April 2, 2025 • 19 mins
Mental health matters—and in this special Stay A While episode, recorded live at Super Bowl 59, host Tommi Vincent welcomes Dan Gillison, CEO of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). Together, they tackle the importance of mental health awareness, the role of faith-based communities, and the unique challenges faced by HBCU students and student-athletes. Gillison shares his expertise on the evolving conversation around mental wellness, the importance of community-based support, and the steps we can all take to break the stigma surrounding mental health. Whether you’re an advocate, educator, or simply someone looking for guidance, this episode offers powerful insights for fostering a healthier, more inclusive society.
Guest: Dan Gillison
| Powered by The House of Joy |
Subscribe & Follow:
Don’t miss an episode of "Stay A While"! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform. Stay connected and get the latest updates by following us on Instagram @StayAWhileShow and follow our host Tommi Vincent @cheftommiv. Watch full episodes on our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/@ChefTommiV
Join the Conversation:
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode! Share your insights and stories with us using #StayAWhilePodcast on social media.
Music By: Stichiz - Big T. Music / Roj & Twinkie
Guest: Dan Gillison
| Powered by The House of Joy |
Subscribe & Follow:
Don’t miss an episode of "Stay A While"! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform. Stay connected and get the latest updates by following us on Instagram @StayAWhileShow and follow our host Tommi Vincent @cheftommiv. Watch full episodes on our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/@ChefTommiV
Join the Conversation:
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode! Share your insights and stories with us using #StayAWhilePodcast on social media.
Music By: Stichiz - Big T. Music / Roj & Twinkie
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to a special edition of Stale Wild, recorded live
on Radio Row at Super Bowl fifty nine. I'm your host,
Tommy Vincent, and we are going to be hearing some
dynamic conversations with phenomenal guests here on Radio Row. So
take a seat, get comfortable in stale will. This episode
is sponsored by the House of Joy. Hi. Everyone, this
(00:24):
is Tommy Vincent, your host of Stale Wild podcast, and
today we have joining us at the table, Dan Gillison.
Dan is the chief executive officer at National Alliance on
Mental Illness, also known as NAMMY. Welcome to the table.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Dan, Thank you very much. It's so good to be
here with you, Tommy, and thank you for the opportunity
to share this space with you.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Absolutely listen, I am you and I have a mutual
friend and Monica, and Monica speaks so highly of you
and all of the work that you're doing and your
leadership and your ability to really hone in on this
(01:08):
space where we recognize that we have to make mental
wellness a priority, especially with our young folks.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
We must, we must.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
If we don't talk about it, if we don't disseminate information,
we leave people with their own thoughts. Yes, and we're
not providing them with the necessary information to make an
informed decision about their wellness. Yeah, so thank you, and
let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Let's get into it. Let's do it. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So let's talk about that. Let's talk about this place
of priority where you are focusing in on HBCU college students. Yes,
their mental wellness and the conjunction with their faith. Oh wow,
what is that about?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Well, what it's about? First of all, again, thank you,
and and and Secondly, I was an HBCU athlete, so
I and the third thing was for tennis, okay, and
I was asked to go out as as a wide
receiver after my first year. So that's either that I
was either a pretty good wide receiver or I was
(02:20):
a terrible tennis player. I don't know why they but
but some kind of way they asked me if I
try to play football, and something told me stay on
the tennis court. So and and il back then was
twenty five dollars.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Oh wow, Well, at least you got something.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
I did get something, didn't get anything, that's right, that's right.
So I do understand the student athlete and and and
and the stressors there and also understand the HBCU experience.
The third thing I wanted to say is that you
introduced me so so pleasantly as a CEO, and yes,
that's my title. But I come to this work as
a father. I come to this work as a son.
(02:52):
I come to this work as an uncle, and I
want a better world for my nephews and my my
my son and daughter, and I also want to represent
this work for all of us. So as we look
at that work and you look at the faith based community,
let me go there in terms of what we know
as first responders and our community, the first responders have
(03:14):
been the faith based leaders. Those are the first people
we go to from because of a level of trust.
