Behavioral Health Today

Emotional intelligence skills in youth are so important because it can predict later life outcomes. A child’s overall wellbeing throughout their critical years of development can lead to better academic and mental health success. Today’s episode is part of our clinicians’ series, where we provide a more practice, more hands-on experiential understanding of the application of various techniques, strategies, and constructs. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Ashley Williams. Ashley Williams is an educator, emotional wellness advocate, mindfulness expert, and successful CEO of Clymb. Realizing that the development of emotional intelligence skills in youth predicts later life outcomes, Ashley launched Clymb- an interactive emotional wellness software for school-age children. She is the 2022 Culture Builder of the Year for Baltimore, which honors her work to make children’s happiness a policy priority. Ashley has been featured on NPR, the Baltimore Sun, Champions of Wellness, and Technically, among many others. She has received Mayoral Recognition for her advocacy work to advance emotional wellness for Baltimore City youth. She is an alumni of the John Hopkins Social Innovation Lab and was recognized by T. Rowe Price as a Highlighted Moonshot Innovator. With over a decade of experience in the field of emotional wellness, she has dedicated her career to helping individuals and organizations increase their overall happiness and satisfaction in life. Together Graham and Ashley discuss the impact of emotional wellness on developing children, an in-depth guide to the Clymb, the success of program, and how emotional wellness skills ripple into family engagement, schools, and communities.

For more information about Clymb, please visit: https://clymbup.io

For more information about the Harris Project, please visit: https://theharrisproject.org

Connect with Stephanie on Linkedin, please visit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-marquesano-a7972443

There is a lot of psychological research that shows that there’s so much healing power in a secure relationship where you can speak and share how you feel. In this episode, Dr. Erin Elmore speaks with Diana Chao, founder and Executive Director of Letters to Strangers, a non-profit that seeks to destigmatize mental illness and increase access to affordable, quality mental health treatment for young people. Diana has a really unique story. She grew up with bipolar disorder and complex PTSD. After surviving a series of suicide attempts, Diana found healing from an unexpected source: writing.  In writing letters to strangers, Diana realized she was not alone and later founded the youth-run organization Letters to Strangers. Diana has been honored by two U.S. presidents at the White House, was the winner of the Princess Diana Awards in 2021, was the youngest-ever winner of the Unilever Young Entrepreneurs Award and gave a TEDxTeen speech at the PlayStation Theater in Times Square to a standing ovation. In addition to mental health advocacy, Diana worked for NASA, published a novel at the age of 13, and received recognition from the U.S. Navy for her work on dengue fever. Diana is also an award-winning artist and conceptual photographer. Together Erin and Diana discuss the Letters to Strangers inception, details of the program, and ways for youth to get involved.

For more information about Letters to Strangers, please visit: https://www.letterstostrangers.org

Connect with Letters to Strangers on Instagram at l2smentalhealth, or visit: https://www.instagram.com/l2smentalhealth/

Connect with Letters to Strangers on YouTube at L2SMentalHealth, or visit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1vFMrA--3_aC_qd9WPnB_A

Managing anxiety can be a powerful gateway into awareness and presence. Over time, connecting with the most difficult parts of themselves, so they can reoccupy, explore, and discover life-enhancing opportunities to grow. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Dr. Kirk Schneider. Kirk is a leading spokesperson for existential-humanistic and existential-integrative psychology. Dr. Schneider is an adjunct faculty member at Saybrook University and Teachers College, Columbia University, and a co-founder and current president of the award-winning Existential-Humanistic Institute. He is also a Fellow of five divisions of the American Psychological Association as well as a frequent speaker at conferences and in the media. Dr. Schneider was a 2022 candidate for president-elect of the American Psychological Association (APA) and is the author/editor of 14 books including his latest book, Life-Enhancing Anxiety: Key to a Sane World.

For more information about Dr. Kirk J. Schneider, please visit: https://kirkjschneider.com

For more information about Life-Enhancing Anxiety: Key to a Sane World by Kirk J. Schneider, please visit: https://universityprofessorspress.com/product/life-enhancing-anxiety/

For more information about The Depolarization of America: A Guidebook for Social Healing by Kirk J. Schneider, PhD., please visit: https://universityprofessorspress.com/product/the-depolarizing-of-america/

For more information about The Corps of Depth Healers, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv4p3R_LYIo0AeN_JnMOdsQ

It's not that hard to change the work culture, but it does take a conscious effort to do some self-reflecting as a leader to look at the employee environment, ask employees what they'd really like, and make that a daily practice. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Dr. Natalie Petouhoff. Natalie is a best-selling author and a Customer Experience Strategist and Consultant who works with brands to help them transform their customer and employee experience. Natalie’s career spans many years in technology and customer and employee experience with positions in and consulting at companies including Salesforce, Hulu, Marriott, General Motors, General Electric and many more. Natalie’s current passion is shifting outdated paradigms by juxtaposing current beliefs with seemingly contradictory ones to reveal insights to drive the future of work, customer’s experiences, businesses, and humanity forward. She believes we can imbue technology with our hopes and dreams for a future focused on bettering humanity. We just need to understand what we are optimizing for and why. Together Graham and Natalie discuss the disconnect with the customer experience, the future of the workforce, and her book Empathy in Action.

