Tells me no.
That's the worst thing they can do.
I'm like, hold my beer or drink or whatever and I will prove you
wrong at whatever expense. Yes, yes.
(09:02):
And and to me, that's, I think that's my competitiveness.
Yes. But also my strive to just be
the best version of myself that I could be too.
Yes, and and you're just you're,you're definitely very grounded,
you're very humble. You always give back and for
someone with superstar talent and ability like you, they kind
(09:27):
of get a big head. And I'll even bring up if you
watch the NFL draft and not Shadur.
Sanders ended up falling to the fifth round after being
projected to be a first round pick.
And it was primarily his interviews and the way he
(09:48):
presented himself to teams like he was he he came off as
arrogant, conceited and thought he was just going to waltz into
the NFL and take it over, right?And it rubbed people the wrong
way. Right.
Well also there is a risk because with him there comes his
dad. So like, are they purchasing a
package of him and his dad or can this person survive as a
(10:10):
professional football player by himself, which I don't think he
can. Sorry dude.
I forgot you. I, I, you know football well
because I didn't. You say your dad was a coach.
My dad was a coach. My.
Husband is super into football. Yeah, yeah.
So that's why, I mean, you watchit and you know, you understand
the game and do you, you, you enjoy it.
(10:32):
Do you like it? I do.
Good, good, good. We need more.
We need more female fans. I agree.
This comes from Lisa at UConn. How important do you think
setting goals in all aspects of life is?
(10:53):
You set them from high school onabout where you want to do,
attend college, what you wanted to study, and you reached
everything you set for yourself.You're an inspiration, Lisa.
Oh. Thank you, Lisa.
Isn't that sweet? It is.
And I mean even in therapy, therapy a lot of times when
(11:16):
you're working with patients, it's all goals too.
And I, I firmly believe if you don't have an idea of where
you're going, then you're not going to get there efficiently
or kind of the way you want to. Right.
So I mean, I'm super. Was it was it taught to you?
(11:37):
Like, was it something instilledin you by your family or a coach
about setting goals? Because I know I mean, you
definitely had an idea of where you wanted to go and what you
wanted to do. I.
Think a lot of that is my personality, like my parents, I
don't know, like I was an enigma.
(11:59):
So I kind of just like my family.
They were just like, we're just going to go with whatever she
decides to do. And I know deep or when I was
really young, it was deeply ingrained in me to always work
hard. If you work hard, you'll get
what you want. And I saw my parents work their
(12:23):
tails off to provide for us. And I was like, OK, well, I know
I can work that hard if they're working that hard.
And I know as a big motivator for me to one initially was to
get a fluoride scholarship so I didn't have to make my parents
pay for it. I was like, what a great gift
(12:44):
would that be if I could get a fluoride scholarship, but they
don't have to pay for it and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And so. And they worked so hard.
And like when you were younger, would you have considered
yourself more of an introvert? Yes.
You were OK. Yes, I was.
(13:05):
I was the person that was very empathic, that was very, very,
very quiet. It was hard to get things out
of. I would be reading people's body
language and that was like a form of communication for me,
which as an adult is like a recipe for disaster if you
can't, if you're but. It it's true though, right?
(13:25):
Isn't 90% of communication body language?
It is to some extent, but if you're unhealthy mentally you
can take it into extremes which only extrapolates and hurts you
more. Right, right.
So I've learned through my own therapy and growing that I
(13:48):
really am like a tug of war of both.
I am very introverted at times, but I'm very extroverted at
times. When Yeah, I, I, you're, you're
very, you're obviously very easyto talk to, which I think is
because you're a therapist. But when you're asked questions,
I mean, you're not afraid to talk.
(14:09):
You're not afraid to Give your opinion and share your thoughts,
which is awesome. You had several questions from
people asking are you accepting new clients?
If they wanted to hire you as a therapist, how would they go
about doing so? That's very flattering, but
(14:30):
currently right now I'm not since I am working in a hospital
setting. Yeah.
So once I move from the hospitalsetting into private practice,
then of course I can take all the clients I want and I will
let you know when that happens. So basically I it's Sarasota, so
(14:52):
if someone comes in and they need a a site consult or they're
having mental health issues, youare the one that they will see.
Yes. So we have this wonderful team
currently 'cause we're in a hospital that has over 900 beds,
it's huge, It's best public hospitals in the country.