So what we're looking at is the connective tissue between
the faith based on campus we have a Nomie on
campus program, and then the student athlete as well as
the student. So we're trying to bring all of that
connective tissue together. So in our body of work, in
(03:36):
our portfolio.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
What does NAMI look like on a campus, what does
that entail?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Yeah, well, we have different chapters across the country and
we have youth leaders that student leaders that will start
the chapter and then they will have meetings throughout the year,
normally on Wednesdays, and they bring the students together with
a facilitator to just talk about how they're feeling, what
are they feeling, and do they need to access some resources.
(04:02):
So we do that for the students on the campus.
And then what we're trying to do now as we
look at it and say, wait a minute, how are
the professors doing? And you know, we talk about educators.
We talk about teachers. Who's touching those students every day,
who's influencing those students every day? Who are those students
looking to for coaching, counseling and not just the academic piece.
(04:25):
So we're trying to figure out how to do more
in terms of our professors and our educators on the
campus and making sure that we circle around them and
let them know they're not alone. Yet.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
I mentioned to you before we started that we did
some activations this week at the school. It was in Garyville, Louisiana,
and we do our work with the students during the
day and then after school we hold a session for
all of the teachers and faculty at the school, so
(04:58):
any and everyone that is an adult on that campus.
And the reason why we do. That is to the
point of what you made in regards with the professors
is there's an expectation of them that is part of
their responsibility. So it's this is their responsibility to invest
in our future. However, if they're showing up and they
(05:24):
aren't equipped to manage their own lives, they're coming in
and they're potentially bleeding out on the students. They're not
seeing the students for who they are. Everything now has
this They're looking at it through a lens of their
own experiences and where they are right in this moment
(05:45):
and in our conversation when I was speaking with them,
I could see that they were carrying a lot in
their own personal life and tears were rolling and you know,
the faces were showing the weight of life right now.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yes, yes, when.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
You think about that and what you said about you
have this component of the professors, You have the students
that you're looking to make sure they're well, how do
you bridge that so that there is this piece where
you're pouring into the adults responsible and you're also helping
(06:26):
them to be able to do that and invest in
the future of the students.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Well, first of all, thank you for what you're doing
and what you just shared in terms of the school,
My wife was an educator for thirty years, so I
understand this in terms of what that educator goes through.
In terms of what we do is, first of all,
you have to create a judgment free zone. You've got
(06:52):
to create a space, a safe space where the professors,
the teachers can actually talk and they can share what
they're now gating. So and we do that with some
of our programs. One of them is called Family to Family,
so we can actually family to Family. So that's one
of the programs that we have, and we can model
some of that learning into this context. But it's you know,
(07:15):
to a great extent, we're a cosmetic society. We judge
a book by its cover. And what we're trying to
do with the teachers is, let's get into the table
of contents in the chapters. What are you going through?
What are you navigating? Because you do bring that to
work every day. How can we help you with that?
What do you need? And that's not me facilitating and
(07:36):
it's with the it's it's with them and a facilitator
through some of our learnings from Family to Family and
some of our other programs, where we can actually engage
in that. The other part of that is that you
can't just do that without piloting it, trying it, and
actually scaling it after you try to see what works,
what doesn't, what resonated, and how you can make it better.
But we have to create and what we try to
(07:57):
do is create small work groups of just being able
to talk like like we're doing right now, right, Hey,
what what? What? What are you navigating when you and
being comfortable asking the question when you come to work,
what are you bringing with you? We know you bring something?
What does that look like? Because sometimes you don't that
that professor, that teacher, that educator tries to tries to
(08:19):
to keep it in, but it's very apparent. It's apparent
in terms of how they do, how they show up.
So and the other thing we say is you're not alone.
And we've written you know, we want to meet people
where they are. So in meeting people where they are,
we've done a couple of things. One we've created a
podcast called Hope Starts with Us. And the other thing
we've done is we've written two books. And we're not
(08:40):
we're not not.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
To publish books. You had a best seller.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yes, thank you very much. You and you know about us.
But one of our books, You're Not Alone The Nomi
God to Navigating mental health with over one hundred and
thirty first person experiences of navigating you know, bipolar, navigating
early psychotist, navigating schizophrenia. The stories are in the book.
