Beyond Well with Sheila Hamilton

Dr. Rhonda Wells-Wilbon joins the Beyond Well team to provide the perspective of a social worker in the overall picture of mental wellness. Dr. Rhonda has been a social work educator for 25 years teaching at the undergraduate, masters, and Ph.D. level. She is an author, psychotherapist, trainer, and holistic wellness coach. She has expertise working with adult survivors of sexual abuse and assault and financial planning. As an African American woman, Doctor Rhonda will also help provide insight into racial trauma, and resistance to counseling and therapy in the black community. She is the mother of two young adult sons who are both in graduate school.

Robert Kolker is the author of Lost Girls, a New York Times Best-seller. His new book, Hidden Valley Road, is an Oprah Book Club pick and a scrupulously researched accounting of the Galvin family, a Colorado Springs family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia. The family became subjects of researchers investigating the genetic origin of schizophrenia.

The Covid-19 Pandemic has had a severe impact on mental health. More than 260,000 people have been impacted by anxiety and depression. In a volunteer survey, sixty percent of people report mental distress due to concerns about contracting the virus, economic stress, and the pressures of quarantine.    Now is the time to seek help--but how do you find the right practitioner? This episode answers all of your questions.

Dr. Jim Polo has worked as a general physician, a child psychiatrist, an adult psychiatrist, and in a state hospital setting. He's now the Director of Behavioral Health for Cambia Health Solutions. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Polo about why he chose this specialty and what his biggest breakthroughs/disappointments have been.

Laura Munson is the bestselling Author of This is Not the Story You Think it Is, a beautifully honest and searing memoir about a marriage that is coming apart.  In her new book, Willa's Grove, Munson explores the power and wonder of sisterhood, belonging, and taking care of one another, even during our most difficult transitions. The book lands at a particularly important time as women everywhere seek deeper and more intimate connection.

In He Came In With It: A Portrait of Motherhood and Madness, artist Miriam Feldman expands into writing by sharing very personal experiences with her son’s mental illness as well as the greater impacts on the entire family. Feldman shares the ups and downs of navigating the mental health system, seeking the best care for her son within a structure that is all too often broken.

Since the arrival of Covid19, Americans have turned to anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication in sharply increasing numbers. Dr. Jim Polo, a licensed psychiatrist, talks with Beyond Well about the who, what, where, and when of seeking psychopharmacological help. Also, why counseling and behavior modification improves outcomes more than medicines alone.

Since the arrival of Covid19, Americans have turned to anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication in sharply increasing numbers. Dr. Jim Polo, a licensed psychiatrist, talks with Beyond Well about the who, what, where, and when of seeking psychopharmacological help. Also, why counseling and behavior modification improves outcomes more than medicines alone.

Laryssa Birdseye is the rare performer whose onstage person matches the intensity and brilliance of her voice. Birdseye’s lyrics are drawn directly from her wry and hilarious commentary on the state of her psychological world. Laryssa’s  clarity about her lifelong battle with anxiety, an eating disorder, and finally alcoholism, is a refreshing blast of honesty, “You think it’s over because you’ve whipped it…oh, but no.”

How do you cope with the long reality of Covid19? Dr. Jenna LeJeune shares some tips and compassionate guided exercises for moving into the now.