(15:14):
They're not paying me to say that they should, but.
We'll, we'll plug the Sarasota hospital, yes.
Great. So we're a team of seven
professionals, which is 3 nursesand four therapists.
So we we respond to all substance use, alcohol
(15:34):
withdrawal, opiate withdrawal, Baker acts, which is like mental
instability, meaning either suicidal or you're psychotic.
And then we also respond to any additional psychiatry consults
along with like a patient just got a new diagnosis of cancer,
(15:57):
we go up there and we provide some therapy for that 'cause
that's really difficult. Yeah.
No, I, I it's very, it's not good news.
So you work with these people depending on how long they end
up staying in the hospital. Yeah.
And and and then discharge them.It's short term crisis
(16:20):
intervention, so you have to kind of meet the patient where
they're at, find out the root problem, try to gather as much
information pertaining to the patient as possible, help
psychiatry, and then kind of help pass along that information
when they discharge to wherever they need to go.
True, OK. And you if they, if they, if
(16:41):
they aren't seeing therapist or psych psychiatrist,
psychologist, you will try to refer them out to somebody or
outpatient. OK, but your your your your goal
eventually would be to be in private practice.
Absolutely that'll happen. Yes, I I that'll happen.
(17:02):
Probably, I'm guessing around the new year.
That's awesome to hear. That's awesome to hear.
Is it something that you'll do on your own or is it someone
that you'll partner with? You think?
It'll probably be on my own because a lot of sorry,
corporate places or whatever, But I mean, I yes, I follow the
(17:26):
rules I do because there's rulesI have to follow, but there's
certain ways I like to do thingsthat are really not
conventional. They're all evidence based, but
it's not like your normal therapeutic environment that you
would go to is what I want to do.
Right. I was just curious, do you do
(17:47):
like hypnotherapy or CBT therapy, anything like that?
CBTDBT mindfulness solution focused.
I'm going to get certified and transference focus therapy,
which is wonderful. Yes.
Yes. So I'm excited for that.
(18:09):
Yes, yes. And I think you will have an
amazing practice because people,people, people definitely want
to work with you. This comes from Sally in
Manchester, CT Gino is the mad scientist.
How are you to decipher what he wanted while the other players
(18:34):
were confused? I know you mentioned that you
kind of became like a coach. Yes.
So, so there's a method to his madness.
If you don't understand the method to his madness, you will
be lost. And so me understanding it, if I
(18:58):
could help translate it to my teammates to make them get the
best out of what they're experiencing, that's what I did.
Because like, if I, if I could help someone digest what is
being said so that you can understand and increase like
your efficacy, your efficiency and playing basketball, then why
(19:21):
not? Why would I not help somebody?
Yeah, I mean, because they're you're, you're ending up getting
the most production out of them as well.
They're reaching their potential.
So you being there to to guide them was huge.
And you know, Gino, Gino has stated that several times.
What an important piece you wereon the on the national
(19:43):
championship team. So I definitely agree with that.
So we have Mackenzie from Denver, says Cassie, you are my
hero. To overcome the obstacles you
have in life is inspirational. How did you stay?
(20:04):
So driven during that time. But that's a good question.
Oh. Mackenzie, you asked a good
question. Yeah, that's a good question.
And how I stayed driven. I honest, I I held on to hope a
lot. During those and and you
(20:25):
mentioned praying too. You mentioned your spirituality,
that and. Like I know during those times,
like I'm like, listen, pardon mylanguage, but like, hey, I'm
fucking things up. Like I, I, I can't do this.
I need, I need help. Please guide me in whichever way
you can. And I know along my journey
there was little little Nuggets,little little goodies placed
(20:48):
along the way to be like, oh, OK, I'm going in the right
direction. Here's some relief.
But then getting the message saying, well, you're going to
have to go through something really, really hard after this.
And you're like, OK, but I thinkhaving those periods of like
seeing the results, seeing me progress motivated me to keep
(21:09):
going. And also like when you start
going through stuff, you're like, I don't think I can do
this. But then you remember, you're
like, wait a minute, I just wentthrough that.
I just dealt with that. I did this.
I can do that. I I'll make it through.
So it's a lot of reflection. It's a lot of internal dialogue.
