Beyond Well with Sheila Hamilton

One of the main components of mental strength is living in congruity with your values and your desires. We are focusing on stories of women who made complex and sometimes controversial decisions in mid-life to turn toward the version of their lives that they'd always imagined for themselves.  Karen Karbo uprooted her life and career as a bestselling author to live in Couillure, France, and make her way through the mountain of paperwork and bureaucracy to become a French citizen. At the same time, Karen's daughter gave birth, complicating the long-distance relationship. With exquisite grace, consideration, and compelling reasoning, Karen talks about why it's essential we navigate our own wishes with as much care as we offer to our loved ones.

Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal is a world-renowned psychiatrist, public speakinger, and best selling author who is known for his innovative research and inspirational writing. In this interview, Dr. Rosenthal talks about poetry as medicine for the soul. In a world that is maared by loss and deprived of pleasure, Rosenthal believes poetry can help fill in the gaps, offering a retreat from a troubled world and hope for a better future.

No two people will experience the same range of emotions during grief. The experience of loss is as unique as our DNA, and any attempt to define its duration, intensity or lasting impact falls short. Dr. Jim Polo discusses the intimacy of grief.

Ivan Maisel is Vice President/Editorial and Senior Writer at on3.com. He has covered college football for nearly four decades, at ESPN, where he served as Editor-at-Large for ESPN College Football 150, Sports Illustrated, Newsday, and The Dallas Morning News. His conversation on navigating a year of grief after the suicide of his only son is one of our favorite interviews of the year.

Cheryl Strayed is a New York Times bestselling author, playwright, and screenwriter. This interview is a must listen for anyone who is also navigating grief and encountering people who cannot hold another person's suffering.

Dr. Brian Goff and Dr. Jenna LeJeuene join us to talk about the myth of the "five stages of grief."

Kimi Culp is a multi-talented producer, writer, and person living with bipolar disorder. As a creative working in the demanding field of journalism, Culp relied on her hypomania to help her succeed--until she suffered her first devastating depression and could no longer function. Kimi kept the secret about her diagnosis for decades. In this interview, Culp describes the impact of coming out regarding her diagnosis.

Dave Dahl is the face of a multi-billion dollar bread-making company and the marketing genius behind the name, 'Dave's Killer Breads.' Dave isn't a killer, but he has made some pretty bad mistakes that landed him in prison, where he began to recognize that his early drug and alcohol use was an attempt to self-medicate his bipolar disorder.  In this interview, Dave talks about the necessity of dual diagnosis and what leveling up to his potential really means.

Willa Goodfellow's extraordinary run through bipolar disorder may be familiar to others whose diagnosis was missed for many years: incredible highs, devastating lows, a difficulty maintaining relationships, a mercurial run through life. When Goodfellow finally sought help through medication, she thought her challenges might be over. For many people with psychiatric problems, medicine does not work. The side effects are so numbing and intolerable that people find other ways to cope with their minds and behaviors. Goodfellow has done just that with resilience and a belief in her own self-discovery, she is living proof that it is possible to live well with bipolar disorder.

Dr. James Polo talks about the psychiatric complications of Bipolar Disorder and why it can be so difficult to diagnose and treat. People with bipolar disorder often wait to seek help until they have experienced a devastating depression following a manic or hypomanic episode.  Polo brings hope to anyone who is living with bipolar disorder, as well as those who love someone suffering from this type of mood disorder.