May 3, 2024 • 45 mins
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, we dive into the transformative power of perspective in our latest podcast episode, where we navigate the often-overlooked nuances of mental health. From the casual "I'm fine" to the deeper struggles beneath, we examine the importance of genuine dialogue. Coach Lynne Couchara, of Mindset Mental Coaching, joins us to share her expertise on the psychological hurdles athletes face, revealing the intricate dance between physical prowess and mental fortitude. Her insights into the dreaded 'yips' and her transition from IT to mental coaching underscore the universal nature of anxiety and stress, offering a relatable narrative for anyone seeking to strengthen their mental resilience.
Wrapping up the episode, we shift focus to the broader implications of mental health in the workplace and recovery. Secretary of the Board of Directors & Founding Member of Kind Souls Foundation, Colin Gallagher, illuminates the critical work being done to support those impacted by workplace injuries. Stressing the importance of purpose and ReEmployAbility in the healing process. We round out the discussion by underscoring the essence of Mental Health Awareness Month and the ongoing mission to remove the stigma surrounding mental health. Join us for a profound exploration of the mind and discover strategies that could reshape your approach to mental wellness.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
perspective.
Perspective is spelled p e r, s, p e c t I v e.
Perspective, the 30 000 footview.
Perspective put on someoneelse's shoes.
Perspective can also refer tothe state of existing in space
(00:20):
or one's view of the world.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Perspective rea audio face or one's view of the world
Perspective REA AudioReemployability hey there, how's
it going?
So how do you normally answerthat question?
It's usually pretty automatic,isn't it?
Fine, good, not bad.
Maybe you're creative.
You say something like livingthe dream or slaying dragons and
(00:42):
taking names.
I've personally never said thatone, but most of the time your
answer isn't honest, is it?
Truth is, many of us are notokay and it's important to
recognize and address that.
On January 29th of this year,Elmo, the character from Sesame
Street, posted the question on X.
Elmo's just checking in How'severybody doing?
(01:04):
Well, according to theSubstance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administrationwebsite, that question generated
217 million views and 45,000responses, most of which weren't
all that positive, which is whywe're focusing on Mental Health
Awareness Month on this episodeof REA Audio.
Since 1949, Mental HealthAwareness Month has brought
(01:28):
attention to not only mentalillness but, most recently,
helped lessen the stigma ofmental struggles and help people
become more proactive in caringfor the mental side of their
well-being.
We're going to speak with CoachLynn Kuchera, founder of
Mindset Mental Coaching, andalso with Colin Gallagher,
secretary of the Board ofDirectors and founding member of
(01:49):
Kind Souls Foundation, anorganization dedicated to
serving injured workers andtheir families.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Mental Health Awareness Month has been
observed in May in the UnitedStates since 1949.
The month is observed withmedia, local events and film
screenings.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Coach Lynn Kuchara is the founder of Mindset Mental
Coaching and I got to say I knowCoach Lynn because of some
personal experience and when wewere putting together the idea
of doing this podcast for MentalHealth Awareness Month, coach
Lynn was like the first personthat came to my mind.
(02:26):
Not only does Coach Lynn workwith athletes elite athletes to
help them to improve theirperformance, but also is kind of
moving into more generalizedhelp for folks, and so being
able to talk to you, coach Lynn,is just a super treat and I
(02:47):
really appreciate you takingsome time out of your day to
talk to us about mental healthand mental awareness.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Yeah, thank you, I really appreciate the
opportunity.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
So we met originally when you helped my son who was
playing baseball had a seriouscapes of the yips and if anybody
listening doesn't know what theyips are, can you explain what
the yips are?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Sure, the yips are basically in a nutshell when an
athlete is able to do somethingwithout thinking about it let's
say hitting a golf ball orchipping a ball or throwing a
baseball that suddenly they areunable to do and they don't know
(03:29):
why.
There's no particular eventthat happened or anything that
they can think of typically tocause it, but they just find
themselves suddenly unable to doit and it can be quite
devastating for an athlete whenthat happens.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
And it's the craziest thing.
He was in high school and hemust have thrown a baseball from
second base to first basethousands of times and then all
of a sudden, one game heoverthrew first and he could not
make that throw and it wasfrustrating to me as a dad.
I'm like dude, not make thatthrow, and it was.
(04:06):
It was frustrating to me as adad.
I'm like dude, just throw itlike you, do it Right.
And and we tried so manydifferent things and I and I
understand that it is a realthing, and you and I were
talking before we startedrecording this, about Jose
Altuve, the second baseman forHouston, for the Astros, who a
couple of years ago in the worldseries actually had the yips
and it was the exact same thing,and he's probably made that
throw a million times.
(04:27):
So in your experience, coachLynn, actually let's step back a
second.
Tell us what mindset mentalcoaching is and what pushed you
into the direction of this typeof work, and then we'll talk a
little bit about kind of thethings that happen to make
people get into that kind ofmindset.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Sure, sure.
Well, my professional lifestarted with a different career
in computer programming and ITlike corporate project
management and during that timeI was working a lot on the
computer and I actually ended upwith a ironically a repetitive
stress injury which led to somenerve damage and carpal tunnel
and that led to a worker's compclaim.
(05:12):
And I was fortunate because mycompany at the time was quite
supportive of this.
I know not everybody in thattype of situation, not everyone
has that same type of supportfrom their employers, but
generally the corporate worldwas full of stress and
impossible deadlines.
Many people in that environmentbecome burnt out and quite
(05:35):
unhappy.
So I became, I guess maybe I wasalways interested in the mental
aspect of stress, psychologyand just generally matters of
the mind.
I was also interested in whatallows or enables some people to
perform at high levels andachieve incredible outcomes and
results, but not other people,even if they seem to have the
(05:58):
same capabilities.
So I started to study thingslike yoga, meditation, hypnosis
and in those early days I wouldlead like lunchtime sessions for
my work colleagues and it wasreally helping them.
And you know I realized overtime that these methods would be
(06:19):
quite well suited to eliteathletes.
So eventually I left thecorporate world and went full
time with my business, whichstarted out as I called it,
elite sports hypnosis.
But I was also getting callsfrom non-athletes, so and I also
wanted to offer some othertechniques, even though I still
(06:39):
always use hypnosis, but Ichanged the name to mindset
mental coaching.
So I generally help athletes andother people overcome mental
obstacles.
The athletes are usually at theelite or professional level
high school, college,professional, even amateur
golfers and other people who canplay their sport, you know,
(07:02):
into older age.
Again, I also have non-athleteclients.
So I also recently received mymaster's degree in social work
and I'm focusing on mentalhealth outside of just sports.
So you know, really the bottomline, the common denominator is
I love delving into and helpingpeople with their mindsets.
(07:26):
You know what makes them tick,you know, helping them to
overcome habits, habits of mindor behavior, basically.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
And that kind of leads me to my next question.
So you know everybody'sdifferent, obviously, right,
human beings?
That's the fundamental thingabout being human is everybody's
a little bit different, but Ialso believe that everybody is
inherently similar in a lot ofways.
So when you're working withelite athletes, are you finding
that the issues that areaffecting their ability to play
(07:57):
at their highest level, from amental standpoint, are there a
lot of similarities as to what'sholding them back?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Across the athletes.
Yes, yeah.
Yeah, no doubt yes, and justwith people, like you said in
general, even people who aren'tathletes, yes, there are lots of
parallels.
Really, people are people, sowe all have the same range of
emotions.
We all have the ability to feelanxiety, fear and other
(08:26):
challenging.
We all have the ability to feelmore positive feelings.
We all have challenges in ourlives.
So you know, I would say,across athletes or across sports
, some common issues are anxiety, that maybe you know, the
person feels more anxious in acompetitive situation than in a
(08:47):
practice situation, which isvery typical and normal.
But they might perceive that asa problem and it's stopping
them right when it doesn't haveto be a problem.
It doesn't have to stop them.
You know also, just you know, ifit's a professional athlete or
college, you know somebody who'sunder more pressure, the
pressure alone from peers, fromcoaches, from family members,
(09:10):
from you know if they're makingtheir living doing this.
You know there's all thesepressures that can impact their
ability to just play at their,you know, have fun with their
sport kind of.
You know, when the pressure'son, the fun tends to go away for
them.
So we want to bring the funback into the sport.
And then there's also thingslike the yips, right, I have
many clients, mostly in baseballand golf, who get the yips.
(09:33):
For some reason those sportstend to be the ones where that
shows up most, and you know thework I do.
Particularly hypnosis helps alot to get them back to just
it's.
You know, it's all about goingback to their just non-thinking
state, right, to help them be ina flow state when they're
playing.