It's not written from one author. It's the story from
(09:06):
that parent or that individual and the individual navigating that
they they've meant their name, so it is their name
is in the book. The second one we wrote is
for parents, that You're Not Alone, The Nomi God for
parents and caregivers.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
And that one just came out, and it came out
in September, the same month that the Surgeon General put
out the study saying that over forty percent forty eight
percent of parents in the US were feeling a great
level of anxiety. So we're trying to address it from
multiple platforms and to help so faith based community, the educators. Oh,
(09:42):
by the way, one group I forgot to mention Devon nine. Okay,
So that's another another part of the fabric that we're
trying to construct. It's almost like a quilt, you know,
a quilt has all these patches on it. Well, each
one of these components that we're talking about is a
patch and the common thing through it is that thread.
So that's what we're trying to do. Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
You know when you were talking about the parent book,
the book where you had where it's giving the parents
a guide. Yes, it made me think about my own
journey with my children and I had my sons were
student athletes, and one of my sons in particular, there
(10:28):
was a very dark season for him while he was
in college competing because he had a season ending injury.
And as a parent, I saw that he was in
a dark place, but I did not know how to
best serve him because he wasn't willing to communicate. So
(10:49):
I was going off of a lot of assumptions and
I was doing my own check ins to engage with
him into going and popping up at the school just
so he could see my face. I could see his
face and make sure he was okay. But it made
me think about how young people, especially boys, they don't
(11:14):
communicate their feelings very well. So as a parent, how
would you advise and let's just say me on how
I can engage my children when they're when I can
see that they're in a space where they need something
(11:35):
beyond my encouragement. How can I step in to point
them and kind of nudge them, because sometimes you got
to it's more than just a conversation, but get them
in the right space to get the assistance they need.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Yeah, well, thank you for sharing that. And the first
thing is I said it before, making sure you know
you're not alone. And one of the things we have
is family to family and this is something where all
of a sudden you're sitting there across from another parent
that's navigating something similar. And in terms of tools, our
(12:13):
second book was written by a child and adolescent psychiatrist
and she's got some tools in there in terms of
what to do, what to say, how to say it,
how to how to bring them out of that dark spot.
And the other thing is that therapy is good young people.
You know the we we we know that it works.
(12:33):
It's not something now me does. We We will point
you to resources for it, but it does work.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
And the third thing is it works because I had
my therapist.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
But yeah, there you go. I think the other part
of it is sometimes uh, providing that that external resource
that's not the mom or the dad for that young
person and having them realize that, you know what, you're
not alone. My son had a really bad injury in
(13:04):
high school that really prevented him from matriculating through and
he was a I guess you could say, a two
star athlete and very good at both, and this injury
kept him from participating in either and he went into
a very dark place and it took some counseling to
help him. It absolutely did. So it's almost that third
(13:26):
party mom, mom, dad, We want to fix it, we
want to fix it. We see the pain, we see
the pain, and you just you almost want to take
it from them, and I'll do this myself. I'll take
it and you can't. So actually trying to get them
with a resource, a therapist or something is a good thing.
(13:46):
There's there's sports therapists, there's mental health therapists. There's different
kinds of third parties for our young people.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yeah, no, I that is that is really good. So
before I let you go, I had of I would
like for you to share with our listening audience and
this journey that you've been on. You've you've accomplished many
things throughout your career, yes, and now you are you know,
(14:16):
staying the ship if you will, at Nami and giving
us an opportunity to really take a look at our
mental wellness. Thank you for that. Will you share in
that journey what you believe to be the greatest lesson
to date that you acquired that helps you to stay
(14:39):
focused and committed to the work that you're doing. M M.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Wow, What a powerful question, What a powerful question. I
think the first thing is for me is examining my
why and staying true to my why, but also answering
the question for myself. Doing that what I call personal reflection,
what's my why? And then that frames my work. Yes,
(15:07):
so that's it. And in terms of my journey, I
spent thirty two years in the private sector, and I
looked at this as an opportunity to give back because
as long as I was in the private sector, every
time we had a you know, Christmas in April and
all that, I was always giving back. And then I
found the opportunity to actually be a change agent and
to make a difference in other people's lives. So my
(15:30):
why in this work is that I lost my contemporary
who I grew up with. I mean, we were like
brother and sister. We were the oldest in our family
and we grew up together. We were to be the
first to go to college. We were pretty much inseparable,
and she lost her life to suicide, and I saw
the ripple effect of that to my family. You know what,
(15:51):
We never talked about it, We never socialized it, We
never sought help to any counseling to get through it.