It's a lot of trusting your team, your people around you and
(21:32):
trusting God and, and really understanding that you have the
power to determine where you want to go.
And once you kind of overcome that mindset of I'm unworthy,
I'm unlovable, I'm not good enough, I'm all these type of
things and really replacing it with what's the truth, then
that's where I think that's really where I took off and like
(21:54):
what really helped me. That makes, that makes a lot of
sense. Once you see that you're making
progress and it's working, you believe in it and that's what
keeps you motivated. That's what keeps you driven and
that's what gets you through those tough times.
And I, I had felt all those things that you've mentioned and
it, it is, it is tough to, to overcome.
(22:16):
So that is that makes a lot of sense.
That's, that is a great answer. We had a correct question from
Rachel in UConn. Mental health issues have a
stigma to this day. How did you ask for help without
being worried what other people would think?
(22:37):
It's probably my own insecurities, but that is my
fear for asking for help. So I guess Rachel is asking
that, you know, she's worried about the stigma.
I feel you in that one. And I got to a point.
(22:57):
Well, First off, like growing upin my generation, it was like,
well, like mental health, like as a kid or like even in my
family structure like mental health doesn't really exist.
Like what is this stuff? And to be the person that kind
of like was like, OK, there has to be an answer to this and
seeking an answer to what's going on.
(23:18):
I'm like, listen, I, I'm not OK.And I know at that point, to me
it was like life, life or death.So the stigma wasn't there.
No, you. You.
You were worried about. You wanted to save your life.
Right. And I was like, OK, how can I do
that? And I know God put in my life
(23:41):
people strategically, like therewere God moments and I'm like,
huh, that never would have happened on my own doing.
But going back to the stigma, and I want to comment on her
awareness that she's like, well,maybe it's my own internal self
that's doing this, but in athletics and college, stigma is
(24:05):
a is a huge thing. And there's a lot of research
going on right now trying to break trying to identify that as
a problem and formulate solutions to solve that.
And I think they started doing that through like Simone Biles,
Michael Phelps and saying, hey, like this stuff is real and like
we struggle and we right. And I think the more people that
(24:28):
talk about it, the more people that advocate for it, the more
people that really start to likejust shut that up.
I think things will be a lot better.
And I firmly believe, I firmly agree with you that that one
(24:48):
someone, let's say a top athlete, has mental health
concerns and they go to a therapist, not a sports
psychologist, I would say a therapist that I think that
their performance and their overall athletic ability will be
so much better. Improve, yeah.
(25:08):
And I, I mean, that's one of thethings I want to do my research
on and is doing mental health for collegiate athletes.
I already put together like a proposal and things like that.
That's. Great.
Yeah, 'cause my, my perfect world, my vision is that each
team would have a therapist. I agree.
(25:30):
I agree it's it's definitely needed and I think it would make
a huge difference if every team had a mental health therapist
for people to talk to. And then I also think, like you
said, that would definitely remove the some of the stigma
behind it. Of course, of course, of course.
(25:53):
Several people asked about. I mean, I know that you're doing
you do short term treatment. Do you also would you also
recommend medication along with that treatment?
If you're referring someone out?Do you do you go there or no?
I do. So it does go.
It goes like per patient. So as a therapist, I'm never
(26:16):
going to push a patient to do something they they don't want
to do. I will recommend things, but
I'll try to gather in a holisticpicture to see who this person
is, what they're about, really what's going on and create a
diagnosis off of that. Because based off a diagnosis,
then you can do medications and things like that.
(26:39):
There's a lot of people these days that are scared of
medication or people that don't want to do medication, but I
always come in, I describe it tothem of like, OK, one medication
is not permanent. It's not 2.
When I always say like, OK, you need to get down to your
(27:00):
baseline, but in order to do that, you need to kind of get
something to help you there. So the medication helps you get
there. And when you process and talk
with therapy, you can formulate tools and things to utilize so
that when things happen, you're able to cope better.
And so the symptoms of the diagnosis don't present itself.
(27:24):
So with that being said, once you gain the tools that you
need, you practice, you implement, you tackle hard
things in real life in real time, then you can slowly come
off of medications. But if you, if you're, if
you're, if you have like psychotic disorder like bipolar
and schizopenia. Those kind of things.
(27:45):
Your medication is OK to stay on.