That's the bottom line.
(09:54):
Whether it's that they'reexperiencing the yips or they've
had an injury they're having,even though the doctor cleared
them to go back to the sport,they can't overcome the mental
part of recovery, right?
Or if it's the pressure,whatever the underlying, you
know thing that is that'sinhibiting their performance.
We want to get them back tothat flow state where they're.
(10:17):
It's a non-thinking state.
That's the essence of it withathletes.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah, so it sounds like it's people that tend to
overthink things and play outnegative scenarios in their
minds.
Those are the types of thingsbut I had imagined that anxiety.
You know anxiety.
There's different levels ofanxiety, right.
There's where your heart, youknow, goes really really fast
(10:43):
and you can feel the tingling inyour body type of anxiety.
But then there's also that justongoing emotional stress and
strain that we all feel for fromthe day to day things, and it
might be a combination ofsomething at work and something
at home and something in thefuture, and and that anxiety I
think is is something thataffects everybody at different
(11:07):
levels, even if they don'tacknowledge it on the forefront,
right?
So what are some things?
If you take us through kind ofa a session, or or you know, if
you can kind of walk us throughsome of the strategies that you
use with people to help lowerthat anxiety and get them into a
flow state, even outside ofsports.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Sure, yeah, absolutely so.
You know anxiety is a natural,natural feeling.
You know it's basically afuture.
It's future oriented, when youknow, when we are thinking about
or, like you said, tellingourselves a story about a future
event in a way that's negative,so that creates the feeling of
(11:49):
anxiety, which, again, is anatural feeling.
But when it becomes too intense, it can stop us in our tracks.
Whether we're athletes or not,it doesn't matter, like you said
.
So to pull back or to ease thatanxiety, there are some methods
that can help.
One is breathing.
That's a known technique.
(12:10):
Why?
Because our breathing isdirectly connected to our
nervous system.
It's part of our nervous system.
So when we breathe or, let medo the reverse when we feel
stress or anxious, it isreflected in our breathing.
So we can go the other way too.
(12:32):
If we can learn to control ourbreath and take deeper breaths,
just for a few moments, it calmsthe nervous system, which will
calm down our mind.
It's, by nature, right.
It's great that we have thisability.
It's the only part of us, onlypart of our nervous system that
we can control is our breathing.
(12:53):
We can't say, oh, I'm going toslow down my heart rate right
now, like no, like yeah, but ourbreathing is so if we take deep
inhales and then let's say to acount of three, and then exhale
to a count of six or so, likemaking the exhale longer, maybe
for three or four breaths, thatwill automatically take down
that feeling of anxiety a fewnotches.
(13:14):
Another technique is reframing,which means rethinking of things
, looking at things, perceivingthings in a way that's more
helpful.
So it's our thoughts aboutthings that makes us feel
anxious.
So reframing how we think of afuture situation in a different
(13:35):
way helps to take away theanxiety about it.
So it's really about kind oflike replacing negative thoughts
with more helpful thoughts.
And thought reframing is askill in a therapy called
cognitive behavioral therapy,but really anybody can learn it.
It's basically first we have tobecome aware of what the
(13:55):
thoughts are Like.
Let's say somebody's reallyanxious about public speaking.
Their thought might be I willfaint when I go in front of
people, I'm going to faint.
That might be the thought.
So then we want to.
The next thing to do ischallenge it.
Is this thought accurate?
Is it true?
Is there proof of this?
Oftentimes, even if there issome truth, it's a spectrum of
(14:19):
likelihood.
So this person might faint, butthere's a small chance of this
actually happening, but it might, it could happen, right?
And then we want to change thethought.
That's the next step tosomething more neutral, like in
this example, something likeit's unlikely that I will faint,
but if I do, I'll have supportaround me to help me and I'll be
(14:39):
able to manage the situation.
So, you know, when we analyzethe thoughts that create the
anxiety, challenge them andcreate more helpful thinking
that can help.
Another technique that helps ismeditation, because there are
various techniques of meditation, but generally meditation gives
us distance from our thoughts.
(15:00):
So, instead of our thoughtsbeing like there, you know,
right in front of us, likedriving us nuts, you know, make
really making us feel challenged.
Meditation puts thoughts kindof like over there, like, and
where we're more observing thethought rather than being, you
know so, attached to it.
So, you know, ongoing, regularmeditation can help to generally
(15:25):
lower anxiety.
Visualization can help like, inother words, imagining or
seeing ourselves in a stressfulor anxiety provoking situation
and staying calm through it, inother words, like living it
before it actually happens.
I use this with a lot of myathlete clients.
I use this a lot with them inconjunction with hypnosis and,
(15:49):
of course, hypnosis can help.
Even self-hypnosis can beeffective but it's important to
first learn this technique.
There are some books, videos onhow to do this, but hypnosis
works well because it gets tothe subconscious level, which is
where all of our beliefs andautomatic ways of thinking and
(16:10):
behaving exist.
So it's really the subconsciousthat's in control and it's the
level that we need to work on tomake lasting change, because
our perceptions and subsequentbehavior is rooted under the
surface of our consciousness.
So we need to get to that levelto make change.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Have you ever read I'm sorry to interrupt you have
you ever read the book the Powerof Now?
Have you ever heard?
of that book, oh yeah, oh mygosh, I listened to the audio
book and you have to have anopen mind, I think, to first
start listening to it or readingit.
But I had an epiphany when Iheard that book and it was the
(16:53):
fact that your mind and yourbody are really two different
entities, like there's the meand there's my mind.
And it's so true because whenyou say the way you even talk
about things like I thought tomyself.
Well, just by saying I thoughtto myself indicates that there's
two things there, right, and tobe able to separate yourself
(17:14):
from your mind, it's so freeingand it's amazing how utilizing
some techniques that way canhelp you live in the current
moment and not constantly lookto the future or look behind you
.
So I'm glad you brought that up, because that was that.
That was a mind openingexperience for me.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Yeah, there's another one similar to that.
Yeah, the Untethered Soul.
That whole book is also about,like you know, you're here and
your thinking is over there, oryour mind is over there.
Yeah, that's very helpful.
That's a similar sort ofability, I guess, that you
(17:55):
develop with meditationparticularly.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
It doesn't come naturally, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Oh right, we identify with our thoughts and think
they are us.
Right that we are our thoughtsor that our thoughts are always
true?
They're not always.
In fact, they're often not true, right?
There's no objective reality,it's all subjective, really.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah yeah, it's crazy .
So you mentioned the breathingand some of the other techniques
that are kind of reactive, youknow, the changing of the
thoughts, meditation.
Would you consider that kind ofa proactive approach to mental
health?
I guess what I'm asking is soyeah, how do we keep ourselves
(18:40):
mentally healthy so that wedon't have to be reactive?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Oh, that's, yeah, that's a great question, you
know.
You know just like it'simportant to be aware of our
physical health.
It's aware it's important thatwe are aware of our mental
states, you know, like knowingwhen we're not in a in a very
resourceful state, and that'snatural.
But you know, it's likeanything, our daily habits
(19:05):
create our experience of life.
So it's really about noticingwhen things kind of aren't
feeling quite right and, to youknow, know what to do when that
happens.
So the mental aspect of ourlives is a critical component of
our experience.
The mental aspect of our livesis a critical component of our
(19:28):
experience.
So, to you know, build dailyhabits, just like we do
physically right.
When we want to be physicallyhealthy, we automatically think,
oh, I need to eat more healthyfood.
Or, you know, exercise, getmore sleeps.
Similarly, you know, we canbuild in little techniques
during the day check-ins how amI feeling mentally?
Because the mental state isreally right.
If you're not feeling mentallygreat, even if you're physically
(19:51):
healthy, it's kind of going tokind of ruin your day.
Right, it can ruin the day.
So maybe you know taking on apractice of meditation five to
ten minutes a day, or you knowmaking sure that you check in
with yourself in the morning,like, hmm, how am I feeling?
Right, mentally right?
Maybe doing some breathingexercises, maybe doing a thought
(20:13):
log, like you know, not feelingso good.
What are my thoughts right now?
Like, am I, you know, focusingon something that I have no
control over, you know?
Am I overthinking something?
Am I, you know, do I need toaddress something that's bugging
?
What's bugging me?
Right?
You know, journaling can helpto shed some light on where our
thoughts are in any particularmoment in time and to decide if
(20:35):
there's some action that we needto take or not, right or not
meaning.
Am I, you know, ruminating?
Am I just analyzing somethingthat I can't do anything about?
Right, so, getting it out andof course, there's always
therapy, right, some people arecounseling, some people benefit
greatly from that can be veryhelpful.