We didn't know about MoMA. Not only did that happen,
but her dad, my uncle, was a semi pro football player.
He was about six y four, about two fifty five
to sixty and I loved him to death and he
actually taught me how to run across the middle and
(16:12):
catch a pass. He was outstanding. He succumbed to substance
abuse after his daughter passed. That man was about one
hundred and twenty pounds when he passed away. So those
two events have framed a lot of my wife. From
the standpoint, I don't want any other family to go
through that, and it's trying to help me stay true
(16:34):
to who I am. And the other part of it
is I want to make sure that I do something
that my family can be proud of in terms of
giving back and making a difference.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yeah, thank you for sharing that. And that adds weight
to what you do and why you do what you do.
And that's really powerful because you're not just someone in
a position over something that has great gravity and magnitude,
but you have an undercurrent that's propelling your ship forward
(17:08):
of meaning and purpose because if you can save someone
else from succumbing, yes to those two things. Yes, it's
a way that you're still loving those individuals, yes, and
representing them in the earth. So thank you for the
work that you're doing.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Oh, thank you, and I appreciate you so much, And
thank you for the work you're doing Tommy. And these
are the conversations that make a difference. We're trying to
really reduce the stigma and increase the conversations. Yes, and
this is a wonderful platform on which to do it.
And we're partnering with Stay Healthy Zonned in terms of
some of our work, and we have some other partnerships
that really because you have to do it in partnership
(17:46):
and in collaboration.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yes, we just my husband and I just talked about
that we can do so much more. We're just willing
to collaborate. Yeah, we don't have to have all the answers.
When you work with someone else, you all bring your
resources to the table and you get stuff done. So
I'm all for collaboration.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah, yeah, think about the other C word. If you're
not collaborating, your competing, Oh, yes, and what you can't Yes,
you have to collaborate. Yes, you have to collaborate.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yes, absolutely, Well, Dan, I am so grateful that you've
taken time to come and stay a while with me,
and just know that you are welcome anytime, and this
conversation is welcome on this platform anytime.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Well, thank you so much. And if your listeners are
looking to reach out and find resources, you can go
to NAMI dot org or you can call our helpline.
Our helpline is at one eight hundred and ninety five
zero six two sixty four and that helpline is staffed
by volunteers from all across the country to help you
navigate and find resources. So thank you and thank you
Tommy for this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Absolutely, thank you, Dan. I hope you felt the love
and connection in today's conversation. Every woman you heard from
has faced the impossible and emerged stronger. This is your
person invitation to stale while longer At Tommy V dot com.
That's t O M M I V dot com for
(19:07):
more inspiration for your mind, body and soul and let's
not forget your belly. You're always welcome at my table.
Please be sure to subscribe, make yourself at home and
stale wild
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Gone stay
Welcome to a special edition of Stale Wild, recorded live
on Radio Row at Super Bowl fifty nine. I'm your host,
Tommy Vincent, and we are going to be hearing some
dynamic conversations with phenomenal guests here on Radio Row. So
take a seat, get comfortable in stale will. This episode
is sponsored by the House of Joy. Hi. Everyone, this
(00:24):
is Tommy Vincent, your host of Stale Wild podcast, and
today we have joining us at the table, Dan Gillison.
Dan is the chief executive officer at National Alliance on
Mental Illness, also known as NAMMY. Welcome to the table.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Dan, Thank you very much. It's so good to be
here with you, Tommy, and thank you for the opportunity
to share this space with you.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Absolutely listen, I am you and I have a mutual
friend and Monica, and Monica speaks so highly of you
and all of the work that you're doing and your
leadership and your ability to really hone in on this
(01:08):
space where we recognize that we have to make mental
wellness a priority, especially with our young folks.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
We must, we must.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
If we don't talk about it, if we don't disseminate information,
we leave people with their own thoughts. Yes, and we're
not providing them with the necessary information to make an
informed decision about their wellness. Yeah, so thank you, and
let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Let's get into it. Let's do it. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So let's talk about that. Let's talk about this place
of priority where you are focusing in on HBCU college students. Yes,
their mental wellness and the conjunction with their faith. Oh wow,
what is that about?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Well, what it's about? First of all, again, thank you,
and and and Secondly, I was an HBCU athlete, so
I and the third thing was for tennis, okay, and
I was asked to go out as as a wide
receiver after my first year. So that's either that I
was either a pretty good wide receiver or I was
(02:20):
a terrible tennis player. I don't know why they but
but some kind of way they asked me if I
try to play football, and something told me stay on
the tennis court. So and and il back then was
twenty five dollars.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Oh wow, Well, at least you got something.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
I did get something, didn't get anything, that's right, that's right.
