January 2, 2023 • 37 mins
Episode 52 Mental Health Mondays with Special Guest Kristina Hudson. Kristina has both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in occupational therapy. She specialized in military-related brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder for more than 12 years. As a complex trauma survivor, she now provides education and advocacy for trauma survivors, including a podcast called Rise Up Thriving. Join BCC Evolution’s weekly live YouTube show for Mental Health Mondays hosted by the Founder Kelli Melissa where we talk to special guests who are professional mental health experts or guests who experience a mental health challenge or mental health advocates. You can find more about Kristina here: Instagram.com/rise_with_kristina Instagram.com/riseupthriving
Want to be a guest? Reach out to support@bccevolution.org and tell us your story. Need more resources? Want to get educated more about mental health and suicide prevention? Check out our programs and website for more info: www.bccevolution.org Support our cause today to help us bridge the gap by educating people to support those who are faced with a mental health challenge. Become a “Warrior for Mental Health” today for only $20 or more per month!
Want to be a guest? Reach out to support@bccevolution.org and tell us your story. Need more resources? Want to get educated more about mental health and suicide prevention? Check out our programs and website for more info: www.bccevolution.org Support our cause today to help us bridge the gap by educating people to support those who are faced with a mental health challenge. Become a “Warrior for Mental Health” today for only $20 or more per month!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Welcome to another episode of Mental Health Mondays, where we
talk to guests who are either professionals in the mental
health space, advocates of mental health, or those that have
lived with or experience a mental health challenge. And I
am super excited today because this is our one year
(00:49):
anniversary of doing this podcast, and that is really exciting.
I just kept writing the episodes and then I was
like fifty two. I was like, wait, that's the amount
of weeks that they and a year. Yay. So as
a reminder, make sure if you're watching this on Facebook
or LinkedIn or where we are most likely you already
(01:12):
subscribe to our page. But if you don't, please do,
or if you're on YouTube, make sure you mash down
that button that says subscribe so that you don't miss
another episode. So I'm really excited to get roll in
with our one year anniversary show. And I have my
friend Christina. She's going to come up and I'm excited.
(01:32):
I've been on her podcast now she's going to come
on mind. So without further ado, Christina, thank you so
much for joining me.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Thank you, and congratulations.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
What an exciting time to be able to celebrate one
year of having these kind of conversations.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, it's gone by really really fast, but it's been
really awesome. So I'm excited to have you on for
the show today too.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Awesome. Thank you yea.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yeah, tell the audience a little bit about yourself. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
I am an occupational therapist by background, and I worked
previously with the military, specializing in brain injury and post
traumatic stress disorder, and currently still do some work, but
I have stepped over into the tech side of things
working with veterans, and in my free time, I have,
(02:27):
as you mentioned, my podcast, Rise Up Thriving, and then
I'm also a trauma recovery specialist, so I work with
women to help them rediscover who they are and write
a new narrative after they've experienced trauma.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Wow, that's awesome, and I know, I mean the conversation
that you and I had on your podcast was really awesome.
But what kind of led you into this kind of work?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
My heart, I am a complex trauma survivor. I experienced
childhood abuse, I experienced domestic violence. I also was a
firsthand witness to a mass shooting and in addition to
that as my personal experience, like I said, I've been
an occupational therapist for gosh, eighteen years, I guess now,
(03:20):
And so I've seen so many different types of trauma,
you know, from orthopedic and physical trauma to as I mentioned,
a lot of the mental health implications and concussions from combat.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Wow. Yeah, I mean just like your story. So thank
you for sharing that, and I know it's been quite
the journey in eighteen years. That is amazing. But just
knowing from your background going into doing what you're doing,
it can be potentially challenging and rewarding all the same,
(04:00):
all in the same sentence. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Absolutely, I think you and I even talked about that too, right,
is you have to be so conscientious of taking care
of yourself at the same time so that you can
hopefully prevent that caregiver burnout that can so often occur,
And most of my career we were also teaching many
(04:25):
of the caregivers about that as well.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
I think it's like you give, give, give, give, give,
and then you never really think about yourself until, like
I've talked about before, even on here, as I hit
kind of that brick wall of what in the heck
am I doing? And taking care of others is not
helping take care of myself, So you have to be
(04:49):
able to know how to receive, which is something that
I am practicing, and.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
It's exactly that right.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
It is a practice because it isn't easy, and I
think so often as we've grown up and within society,
it was taught that it's selfish to take care of
your own needs or to say no because you're tired
or you don't.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Have the energy.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
And I've become much more mindful about energy exchange too,
and if you don't have the positive energy to pour
into somebody else, it's taking away from both of you.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
And I noticed that I think the most when I
was working at a corporate job, the energy like how
I absorbed it from other people. And I finally figured
out the reason why I was like trying to be
overly positive was to combat like the negativity that happened
in a call center. And there was a moment that
(05:53):
I was just like, man, I don't know if this
is the right fit for me, because and I mean
I had been there for years, years and years, but
I came to a point knowing what I do now
of the whole energy exchange and how that affects you,
and I was like, I gotta get out of here.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So is tough work too?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, yeah, And I mean I was a supervisor and
so it was just, yeah, it was like so much,
so much energy. Like on the good days, it was
really great because you're like, Wow, I love these people,
like it's so great to be around all these people,
and then on the bad days, you're just you go
home and there's nothing left for you, nothing left for
your family, and that's not really fair.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
So yeah, absolutely, it can be definitely hard.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
So the work that you do with veterans specifically, do
you want to tell a little bit more about that?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Now?
Speaker 3 (06:51):
I am a project manager, so I've definitely switched hats,
but I get to still use a lot of my
clinical experience and background really from schooling, because we get
to test all of our mobile apps for the VA
with veterans, so I get to still walk through that
(07:12):
with them, make sure that it's meeting clinical needs, make
sure that it's clinically relevant, and then we push those
products to release so that any veteran can get their
apps on the app store that can help promote their healthcare,
promote their health in general. We have some really great
apps for mental health as well.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Nice, that's awesome, And then I know you also, like
you said, you work with women, share a little bit
more about how you work with them.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I again going back to my background and occupational therapy,
I found myself getting really burned out working in the
kind of healing space and felt like there was a
lot of expectation on me. And while I do have
experience and many, many, many certifications within the trauma realm,
(08:03):
I just didn't.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Feel like I was well equipped to.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Handle some of the most severe traumas and what a
lot of women are struggling with. And I decided to
shift from the healing piece of it to the growth piece.