It's nothing to be ashamed of,I think.
(20:58):
Personally, I think everybodyshould would benefit from going
to counseling here and there.
I do.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Yeah, of course.
Of course.
I mean people go to an athletictrainer like it's nothing,
right, exactly, it's almost thesame thing.
So, speaking of that line ofwork, so tell us, you had
mentioned you had gotten yourmaster's in social work.
So where does mindset, mentalcoaching go from here?
And if people are interested inlearning more about what you do
(21:26):
, how do they get in touch withyou?
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Oh, okay, yeah, I am actually working toward a
licensure in social workcounseling.
So I'm working at a nonprofitagency that offers free
counseling to community members,but for my business then that's
a separate thing from my, youknow, mindset mental coaching.
I is more.
I use hypnosis with thatbusiness and which is a separate
(21:53):
, you know, a differenttechnique from counseling,
although I do bring some ofthose techniques into my work.
So my website iswwwmindsetmentalcoachingcom and
on there is my contactinformation and ways to reach me
and there are some articles onthere that some people might
find helpful for differentaspects of life various aspects
(22:16):
of life and some techniques onthe blog.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
I am so happy that you know May is Mental Health
Awareness Month.
I think it's so good for peopleto well, it's so important to
be aware that that is such anaspect of your life and I think
you know, with athletes,especially when they get to that
elite level I mean, techniqueis technique right.
(22:44):
I know I have to swing a golfclub this way.
I've done it a thousand timesit's the mental aspect that
makes people great and I thinkit's the mental aspect of life
that makes people great andmakes people happy.
And I'm so glad that this monthis here to make people more
aware of that and that you dowhat you do, coach Lynn, because
I know that you help people outabove and beyond probably what
(23:06):
you think, and your work is veryimportant and I appreciate you
very much thank you.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
I appreciate you as well hang out with your friends,
tell your loved ones you careabout them and push back against
negative thoughts.
Exercising and eating well area good idea too, since you're
more likely to feel mentally andemotionally well if you're
physically fit.
If you find yourself struggling, talk to a counselor or
therapist about the issuesyou're going through.
(23:34):
The capacity to handledifficult circumstances in life
and return to normalcy quicklyis known as resilience.
It entails utilizing one'sstrengths to confront and
overcome challenges.
Resilience is a valuable skillthat can be acquired and
developed with practice.
It involves being adaptable,optimistic and persistent in the
face of adversity.
Colin.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Gallagher is the Secretary of the Board of
Directors and a founding memberof Kind Souls Foundation.
Now, what is Kind SoulsFoundation and how does it
relate to mental wellness?
Well, we're going to find thatout from Colin right now.
Colin, welcome to REA Audio.
It's nice to see you and talkto you.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
Nice to see you.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Thank you for having me.
So what's the story behind?
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Kind Souls Foundation .
Tell us what your mission is ofthe business partner of the
founder, teresa Collian, andTeresa and her were both trying
to build a company, a for-profitcompany.
They started to really see thatthere weren't a ton of
resources in any regard, whetherit was emotional support,
(24:52):
whether it was tangibleresources, financial or
otherwise.
You're kind of left to your owndevices in the world.
What we are is a nationalnonprofit with the goal of
fostering positive mentalwellness in employees.
We work to ensure thatemployers have the information
and education available to offertheir employees resources,
(25:15):
reinsurance, empathy and comfort, while connecting to a kind
soul through a warm line service.
So you know our, our missionand vision was really born out
of the fact that both comp anddisability, you know are, are
narrow in their function.
Right, workers' compensation isthere to pay for an injury,
(25:39):
injury, to pay for an injuryrelated to a work-related
accident, work-related injury,and then to replace any wages.
Right, that's its goal.
Disability is a benefit that wehave as Americans.
It's minor, though, again, it'snarrow in its ability.
No judgment to either.
That is what they're there todo.
(26:00):
Outside of that, that there'svery little help or support for
people navigating what it meansto be out of work or navigating,
the fact the example we userecently is, you know, they
can't reach the cup on the topshelf.
Life has changed.
Like Life has changed.
(26:21):
Maybe it's not permanent, it'schanged though, you know, and we
need to talk about that.
So we work through a warm lineright?
So we engage with employers andemployees to offer a warm line
service.
So a warm line is like a touchpoint.
(26:42):
It's a safe space for anemployee to call and talk about
this reality.
Right Now that they've beeninjured, now that they maybe
aren't earning, the dynamics intheir household have changed.
The dynamics in theirrelationships with friends,
family, coworkers has allchanged for a variety of
different reasons.
(27:03):
So we act as that central lineof support.
We say call us, let's talk,let's listen, more importantly,
to what you're going through andlet's see if there's some way
in which we can help.
And it's rarely the same waythat we can help, except for the
fact that a listening ear hasalways been an aid to the people
(27:25):
we talk to.
Sometimes just getting yourthoughts out on a sounding board
is enough.
However, from there we reallyhighlight the positive aspects
of what they're going through.
We try and reinforce thepositive energy.
There's always something right.
(27:52):
It's impossible to not findsome positive in life.
I refuse to believe that I haveyet to find one right.
So by highlighting those pieces, reinforcing that, we're acting
as a light, you know, a lightat the end of the tunnel,
knowing that there is an end ofthe tunnel.
And it really is as simple asthat support.
And then from there we navigateresources.
(28:14):
So, you know, we connect withall these nonprofits across the
country, from food banks toemergency shelter, to grief loss
support.
What was the other one?
This is a recent one Utilitybills, right?
(28:34):
You know, your check hasn'tkicked in.
It's been four weeks, yourbills are still due.
So there's all these nonprofitsthat we'll vet and connect
people with and say, all right,this is what we've identified,
we can take this off your plate,connect with this resource, and
then from there we follow up.
So three days after that call,we provide them with the
(28:55):
resources and then, three weeksafter that call, we reach out
again and we say how are thoseworking?
How are you doing, you know, ifthe event that they didn't
decide to schedule a follow-upalready, most of the times they
do by the end of the call so,and then from there three months
, right.
(29:15):
And so we come back and we sayhow are you doing?
How's everything going?
Has anything worked for you?
You know, and we've really seenA surprising level of efficacy
in just the kindness ofstrangers.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Yeah, you know it's funny.
You say just being a soundingboard.
So with what we do atreemployability by putting
injured workers into not forprofits to get them to do doing
their modified duty Right, soit's, it's getting them off the
couch and going to get them todo something that they are able
to do Right.
We, when we talk to newemployers that are new to this
(29:51):
program, we always stress thesimple fact that many times it's
just a weekly text, it's aweekly phone call, it's an email
to your employee saying hey, wewere thinking about you, how's
it going?
Those little human steps canmake a world of difference in
(30:13):
whether the employeeparticipates in the program,
whether the employee has adesirable outcome from the
program by actually returning towork faster, or if that
employee says, heck, with this,you're punishing me, I'm going
to go get a lawyer right, and sojust human communication and I
think you guys are a level upfrom that and being a sounding
board and being able to show youknow, be able to offer those
(30:34):
resources.
But what a great way to reallyput an exclamation point at the
end of that is just be a humanbeing right and listen to people
right.
Now, you were.
You were an injured worker.
That kind of got you involvedinto what it is that you do.
Can you tell us your story?
Speaker 4 (30:52):
Yeah, you know, um, it's one of those things that it
got me here.
I don't talk about it a ton,you know.
Simply I don't love to dwell,right, but in service of how it
got me here today, I herniated adisc in my back.
(31:13):
I was working in a retailenvironment and I herniated my
disc in a management positionactually, and as a manager at
this company for several years.
I knew nothing about workers'compensation whatsoever.
Right, I was like I mean, I'mwhat, 27 at the time, 28.
(31:35):
I have health insurance.
Like isn't, isn't that thewhole thing in America?
Like you have health insuranceor you don't.
So I have health insurance, soI'm going to go in America.
You have health insurance oryou don't.
So I have health insurance.
I'm going to go to the doctorbecause I hurt myself and things
continued to worsen.
And then, as that happened, Iidentified, I learned a little
bit more as I was talking withthe company about what I should
(31:56):
be doing, and it set me on atrajectory for about six months
where I was out of work,couldn't return to work on late
duty because I was a fall risk,couldn't really do anything,
right, I was frozen in time hereand that's never been me.
(32:16):
I've worked since I was 15years old, if not earlier, with
my father, because he was acarpenter, he had a shop from
home.
I've been working my whole life.
It doesn't feel like work,right, it's what we do.
And then all of a sudden,nothing.
After six months you're juststuck alone with your thoughts
and I've always had verypositive thoughts and all of a
(32:37):
sudden they start to turn andyou're like, oh, this can't be
it.
