Author, speaker, and human rights activist Rowan Jetté Knox and I sat down to talk about his new book One Sunny Afternoon: A Memoir of Trauma and Healing. We dove into the struggles we've each had with our mental health, the importance of ending the stigma of mental illness, and why self-care is as important when you're well as when you're deep in the muck.

You can find Rowan on Instagram and Twitter at @rowanjetteknox.

Welcome to the new season of the Better Me Podcast. In this episode I give a quick summary of the guests coming up and talk about the importance of belonging, a theme that will run through many of the episodes this season. I also take a few minutes to talk about how new education policies are denying a sense of belonging to some of our students.

It's time for me to take a break so this is the last episode until late summer or early spring.

As we move between meetings and other activities, we should take a few minute to reflect and prepare. Like having a bit of cracker or a sip of water to cleanse our palate between tastings of two different wines, we need to cleanse our mental palate as well.

Loleen Berdahl and Kelly S. Thompson returned to the podcast to talk about the role that writing plays in caring for their mental health. We also talked about how we choose our journals, vintage typewriters, and the community that can come from writing.

You can find Loleen at https://loleen.substack.com/ and Kelly at https://kellysthompson.com/

My good friend Jennifer Diehr returned to the podcast to talk about book festivals, meeting authors, and the reunion we have planned at Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon.

For people who have depression, just getting out of bed can be a struggle, but on top of that, there are concerns about medication, money, and how others will respond. In this episode, I talk about why depression can be so frightening for those suffering from it.

Former long-time editor of Chatelaine Magazine, writer, and mental health advocate, Rona Maynard joined me to talk about her latest book Starter Dog: My Path to Joy, Belonging and Loving This World.

You can find Rona via her website https://ronamaynard.com/

I'm working on being more mindful, which has included asking myself "What do I need right now?" while curled up in the sun with my dog Henry.

Frequent guest Loleen Berdahl is back to join me in a free-range discussion of what it means to be busy, why it's so often the answer to "How are you?", and how to set better boundaries.