And I usually lay out this visual of like a
hierarchy when it comes to healing, and similar to Maslow's
(08:29):
hierarchy of needs. So when you first experience a traumatic
event or some kind of extreme stress or whatever that
might look like for you, there's the foundational piece, which
is that safety, stability, security, and you have to have
that in place before you can even move to the
next level of doing the healing work. And so in
(08:53):
this healing space, people and people can choose to stay
in whatever level of that that they want to.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
On this continuum, and.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
So there are some people who don't believe that they
need therapy, right, so they may just stay in survival
mode and on meeting their physiological needs and meeting that
safety every day, day in and day out, without realizing
the physical impact and mental and emotional impact that that
takes on you.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
And then the next.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Phase would be someone who does want to go to therapy,
so they might be doing talk therapy, or they might
be pursuing some of these other modalities such as AMDR
or in the military they were doing prolonged exposure for
quite a while CBT, DBT, you know, all the different
types of therapeutic modalities. And I think you can get
(09:47):
stuck in that space as well, and I think you
can get this mindset of needing to get to a
certain place before you can be enough to pursue growth,
which isn't true, but I kind of see then this
next bar of growth, so personal growth and development bleeding
into the healing piece, so both can occur simultaneously, and
(10:13):
I think do it just depends what the mindset is
of the person going through that experience. So I work
with the women then on this growth piece, and then
I consider the top layer thriving. So it's really what
can I do to move myself forward because a lot
(10:33):
of times in traditional psychotherapy, it's not about goals, it's
not about where you're going next. It is you'll go
see the therapist weekly or every other week, and you
talk about your problems. And I just felt like I
got to a place personally where I didn't want to
talk about my problems anymore. I wanted to focus on
(10:56):
where I wanted to go next. And so that's really
where I implement strategies with women. I have what I
call my RISE method, and so it's reflection, introspection, self awareness,
and empowerment.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
That's awesome. Yeah, it's I mean, there's a lot of
things that you said in there that I was thinking about. Is,
especially in that therapy counseling space, is you could get
stuck because you're not hitting that whatever it might be
for you. And I think that's really important for people
to know, is that, like the I guess in my
(11:37):
brain what I'm thinking is like that's searching, like the
next thing, the next thing, the next thing, Like what's
the next thing to get me to feel comfortable where
I'm at? But I also love that you said, even personally,
you got to the place that you're like, I don't
want to talk about my problems anymore. It's like, okay,
can we move on now, Like I'm done, Like I
(11:58):
want to leave that in the past where it belongs,
but I want to focus on my future. And the
only way to get there is by adding in all
these other aspects which you work with women to add in.
And I know what popped into my head was like winds,
daily winds, having like those three daily winds, which is
(12:19):
something that I've learned throughout going through all my trauma
and all of that too, is like you do you
have to focus on the positive things versus the negative things,
because too often we get stuck in those negative things.
So I think that's amazing that you have that growth.
And then also then you go into that thriving, which
(12:40):
I think is the ultimate top of the pyramid where
we want to be, not stuck in this bottom layer.
So that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yeah, thank you. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
On my podcast, I frequently say I truly believe we're
not here merely to survive. We're meant to thrive, and
I think sometimes we do get caught in that trap
of survival mode and we're just running on the hamster
wheel and it is exhausting and it is, you know,
physiologically and physically draining, mentally draining when you're just trying
(13:14):
to survive. And I don't think we always realize it
when we're in the middle of it either. I think,
like you said with your story, you hit a brick wall.
And I think that is kind of what the wake
up call is, or this precipice to burn out or
to just completely getting knocked down by this survival mode.
I myself was diagnosed with an autoimmune illness and that's
(13:39):
really what knocked me on my butt too, to have
that wake up call that I was in survival mode
because I didn't realize it at the time.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, And I think it's like a there can be
cycles throughout life that happened too. Is like you have
those highs and the lows, and just because maybe you'd
get to thriving doesn't always necessarily mean that you're not
going to go down again. And you know, because I
feel like life in general is or can be, you
have your highs and your lows and pivotal moments and
(14:12):
things change, but learning or understanding how to get to
that high space. I think that's a really important skill
for people to have or to know or have somebody
who can guide them there.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
So you make such a good point, and yeah, you know,
as much as I love this visual of a hierarchy,
I have this caveat that it really isn't a hierarchy
because you will constantly, like you said, go back and forth,
because unfortunately, we don't get to a place, even though
I think a lot of us think we do in
the healing journey, that we get to this place where
(14:49):
it's like nothing's ever going to touch me again. I'm good,
I have passed that, you know, and life just isn't
like that. But I think the more support we can
give ourselves foundationally, like you said, we aren't going to
drop or fall like quite so far, quite so hard
as we have in the past, when we have these
support systems and these resources in place.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yeah, that's it's been a lot of my journey too.
And I know, like we had the conversation, but it
has been those like like the you hit the bottom
and then or that wall and then you climb up
and you hit a like a peak and then it
falls again and it's not a constant. But like you
(15:36):
just said, is that I don't hit hard as much
because I know that I have the resources available to
me that I can move forward. And sometimes it's hard,
Like you get it's like a drive down the street
and you're like, what am I doing with my life?
I don't understand why that's happening, And then you in
(15:58):
the back of your mind you're like, okay, but you
know how to get out of this now, Like that's
the cool part is acknowledging and recognizing the space that
you have now access to all of these resources, but
it can be really hard accessing them sometimes too.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Yeah, yeah, I love to use the analogy of building
your toolbox, and I do think you know, I love
to have these tools in my toolbox because not every
tool is going to be appropriate for every circumstance. So
being able to, you know, shift through and say, Okay,
well this one didn't work this time, or this one
isn't going to work for me. I need to find
(16:36):
something else. But the more resources you have available, the
more support supported.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I think you feel, Yeah, I love that to the toolbox.