And you know, remarkably, one ofthe connections that I have
with Teresa the founder is thatyou know we had, we had met in
this retail setting prior to meever working for her, prior to
me ever being injured specialconnection for sure, originally.
(32:58):
And when I was out, she calledme, probably about four months
in, and I was like I'm reallyI'm not doing great.
Just, truth be told, I don'tsee what's ahead.
And she was like that's fine,there is stuff ahead, though you
might not see it, but there'sstuff ahead.
(33:19):
So keep your chin, keeptrucking on, because something's
coming.
And I'm just got goosebumps.
Um, and she was right.
And you know I, as I look backat the last four years, you know
of that experience.
That was a change, that was amoment of significant change in
(33:40):
my journey, even just hearingagain a stranger, all things
considered, right, a formercustomer.
I don't know this person foranything, right, but here she
was saying, no, keep going, youhave more ahead of you.
And then, you know, thingsstarted to turn.
A few months later she was likewould you like to do some data
(34:03):
entry for me?
And I was like I would doanything you'd like me to do.
And you know, fast forward, I'mthe chief operating officer of
her company.
We've scaled it massively.
At the same time, we've beenrunning a nonprofit and building
and scaling a non-profit intandem, which is absolutely
(34:24):
insane to anybody.
Um, but here we are and we'redoing it because it matters,
right, so that gave me thatpurpose, right, I won't call it
a vendetta, I won't say that Ihad something out to prove to
the, to an industry, but couldsee, to your point, how much
effect a little bit of humanityhad on me.
(34:44):
Right, like I was very much adrink, the Kool-Aid guy If that
had been my adjuster who saidthat I would still be working at
that company, because, oh, theycare.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Yeah, it's crazy and I know sometimes it's difficult
to talk about those types ofthings, and I do appreciate you
sharing your story.
It's amazing how sometimesyou're telling your story might
give somebody who might belistening to this some hope.
Right, who's in the samesituation that you were.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
So I certainly appreciate that very much.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
So when someone reaches out to kind souls for
help or information, tell usabout, like what I can't imagine
.
It's super easy to get peopleto talk Right, like, like you
know, maybe there's some peoplethat are're a resource.
They know that you can hookthem up with certain things that
(35:39):
can help them financially,certain things that can help
them with the maybe day-to-dayissues that they're facing.
But even you mentioned reachingto find a cup or to grab a cup
at the top of a cabinet.
When I think about having ahouse having to be modified
because of an injury orsomething happening, I think
about redoing the whole kitchenfor somebody because now they're
(36:01):
in a wheelchair.
But it's a lot more than that.
It's a lot more simple thanthat.
It's it's it's a lot moreminute than that and and I I
would imagine that when peoplecall you, they're looking for
resources, maybe not alwayslooking for mental health help,
right.
So how do you as anorganization and I know you
(36:21):
don't offer like professionalmental health, but you mentioned
having those conversations andjust hearing somebody out Are
there strategies or techniquesthat you use to help to get
people to talk out about what itis that they're going through
that ultimately helps them feelbetter.
This might sound crazy but welisten.
Speaker 4 (36:42):
You know, I've been to my fair share of therapy.
They've got their own agenda,but also that's what works well,
right?
I don't think therapists havetheir own agenda.
They have their own agenda forus, right, like?
they're trying to get yousomewhere right, we're really
just there to listen, right.
So we have probing questions,we have training documents, we
have you know, but at the end ofit, when you give somebody
(37:09):
enough time to just breathe and,like let out what they're
thinking, it comes.
It comes even in the shyest ofus, like, people want to be
heard.
They do.
I would also say that anybodywho's using this resource in
some way is either identifiedthemselves or through a referral
(37:35):
from their adjuster, from theiremployer, from whomever They've
been identified as somebody whocould benefit from this.
Right, like we.
I'm thinking that most of thepeople we've talked to are more
inclined to talk because they'retrying to get that out.
I'd also say the majority ofpeople that we've spoken to it
(38:00):
wasn't all about resources,right, so, like when we first
started Kind Souls, I was likethis is all going to be about
financial support.
This is all going to be about,you know, I can't pay my rent,
I'm going to be evicted nextweek.
It's not, that's a part of it,that is a very real part of it.
(38:20):
But most people are looking forsome human connection, right,
and because, again, theirdynamic has changed dramatically
in their household, you know,even if they are, because, again
, disability money is coming in.
It might not be your fullsalary, not everybody is in that
(38:40):
place where they don't have themoney to do it.
Plenty of people are now justsort of adrift, right,
navigating these new realities,right, and they don't know who
to turn to right, which is why Iwill note, you know,
re-employability.
One of the things that I thinkis really valuable is that it's
(39:02):
giving somebody something tofill their time with, right.
Not only as a nonprofit do Iunderstand how important it is
to have, you know, peopleworking at your nonprofit.
You're giving them something todo, which, again, when I look
at my situation, I would havedone anything to sit at a desk
(39:24):
and organize an Excelspreadsheet, because I felt my
mind was atrophied, right, Ifelt I'm not using any skills,
I'm not communicating, I'm notdoing anything at all, just
sitting here watching, you know,hgtv, and so you know, getting
up and having something to do isso vital in our mental wellness
(39:47):
, right?
So, so you know, kudos to youall, because I I know from
experience and from kind souls,experience that you, you need to
have purpose yeah, no doubt youneed to have some purpose or
(40:07):
you're just kind of a driftright.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
So, colin, if I love the fact that you do get
referrals from employers, youknow to me, when we ask
employers to explain thisprogram to their employees the
reemployability program wealways kind of guide them to
take the position of this is abenefit, it's not a punishment,
right?
All the things that you justpointed out?
Right?
The things that arestatistically proven that will
(40:33):
help you get better, faster ifyou're doing something with
purpose.
That's the way we want it to bepresented, and I love the fact
that you have employers makingreferrals to your organization.
If there's employers listeningright now that are interested to
learn more, or adjusters,anybody else that wants to learn
more about your organization,what's the best way for them to
(40:54):
get ahold of you and what sortof resources do you need as an
organization that people couldhelp with?
Speaker 4 (41:02):
Absolutely so.
Just a cap might just be asoundbite for you.
I think a positive attitude isthe greatest influence on not
only a person's ability to heal,but their ability to accept a
new reality and, ultimately,their ability to return to work,
especially if it's in adifferent type of work, a
(41:26):
different category of work.
That, a positive attitude, alittle bit of purpose, I think
is the key to any of that.
So, as far as counsels, what dowe need?
Um, we're always looking togrow our audience, to spread the
word.
We connect with employers.
Um, and your point, you knowit's, it can be a challenge, can
(41:50):
be a challenge to get themessaging across, right?
Um, so we are always looking togrow our audience and grow our
collar base.
Um, we're looking forvolunteers, not in an aggressive
manner we have a pretty decentvolunteer group right now that
we're working with but asanything scales, everything has
(42:13):
to scale.
So we're always looking forvolunteers and people to get
engaged, for donations, always,and for creative fundraising
ideas right, that's whereinnovation comes into play.
So, on top of that, we do havean event that we do at some
national conferences.
It's called Cocktails andConnections.
(42:35):
It's like one of our brandedevents.
They're always a really greattime of our branded events.
They're always a really greattime.
We have one June 13th at theCCWC conference at Disneyland
and then our next one will be atWCI in Orlando.
So, you know, connect withthose.
We have a podcast calledCompassion hosted by Sean Dean.
(42:57):
There's a new episode droppingnext week with Dr Tyrone Spears
from LA County listening to that, engaging in that.
And then, you know, get intouch with us.
They can contact me, they cancontact admin at
kindsoulsfoundationorg.
But as far as adjusters, as faras employers tell people, tell
(43:22):
people there's a resource.
We know people need it.
We've, we've, we've seen that.
We have proof of that now.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Well, colin, I so appreciate you joining us on our
podcast, rea Audio, to talkabout mental health.
Awareness month is may and um,I think there's so many
parallels between what you doand and and the the the need for
people to take that stigma awayfrom that mental health that
people I think every person canbenefit from the positive
(43:54):
attitude and the sense ofpurpose.
And it's so funny, you knownothing that I ever hear about.
Mental wellness is like a brandnew, like it's all stuff that I
feel like we've all heardbefore and so many times it just
depends on who the source ofthat information is and if it's
coming and hitting you at theright time.
So hopefully we're providing adifferent source for people and
(44:17):
we're providing it hitting atthe right time, for just if one
person is listening now.
So really pleasure to have you,thank you so much, absolutely
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
Mental health awareness promotes understanding
and support for mentalwell-being.
