The Hope Matrix

Given his history, he should be dead. Or incarcerated. He grew up in Las Vegas in a broken family of eight. In a true story of Hopelessness to Hope, Grant Denton is this week’s guest on The Hope Matrix.

Grant Denton burned through jobs. He became addicted to heroin and crystal meth. He married and divorced twice, having two sons. Because of his addiction, he lost his job and his family, intermittently living on the street from 2007 ...

On this week’s episode of the Hope Matrix, our host Kathryn Goetzke meets with Craig Kramer and Katharine and Peter Lee-Kramer to explore the importance of hope and hope skills within a family dynamic. Craig Kramer currently serves as the Mental Health Ambassador, and Chair of the Global Campaign on Mental Health, for Johnson and Johnson. He has traveled the world in pursuit of mental health advocacy, programming, and the continued...

Now, more than ever, one is able to see how important it is to manage hopelessness on the college campus. This week’s special guest on the Hope Matrix is Max Hennessy. Max grew up in Norfolk, Virginia and graduated from UVA’s College of Arts and Science this past August with a degree in Religious Studies. He started his first side hustle at 14 years old, reselling vintage video games throughout high school. Then, he created his fir...

This week’s special guest on the Hope Matrix is Malia Pruyn. Malia has had her own struggles with mental health throughout high school and leading into college. She is the Panhellenic President at the University of Nevada, Reno, and is greatly involved in her sorority, Pi Beta Phi. She worked for Crisis Support Services of Nevada to help populations in crisis. However, she left to find a role that would allow for preventative menta...

This week’s special guest on the Hope Matrix is Matthew Jackman. Matthew lives with Bipolar Affective Disorder and Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (defined by DSM/Psychiatry), is a sibling caregiver to his younger brother and sister who live with enduring psychosocial diverse abilities, and has lost his mother to suicide, and consequently his grandparents due to stigma. His experiences of distress and service use drive his p...

This week’s special guest on the Hope Matrix is Abbey Johnson. Abbey is the Founder of Live Without Apologies, LLC.  She is a child of God, a daughter, sister, friend, Naija, a Mental Health Advocate, passionate public servant and so much more. She created Live Without Apologies to inspire everyone to—“Live life unapologetically on YOUR terms, without judgment or validation from others.  She had the idea for Live Without Apologies ...

This week’s special guest on the Hope Matrix is Charlene Sunkel. Charlene was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1991 and her journey since then has exposed her to the challenges experienced by persons with mental disorders within and outside of the mental health sector. This encouraged her to commit herself to fighting the cause for mental health and human rights. She has worked in the field since 2003. Charlene is the Founder/CEO of...

This week’s special guest on the Hope Matrix is Dr. Zachary Burton. Zack co-founded and leads The Manic Monologues, a play and film honoring true stories of mental health and illness to disrupt stigma. The Manic Monologues has drawn accolades from NPR, The Washington Post, Broadway World, Modern Healthcare, and others, and in just a few days, will see a unique pandemic-era virtual premiere with full Broadway and Hollywood cast.

In E...

This week’s special guest on the Hope Matrix is Luis Gallardo. Luis is a social innovator and entrepreneur who is dedicated to increasing awareness on the science of happiness, holistic education, and smart innovation. Luis is the Founder of World Happiness Fest, author of The Exponentials of Happiness, and the President of the World Happiness Foundation. 

In Episode 12 of the Hope Matrix, Kathryn and Luis explore the connection bet...

This week’s special guest on the Hope Matrix is Shamash Alidina. Shamash has been practicing mindfulness since 1998 and runs an international mindfulness teacher training organization. He is the international bestselling author of Mindfulness for Dummies, The Mindful Way through Stress and 7 other books. He’s currently also passionate about offering daily live meditation classes and creating a friendly mindful community, and has be...

This week’s special guest on the Hope Matrix is Tarun Galagali. Tarun is a Mental Health Advocate and the Director of Business Strategy & Operations at Talkspace. He is currently heading the Talkspace and Hopeful Cities initiative in Reno, which is providing free, unlimited messaging therapy to all Reno residents.

Talkspace was founded eight years ago with the goal to provide more people with convenient access to licensed therap...

This week’s special guest on the Hope Matrix is Lian Zeitz, Co-Founder and Global Director of Love and Compassion for Youth RISE, a company mobilizing youth to be engaged in full spectrum harm reduction and drug policy reform to promote health and human rights. Lian has also worked as the Director of Youth Engagement and Advocacy for Cities RISE. 

In this week’s episode, Kathryn and Lian explore the complex relationship between hope...

This week’s special guest on the Hope Matrix is Neli Vazquez Rowland. Neli is the Co-Founder and President of A Safe Haven (ASH), an award-winning vertically integrated social and economic development model that rebuilds the lives of individuals impacted by poverty, substance abuse, prison reentry, and homelessness. The ASH model uses a holistic, integrated, and individualized multi-disciplinary approach to offer addiction treatmen...

This week’s special guest on the Hope Matrix is Dr. Raouf Gharbo, DO. Dr. Gharbo is a Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Specialist, and HRV Subject Matter Expert for pragmatic solutions. He has over 20 years of experience using hope methodologies to address chronic pain. 

In this week’s episode, Kathryn and Dr. Gharbo discuss the benefit of using hope skills to help foster resilience against the pain, hopelessness, and fatigue ...

This week’s special guest on the Hope Matrix is Taylor Steed. Taylor is the author of the Hopeful Minds Overview and Hopeful Minds Deep Dive Educator Guides, as well as many of the Hopeful Minds and iFred resources for parents, educators, and children.

In this week’s episode, Taylor and Kathryn discuss the importance of hope in the classroom, and how Hopeful Minds is striving to make hope “cool” for kids. They reflect on their favor...

This week’s special guest on the Hope Matrix is Sandy Marshall. Sandy is the founder, CEO, and visionary of Project Scientist, a national nonprofit that turns girls age 4 to 12 onto science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). She is passionate about igniting girls’ confidence that a STEM career is obtainable for any girl. 

In the nine years since it was created, Project Scientist has served more than 10,000 girls. More than h...

This week’s special guest on the Hope Matrix is Jamie Kelly, Strategic Advisor and Vice President Omnichannel for Isomr Group. Jamie is a mom of two brilliant, dyslexic children (Landon and Camryn), and a founder of Support Dyslexia. In addition to her successful career in retail merchandising, product content development, and digital shelf management, she has dedicated her life to raising awareness about dyslexia, and helping pare...

This week’s special guest on the Hope Matrix is Mandy Bird. Mandy has been a Licensed Professional Counselor for almost 30 years, delivering hope and heart-centered therapy for individuals, couples, and families struggling with depression, anxiety, grief, and trauma. In light of current events, Mandy offers both in person and virtual therapy sessions. Mandy is also the host of the podcast Finding Hope, where guests share stories of...

This week's episode of the Hope Matrix follows Martin Rafferty, Executive Director of Youth Era, as he discusses how youth are stepping up and creating change during these challenging times.

Martin Rafferty is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Youth Era, a national non-profit that is revolutionizing how we view youth engagement. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center highlighted Martin Rafferty as one of...