It's like pick out this one or this or this, yeah,
and so I know. I mean through the traumas that
you experienced. What was was it like getting your degree
that shift did that or what was one of the
(17:02):
big shifts for you personally that you found was helpful.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Oh that's a great question.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
You know, it's so interesting as even as a young kid,
I felt very persistent. So I know a lot of
people bring attention to the idea of resilience, but I
feel like even as a young child, I just had
this drive and it I just always picture like a bull,
(17:38):
you know, full speed ahead, and so yes, while I
was going through things that I would never want any
child to experience, I don't know necessarily what it was,
but it was something innate within me that I think
gave me a really positive outlook and just kept me
moving forward.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
And then I think really.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
The first shift was moving away to college, so really
getting out of the house, being able to really I
think ground myself, which I don't know if I would
even really say I was grounded at that point in time,
but start exploring the world and my own journey for myself.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yeah, I think I do. I like how you say
resilience and persistence, like it could be you know a
little bit of both because we learned how to bounce
back and be resilient, But you have to be persistent
to actually get through that. What would you say for
somebody who is I mean, they're like at the bottom
(18:42):
of the bottom, and they're just like I have no resilience,
I have no persistence, Like I don't even know if
I want to get out of bed today, Like what
was your or what is your thought around somebody that
might be experiencing that.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Yeah, I've been there, you know. I think first it's
just knowing that you aren't alone. That so many people
experience this idea of rock bottom, and unfortunately a lot
of people experience more than one.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
But I would.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Say you have to make the choice, so you can choose,
you know, you can choose to stay there, and if
you can't get out of bed today, then maybe that's okay.
Maybe you actually need to be compassionate with yourself. Maybe
you need to have some grace for yourself and consider
(19:38):
what would happen if you continue to make the choice
to stay in bed. So look at your options. And
I think the other thing too is when we think
I have to get out of bed or I can't
stay here forever, wherever you might be, emotionally, mentally, whatever
(19:59):
it is we think we have to do this big,
grandiose thing right. And something else that I say frequently
on the podcast is one step at a time, one
day at a time. And so maybe it's just setting
up the smallest, tiniest goal.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Maybe it's getting out of bed to brush your teeth
and that's enough for the day.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
And if you can just keep moving forward, one little
increment at a time, then you're going to start figuring
out how to get back on your feet and find
something that's going to compel you to get out of
bed each day.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Yeah. So I've been doing these Circles support groups and
it's for one is for grief and trauma and the
other one is for mental illness. And there was actually
a woman that came in and she said that that
was something that somebody had recommended to her, was writing
a checklist, like even if it's just brushing your teeth
(20:59):
and you can check that off, or getting out of
bed and you can check that off. So's that's amazing
just in itself, is it doesn't have to be like
you get up, you go to work all these things right,
It doesn't have to be this ginormous accomplishment that you have.
It can be super simple and that's okay. And for
(21:21):
that day, it may be okay to just brush your
teeth or whatever it might be. And I know, like
she had mentioned that if you keep that checklist moving forward,
if you're ever in these spaces again, you can pull
them out and be like, oh yeah, like it's okay
to just have those small, tiny winds. So I love
that you said that too.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
I really like the idea too that you said, you know,
celebrating when you do accomplish that one task or two tasks, like,
make sure that you take time to acknowledge the progress
that you're making. And I think at the same time,
another note I want to mention is don't expect yourself
(22:04):
to feel so much better, because even though you do
get up and brush your teeth, you may still experience
grief and loss, and you probably are still going to
experience those emotions of grief and loss. It's not going
to go away because you got up and brush your teeth.
But at the end of the day, figuring out how
(22:24):
to move forward is ultimately going to be what's best
for you and for everyone around you.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Yeah, definitely, and moving forward through it versus just shoving
it all down where now it's going to be stuck
and stuck in there and then eventually you'll have to
go through it. So yeah, that's really important to how
do we move through it, and not neither of us
are saying like you're going to get over it by
(22:52):
any means, Like it becomes just this what I call
a roller coaster or a new journey really is you're
like creating this new path or this new journey that
you're probably always going to experience, and it's just gaining
those resources, those tools, all the things that are going
(23:12):
to be helpful for you because we all experience things differently.
And that's the important thing is that how I experienced
something or Christina experiences something is not how you're going
to experience it. And so we know that fact and
use these if they work. If they don't, right, throw
them in the trash. That's what I tell people.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
To so.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
And it's okay if it doesn't work, you know it's
it honestly unfortunately comes down to trial and error and
figuring out what's best for you.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Absolutely, So share a little bit more about I know
like I was on your podcast, but I would love
for you to share a little bit more about that too.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
I love my podcast. I just get to have the
most special conversations and so I publish an episode every
week and my basis for my podcast is stories of Hope,
healing and resilience. And again the podcast is called Rise
Up Thriving and the image that I have for my
(24:17):
cover is like a rising phoenix, and that really became
something that I held onto daily throughout my healing journey,
especially acutely when.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Leaving my marriage, and.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
That I feel like is what kept me moving forward,
was this idea of the rising phoenix and that no
matter how dark or difficult, it became that I could
still rise from that. And so that's kind of where
this whole concept was born from. And I get to
interview women every month to share their stories about overcoming adversity,
(25:00):
and I always request that.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
My guests are on the other side.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
I don't want to bring someone on who's still in
the middle of the trauma or the grief, because I
don't want to re traumatize my guests. But I also
again don't want to put that energy out into the
world either, and I want to give listeners tangible tips
on how to move forward. And so I love the
(25:27):
bravery and the courage and the vulnerability of all of
my guests who are willing to share what they went
through and how they got through it and share that
with others who might be struggling with a similar situation
and like you said, can use those nuggets and maybe
benefit from that to move forward themselves.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
It's so amazing and I love I mean, it just
gives that big piece of hope, the hope that oftentimes
is missing from the conversation. And that's why when we
were introduced, I was like, oh my gosh, this is amazing.
So I think that's great that you and bringing in
people who have gone through it to showcase that there
(26:12):
is light on the other side and that I mean,
we all, we all have a story, and I think
that's really important for people to know so that they
don't feel like they're going through it alone. Also, right,
it's just amazing.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Yeah, any other tips, tricks or things that you wanted
to chat about that we didn't h.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I think some of my top messages are that you
aren't alone when we are struggling with our own challenges.
That's something that our mind chatter, you know, will play
games with us. It will tell us that we're on
our own. It will tell us that nobody wants to
hear about it, and that we have to keep.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Our stuff uggles to ourselves and it's all a lie.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
And I think that is just such an important takeaway
to remember that there are people that care about you.