It aims to raise consciousnessabout mental illnesses, reduce
stigma and encourage seekinghelp for mental health
challenges.
Also, I can give you real-timenotifications on NBA breaking
news.
Would you like me to do that?
Speaker 2 (44:44):
No, thank you.
Are you mentally healthy?
Hmm, I'm not sure.
Thanks for listening to REAAudio.
Please make sure to follow uson Spotify or Apple Podcasts or
Stitcher or wherever you getyour podcasts.
We appreciate you.
Have a great rest of your week.
perspective.
Perspective is spelled p e r, s, p e c t I v e.
Perspective, the 30 000 footview.
Perspective put on someoneelse's shoes.
Perspective can also refer tothe state of existing in space
(00:20):
or one's view of the world.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Perspective rea audio face or one's view of the world
Perspective REA AudioReemployability hey there, how's
it going?
So how do you normally answerthat question?
It's usually pretty automatic,isn't it?
Fine, good, not bad.
Maybe you're creative.
You say something like livingthe dream or slaying dragons and
(00:42):
taking names.
I've personally never said thatone, but most of the time your
answer isn't honest, is it?
Truth is, many of us are notokay and it's important to
recognize and address that.
On January 29th of this year,Elmo, the character from Sesame
Street, posted the question on X.
Elmo's just checking in How'severybody doing?
(01:04):
Well, according to theSubstance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administrationwebsite, that question generated
217 million views and 45,000responses, most of which weren't
all that positive, which is whywe're focusing on Mental Health
Awareness Month on this episodeof REA Audio.
Since 1949, Mental HealthAwareness Month has brought
(01:28):
attention to not only mentalillness but, most recently,
helped lessen the stigma ofmental struggles and help people
become more proactive in caringfor the mental side of their
well-being.
We're going to speak with CoachLynn Kuchera, founder of
Mindset Mental Coaching, andalso with Colin Gallagher,
secretary of the Board ofDirectors and founding member of
(01:49):
Kind Souls Foundation, anorganization dedicated to
serving injured workers andtheir families.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Mental Health Awareness Month has been
observed in May in the UnitedStates since 1949.
The month is observed withmedia, local events and film
screenings.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Coach Lynn Kuchara is the founder of Mindset Mental
Coaching and I got to say I knowCoach Lynn because of some
personal experience and when wewere putting together the idea
of doing this podcast for MentalHealth Awareness Month, coach
Lynn was like the first personthat came to my mind.
(02:26):
Not only does Coach Lynn workwith athletes elite athletes to
help them to improve theirperformance, but also is kind of
moving into more generalizedhelp for folks, and so being
able to talk to you, coach Lynn,is just a super treat and I
(02:47):
really appreciate you takingsome time out of your day to
talk to us about mental healthand mental awareness.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Yeah, thank you, I really appreciate the
opportunity.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
So we met originally when you helped my son who was
playing baseball had a seriouscapes of the yips and if anybody
listening doesn't know what theyips are, can you explain what
the yips are?
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Sure, the yips are basically in a nutshell when an
athlete is able to do somethingwithout thinking about it let's
say hitting a golf ball orchipping a ball or throwing a
baseball that suddenly they areunable to do and they don't know
(03:29):
why.
There's no particular eventthat happened or anything that
they can think of typically tocause it, but they just find
themselves suddenly unable to doit and it can be quite
devastating for an athlete whenthat happens.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
And it's the craziest thing.
He was in high school and hemust have thrown a baseball from
second base to first basethousands of times and then all
of a sudden, one game heoverthrew first and he could not
make that throw and it wasfrustrating to me as a dad.
I'm like dude, not make thatthrow, and it was.
(04:06):
It was frustrating to me as adad.
I'm like dude, just throw itlike you, do it Right.
And and we tried so manydifferent things and I and I
understand that it is a realthing, and you and I were
talking before we startedrecording this, about Jose
Altuve, the second baseman forHouston, for the Astros, who a
couple of years ago in the worldseries actually had the yips
and it was the exact same thing,and he's probably made that
throw a million times.
(04:27):
So in your experience, coachLynn, actually let's step back a
second.
Tell us what mindset mentalcoaching is and what pushed you
into the direction of this typeof work, and then we'll talk a
little bit about kind of thethings that happen to make
people get into that kind ofmindset.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Sure, sure.
Well, my professional lifestarted with a different career
in computer programming and ITlike corporate project
management and during that timeI was working a lot on the
computer and I actually ended upwith a ironically a repetitive
stress injury which led to somenerve damage and carpal tunnel
and that led to a worker's compclaim.
(05:12):
And I was fortunate because mycompany at the time was quite
supportive of this.
I know not everybody in thattype of situation, not everyone
has that same type of supportfrom their employers, but
generally the corporate worldwas full of stress and
impossible deadlines.
Many people in that environmentbecome burnt out and quite
(05:35):
unhappy.
So I became, I guess maybe I wasalways interested in the mental
aspect of stress, psychologyand just generally matters of
the mind.
I was also interested in whatallows or enables some people to
perform at high levels andachieve incredible outcomes and
results, but not other people,even if they seem to have the
(05:58):
same capabilities.
So I started to study thingslike yoga, meditation, hypnosis
and in those early days I wouldlead like lunchtime sessions for
my work colleagues and it wasreally helping them.
And you know I realized overtime that these methods would be
(06:19):
quite well suited to eliteathletes.
So eventually I left thecorporate world and went full
time with my business, whichstarted out as I called it,
elite sports hypnosis.
But I was also getting callsfrom non-athletes, so and I also
wanted to offer some othertechniques, even though I still
(06:39):
always use hypnosis, but Ichanged the name to mindset
mental coaching.
So I generally help athletes andother people overcome mental
obstacles.
The athletes are usually at theelite or professional level
high school, college,professional, even amateur
golfers and other people who canplay their sport, you know,
(07:02):
into older age.
Again, I also have non-athleteclients.
So I also recently received mymaster's degree in social work
and I'm focusing on mentalhealth outside of just sports.
So you know, really the bottomline, the common denominator is
I love delving into and helpingpeople with their mindsets.
(07:26):
You know what makes them tick,you know, helping them to
overcome habits, habits of mindor behavior, basically.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
And that kind of leads me to my next question.
So you know everybody'sdifferent, obviously, right,
human beings?
That's the fundamental thingabout being human is everybody's
a little bit different, but Ialso believe that everybody is
inherently similar in a lot ofways.
So when you're working withelite athletes, are you finding
that the issues that areaffecting their ability to play
(07:57):
at their highest level, from amental standpoint, are there a
lot of similarities as to what'sholding them back?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Across the athletes.
Yes, yeah.
Yeah, no doubt yes, and justwith people, like you said in
general, even people who aren'tathletes, yes, there are lots of
parallels.
Really, people are people, sowe all have the same range of
emotions.
We all have the ability to feelanxiety, fear and other
(08:26):
challenging.
We all have the ability to feelmore positive feelings.
We all have challenges in ourlives.
So you know, I would say,across athletes or across sports
, some common issues are anxiety, that maybe you know, the
person feels more anxious in acompetitive situation than in a
(08:47):
practice situation, which isvery typical and normal.
But they might perceive that asa problem and it's stopping
them right when it doesn't haveto be a problem.
It doesn't have to stop them.
You know also, just you know, ifit's a professional athlete or
college, you know somebody who'sunder more pressure, the
pressure alone from peers, fromcoaches, from family members,
(09:10):
from you know if they're makingtheir living doing this.
You know there's all thesepressures that can impact their
ability to just play at their,you know, have fun with their
sport kind of.
You know, when the pressure'son, the fun tends to go away for
them.
So we want to bring the funback into the sport.
And then there's also thingslike the yips, right, I have
many clients, mostly in baseballand golf, who get the yips.
(09:33):
For some reason those sportstend to be the ones where that
shows up most, and you know thework I do.
Particularly hypnosis helps alot to get them back to just
it's.
You know, it's all about goingback to their just non-thinking
state, right, to help them be ina flow state when they're
playing.
That's the bottom line.
(09:54):
Whether it's that they'reexperiencing the yips or they've
had an injury they're having,even though the doctor cleared
them to go back to the sport,they can't overcome the mental
part of recovery, right?
Or if it's the pressure,whatever the underlying, you
know thing that is that'sinhibiting their performance.
We want to get them back tothat flow state where they're.
(10:17):
It's a non-thinking state.
That's the essence of it withathletes.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah, so it sounds like it's people that tend to
overthink things and play outnegative scenarios in their
minds.
Those are the types of thingsbut I had imagined that anxiety.