Yeah, yeah, it it's something that you're going to need to
regulate you for life. That's just what it is, just
like taking your vitamins in themorning.
I've been obviously scared to take medication because my view
has always been I, I argue with my therapist putting me on
(28:09):
medication. It's may make me feel better,
but it's not going to change thecircumstances of my life.
That, that, that that was my argument against taking
medication. I was like, you can, you can put
me on it, but is it, how's it how, how's, how's it going to
change the things that I want changed in my life?
(28:32):
It may make me feel better, but I I didn't think that it would
help. So so that was.
That was my argument. This is my response to that
though, is that the medication can help you feel better to a
point where you can tackle the hard things that are so
uncomfortable in life and so that you can manage managely,
(28:54):
manageably attack that in a safespot when you're somewhat
regulated because. When you're not depressed or
whatever. Right, because if you, I mean,
you're not going to start digging through trauma when
you're like completely like borderline suicidal or things
like that. You don't want to do that.
You have to be at A, at a level ground where you can tackle
(29:17):
things with a clear mind and conscious.
And I will tell you this too, myself, when I first started
getting help, I was like, I do not want any medication.
I don't want any of that stuff. And they explained it to me the
way I'm explaining it to you. And so I tried it and I was able
to get myself regulated and so Icould think clearly and gather
(29:40):
all those things I needed to. And shortly after I weaned
myself off. Right, right.
So. Yeah.
And you, you can still wean yourself off and keep the value
of what the medication is given to you.
Absolutely. If done properly.
Absolutely. OK, OK, so we have Christine.
(30:06):
She's out from California. She wants to know, Cassie, how
was it playing with the best team in the country?
How would you describe that experience and do you have fond
memories from it to this day? Yeah, so, so playing for a team
(30:32):
like that, it's interesting you ask that question because I
don't I don't allow myself to. And during that time, I didn't
allow myself to like imagine what it was like playing for
other teams like this was it? This was the one thing and and
so I had high expectations. I had high visions of what this
would be for me. And like I call them the most
(30:57):
rewarding, most beautiful but ugly time of my life.
Like so much was learned, so much was given, so much was.
There's just, it's indescribableto say what you gain from doing
that. Yeah, 'cause you're, you know,
you're, you're, you're with the best and you're, you're still
(31:18):
having to manage your own struggles as you're with the
best and the expectations that go along with it with, you know,
when you're at UConn, you're at UConn, there's those
expectations never ever go away.So.
No. And I and I think we all, I
think the ones that are very successful there, they have such
high expectations of themselves.So that aligns with like the
(31:42):
core of the program. And so when you're along the
same vision, the same line, Sky's the limit.
Right, Right. No, I agree.
I agree. We have Matthew from Nebraska.
(32:02):
Cassie, you are beautiful and I enjoyed your story so much.
I am an addict, I need to get help.
How would you describe the best way to do that?
I guess like maybe go to the hospital or how would he do?
(32:24):
It him for saying all that stuffbecause that's like the first
part of the process is to say, hey, I'm struggling.
This is what I this is what I deal with.
I need help. So when I know you asked that
question, you can receive help, so kudos to you.
My advice for that is if you have a therapist, they should
(32:46):
have some resources for you to help you find what you're
looking for. If you don't have a therapist,
you're more than welcome to e-mail me and I can help you
find a facility if a treatment inpatient treatment facility is
(33:06):
what you want, or if you want a partial hospitalization or
intensive outpatient to assist with your with your substance of
choice. Will your hospital do something
like that if someone is an addict and wants treatment?
Absolutely. Will they?
They'll keep them hospitalized and treat them through
withdrawal and everything. So right now, I mean, obviously
(33:29):
I can't say any names, but a patient has been at the hospital
for four months. Wow.
OK, so they will do it. They had extreme endocarditis,
which is the hardening of the heart due to IV substance use.
And they cleaned out the patient's heart and she's
getting ready maybe like a couple weeks to discharge.
(33:50):
And I started having the conversation of like, well, what
do you think you would want to do after this?
And they wanted to go to inpatient treatment.
So I have a bunch of people in my pocket out here that I handed
her the the resources, I helped talk through her each one and
she chose 1. So then I worked with case
(34:10):
management to form a safe discharge to that facility.
That's incredible that you did all that.