So I do understand the student athlete and and and
and the stressors there and also understand the HBCU experience.
The third thing I wanted to say is that you
introduced me so so pleasantly as a CEO, and yes,
that's my title. But I come to this work as
a father. I come to this work as a son.
(02:52):
I come to this work as an uncle, and I
want a better world for my nephews and my my
my son and daughter, and I also want to represent
this work for all of us. So as we look
at that work and you look at the faith based community,
let me go there in terms of what we know
as first responders and our community, the first responders have
(03:14):
been the faith based leaders. Those are the first people
we go to from because of a level of trust.
So what we're looking at is the connective tissue between
the faith based on campus we have a Nomie on
campus program, and then the student athlete as well as
the student. So we're trying to bring all of that
connective tissue together. So in our body of work, in
(03:36):
our portfolio.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
What does NAMI look like on a campus, what does
that entail?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Yeah, well, we have different chapters across the country and
we have youth leaders that student leaders that will start
the chapter and then they will have meetings throughout the year,
normally on Wednesdays, and they bring the students together with
a facilitator to just talk about how they're feeling, what
are they feeling, and do they need to access some resources.
(04:02):
So we do that for the students on the campus.
And then what we're trying to do now as we
look at it and say, wait a minute, how are
the professors doing? And you know, we talk about educators.
We talk about teachers. Who's touching those students every day,
who's influencing those students every day? Who are those students
looking to for coaching, counseling and not just the academic piece.
(04:25):
So we're trying to figure out how to do more
in terms of our professors and our educators on the
campus and making sure that we circle around them and
let them know they're not alone. Yet.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
I mentioned to you before we started that we did
some activations this week at the school. It was in Garyville, Louisiana,
and we do our work with the students during the
day and then after school we hold a session for
all of the teachers and faculty at the school, so
(04:58):
any and everyone that is an adult on that campus.
And the reason why we do. That is to the
point of what you made in regards with the professors
is there's an expectation of them that is part of
their responsibility. So it's this is their responsibility to invest
in our future. However, if they're showing up and they
(05:24):
aren't equipped to manage their own lives, they're coming in
and they're potentially bleeding out on the students. They're not
seeing the students for who they are. Everything now has
this They're looking at it through a lens of their
own experiences and where they are right in this moment
(05:45):
and in our conversation when I was speaking with them,
I could see that they were carrying a lot in
their own personal life and tears were rolling and you know,
the faces were showing the weight of life right now.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yes, yes, when.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
You think about that and what you said about you
have this component of the professors, You have the students
that you're looking to make sure they're well, how do
you bridge that so that there is this piece where
you're pouring into the adults responsible and you're also helping
(06:26):
them to be able to do that and invest in
the future of the students.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Well, first of all, thank you for what you're doing
and what you just shared in terms of the school,
My wife was an educator for thirty years, so I
understand this in terms of what that educator goes through.
In terms of what we do is, first of all,
you have to create a judgment free zone. You've got
(06:52):
to create a space, a safe space where the professors,
the teachers can actually talk and they can share what
they're now gating. So and we do that with some
of our programs. One of them is called Family to Family,
so we can actually family to Family. So that's one
of the programs that we have, and we can model
some of that learning into this context. But it's you know,
(07:15):
to a great extent, we're a cosmetic society. We judge
a book by its cover. And what we're trying to
do with the teachers is, let's get into the table
of contents in the chapters. What are you going through?
What are you navigating? Because you do bring that to
work every day. How can we help you with that?
What do you need? And that's not me facilitating and
(07:36):
it's with the it's it's with them and a facilitator
through some of our learnings from Family to Family and
some of our other programs, where we can actually engage
in that. The other part of that is that you
can't just do that without piloting it, trying it, and
actually scaling it after you try to see what works,
what doesn't, what resonated, and how you can make it better.