You know anxiety.
There's different levels ofanxiety, right.
There's where your heart, youknow, goes really really fast
(10:43):
and you can feel the tingling inyour body type of anxiety.
But then there's also that justongoing emotional stress and
strain that we all feel for fromthe day to day things, and it
might be a combination ofsomething at work and something
at home and something in thefuture, and and that anxiety I
think is is something thataffects everybody at different
(11:07):
levels, even if they don'tacknowledge it on the forefront,
right?
So what are some things?
If you take us through kind ofa a session, or or you know, if
you can kind of walk us throughsome of the strategies that you
use with people to help lowerthat anxiety and get them into a
flow state, even outside ofsports.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Sure, yeah, absolutely so.
You know anxiety is a natural,natural feeling.
You know it's basically afuture.
It's future oriented, when youknow, when we are thinking about
or, like you said, tellingourselves a story about a future
event in a way that's negative,so that creates the feeling of
(11:49):
anxiety, which, again, is anatural feeling.
But when it becomes too intense, it can stop us in our tracks.
Whether we're athletes or not,it doesn't matter, like you said
.
So to pull back or to ease thatanxiety, there are some methods
that can help.
One is breathing.
That's a known technique.
(12:10):
Why?
Because our breathing isdirectly connected to our
nervous system.
It's part of our nervous system.
So when we breathe or, let medo the reverse when we feel
stress or anxious, it isreflected in our breathing.
So we can go the other way too.
(12:32):
If we can learn to control ourbreath and take deeper breaths,
just for a few moments, it calmsthe nervous system, which will
calm down our mind.
It's, by nature, right.
It's great that we have thisability.
It's the only part of us, onlypart of our nervous system that
we can control is our breathing.
(12:53):
We can't say, oh, I'm going toslow down my heart rate right
now, like no, like yeah, but ourbreathing is so if we take deep
inhales and then let's say to acount of three, and then exhale
to a count of six or so, likemaking the exhale longer, maybe
for three or four breaths, thatwill automatically take down
that feeling of anxiety a fewnotches.
(13:14):
Another technique is reframing,which means rethinking of things
, looking at things, perceivingthings in a way that's more
helpful.
So it's our thoughts aboutthings that makes us feel
anxious.
So reframing how we think of afuture situation in a different
(13:35):
way helps to take away theanxiety about it.
So it's really about kind oflike replacing negative thoughts
with more helpful thoughts.
And thought reframing is askill in a therapy called
cognitive behavioral therapy,but really anybody can learn it.
It's basically first we have tobecome aware of what the
(13:55):
thoughts are Like.
Let's say somebody's reallyanxious about public speaking.
Their thought might be I willfaint when I go in front of
people, I'm going to faint.
That might be the thought.
So then we want to.
The next thing to do ischallenge it.
Is this thought accurate?
Is it true?
Is there proof of this?
Oftentimes, even if there issome truth, it's a spectrum of
(14:19):
likelihood.
So this person might faint, butthere's a small chance of this
actually happening, but it might, it could happen, right?
And then we want to change thethought.
That's the next step tosomething more neutral, like in
this example, something likeit's unlikely that I will faint,
but if I do, I'll have supportaround me to help me and I'll be
(14:39):
able to manage the situation.
So, you know, when we analyzethe thoughts that create the
anxiety, challenge them andcreate more helpful thinking
that can help.
Another technique that helps ismeditation, because there are
various techniques of meditation, but generally meditation gives
us distance from our thoughts.
(15:00):
So, instead of our thoughtsbeing like there, you know,
right in front of us, likedriving us nuts, you know, make
really making us feel challenged.
Meditation puts thoughts kindof like over there, like, and
where we're more observing thethought rather than being, you
know so, attached to it.
So, you know, ongoing, regularmeditation can help to generally
(15:25):
lower anxiety.
Visualization can help like, inother words, imagining or
seeing ourselves in a stressfulor anxiety provoking situation
and staying calm through it, inother words, like living it
before it actually happens.
I use this with a lot of myathlete clients.
I use this a lot with them inconjunction with hypnosis and,
(15:49):
of course, hypnosis can help.
Even self-hypnosis can beeffective but it's important to
first learn this technique.
There are some books, videos onhow to do this, but hypnosis
works well because it gets tothe subconscious level, which is
where all of our beliefs andautomatic ways of thinking and
(16:10):
behaving exist.
So it's really the subconsciousthat's in control and it's the
level that we need to work on tomake lasting change, because
our perceptions and subsequentbehavior is rooted under the
surface of our consciousness.
So we need to get to that levelto make change.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Have you ever read I'm sorry to interrupt you have
you ever read the book the Powerof Now?
Have you ever heard?
of that book, oh yeah, oh mygosh, I listened to the audio
book and you have to have anopen mind, I think, to first
start listening to it or readingit.
But I had an epiphany when Iheard that book and it was the
(16:53):
fact that your mind and yourbody are really two different
entities, like there's the meand there's my mind.
And it's so true because whenyou say the way you even talk
about things like I thought tomyself.
Well, just by saying I thoughtto myself indicates that there's
two things there, right, and tobe able to separate yourself
(17:14):
from your mind, it's so freeingand it's amazing how utilizing
some techniques that way canhelp you live in the current
moment and not constantly lookto the future or look behind you
.
So I'm glad you brought that up, because that was that.
That was a mind openingexperience for me.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Yeah, there's another one similar to that.
Yeah, the Untethered Soul.
That whole book is also about,like you know, you're here and
your thinking is over there, oryour mind is over there.
Yeah, that's very helpful.
That's a similar sort ofability, I guess, that you
(17:55):
develop with meditationparticularly.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
It doesn't come naturally, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Oh right, we identify with our thoughts and think
they are us.
Right that we are our thoughtsor that our thoughts are always
true?
They're not always.
In fact, they're often not true, right?
There's no objective reality,it's all subjective, really.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah yeah, it's crazy .
So you mentioned the breathingand some of the other techniques
that are kind of reactive, youknow, the changing of the
thoughts, meditation.
Would you consider that kind ofa proactive approach to mental
health?
I guess what I'm asking is soyeah, how do we keep ourselves
(18:40):
mentally healthy so that wedon't have to be reactive?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Oh, that's, yeah, that's a great question, you
know.
You know just like it'simportant to be aware of our
physical health.
It's aware it's important thatwe are aware of our mental
states, you know, like knowingwhen we're not in a in a very
resourceful state, and that'snatural.
But you know, it's likeanything, our daily habits
(19:05):
create our experience of life.
So it's really about noticingwhen things kind of aren't
feeling quite right and, to youknow, know what to do when that
happens.
So the mental aspect of ourlives is a critical component of
our experience.
The mental aspect of our livesis a critical component of our
(19:28):
experience.
So, to you know, build dailyhabits, just like we do
physically right.
When we want to be physicallyhealthy, we automatically think,
oh, I need to eat more healthyfood.
Or, you know, exercise, getmore sleeps.
Similarly, you know, we canbuild in little techniques
during the day check-ins how amI feeling mentally?
Because the mental state isreally right.
If you're not feeling mentallygreat, even if you're physically
(19:51):
healthy, it's kind of going tokind of ruin your day.
Right, it can ruin the day.
So maybe you know taking on apractice of meditation five to
ten minutes a day, or you knowmaking sure that you check in
with yourself in the morning,like, hmm, how am I feeling?
Right, mentally right?
Maybe doing some breathingexercises, maybe doing a thought
(20:13):
log, like you know, not feelingso good.
What are my thoughts right now?
Like, am I, you know, focusingon something that I have no
control over, you know?
Am I overthinking something?
Am I, you know, do I need toaddress something that's bugging
?
What's bugging me?
Right?
You know, journaling can helpto shed some light on where our
thoughts are in any particularmoment in time and to decide if
(20:35):
there's some action that we needto take or not, right or not
meaning.
Am I, you know, ruminating?
Am I just analyzing somethingthat I can't do anything about?
Right, so, getting it out andof course, there's always
therapy, right, some people arecounseling, some people benefit
greatly from that can be veryhelpful.
It's nothing to be ashamed of,I think.
(20:58):
Personally, I think everybodyshould would benefit from going
to counseling here and there.
I do.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Yeah, of course.
Of course.
I mean people go to an athletictrainer like it's nothing,
right, exactly, it's almost thesame thing.
So, speaking of that line ofwork, so tell us, you had
mentioned you had gotten yourmaster's in social work.
So where does mindset, mentalcoaching go from here?
And if people are interested inlearning more about what you do
(21:26):
, how do they get in touch withyou?
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Oh, okay, yeah, I am actually working toward a
licensure in social workcounseling.