That's huge because a lot of people like, they don't know how
to do it. But I mean, is it something that
you think people could overcome on their own with, you know,
just going to therapy, going to meetings?
(34:33):
Or would you recommend more starting off with doing
inpatient? My go to So if you are in
substance use, as you know, you need to change your complete
your entire environment. You need to kind of isolate
yourself from your normal activities.
You need to be an environment where it's healthy, it's
(34:54):
conducive other like minded people to help you.
Cause a lot of times when we're left in our addiction, like like
our addiction is our unhealthy coping strategy.
When we're hurt, we run to something that will create an
immediate fix and it just perpetuates the wound.
(35:14):
But to answer the question, if you're ready for treatment, if
you're wholehearted ready, readyfor it, I suggest that you go to
inpatient cause a lot of inpatients, what they'll do is
they'll give like a what 28 day program?
Or if you need more, they can approve for more.
And then a lot of them have a step down unit of like IOP and
(35:38):
that's what. I did.
Yep, Yep. And then a lot of them will have
graduate housing. So it's like a step down thing
just to make sure that the person really does well.
Because one of the biggest things is when you leave
inpatient treatment and you go back into the real world,
there's so many relapses with any type of addiction because
(35:58):
there wasn't the baby steps. You're not in the bubble of
treatment. Right, because when you, when
you look at it like I had conversations with my mom, she's
like, that was not reality. And I said I understand that,
but I needed that to get back toreality.
Exactly. Yeah, and I agree with you.
(36:21):
What's what's sad for me, I havea picture from rehab with our
group when we went out to dinnerone night.
And out of the 18 or so people, only two are still alive.
And it's, it's a, it's a lot because our rehab place did not
(36:45):
do a very good job setting up aftercare as far as housing,
where to go, You know, once yourinsurance was up, you got a bus
ticket, you're out of town. You know, they had case
managers, but the case managers weren't great at getting SSI.
They weren't great at helping them with jobs and obviously
(37:06):
housing. So it just, I, I look at that
and I, it just, it's scare, it scares me.
And then it makes me wonder like, does, does AANA, does it
really work? Like how, how can you say that,
yeah, you should go to treatmentand it works when everyone ends
(37:29):
up dead or it has like a 50% success rate.
And everyone always tells me that it right now it's the best
treatment that is available. And and that's, that's what
that's what happens because you go and you get clean and you end
up relapsing and using a dose that you'd taken before that's
(37:51):
obviously too high because you're clean and you, you
overdose and that's that, that's, that's so hard to deal
with. But I I mean.
Go for it. No, I was just going to say I
cause I've, I've asked you a lotof questions about addiction.
Is that a field that you would get into with your private
(38:15):
practice? Would you want to treat addicts?
Would that be part of it or would you prefer?
Definitely part of it. I mean, cause eating, eating
disorders, full blown addiction.Like I'm, I'm willing to help
out where I can. Like I know if, if someone comes
to me and they're in full blown addiction, I'm going to be like,
(38:36):
this is definitely not appropriate for you.
I'm going to get you to where you need to go.
Right. You know that part, you know
enough that you need, you need ahigher level of care than what I
can offer. But like it like for instance,
someone like me who has been clean for several years and is
doing kind of maintenance treatment for addiction, that is
(38:59):
something that you would do. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, you don't. You don't mind treating addicts,
OK? Absolutely not.
Because what I have to? Say before you ask the next
question is that I know a lot ofpeople when I encounter them at
the hospital and they're in addiction and they're just
shameful and whatever. And I, I try to paint a picture.
(39:21):
I said, listen, this wasn't yourfault.
And they're like, what do you mean?
I, I use every day. I'm like, well your decision to
use it every day is your fault, but the reason why is not your
fault. It's not.
No. So you are you on the side?
You believe it's a disease? Absolutely, absolutely,
absolutely. Because listen, so people don't
(39:46):
just use drugs because they wantto use drugs.
People don't drink alcohol and be an alcoholic because I want
to be an alcoholic. It's never that there's always a
root wound. There's always a root cause as
to why we do that often stems inchildhood.
We weren't given the proper coping strategies.
Or we weren't loved the way thatwe need to be loved.
(40:07):
We weren't protected the way that we need to be protected.