For more information about Dr. Natalie Petouhoff, please visit: https://www.drnatalienews.com

For more information about Empathy in Action: How To Deliver Great Customer Experiences at Scale by Tony Bates & Dr. Natalie Petouhoff, please visit: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1646870433?tag=kirkus-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1

What if there's an opportunity for you to touch within yourself with what truly matters? A way to experience an authentic awakening through self-inquiry to move beyond all cultural and spiritual overlays and simply rest into what remains to be freed from all distractions. What if this opportunity gave you the experience of bringing you back to love through the simplicity of just being? In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Scott Berman, owner of Sky Cave Retreats, the first darkness retreat in the United States. Scott is a Darkness Therapy Pioneer and, for almost a decade, Scott retreated in complete solitude into the remote wilderness in Mount Shasta, California and Southern Baja, Mexico. From Scott’s experience, a deep desire was born to create a sanctuary for other sincere, self-initiated practioners. Scott completed his first darkness retreat in 2012 and has spent over 70 days in multiple darkness retreats. Over the last few years, he has supported hundreds of people in their dark retreats and has been pioneering the darkness therapy movement at his center in Ashland, Oregon. We’re excited to have Scott with us today to talk about the power of darkness retreats and the darkness experience. The soul grows, not by addition, but by subtraction. And here we are with a practice where it's not about doing, creating, or manifesting. But about taking it all away. So, if we remove everything, all that remains is the heart of what matters.

For more information about Sky Cave Retreats, please visit: https://www.skycaveretreats.com

It's okay to not be okay, and you can allow yourself time to wallow in whatever has happened to you, but to move forward, you must seek the help you need. Healing is a sign of strength. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Dr. Marie Brown Mercadel. Dr. Mercadel is a coach, motivational speaker, CEO, and author of the memoir Getting To My Enough, A Story of Faith, Resilience, and Survival. Dr. Mercadel completed her undergraduate studies at North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina, and her Master of Arts and Doctorate of Management at the University of Phoenix. In addition, Dr. Mercadel is a Gallup certified strengths-based leadership coach who has provided training to hundreds of employees. Dr. Mercadel is also a motivational speaker who offers strategies for overcoming personal trauma and provides mentoring and leadership development coaching for women seeking career advancement opportunities. Your post-traumatic growth may look different from someone else’s, but you don't have to be ashamed. You don't have to hide. You can heal out loud.

For more information about Dr. Marie Brown Mercadel, please visit: https://mercadelconsultingsolutions.net

If we are willing to change the paradigm, shifting our focus from treating illness at the individual level to focusing on improving the psychological health of all people in our neighborhoods and communities, we can create a system of interventions across the continuum of the population that is all aimed at everyone’s health no matter where they’re at. In this episode, Dr. Graham Taylor speaks with Dr. Arthur Evans. Arthur is a clinical and community psychologist, healthcare innovator, policymaker, and the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President of the American Psychological Association, the leading scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. Before joining APA in March 2017, Arthur spent 12 years as commissioner of Philadelphia's Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services transforming that agency’s approach to serving a wide range of individuals with complex needs. Arthur has received national and international recognition for his work, including being recognized as an “Advocate for Action” by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, receiving the American Medical Association’s top government service award in healthcare, receiving the National Council of Behavioral Health’s Visionary Leadership Award, and more. Together Graham and Arthur discuss fostering equitable health, challenges of our current system of treatment, and strategies to addressing population health. We can look at the world differently. If we can see the value we bring as mental health professionals, and we’re partnering with people to really address the broader mental needs of the community, we can get out of the current system and bring our expertise in fulfilling ways.

For more information about the American Psychological Association, please visit: https://www.apa.org

When you give students these tools for managing their emotions and building positive relationships, it will spill over into their school and have a big positive impact in their lives. In this episode, Dr. Erin Elmore speaks with Sara Hahn and Ellie Foster, both Directors of Education at the Kevin Love Fund, a fund established by NBA player Kevin Love to break the stigma around mental health and to inspire people to live their healthiest lives while providing tools for both mental and physical health. Sara Hahn holds a master’s degree in human development studies from Vanderbilt University and a master’s degree in education from Pepperdine University.  Using her experience as a teacher in both public and private schools, Sara co-founded the non-profit “Determined to Succeed” to support students academically, emotionally and financially through middle school, high school and college. Ellie Foster holds a master’s degree in educational psychology from University of Wisconsin-Madison and a PhD in literacy education from University of Colorado at Boulder. Ellie is an advocate for centering creativity, social justice, and emotional expression in the way schools’ approach social-emotional learning and trauma-sensitive practices. She has worked as a high school English teacher, literacy researcher, K-12 teacher educator, and activist for youth experiencing homelessness. Together Erin, Sara and Ellie discuss their involvement with the Kevin Love Fund and the work the foundation is doing developing children’s mental wellness.

For more information about the Kevin Love Fund, please visit: https://kevinlovefund.org

In our show, we will resume our conversation with our host Dr. Erin Elmore and her guests Katie Parker, Becky Fife & Allie Callister around the topic of developing strong girls and their online program I Believe in Me! In our last episode we discussed the challenges facing young girls right now in a post-covid society and the need for support. I Believe in Me is teaching girls self-awareness and giving them strategies and tools to ultimately control their own happiness. We discussed the I Believe in Me program experience, how girls have access to educational videos, projects to inspire activity, motivational mantras, and providing a healthy online community for girls to connect and share with others. We’ll resume our talk today by discussing the impact of how raising strong women with good character can do for our communities and culture at large.

For more information about I Believe in Me!, please visit: https://www.bloomfully.com/ibelieveinme