There are people that want to know when you're struggling,
because if they don't know, they can't help you. And
to add on to that, many of us love to
help other people, and so if you don't share when
(27:26):
you need support or when you need help, you're robbing
two people of that gratitude and that generosity and that
energy exchange that can occur when you do reach out
because other people just like you, love to help and
you're getting the benefit then of receiving. So I think
(27:46):
that's a big piece. And then just another one is
remembering to have grace and compassion and your healing journey
doesn't need to look a certain way.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
It's really hard to drop.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
The expectations how fast it should happen, what it should
look like. You know how you should be feeling or
experiencing this process, and I really encourage you to drop
all of this shoulds, drop all of the expectations that
you might have, and just be kind to yourself, be
(28:19):
gentle with yourself, and again know that it's a process
and you have so much support along the way, whether
it's through friends and family or books or podcasts. You know,
there are so many different ways to get resources and
tools these days.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
I love that, Yeah, stop shooting all over yourself. I
heard heard that one before, but no, I think that's
so important is that we're not mind readers, and if
you need help, although it can be challenging and sometimes hard,
it's important and being able to I love how you
(29:00):
said that energy. You're between two people that you want
to be able to help and you, as a person
that might be struggling, needs to receive. And so that's
really amazing. If anybody wants to work with you, how
can they find you?
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Yeah, I'm in the process of redoing my website right now,
so that will be coming, but I'm most active on Instagram,
So Instagram. My personal page is at Rise Underscore with
Underscore Christina or Yes in the link below. Or you
(29:40):
can also find me on the podcast page, which is
Rise Up Thriving.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
I'm gonna write that Rise Up. Let's see if I
can papa without there we do Rise Up Thriving, Rise
Up Driving Cool? Yeah, awesome. Well, I I'm so glad
that you were able to come on today and for
the one year celebration of the Mental Health Monday podcast show.
(30:11):
So thank you so much. And I just thought of
somebody that I'm going to connect you with that should
be on your podcast too, So wonderful yeaeah.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
If anyone on here wants to share their story on
the podcast, please reach out to me.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
I love having guests and.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
I need more so I you know, all year long,
So anytime that you feel like your story might help
somebody else, let me know. Or if you have someone
that you would like their story on the podcast, please
reach out. And congratulations again, Kelly. I'm just so honored
to be here, but also really impressed by all of
(30:48):
the work you're doing and the messages that you're sharing
with the world.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Awesome. Well, thank you. I appreciate that too, and I'm
so glad you were able to join me today.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Thank you. I am too, y'all.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
That was another amazing episode of Mental Health Mondays where
we talk to guests who are either professionals in the
mental health space, those that live with or experience a
mental health challenge, or mental health advocates. And as a reminder,
make sure you hit the subscribe button if you're watching
this on YouTube hopefully if you're watching it on LinkedIn
(31:23):
or Facebook, you already follow us. But if you don't
follow us, and share this information with anybody that you
think that might need it, might need to work with Christina.
I'm telling you she's amazing, or you want to be
a guest on her podcast. It is an honor to
be able to share the energy and be on each
other's podcast. Which has happened a lot with the show
(31:45):
is that I have guests on and then I'm on
their shows and all, you know, good energy back and forth.
But as a reminder, BCC Evolution is a five toh
one C three nonprofit. I didn't wear my Warrior for
Mental Health shirt today, but I wanted to remind you
that we are still doing our Everesting Climb and challenge
(32:08):
and Kicker, so we registered. I went to sign up
and in my mind, I was like, yeah, it's like
five and a half miles, right, it is thirty miles.
We're climbing up a mountain thirty miles thirteen times. I
know I don't have enough fingers to show you thirteen times,
(32:29):
but it is equaling thirty miles, And in my brain,
I was like, yeah, it's like five and a half miles.
We're fine, It'll be fine. Thirty miles. It is a
total of thirty miles. So I'm gonna have to get
myself into shape. But we need your help and your support. Still.
We are trying to raise, not trying. We are going
(32:49):
to raise. It's all about the words people. We're gonna
raise sixty thousand dollars and all of that goes to
mental health and suicide prevention education. But we need your help.
So this is the easiest way. You can text climb
for Mind to four four three two one, or you
can go to the give Lively page. You can actually
(33:10):
go to the BCC evolution website and you can find
it there. There's lots of different ways, but if you
want to learn more about it, you can also just
go to the twenty nine oh twenty nine everesting dot
com and see how challenging it's going to be, because
it's going to be amazing, and we are going to
do it in the name of mental health and suicide
(33:33):
prevention education. We also I'm in the process of designing
the shirts, which has been really fun. So the front
logo is going to be the BCC evolution and well
where's it this side? This side our logo, So our
heart logo is going to be the front of our shirts.
And then we're actually going to put people's names in
(33:53):
the shirt. Somebody who has either died by suicide, another
mental health challenge, substance abuse, or maybe you want to
just showcase somebody that is a warrior themselves that they
are living with and fighting through their mental health challenge,
we would be honored to put their name on there.
So with one hundred dollars donation or more, you can
(34:16):
put somebody's name in our logo and we'll share their story,
we'll honor their memory, and we will showcase them as
we do this climb. And before we do the climb,
we're already starting to add names into the shirt and
we'll start sharing those stories on all of our Mental
Health Monday podcast show. So if you go now you
(34:38):
can literally just text climb for mind to four four
three two one and donate one hundred dollars or more
to get a name in our logo. Or maybe you're
a business or a company and you want to be
sponsored and you want your logo on the back of
our T shirt. We are also starting to collect those
we've already gotten. We have three that are going to
(35:00):
go on the back currently. But if you're a business
with one thousand dollars or more sponsored, then you get
your logo on the backs of our T shirts so
you can show the world that your business is linking
arms with mental health and suicide prevention education. So again
we're raising sixty thousand dollars. The easiest way is just
(35:23):
texting climb the number four mind to four four three
two one and or going to bcc evolution dot org
and forward slash donate all the information there is on
our donation page so you can learn more about what
(35:44):
we're doing. And I think I'm actually going to add
like a whole separate page on our website because now
that I'm like actually officially doing it, and I realize
that it's thirty miles that I'm going to climb. Hopefully
I can inspire some of you to make your own
journey and know that you can do whatever you put
(36:06):
your mind to, because there is no option in my
mind to not climb the thirteen different times to hit
that twenty nine oh twenty nine, and I will literally
drag myself up the mountain if I have to showcase
that it's important to talk about mental health and suicide.