So I'm working at a nonprofitagency that offers free
counseling to community members,but for my business then that's
a separate thing from my, youknow, mindset mental coaching.
I is more.
I use hypnosis with thatbusiness and which is a separate
(21:53):
, you know, a differenttechnique from counseling,
although I do bring some ofthose techniques into my work.
So my website iswwwmindsetmentalcoachingcom and
on there is my contactinformation and ways to reach me
and there are some articles onthere that some people might
find helpful for differentaspects of life various aspects
(22:16):
of life and some techniques onthe blog.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
I am so happy that you know May is Mental Health
Awareness Month.
I think it's so good for peopleto well, it's so important to
be aware that that is such anaspect of your life and I think
you know, with athletes,especially when they get to that
elite level I mean, techniqueis technique right.
(22:44):
I know I have to swing a golfclub this way.
I've done it a thousand timesit's the mental aspect that
makes people great and I thinkit's the mental aspect of life
that makes people great andmakes people happy.
And I'm so glad that this monthis here to make people more
aware of that and that you dowhat you do, coach Lynn, because
I know that you help people outabove and beyond probably what
(23:06):
you think, and your work is veryimportant and I appreciate you
very much thank you.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
I appreciate you as well hang out with your friends,
tell your loved ones you careabout them and push back against
negative thoughts.
Exercising and eating well area good idea too, since you're
more likely to feel mentally andemotionally well if you're
physically fit.
If you find yourself struggling, talk to a counselor or
therapist about the issuesyou're going through.
(23:34):
The capacity to handledifficult circumstances in life
and return to normalcy quicklyis known as resilience.
It entails utilizing one'sstrengths to confront and
overcome challenges.
Resilience is a valuable skillthat can be acquired and
developed with practice.
It involves being adaptable,optimistic and persistent in the
face of adversity.
Colin.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Gallagher is the Secretary of the Board of
Directors and a founding memberof Kind Souls Foundation.
Now, what is Kind SoulsFoundation and how does it
relate to mental wellness?
Well, we're going to find thatout from Colin right now.
Colin, welcome to REA Audio.
It's nice to see you and talkto you.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
Nice to see you.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Thank you for having me.
So what's the story behind?
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Kind Souls Foundation .
Tell us what your mission is ofthe business partner of the
founder, teresa Collian, andTeresa and her were both trying
to build a company, a for-profitcompany.
They started to really see thatthere weren't a ton of
resources in any regard, whetherit was emotional support,
(24:52):
whether it was tangibleresources, financial or
otherwise.
You're kind of left to your owndevices in the world.
What we are is a nationalnonprofit with the goal of
fostering positive mentalwellness in employees.
We work to ensure thatemployers have the information
and education available to offertheir employees resources,
(25:15):
reinsurance, empathy and comfort, while connecting to a kind
soul through a warm line service.
So you know our, our missionand vision was really born out
of the fact that both comp anddisability, you know are, are
narrow in their function.
Right, workers' compensation isthere to pay for an injury,
(25:39):
injury, to pay for an injuryrelated to a work-related
accident, work-related injury,and then to replace any wages.
Right, that's its goal.
Disability is a benefit that wehave as Americans.
It's minor, though, again, it'snarrow in its ability.
No judgment to either.
That is what they're there todo.
(26:00):
Outside of that, that there'svery little help or support for
people navigating what it meansto be out of work or navigating,
the fact the example we userecently is, you know, they
can't reach the cup on the topshelf.
Life has changed.
Like Life has changed.
(26:21):
Maybe it's not permanent, it'schanged though, you know, and we
need to talk about that.
So we work through a warm lineright?
So we engage with employers andemployees to offer a warm line
service.
So a warm line is like a touchpoint.
(26:42):
It's a safe space for anemployee to call and talk about
this reality.
Right Now that they've beeninjured, now that they maybe
aren't earning, the dynamics intheir household have changed.
The dynamics in theirrelationships with friends,
family, coworkers has allchanged for a variety of
different reasons.
(27:03):
So we act as that central lineof support.
We say call us, let's talk,let's listen, more importantly,
to what you're going through andlet's see if there's some way
in which we can help.
And it's rarely the same waythat we can help, except for the
fact that a listening ear hasalways been an aid to the people
(27:25):
we talk to.
Sometimes just getting yourthoughts out on a sounding board
is enough.
However, from there we reallyhighlight the positive aspects
of what they're going through.
We try and reinforce thepositive energy.
There's always something right.
(27:52):
It's impossible to not findsome positive in life.
I refuse to believe that I haveyet to find one right.
So by highlighting those pieces, reinforcing that, we're acting
as a light, you know, a lightat the end of the tunnel,
knowing that there is an end ofthe tunnel.
And it really is as simple asthat support.
And then from there we navigateresources.
(28:14):
So, you know, we connect withall these nonprofits across the
country, from food banks toemergency shelter, to grief loss
support.
What was the other one?
This is a recent one Utilitybills, right?
(28:34):
You know, your check hasn'tkicked in.
It's been four weeks, yourbills are still due.
So there's all these nonprofitsthat we'll vet and connect
people with and say, all right,this is what we've identified,
we can take this off your plate,connect with this resource, and
then from there we follow up.
So three days after that call,we provide them with the
(28:55):
resources and then, three weeksafter that call, we reach out
again and we say how are thoseworking?
How are you doing, you know, ifthe event that they didn't
decide to schedule a follow-upalready, most of the times they
do by the end of the call so,and then from there three months
, right.
(29:15):
And so we come back and we sayhow are you doing?
How's everything going?
Has anything worked for you?
You know, and we've really seenA surprising level of efficacy
in just the kindness ofstrangers.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Yeah, you know it's funny.
You say just being a soundingboard.
So with what we do atreemployability by putting
injured workers into not forprofits to get them to do doing
their modified duty Right, soit's, it's getting them off the
couch and going to get them todo something that they are able
to do Right.
We, when we talk to newemployers that are new to this
(29:51):
program, we always stress thesimple fact that many times it's
just a weekly text, it's aweekly phone call, it's an email
to your employee saying hey, wewere thinking about you, how's
it going?
Those little human steps canmake a world of difference in
(30:13):
whether the employeeparticipates in the program,
whether the employee has adesirable outcome from the
program by actually returning towork faster, or if that
employee says, heck, with this,you're punishing me, I'm going
to go get a lawyer right, and sojust human communication and I
think you guys are a level upfrom that and being a sounding
board and being able to show youknow, be able to offer those
(30:34):
resources.
But what a great way to reallyput an exclamation point at the
end of that is just be a humanbeing right and listen to people
right.
Now, you were.
You were an injured worker.
That kind of got you involvedinto what it is that you do.
Can you tell us your story?
Speaker 4 (30:52):
Yeah, you know, um, it's one of those things that it
got me here.
I don't talk about it a ton,you know.
Simply I don't love to dwell,right, but in service of how it
got me here today, I herniated adisc in my back.
(31:13):
I was working in a retailenvironment and I herniated my
disc in a management positionactually, and as a manager at
this company for several years.
I knew nothing about workers'compensation whatsoever.
Right, I was like I mean, I'mwhat, 27 at the time, 28.
(31:35):
I have health insurance.
Like isn't, isn't that thewhole thing in America?
Like you have health insuranceor you don't.
So I have health insurance, soI'm going to go in America.
You have health insurance oryou don't.
So I have health insurance.
I'm going to go to the doctorbecause I hurt myself and things
continued to worsen.
And then, as that happened, Iidentified, I learned a little
bit more as I was talking withthe company about what I should
(31:56):
be doing, and it set me on atrajectory for about six months
where I was out of work,couldn't return to work on late
duty because I was a fall risk,couldn't really do anything,
right, I was frozen in time hereand that's never been me.
(32:16):
I've worked since I was 15years old, if not earlier, with
my father, because he was acarpenter, he had a shop from
home.
I've been working my whole life.
It doesn't feel like work,right, it's what we do.
And then all of a sudden,nothing.
After six months you're juststuck alone with your thoughts
and I've always had verypositive thoughts and all of a
(32:37):
sudden they start to turn andyou're like, oh, this can't be
it.
And you know, remarkably, one ofthe connections that I have
with Teresa the founder is thatyou know we had, we had met in
this retail setting prior to meever working for her, prior to
me ever being injured specialconnection for sure, originally.
(32:58):
And when I was out, she calledme, probably about four months
in, and I was like I'm reallyI'm not doing great.
Just, truth be told, I don'tsee what's ahead.
And she was like that's fine,there is stuff ahead, though you
might not see it, but there'sstuff ahead.
