Beyond Well with Sheila Hamilton

We talk with three employees about the experience of being gay, trans, and queer in the workplace. For many people who are considered “different,” the question of whether they are being passed over for Lunch invitations and promotions is the biggest mystery of all. “Is it because I’m gay? Or because I’m fat? Because it’s not because I’m not a good worker.” This is a painful, illuminating, and wonderful reaffirming interview with three people who have found their voices and plan to continue to hold businesses accountable until diversity and inclusion is not just a goal—it’s a value.

Dr. Brian Goff and Dr. Angela Izmirian (sitting in for Dr. Jenna LeJeune), talk about what it  takes to make a great relationship. If you want to give something sexy to your partner but  cringe at the idea of a hallmark cards or flowers, share this episode. It will spur the kind of communication that even Cupid would approve of.

Lindy West is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman (2016, Hachette Books) as well as the brand new essay collection The Witches are Coming (2019, Hachette Books). In 2018 she wrote and executive produced Shrill as a half-hour comedy for Hulu, which just wrapped its second season. With frequent collaborators Ahamefule J. Oluo and Charles Mudede, she wrote and executive produced Thin Skin, an independent feature film, currently in post-production, and she and Oluo are writing a script for Shonda Rhimes’s upcoming Netflix anthology series Notes on Love.

We are starting 2020 by taking a look back at a few of our favorite shows from 2019. This show was originally released in November of 2019. It features special guest Israel Nebeker. He is the founder of Blind Pilot and a singer/songwriter whose music now reaches millions of fans. In this episode, Israel talks about confronting one of the darkest periods of his life by wandering into the Black Forest in Germany—with no path to follow and not sure if he would ever find his way out. It was only by confronting his loneliness, his fear, and his belief that he was powerless to change the dynamic that he experienced a significant awakening.  This interview was voted one of our favorites by the Beyond Well Team because of how open, authentic and vulnerable  Israel and his music is. Don’t miss it.

There is a reported increase in the number of people seeing psychologists and psychiatrists for politically based fear, anxiety, and depression. In this episode, Dr. Goff and Dr. LeJeune discuss ways to stay healthy, engaged and positive during times of political stress. One of the hallmarks of politically induced anxiety is hyper-vigilance. Learn how to recognize it, calm your nervous system, and get busy applying your energy to something positive.

We are starting 2020 by taking a look back at a few of our favorite shows from 2019. This show was originally released in June of 2019.  Storm Large: musician, actor, playwright, author, awesome. She shot to national prominence in 2006 as a finalist on the CBS show Rock Star: Supernova, where despite having been eliminated in the week before the finale, Storm built a fan base that follows her around the world to this day. Storm joins us to talk about growing up with a severely mentally disturbed mother and the message she received from her mother's doctor, "Oh yeah, you will absolutely end up like your Mother. It's hereditary." But, this conversation is not about Storm's efforts to outrun a diagnosis, it's an artist's journey back to herself. Storm's autobiographical musical memoir, Crazy Enough, played to packed houses in 2009 during its unprecedented 21-week sold-out run in Portland. She's back for the ten-year reunion stronger, wiser, and larger in spirit than ever before. (Don't miss the after the show conversation about cancel culture and what really goes on in therapy.)

In October of 2019 we spoke to pop Superstar Lauv. He was on top of the world with the kickoff of his How I’m Feeling Tour, and using his global platform to promote mental health. In every show, Lauv takes a few minutes to describe his descent into depression and severe OCD, and why he credits therapy and medication with allowing him to regain his creativity and confidence.  Lauv has partnered with Microsoft to create a worldwide mental health platform that connects people all over the globe. “No Matter where people are in the world, they can see that someone else is experiencing something really similar.”    Check out MyBlueThoughts.World and our blog of the concert at TheAnthem in [email protected]

This show was originally released in March of 2019. We're thrilled to Re-visit Lidia Yuknavitch. The author of nine books, including The Chronology of Water, The Small Backs of Children, The book of Joan, and the Misfits Manifesto. Lidia's Ted Talk, The Beauty of Being a Misfit has been viewed 2,862,000 times. We think she has something to share about how telling and retelling your story can help re-frame traumatic experience.

Dave Dahl speaks openly about his ongoing management of depression and bipolar disorder and the excruciating climb back from a manic episode that nearly ended his life. Dahl’s entrepreneurial journey began in prison. In 1987, Dave was addicted to drugs and incarcerated for home burglary. Dave returned to his family bakery in the mid 2000’s and quickly developed a marketing juggernaut, Dave’s Killer Bread. In 2015, the Dahl family sold the business for $275 million dollars. In this interview, Dave talks with Sheila about the crucial necessity of management of his mental health symptoms.

We are starting 2020 by taking a look back at a few of our favorite shows from 2019. This show was originally released in March of 2019. It features special guest Cheryl Strayed. The message of Cheryl Strayed's memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Trail has helped millions of people process grief in a new and profound way. In this episode of Beyond Well, Sheila Hamilton and Dr's Brian Goff and Jenna LeJeune talk about the potential of bouncing forward after loss, and of grieving from a place of honesty and self-compassion.