(36:27):
So thank you so much for watching. I appreciate you
being here and or listening, because again, this podcast goes
out to seven different streaming platforms, and so I should
probably remind myself that not everybody can see us, so
I probably need to tell a little bit more in detail,
but thank you so much. Make sure you subscribe, make
(36:51):
sure that you show up here next week at eleven
am Mountain standard time for the next episode. And yay
to one year celebration. All right, y'all, have a great day.
Welcome to another episode of Mental Health Mondays, where we
talk to guests who are either professionals in the mental
health space, advocates of mental health, or those that have
lived with or experience a mental health challenge. And I
am super excited today because this is our one year
(00:49):
anniversary of doing this podcast, and that is really exciting.
I just kept writing the episodes and then I was
like fifty two. I was like, wait, that's the amount
of weeks that they and a year. Yay. So as
a reminder, make sure if you're watching this on Facebook
or LinkedIn or where we are most likely you already
(01:12):
subscribe to our page. But if you don't, please do,
or if you're on YouTube, make sure you mash down
that button that says subscribe so that you don't miss
another episode. So I'm really excited to get roll in
with our one year anniversary show. And I have my
friend Christina. She's going to come up and I'm excited.
(01:32):
I've been on her podcast now she's going to come
on mind. So without further ado, Christina, thank you so
much for joining me.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Thank you, and congratulations.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
What an exciting time to be able to celebrate one
year of having these kind of conversations.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, it's gone by really really fast, but it's been
really awesome. So I'm excited to have you on for
the show today too.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Awesome. Thank you yea.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yeah, tell the audience a little bit about yourself. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
I am an occupational therapist by background, and I worked
previously with the military, specializing in brain injury and post
traumatic stress disorder, and currently still do some work, but
I have stepped over into the tech side of things
working with veterans, and in my free time, I have,
(02:27):
as you mentioned, my podcast, Rise Up Thriving, and then
I'm also a trauma recovery specialist, so I work with
women to help them rediscover who they are and write
a new narrative after they've experienced trauma.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Wow, that's awesome, and I know, I mean the conversation
that you and I had on your podcast was really awesome.
But what kind of led you into this kind of work?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
My heart, I am a complex trauma survivor. I experienced
childhood abuse, I experienced domestic violence. I also was a
firsthand witness to a mass shooting and in addition to
that as my personal experience, like I said, I've been
an occupational therapist for gosh, eighteen years, I guess now,
(03:20):
And so I've seen so many different types of trauma,
you know, from orthopedic and physical trauma to as I mentioned,
a lot of the mental health implications and concussions from combat.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Wow. Yeah, I mean just like your story. So thank
you for sharing that, and I know it's been quite
the journey in eighteen years. That is amazing. But just
knowing from your background going into doing what you're doing,
it can be potentially challenging and rewarding all the same,
(04:00):
all in the same sentence. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Absolutely, I think you and I even talked about that too, right,
is you have to be so conscientious of taking care
of yourself at the same time so that you can
hopefully prevent that caregiver burnout that can so often occur,
And most of my career we were also teaching many
(04:25):
of the caregivers about that as well.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
I think it's like you give, give, give, give, give,
and then you never really think about yourself until, like
I've talked about before, even on here, as I hit
kind of that brick wall of what in the heck
am I doing? And taking care of others is not
helping take care of myself, So you have to be
(04:49):
able to know how to receive, which is something that
I am practicing, and.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
It's exactly that right.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
It is a practice because it isn't easy, and I
think so often as we've grown up and within society,
it was taught that it's selfish to take care of
your own needs or to say no because you're tired
or you don't.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Have the energy.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
And I've become much more mindful about energy exchange too,
and if you don't have the positive energy to pour
into somebody else, it's taking away from both of you.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
And I noticed that I think the most when I
was working at a corporate job, the energy like how
I absorbed it from other people. And I finally figured
out the reason why I was like trying to be
overly positive was to combat like the negativity that happened
in a call center. And there was a moment that
(05:53):
I was just like, man, I don't know if this
is the right fit for me, because and I mean
I had been there for years, years and years, but
I came to a point knowing what I do now
of the whole energy exchange and how that affects you,
and I was like, I gotta get out of here.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So is tough work too?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, yeah, And I mean I was a supervisor and
so it was just, yeah, it was like so much,
so much energy. Like on the good days, it was
really great because you're like, Wow, I love these people,
like it's so great to be around all these people,
and then on the bad days, you're just you go
home and there's nothing left for you, nothing left for
your family, and that's not really fair.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
So yeah, absolutely, it can be definitely hard.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
So the work that you do with veterans specifically, do
you want to tell a little bit more about that?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Now?
Speaker 3 (06:51):
I am a project manager, so I've definitely switched hats,
but I get to still use a lot of my
clinical experience and background really from schooling, because we get
to test all of our mobile apps for the VA
with veterans, so I get to still walk through that
(07:12):
with them, make sure that it's meeting clinical needs, make
sure that it's clinically relevant, and then we push those
products to release so that any veteran can get their
apps on the app store that can help promote their healthcare,
promote their health in general. We have some really great
apps for mental health as well.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Nice, that's awesome, And then I know you also, like
you said, you work with women, share a little bit
more about how you work with them.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I again going back to my background and occupational therapy,
I found myself getting really burned out working in the
kind of healing space and felt like there was a
lot of expectation on me. And while I do have
experience and many, many, many certifications within the trauma realm,
(08:03):
I just didn't.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Feel like I was well equipped to.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Handle some of the most severe traumas and what a
lot of women are struggling with. And I decided to
shift from the healing piece of it to the growth piece.