So what do we do? We run to things that that in
the moment give us a temporary fix of protection, of feeling
loved. And so when you're young and
your brain is still forming, thesynapses in your brain are like,
oh, alcohol equals love, alcoholequals love.
(40:27):
So when you feel unloved and unworthy, you run to the alcohol
to feel that that wound or that void which it never will be
filled. So you're right, disease.
No, I could. I when I was in treatment, my
roommate was DMX, if you can believe that.
(40:47):
It was. Yeah, it was right before he
died. He hated me because I snored too
much. No, we were, we were buddies.
But he, you know, we'd go to meetings and everyone would go
nuts, say hey, XXX, he's like, he's like mother fucker.
I'm Earl. I'm just like you guys.
(41:08):
And he, I would debate with him about it because, you know, he,
he was of the mindset that this is a disease and I was of the
mindset. It's a choice.
Like you made the choice to do it.
So we would go back and forth. And his nickname for me, he
would call me the professor because he said that I, I was
(41:30):
too smart for my own good. He said.
He said it's, it's a 100% of disease.
And until you realize that you're going to continue to have
self loathing and guilt and blame yourself.
You can't, you can't blame yourself.
That was always his advice. Yeah, a good advice, because we
(41:52):
can't blame yourself. You can take.
You can take accountability. For.
Your actions and your reactions and things, but you can't blame
yourself for what happened to you.
I will give you Diana from Sarasota wants wants to know how
(42:14):
was it for you going from Indiana to Connecticut?
Was it completely different as far as lifestyle and culture, or
was it an easy transition for you?
(42:35):
I'm trying to think like my hometown.
Sorry, Valparaiso. Yeah, but I, I, I can see you
being put anywhere and you'd be fine there.
Was there was it was an easy, the only difficult transition is
of course, like you're, you're there on your own, like living
(42:56):
your life the way that you're choosing to to live it.
And obviously mixed in school. I don't know.
I was always a hard worker. I was always deep in my studies.
So yes, it was a bigger. Yeah, you buried your head and
you did your work. Yeah, yeah.
I got you. That makes sense.
(43:19):
I'll give you a couple more. George out of Illinois wanted to
know. Cassie, I've seen your art.
It's beautiful. Is anything up for purchase and
how would I purchase your artwork?
Well thank you, I love my artwork too.
(43:43):
I do have a handful that are forsale.
OK. I did have a website, but I'm in
the process of revamping everything because I I kind of
want to brand myself as a total package with like therapy, art,
(44:04):
hopefully podcasts in the future.
Yes. You you can offer it all.
Right. So I, I kind of want to form out
that what that's going to look like before I just start
creating a web page with with not the full intent that I want
it to have. So to answer your question, yes,
there's artwork. I don't have a.
(44:25):
It will be for sale at some point.
And I think I think that's a great idea because you you
definitely belong on a podcast and there's people who really
like love you and appreciate your advice and need help.
(44:46):
And you could offer that. And then, you know, you, you
have your art that you could market because people want like
your artwork and they've seen it.
They've seen plenty of it. So yeah.
That, that that's what he had wanted to know.
And then I have. Let's see Lisa.
(45:09):
Lisa from Maine wants to know. Cassie, your artwork is
outstanding. What is your inspiration when
you when you do your art? That's a really good question.
That's a tough one. It really, I would say it's the
(45:34):
most authentic form of myself when I'm in that moment, meaning
that there's no walls, everything is just fluid and a
lot of my paintings go off of feelings.
A lot of like music, like I'll, I'll listen to music and like,
(45:54):
if certain songs resonate with me, I start creating based off
of that song or I'll write as I'm like, if I'm painting, I'll
take a break and then I'll writeand then whatever I'm writing,
I'm like, oh, that's yes, let's do that.
So it's like a intuitive collaborative process with
myself. Like I never, not all my
(46:17):
paintings, but I never for abstract.
I never really know where it's going because it's all about the
process of it. And that's super exciting to me.
But when it comes to so like fora lot of clients that I have,
they, they love the hyper realistic portraitures and
paintings for those. Those are very, very therapeutic
(46:41):
because people ask me, how do you Draw Something real?
And I was trained to look at theshapes of color.
So when I'm painting these things that look realistic, I'm,
I don't look at the whole image.I look at what I I look at the
shapes that I'm painting, if that makes sense.