But we have to create and what we try to
(07:57):
do is create small work groups of just being able
to talk like like we're doing right now, right, Hey,
what what? What? What are you navigating when you and
being comfortable asking the question when you come to work,
what are you bringing with you? We know you bring something?
What does that look like? Because sometimes you don't that
that professor, that teacher, that educator tries to tries to
(08:19):
to keep it in, but it's very apparent. It's apparent
in terms of how they do, how they show up.
So and the other thing we say is you're not alone.
And we've written you know, we want to meet people
where they are. So in meeting people where they are,
we've done a couple of things. One we've created a
podcast called Hope Starts with Us. And the other thing
we've done is we've written two books. And we're not
(08:40):
we're not not.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
To publish books. You had a best seller.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Yes, thank you very much. You and you know about us.
But one of our books, You're Not Alone The Nomi
God to Navigating mental health with over one hundred and
thirty first person experiences of navigating you know, bipolar, navigating
early psychotist, navigating schizophrenia. The stories are in the book.
It's not written from one author. It's the story from
(09:06):
that parent or that individual and the individual navigating that
they they've meant their name, so it is their name
is in the book. The second one we wrote is
for parents, that You're Not Alone, The Nomi God for
parents and caregivers.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
And that one just came out, and it came out
in September, the same month that the Surgeon General put
out the study saying that over forty percent forty eight
percent of parents in the US were feeling a great
level of anxiety. So we're trying to address it from
multiple platforms and to help so faith based community, the educators. Oh,
(09:42):
by the way, one group I forgot to mention Devon nine. Okay,
So that's another another part of the fabric that we're
trying to construct. It's almost like a quilt, you know,
a quilt has all these patches on it. Well, each
one of these components that we're talking about is a
patch and the common thing through it is that thread.
So that's what we're trying to do. Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
You know when you were talking about the parent book,
the book where you had where it's giving the parents
a guide. Yes, it made me think about my own
journey with my children and I had my sons were
student athletes, and one of my sons in particular, there
(10:28):
was a very dark season for him while he was
in college competing because he had a season ending injury.
And as a parent, I saw that he was in
a dark place, but I did not know how to
best serve him because he wasn't willing to communicate. So
(10:49):
I was going off of a lot of assumptions and
I was doing my own check ins to engage with
him into going and popping up at the school just
so he could see my face. I could see his
face and make sure he was okay. But it made
me think about how young people, especially boys, they don't
(11:14):
communicate their feelings very well. So as a parent, how
would you advise and let's just say me on how
I can engage my children when they're when I can
see that they're in a space where they need something
(11:35):
beyond my encouragement. How can I step in to point
them and kind of nudge them, because sometimes you got
to it's more than just a conversation, but get them
in the right space to get the assistance they need.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Yeah, well, thank you for sharing that. And the first
thing is I said it before, making sure you know
you're not alone. And one of the things we have
is family to family and this is something where all
of a sudden you're sitting there across from another parent
that's navigating something similar. And in terms of tools, our
(12:13):
second book was written by a child and adolescent psychiatrist
and she's got some tools in there in terms of
what to do, what to say, how to say it,
how to how to bring them out of that dark spot.
And the other thing is that therapy is good young people.
You know the we we we know that it works.
(12:33):
It's not something now me does. We We will point
you to resources for it, but it does work.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
And the third thing is it works because I had
my therapist.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
But yeah, there you go. I think the other part
of it is sometimes uh, providing that that external resource
that's not the mom or the dad for that young
person and having them realize that, you know what, you're
not alone. My son had a really bad injury in
(13:04):
high school that really prevented him from matriculating through and
he was a I guess you could say, a two
star athlete and very good at both, and this injury
kept him from participating in either and he went into
a very dark place and it took some counseling to
help him. It absolutely did. So it's almost that third
(13:26):
party mom, mom, dad, We want to fix it, we
want to fix it. We see the pain, we see
the pain, and you just you almost want to take
it from them, and I'll do this myself. I'll take
it and you can't. So actually trying to get them
with a resource, a therapist or something is a good thing.