And I usually lay out this visual of like a
hierarchy when it comes to healing, and similar to Maslow's
(08:29):
hierarchy of needs. So when you first experience a traumatic
event or some kind of extreme stress or whatever that
might look like for you, there's the foundational piece, which
is that safety, stability, security, and you have to have
that in place before you can even move to the
next level of doing the healing work. And so in
(08:53):
this healing space, people and people can choose to stay
in whatever level of that that they want to.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
On this continuum, and.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
So there are some people who don't believe that they
need therapy, right, so they may just stay in survival
mode and on meeting their physiological needs and meeting that
safety every day, day in and day out, without realizing
the physical impact and mental and emotional impact that that
takes on you.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
And then the next.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
Phase would be someone who does want to go to therapy,
so they might be doing talk therapy, or they might
be pursuing some of these other modalities such as AMDR
or in the military they were doing prolonged exposure for
quite a while CBT, DBT, you know, all the different
types of therapeutic modalities. And I think you can get
(09:47):
stuck in that space as well, and I think you
can get this mindset of needing to get to a
certain place before you can be enough to pursue growth,
which isn't true, but I kind of see then this
next bar of growth, so personal growth and development bleeding
into the healing piece, so both can occur simultaneously, and
(10:13):
I think do it just depends what the mindset is
of the person going through that experience. So I work
with the women then on this growth piece, and then
I consider the top layer thriving. So it's really what
can I do to move myself forward because a lot
(10:33):
of times in traditional psychotherapy, it's not about goals, it's
not about where you're going next. It is you'll go
see the therapist weekly or every other week, and you
talk about your problems. And I just felt like I
got to a place personally where I didn't want to
talk about my problems anymore. I wanted to focus on
(10:56):
where I wanted to go next. And so that's really
where I implement strategies with women. I have what I
call my RISE method, and so it's reflection, introspection, self awareness,
and empowerment.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
That's awesome. Yeah, it's I mean, there's a lot of
things that you said in there that I was thinking about. Is,
especially in that therapy counseling space, is you could get
stuck because you're not hitting that whatever it might be
for you. And I think that's really important for people
to know, is that, like the I guess in my
(11:37):
brain what I'm thinking is like that's searching, like the
next thing, the next thing, the next thing, Like what's
the next thing to get me to feel comfortable where
I'm at? But I also love that you said, even personally,
you got to the place that you're like, I don't
want to talk about my problems anymore. It's like, okay,
can we move on now, Like I'm done, Like I
(11:58):
want to leave that in the past where it belongs,
but I want to focus on my future. And the
only way to get there is by adding in all
these other aspects which you work with women to add in.
And I know what popped into my head was like winds,
daily winds, having like those three daily winds, which is
(12:19):
something that I've learned throughout going through all my trauma
and all of that too, is like you do you
have to focus on the positive things versus the negative things,
because too often we get stuck in those negative things.
So I think that's amazing that you have that growth.
And then also then you go into that thriving, which
(12:40):
I think is the ultimate top of the pyramid where
we want to be, not stuck in this bottom layer.
So that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yeah, thank you. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
On my podcast, I frequently say I truly believe we're
not here merely to survive. We're meant to thrive, and
I think sometimes we do get caught in that trap
of survival mode and we're just running on the hamster
wheel and it is exhausting and it is, you know,
physiologically and physically draining, mentally draining when you're just trying
(13:14):
to survive. And I don't think we always realize it
when we're in the middle of it either. I think,
like you said with your story, you hit a brick wall.
And I think that is kind of what the wake
up call is, or this precipice to burn out or
to just completely getting knocked down by this survival mode.
I myself was diagnosed with an autoimmune illness and that's
(13:39):
really what knocked me on my butt too, to have
that wake up call that I was in survival mode
because I didn't realize it at the time.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, And I think it's like a there can be
cycles throughout life that happened too. Is like you have
those highs and the lows, and just because maybe you'd
get to thriving doesn't always necessarily mean that you're not
going to go down again. And you know, because I
feel like life in general is or can be, you
have your highs and your lows and pivotal moments and
(14:12):
things change, but learning or understanding how to get to
that high space. I think that's a really important skill
for people to have or to know or have somebody
who can guide them there.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
So you make such a good point, and yeah, you know,
as much as I love this visual of a hierarchy,
I have this caveat that it really isn't a hierarchy
because you will constantly, like you said, go back and forth,
because unfortunately, we don't get to a place, even though
I think a lot of us think we do in
the healing journey, that we get to this place where
(14:49):
it's like nothing's ever going to touch me again. I'm good,
I have passed that, you know, and life just isn't
like that. But I think the more support we can
give ourselves foundationally, like you said, we aren't going to
drop or fall like quite so far, quite so hard
as we have in the past, when we have these
support systems and these resources in place.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yeah, that's it's been a lot of my journey too.
And I know, like we had the conversation, but it
has been those like like the you hit the bottom
and then or that wall and then you climb up
and you hit a like a peak and then it
falls again and it's not a constant. But like you
(15:36):
just said, is that I don't hit hard as much
because I know that I have the resources available to
me that I can move forward. And sometimes it's hard,
Like you get it's like a drive down the street
and you're like, what am I doing with my life?
I don't understand why that's happening, And then you in
(15:58):
the back of your mind you're like, okay, but you
know how to get out of this now, Like that's
the cool part is acknowledging and recognizing the space that
you have now access to all of these resources, but
it can be really hard accessing them sometimes too.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Yeah, yeah, I love to use the analogy of building
your toolbox, and I do think you know, I love
to have these tools in my toolbox because not every
tool is going to be appropriate for every circumstance. So
being able to, you know, shift through and say, Okay,
well this one didn't work this time, or this one
isn't going to work for me. I need to find
(16:36):
something else. But the more resources you have available, the
more support supported.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I think you feel, Yeah, I love that to the toolbox.
It's like pick out this one or this or this, yeah,
and so I know. I mean through the traumas that
you experienced. What was was it like getting your degree
that shift did that or what was one of the
(17:02):
big shifts for you personally that you found was helpful.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Oh that's a great question.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
You know, it's so interesting as even as a young kid,
I felt very persistent. So I know a lot of
people bring attention to the idea of resilience, but I
feel like even as a young child, I just had
this drive and it I just always picture like a bull,
(17:38):
you know, full speed ahead, and so yes, while I
was going through things that I would never want any
child to experience, I don't know necessarily what it was,
but it was something innate within me that I think
gave me a really positive outlook and just kept me
moving forward.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
And then I think really.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
The first shift was moving away to college, so really
getting out of the house, being able to really I
think ground myself, which I don't know if I would
even really say I was grounded at that point in time,
but start exploring the world and my own journey for myself.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yeah, I think I do. I like how you say
resilience and persistence, like it could be you know a
little bit of both because we learned how to bounce
back and be resilient, But you have to be persistent
to actually get through that. What would you say for
somebody who is I mean, they're like at the bottom
(18:42):
of the bottom, and they're just like I have no resilience,
I have no persistence, Like I don't even know if
I want to get out of bed today, Like what
was your or what is your thought around somebody that
might be experiencing that.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Yeah, I've been there, you know. I think first it's
just knowing that you aren't alone. That so many people
experience this idea of rock bottom, and unfortunately a lot
of people experience more than one.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
But I would.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Say you have to make the choice, so you can choose,
you know, you can choose to stay there, and if
you can't get out of bed today, then maybe that's okay.