(47:03):
No, it does. It does, it does.
I mean that that's your process.And that's incredible how it
works. And I love the freedom and the
creativity and you go with your gut, you go with your feelings.
And that's how you come up with a lot of a lot of the stuff that
you have. And I think that's why a lot of
my art is really, really good isbecause it's authentic, it's
(47:26):
real. There's no, there's no critique.
There's no, I mean it, it just is.
And I think that's what people love because this world is so
much about critique and about perfection and about how like
(47:47):
how to do something. And I think that's the magical
part of it is like, well, I can't tell you how.
I just, I just do it and right, yeah, I think people feel a lot
of me in the paintings and I think that's why a lot of people
like them. The last question I'll give you
is Ashley from UConn wanted to know if you take requests for
(48:15):
art or painting if someone wantsto get a piece done by you.
All the time. You do OK.
Yes, a lot of requests. OK, and I I gave you a request
to. Yes, you did.
But you do you do take them and the the best way would be to
e-mail you to get in contact. OK, so in the show notes, is it
(48:41):
OK if I put your e-mail in? Absolutely.
OK from people, but again, I definitely think that your your
show has made an impact on a lotof people made a difference with
a lot of people. I've, I've never gotten the
response that I got from, from you.
(49:03):
So when you had, I know you're working on the House and
everything. When you do have time.
And if you do decide that you want a podcast, I am here to
help and would, would definitelylove to, to work with you on it
'cause I think, I think that I think that you're great.
(49:26):
I think that you'll get, you know, we'll get you a sponsor
and you know, you'll be able to showcase your artwork and do
everything that you want to do. You know, you're helping people
with therapy. So many people asked about
therapy and your art and your playing days.
So you, there's so many different things that you can
(49:48):
talk about and offer to people. And I, I again, I appreciate the
help that you you gave to me when I had to speak at that
event and was about to run away.That was that was very kind of
you to do, no? Problem.
You have been. You have been fantastic.
(50:09):
Do you have I know it's Mother'sDay.
Do you have any plans for the weekend as being the mom of the
year the. Mom of the Year.
With your family. Tomorrow I have to work, which
I'm fine with. Then Sunday, what are we doing
Sunday? I think they have a day planned
for me, so I'm just going to allow that to happen.
(50:30):
Good and your work is in the hospital like you'll you'll do.
Is it like 3-12 hour shifts? Oh, you do the four. 10s.
Oh, you do the four 10s. OK.
Yeah, yeah, OK. Beautiful.
Well, again, you're the best. Thank you SO.
(50:52):
Sorry about in my own mind I am thank you again for for coming
on and answering the people's questions.
Just know that I picked a few and you, you got a tremendous
response. Everything was positive.
Everyone supports you and everyone thinks that you can you
(51:14):
make a difference. So and they, they commend you
for sharing your struggles and how you got through them.
And everyone is happy, especially me that you're
successful and living such a good life right now.
Well. Thank you.
Thank you. I just have to mention Ned Von
(51:35):
Young Fresh himself. He has the Fresh Fold laundry
company just outside of Chapel Hill.
It has a high end laundry service as I found out, not a
laundry mat. You can book online, drop off
your clothes, they wash, dry andfold them and lightning speed
and you come back and you pick them up.
(51:57):
They are a state-of-the-art facility.
They've been open since January.They also have deals for college
students and they have online subscriptions so you can do a
weekly or bi weekly subscriptionto have your laundry done and
soon they will offer a pickup service where they will come to
your house and pick up your laundry.
(52:18):
Go to theirwebsite@freshfold-laundry.com.
And then finally, we have AndrewAdams and pro Level recovery.
It's a rehab place in Georgia, Gwinnett County, Atlanta.
Andrew Adams played in the NFL for several years.
He's from UConn and he is doing treatment, rehab, chiropractic
(52:44):
work on any athlete that is injured.
He will do the physical therapy and get you back on your feet or
any person who has an injury andneeds physical therapy, go to
Pro Level Recovery and it's prolevelrecovery.com.
So for UConn national champion and mental health therapist and
(53:10):
a spectacular artist, Cassie Kearns, I'm Steve Kelly, the
best podcast host in the universe.
Remember, when life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade.
Take two oranges. Throw them right back at life.
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