(13:46):
There's there's sports therapists, there's mental health therapists. There's different
kinds of third parties for our young people.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yeah, no, I that is that is really good. So
before I let you go, I had of I would
like for you to share with our listening audience and
this journey that you've been on. You've you've accomplished many
things throughout your career, yes, and now you are you know,
(14:16):
staying the ship if you will, at Nami and giving
us an opportunity to really take a look at our
mental wellness. Thank you for that. Will you share in
that journey what you believe to be the greatest lesson
to date that you acquired that helps you to stay
(14:39):
focused and committed to the work that you're doing. M M.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Wow, What a powerful question, What a powerful question. I
think the first thing is for me is examining my
why and staying true to my why, but also answering
the question for myself. Doing that what I call personal reflection,
what's my why? And then that frames my work. Yes,
(15:07):
so that's it. And in terms of my journey, I
spent thirty two years in the private sector, and I
looked at this as an opportunity to give back because
as long as I was in the private sector, every
time we had a you know, Christmas in April and
all that, I was always giving back. And then I
found the opportunity to actually be a change agent and
to make a difference in other people's lives. So my
(15:30):
why in this work is that I lost my contemporary
who I grew up with. I mean, we were like
brother and sister. We were the oldest in our family
and we grew up together. We were to be the
first to go to college. We were pretty much inseparable,
and she lost her life to suicide, and I saw
the ripple effect of that to my family. You know what,
(15:51):
We never talked about it, We never socialized it, We
never sought help to any counseling to get through it.
We didn't know about MoMA. Not only did that happen,
but her dad, my uncle, was a semi pro football player.
He was about six y four, about two fifty five
to sixty and I loved him to death and he
actually taught me how to run across the middle and
(16:12):
catch a pass. He was outstanding. He succumbed to substance
abuse after his daughter passed. That man was about one
hundred and twenty pounds when he passed away. So those
two events have framed a lot of my wife. From
the standpoint, I don't want any other family to go
through that, and it's trying to help me stay true
(16:34):
to who I am. And the other part of it
is I want to make sure that I do something
that my family can be proud of in terms of
giving back and making a difference.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yeah, thank you for sharing that. And that adds weight
to what you do and why you do what you do.
And that's really powerful because you're not just someone in
a position over something that has great gravity and magnitude,
but you have an undercurrent that's propelling your ship forward
(17:08):
of meaning and purpose because if you can save someone
else from succumbing, yes to those two things. Yes, it's
a way that you're still loving those individuals, yes, and
representing them in the earth. So thank you for the
work that you're doing.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Oh, thank you, and I appreciate you so much, And
thank you for the work you're doing Tommy. And these
are the conversations that make a difference. We're trying to
really reduce the stigma and increase the conversations. Yes, and
this is a wonderful platform on which to do it.
And we're partnering with Stay Healthy Zonned in terms of
some of our work, and we have some other partnerships
that really because you have to do it in partnership
(17:46):
and in collaboration.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yes, we just my husband and I just talked about
that we can do so much more. We're just willing
to collaborate. Yeah, we don't have to have all the answers.
When you work with someone else, you all bring your
resources to the table and you get stuff done. So
I'm all for collaboration.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah, yeah, think about the other C word. If you're
not collaborating, your competing, Oh, yes, and what you can't Yes,
you have to collaborate. Yes, you have to collaborate.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yes, absolutely, Well, Dan, I am so grateful that you've
taken time to come and stay a while with me,
and just know that you are welcome anytime, and this
conversation is welcome on this platform anytime.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Well, thank you so much. And if your listeners are
looking to reach out and find resources, you can go
to NAMI dot org or you can call our helpline.
Our helpline is at one eight hundred and ninety five
zero six two sixty four and that helpline is staffed
by volunteers from all across the country to help you
navigate and find resources. So thank you and thank you
Tommy for this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Absolutely, thank you, Dan. I hope you felt the love
and connection in today's conversation. Every woman you heard from
has faced the impossible and emerged stronger. This is your
person invitation to stale while longer At Tommy V dot com.
That's t O M M I V dot com for
(19:07):
more inspiration for your mind, body and soul and let's
not forget your belly. You're always welcome at my table.
Please be sure to subscribe, make yourself at home and
stale wild
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Gone stay
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.