Maybe you actually need to be compassionate with yourself. Maybe
you need to have some grace for yourself and consider
(19:38):
what would happen if you continue to make the choice
to stay in bed. So look at your options. And
I think the other thing too is when we think
I have to get out of bed or I can't
stay here forever, wherever you might be, emotionally, mentally, whatever
(19:59):
it is we think we have to do this big,
grandiose thing right. And something else that I say frequently
on the podcast is one step at a time, one
day at a time. And so maybe it's just setting
up the smallest, tiniest goal.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Maybe it's getting out of bed to brush your teeth
and that's enough for the day.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
And if you can just keep moving forward, one little
increment at a time, then you're going to start figuring
out how to get back on your feet and find
something that's going to compel you to get out of
bed each day.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Yeah. So I've been doing these Circles support groups and
it's for one is for grief and trauma and the
other one is for mental illness. And there was actually
a woman that came in and she said that that
was something that somebody had recommended to her, was writing
a checklist, like even if it's just brushing your teeth
(20:59):
and you can check that off, or getting out of
bed and you can check that off. So's that's amazing
just in itself, is it doesn't have to be like
you get up, you go to work all these things right,
It doesn't have to be this ginormous accomplishment that you have.
It can be super simple and that's okay. And for
(21:21):
that day, it may be okay to just brush your
teeth or whatever it might be. And I know, like
she had mentioned that if you keep that checklist moving forward,
if you're ever in these spaces again, you can pull
them out and be like, oh yeah, like it's okay
to just have those small, tiny winds. So I love
that you said that too.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
I really like the idea too that you said, you know,
celebrating when you do accomplish that one task or two tasks, like,
make sure that you take time to acknowledge the progress
that you're making. And I think at the same time,
another note I want to mention is don't expect yourself
(22:04):
to feel so much better, because even though you do
get up and brush your teeth, you may still experience
grief and loss, and you probably are still going to
experience those emotions of grief and loss. It's not going
to go away because you got up and brush your teeth.
But at the end of the day, figuring out how
(22:24):
to move forward is ultimately going to be what's best
for you and for everyone around you.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Yeah, definitely, and moving forward through it versus just shoving
it all down where now it's going to be stuck
and stuck in there and then eventually you'll have to
go through it. So yeah, that's really important to how
do we move through it, and not neither of us
are saying like you're going to get over it by
(22:52):
any means, Like it becomes just this what I call
a roller coaster or a new journey really is you're
like creating this new path or this new journey that
you're probably always going to experience, and it's just gaining
those resources, those tools, all the things that are going
(23:12):
to be helpful for you because we all experience things differently.
And that's the important thing is that how I experienced
something or Christina experiences something is not how you're going
to experience it. And so we know that fact and
use these if they work. If they don't, right, throw
them in the trash. That's what I tell people.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
To so.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
And it's okay if it doesn't work, you know it's
it honestly unfortunately comes down to trial and error and
figuring out what's best for you.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Absolutely, So share a little bit more about I know
like I was on your podcast, but I would love
for you to share a little bit more about that too.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
I love my podcast. I just get to have the
most special conversations and so I publish an episode every
week and my basis for my podcast is stories of Hope,
healing and resilience. And again the podcast is called Rise
Up Thriving and the image that I have for my
(24:17):
cover is like a rising phoenix, and that really became
something that I held onto daily throughout my healing journey,
especially acutely when.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Leaving my marriage, and.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
That I feel like is what kept me moving forward,
was this idea of the rising phoenix and that no
matter how dark or difficult, it became that I could
still rise from that. And so that's kind of where
this whole concept was born from. And I get to
interview women every month to share their stories about overcoming adversity,
(25:00):
and I always request that.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
My guests are on the other side.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
I don't want to bring someone on who's still in
the middle of the trauma or the grief, because I
don't want to re traumatize my guests. But I also
again don't want to put that energy out into the
world either, and I want to give listeners tangible tips
on how to move forward. And so I love the
(25:27):
bravery and the courage and the vulnerability of all of
my guests who are willing to share what they went
through and how they got through it and share that
with others who might be struggling with a similar situation
and like you said, can use those nuggets and maybe
benefit from that to move forward themselves.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
It's so amazing and I love I mean, it just
gives that big piece of hope, the hope that oftentimes
is missing from the conversation. And that's why when we
were introduced, I was like, oh my gosh, this is amazing.
So I think that's great that you and bringing in
people who have gone through it to showcase that there
(26:12):
is light on the other side and that I mean,
we all, we all have a story, and I think
that's really important for people to know so that they
don't feel like they're going through it alone. Also, right,
it's just amazing.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Yeah, any other tips, tricks or things that you wanted
to chat about that we didn't h.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I think some of my top messages are that you
aren't alone when we are struggling with our own challenges.
That's something that our mind chatter, you know, will play
games with us. It will tell us that we're on
our own. It will tell us that nobody wants to
hear about it, and that we have to keep.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Our stuff uggles to ourselves and it's all a lie.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
And I think that is just such an important takeaway
to remember that there are people that care about you.