(33:19):
So keep your chin, keeptrucking on, because something's
coming.
And I'm just got goosebumps.
Um, and she was right.
And you know I, as I look backat the last four years, you know
of that experience.
That was a change, that was amoment of significant change in
(33:40):
my journey, even just hearingagain a stranger, all things
considered, right, a formercustomer.
I don't know this person foranything, right, but here she
was saying, no, keep going, youhave more ahead of you.
And then, you know, thingsstarted to turn.
A few months later she was likewould you like to do some data
(34:03):
entry for me?
And I was like I would doanything you'd like me to do.
And you know, fast forward, I'mthe chief operating officer of
her company.
We've scaled it massively.
At the same time, we've beenrunning a nonprofit and building
and scaling a non-profit intandem, which is absolutely
(34:24):
insane to anybody.
Um, but here we are and we'redoing it because it matters,
right, so that gave me thatpurpose, right, I won't call it
a vendetta, I won't say that Ihad something out to prove to
the, to an industry, but couldsee, to your point, how much
effect a little bit of humanityhad on me.
(34:44):
Right, like I was very much adrink, the Kool-Aid guy If that
had been my adjuster who saidthat I would still be working at
that company, because, oh, theycare.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Yeah, it's crazy and I know sometimes it's difficult
to talk about those types ofthings, and I do appreciate you
sharing your story.
It's amazing how sometimesyou're telling your story might
give somebody who might belistening to this some hope.
Right, who's in the samesituation that you were.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
So I certainly appreciate that very much.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
So when someone reaches out to kind souls for
help or information, tell usabout, like what I can't imagine
.
It's super easy to get peopleto talk Right, like, like you
know, maybe there's some peoplethat are're a resource.
They know that you can hookthem up with certain things that
(35:39):
can help them financially,certain things that can help
them with the maybe day-to-dayissues that they're facing.
But even you mentioned reachingto find a cup or to grab a cup
at the top of a cabinet.
When I think about having ahouse having to be modified
because of an injury orsomething happening, I think
about redoing the whole kitchenfor somebody because now they're
(36:01):
in a wheelchair.
But it's a lot more than that.
It's a lot more simple thanthat.
It's it's it's a lot moreminute than that and and I I
would imagine that when peoplecall you, they're looking for
resources, maybe not alwayslooking for mental health help,
right.
So how do you as anorganization and I know you
(36:21):
don't offer like professionalmental health, but you mentioned
having those conversations andjust hearing somebody out Are
there strategies or techniquesthat you use to help to get
people to talk out about what itis that they're going through
that ultimately helps them feelbetter.
This might sound crazy but welisten.
Speaker 4 (36:42):
You know, I've been to my fair share of therapy.
They've got their own agenda,but also that's what works well,
right?
I don't think therapists havetheir own agenda.
They have their own agenda forus, right, like?
they're trying to get yousomewhere right, we're really
just there to listen, right.
So we have probing questions,we have training documents, we
have you know, but at the end ofit, when you give somebody
(37:09):
enough time to just breathe and,like let out what they're
thinking, it comes.
It comes even in the shyest ofus, like, people want to be
heard.
They do.
I would also say that anybodywho's using this resource in
some way is either identifiedthemselves or through a referral
(37:35):
from their adjuster, from theiremployer, from whomever They've
been identified as somebody whocould benefit from this.
Right, like we.
I'm thinking that most of thepeople we've talked to are more
inclined to talk because they'retrying to get that out.
I'd also say the majority ofpeople that we've spoken to it
(38:00):
wasn't all about resources,right, so, like when we first
started Kind Souls, I was likethis is all going to be about
financial support.
This is all going to be about,you know, I can't pay my rent,
I'm going to be evicted nextweek.
It's not, that's a part of it,that is a very real part of it.
(38:20):
But most people are looking forsome human connection, right,
and because, again, theirdynamic has changed dramatically
in their household, you know,even if they are, because, again
, disability money is coming in.
It might not be your fullsalary, not everybody is in that
(38:40):
place where they don't have themoney to do it.
Plenty of people are now justsort of adrift, right,
navigating these new realities,right, and they don't know who
to turn to right, which is why Iwill note, you know,
re-employability.
One of the things that I thinkis really valuable is that it's
(39:02):
giving somebody something tofill their time with, right.
Not only as a nonprofit do Iunderstand how important it is
to have, you know, peopleworking at your nonprofit.
You're giving them something todo, which, again, when I look
at my situation, I would havedone anything to sit at a desk
(39:24):
and organize an Excelspreadsheet, because I felt my
mind was atrophied, right, Ifelt I'm not using any skills,
I'm not communicating, I'm notdoing anything at all, just
sitting here watching, you know,hgtv, and so you know, getting
up and having something to do isso vital in our mental wellness
(39:47):
, right?
So, so you know, kudos to youall, because I I know from
experience and from kind souls,experience that you, you need to
have purpose yeah, no doubt youneed to have some purpose or
(40:07):
you're just kind of a driftright.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
So, colin, if I love the fact that you do get
referrals from employers, youknow to me, when we ask
employers to explain thisprogram to their employees the
reemployability program wealways kind of guide them to
take the position of this is abenefit, it's not a punishment,
right?
All the things that you justpointed out?
Right?
The things that arestatistically proven that will
(40:33):
help you get better, faster ifyou're doing something with
purpose.
That's the way we want it to bepresented, and I love the fact
that you have employers makingreferrals to your organization.
If there's employers listeningright now that are interested to
learn more, or adjusters,anybody else that wants to learn
more about your organization,what's the best way for them to
(40:54):
get ahold of you and what sortof resources do you need as an
organization that people couldhelp with?
Speaker 4 (41:02):
Absolutely so.
Just a cap might just be asoundbite for you.
I think a positive attitude isthe greatest influence on not
only a person's ability to heal,but their ability to accept a
new reality and, ultimately,their ability to return to work,
especially if it's in adifferent type of work, a
(41:26):
different category of work.
That, a positive attitude, alittle bit of purpose, I think
is the key to any of that.
So, as far as counsels, what dowe need?
Um, we're always looking togrow our audience, to spread the
word.
We connect with employers.
Um, and your point, you knowit's, it can be a challenge, can
(41:50):
be a challenge to get themessaging across, right?
Um, so we are always looking togrow our audience and grow our
collar base.
Um, we're looking forvolunteers, not in an aggressive
manner we have a pretty decentvolunteer group right now that
we're working with but asanything scales, everything has
(42:13):
to scale.
So we're always looking forvolunteers and people to get
engaged, for donations, always,and for creative fundraising
ideas right, that's whereinnovation comes into play.
So, on top of that, we do havean event that we do at some
national conferences.
It's called Cocktails andConnections.
(42:35):
It's like one of our brandedevents.
They're always a really greattime of our branded events.
They're always a really greattime.
We have one June 13th at theCCWC conference at Disneyland
and then our next one will be atWCI in Orlando.
So, you know, connect withthose.
We have a podcast calledCompassion hosted by Sean Dean.
(42:57):
There's a new episode droppingnext week with Dr Tyrone Spears
from LA County listening to that, engaging in that.
And then, you know, get intouch with us.
They can contact me, they cancontact admin at
kindsoulsfoundationorg.
But as far as adjusters, as faras employers tell people, tell
(43:22):
people there's a resource.
We know people need it.
We've, we've, we've seen that.
We have proof of that now.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Well, colin, I so appreciate you joining us on our
podcast, rea Audio, to talkabout mental health.
Awareness month is may and um,I think there's so many
parallels between what you doand and and the the the need for
people to take that stigma awayfrom that mental health that
people I think every person canbenefit from the positive
(43:54):
attitude and the sense ofpurpose.
And it's so funny, you knownothing that I ever hear about.
Mental wellness is like a brandnew, like it's all stuff that I
feel like we've all heardbefore and so many times it just
depends on who the source ofthat information is and if it's
coming and hitting you at theright time.
So hopefully we're providing adifferent source for people and
(44:17):
we're providing it hitting atthe right time, for just if one
person is listening now.
So really pleasure to have you,thank you so much, absolutely
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
Mental health awareness promotes understanding
and support for mentalwell-being.
It aims to raise consciousnessabout mental illnesses, reduce
stigma and encourage seekinghelp for mental health
challenges.
Also, I can give you real-timenotifications on NBA breaking
news.
Would you like me to do that?
Speaker 2 (44:44):
No, thank you.
Are you mentally healthy?
Hmm, I'm not sure.
Thanks for listening to REAAudio.
Please make sure to follow uson Spotify or Apple Podcasts or
Stitcher or wherever you getyour podcasts.
We appreciate you.
Have a great rest of your week.
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