There are people that want to know when you're struggling,
because if they don't know, they can't help you. And
to add on to that, many of us love to
help other people, and so if you don't share when
(27:26):
you need support or when you need help, you're robbing
two people of that gratitude and that generosity and that
energy exchange that can occur when you do reach out
because other people just like you, love to help and
you're getting the benefit then of receiving. So I think
(27:46):
that's a big piece. And then just another one is
remembering to have grace and compassion and your healing journey
doesn't need to look a certain way.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
It's really hard to drop.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
The expectations how fast it should happen, what it should
look like. You know how you should be feeling or
experiencing this process, and I really encourage you to drop
all of this shoulds, drop all of the expectations that
you might have, and just be kind to yourself, be
(28:19):
gentle with yourself, and again know that it's a process
and you have so much support along the way, whether
it's through friends and family or books or podcasts. You know,
there are so many different ways to get resources and
tools these days.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
I love that, Yeah, stop shooting all over yourself. I
heard heard that one before, but no, I think that's
so important is that we're not mind readers, and if
you need help, although it can be challenging and sometimes hard,
it's important and being able to I love how you
(29:00):
said that energy. You're between two people that you want
to be able to help and you, as a person
that might be struggling, needs to receive. And so that's
really amazing. If anybody wants to work with you, how
can they find you?
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Yeah, I'm in the process of redoing my website right now,
so that will be coming, but I'm most active on Instagram,
So Instagram. My personal page is at Rise Underscore with
Underscore Christina or Yes in the link below. Or you
(29:40):
can also find me on the podcast page, which is
Rise Up Thriving.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
I'm gonna write that Rise Up. Let's see if I
can papa without there we do Rise Up Thriving, Rise
Up Driving Cool? Yeah, awesome. Well, I I'm so glad
that you were able to come on today and for
the one year celebration of the Mental Health Monday podcast show.
(30:11):
So thank you so much. And I just thought of
somebody that I'm going to connect you with that should
be on your podcast too, So wonderful yeaeah.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
If anyone on here wants to share their story on
the podcast, please reach out to me.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
I love having guests and.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
I need more so I you know, all year long,
So anytime that you feel like your story might help
somebody else, let me know. Or if you have someone
that you would like their story on the podcast, please
reach out. And congratulations again, Kelly. I'm just so honored
to be here, but also really impressed by all of
(30:48):
the work you're doing and the messages that you're sharing
with the world.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Awesome. Well, thank you. I appreciate that too, and I'm
so glad you were able to join me today.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Thank you. I am too, y'all.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
That was another amazing episode of Mental Health Mondays where
we talk to guests who are either professionals in the
mental health space, those that live with or experience a
mental health challenge, or mental health advocates. And as a reminder,
make sure you hit the subscribe button if you're watching
this on YouTube hopefully if you're watching it on LinkedIn
(31:23):
or Facebook, you already follow us. But if you don't
follow us, and share this information with anybody that you
think that might need it, might need to work with Christina.
I'm telling you she's amazing, or you want to be
a guest on her podcast. It is an honor to
be able to share the energy and be on each
other's podcast. Which has happened a lot with the show
(31:45):
is that I have guests on and then I'm on
their shows and all, you know, good energy back and forth.
But as a reminder, BCC Evolution is a five toh
one C three nonprofit. I didn't wear my Warrior for
Mental Health shirt today, but I wanted to remind you
that we are still doing our Everesting Climb and challenge
(32:08):
and Kicker, so we registered. I went to sign up
and in my mind, I was like, yeah, it's like
five and a half miles, right, it is thirty miles.
We're climbing up a mountain thirty miles thirteen times. I
know I don't have enough fingers to show you thirteen times,
(32:29):
but it is equaling thirty miles, And in my brain,
I was like, yeah, it's like five and a half miles.
We're fine, It'll be fine. Thirty miles. It is a
total of thirty miles. So I'm gonna have to get
myself into shape. But we need your help and your support. Still.
We are trying to raise, not trying. We are going
(32:49):
to raise. It's all about the words people. We're gonna
raise sixty thousand dollars and all of that goes to
mental health and suicide prevention education. But we need your help.
So this is the easiest way. You can text climb
for Mind to four four three two one, or you
can go to the give Lively page. You can actually
(33:10):
go to the BCC evolution website and you can find
it there. There's lots of different ways, but if you
want to learn more about it, you can also just
go to the twenty nine oh twenty nine everesting dot
com and see how challenging it's going to be, because
it's going to be amazing, and we are going to
do it in the name of mental health and suicide
(33:33):
prevention education. We also I'm in the process of designing
the shirts, which has been really fun. So the front
logo is going to be the BCC evolution and well
where's it this side? This side our logo, So our
heart logo is going to be the front of our shirts.
And then we're actually going to put people's names in
(33:53):
the shirt. Somebody who has either died by suicide, another
mental health challenge, substance abuse, or maybe you want to
just showcase somebody that is a warrior themselves that they
are living with and fighting through their mental health challenge,
we would be honored to put their name on there.
So with one hundred dollars donation or more, you can
(34:16):
put somebody's name in our logo and we'll share their story,
we'll honor their memory, and we will showcase them as
we do this climb. And before we do the climb,
we're already starting to add names into the shirt and
we'll start sharing those stories on all of our Mental
Health Monday podcast show. So if you go now you
(34:38):
can literally just text climb for mind to four four
three two one and donate one hundred dollars or more
to get a name in our logo. Or maybe you're
a business or a company and you want to be
sponsored and you want your logo on the back of
our T shirt. We are also starting to collect those
we've already gotten. We have three that are going to
(35:00):
go on the back currently. But if you're a business
with one thousand dollars or more sponsored, then you get
your logo on the backs of our T shirts so
you can show the world that your business is linking
arms with mental health and suicide prevention education. So again
we're raising sixty thousand dollars. The easiest way is just
(35:23):
texting climb the number four mind to four four three
two one and or going to bcc evolution dot org
and forward slash donate all the information there is on
our donation page so you can learn more about what
(35:44):
we're doing. And I think I'm actually going to add
like a whole separate page on our website because now
that I'm like actually officially doing it, and I realize
that it's thirty miles that I'm going to climb. Hopefully
I can inspire some of you to make your own
journey and know that you can do whatever you put
(36:06):
your mind to, because there is no option in my
mind to not climb the thirteen different times to hit
that twenty nine oh twenty nine, and I will literally
drag myself up the mountain if I have to showcase
that it's important to talk about mental health and suicide.
(36:27):
So thank you so much for watching. I appreciate you
being here and or listening, because again, this podcast goes
out to seven different streaming platforms, and so I should
probably remind myself that not everybody can see us, so
I probably need to tell a little bit more in detail,
but thank you so much. Make sure you subscribe, make
(36:51):
sure that you show up here next week at eleven
am Mountain standard time for the next episode. And yay
to one year celebration. All right, y'all, have a great day.
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