Break The Chains, Find Your Flame

Celebrating the end of season 3, sharing a new Solo Podcast by the Host, and preparing for Season 4

Jeromie Whalen is a high school teacher and the Democratic candidate running for Congress in Massachusetts’ First Congressional District. He was raised in Belchertown, Massachusetts, and has lived in communities from Belchertown to Westfield and from Otis to South Hadley. Whalen earned three degrees from UMass Amherst and has been a high school teacher for over a decade, dedicated to ensuring students have the tools and support they need to be forces of good in the world. His focuses on the values instilled by the Valley that raised him, such as hard work, respect, and community.

✨ Doctor → Barista → Writer & Traveller ✨

My path has been a little unconventional, but that's half the fun. 💁‍♀️

In 2024, I could no longer hide the significance of my burnout. My health was falling apart, I'd just been diagnosed with ADHD, and I needed a break.

How was I going to learn to live my life again? Who even was I if not a clinical doctor? It took time, but I'm doing it in a way that suits my brain, my needs and what I want out of life.

So far that's looked like true rest, becoming a barista, freelance writing and now backpacking around Asia. ✈️

Key Interests Include:

ADHD, Travel, Global Medicine [& coffee ☕️]

🇹🇼 I'm currently in Vietnam! Drinking egg coffee, living Bahn mi and avoiding getting hit by a scooter at every corner.✨

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✏️ Writer

Writing newsletters, LinkedIn short-form content & personal endeavours.

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🌍 Digital Nomad

Travelling around Asia, working and sharing knowledge about world health, ADHD, healing and travel.

I have a BMSc in International Health (Dundee University), which helps me see how culture, health, and identity intersect.

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📱 Clinical Content Creator

Content creator and WHO Fides member.

📽️ Subcribe: @DrEllieSG | 📲 @drelliesg

Shop Octopuss Design at www.octopussdesign.com

Follow on Tiktok, Instagram, Lemon8: @octopussdesign

Follow on Bluesky & Skylight: octopussdesign.bsky.social

Jay Yurick is the owner of Octopuss Design LLC, a stationery, apparel and accessories brand featuring art by himself and other queer artists. His Tiktok viral "Exist Out Spite" design has been a rallying cry for many in the LGBTQIA+ community. His work is influenced by punk subcultures, cryptid myths, nerd culture, and their intersection with how the LGBTQIA+ community is perceived. 

https://beholdtruebelievers.bandcamp.com/ - Music from Behold! True Believers!

https://downtownsounds.com/ - Downtown Sounds Workers Cooperative

AARON BORUCKI

Sales, Reverb 

[email protected]

Aaron Borucki plays bass, guitar, keyboards and drums. First hired by Downtown Sounds in 2004 he has over 16 years of music retail experience. Aaron has been offering professional recording services since 2007 under the name Something Studios. You may know Aaron from doing live sound around the valley since 2012 and from the bands The Smokey Wambas, Sue, Trials and Tribulations, The Summit, NW Angle among many others. He currently writes, plays and sings in his group Behold! True Believers. Aaron is a lifelong fan of Marvel Comics, Star Trek and Nintendo.

https://www.intuittbh.com/

Dr. Khadija Tuitt is a Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. She earned her Doctorate degree from the University of MA in Amherst and has worked in healthcare for over 20 years. She is an alumna of the

Partnership Fellow’s Program for Emerging Leaders of Color and was nominated for the prestigious National Compassionate Caregiver of the Year (NCCY) Award.

Dr. Tuitt is a mentor and public speaker who strives to

help organizations understand the barriers many Black and underserved individuals face. She ventures to create opportunities to breakthrough racial biases thus creating opportunities for organizations to understand the power of culture, diversity, and inclusivity. Dr. Tuitt is passionate about increasing awareness of mental health disparities in underserved communities and communities of color.

Professional Memberships:

Western MA Black Nurses Association, President 2020-2022

American Nurses Association 

The American Psychiatric Nurses Association

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi

Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing

https://presentchapter.com/

Jessica Desilets is the founder of Chapter of Us, a heart-led space for exploring consciousness, connection, and inner transformation. From nuclear medicine to multidimensional meditation, she’s traded gamma rays for gamma waves ~ blending science and spirit to guide others inward. Through specialized Monroe Sound Science® group meditations, Jessica helps people remember the wisdom already within, offering experiences that are both grounding and expansive!

FOUNDER/OWNER of My Health Matters

Britt found a profession that started her journey towards learning to look at her body for everything it is, rather than everything it is not. And through years of certifications, training, and actual hands on work, she’s found her purpose. She’s found my worth again.

And that is to help other people who have had similar histories as hers, give diet culture and all of it’s toxic friends a huge middle finger. To finally start living our lives in ways that do not revolve around how our bodies look, but rather everything else life has to offer.

Certifications

NASM Personal Trainer

Corrective Exercise Specialist

Certified Functional Strength Coach (CFSC)

HAES (Health at Every Size) Alignment

SITA (Size Inclusive Training Academy) Certified

Weight Inclusive and Anti Diet Trainer

Disordered Eating and Eating Disorder Focus w/ Emphasis on Introduction into Movement

https://radioplasma.com/about-2/

https://holyokemedia.org/

Iohann Rashi Vega

- Director of Media Engagement at Holyoke Media - Freelancer: Voice Over, Radio Host and Producer, Podcast Producer, Videographer, Editor, DJ

https://belchertowneducationfoundation.org/

Formed in May of 2016 in response to the ongoing fiscal constraints experienced by our public school system, the Belchertown Education Foundation (BEF) is now a charitable organization with non-profit, 501(c)3 status governed by a board of directors. The organization is self-funded and dependent upon generous contributions from community members, businesses, school alumni and families.

The mission of the BEF is to support Belchertown public schools in providing an enriching educational experience that supports the academic, artistic, and athletic pursuits of Belchertown’s students as they develop into well-educated and well-rounded young adults.

• Bringing the community together in fundraising and garnering broad community support for Belchertown public schools
• Encouraging educational innovation, creativity and excellence
• Funding projects through our Student Success Grants program that have the potential for broad impact, long-term impact, and/or making a significant difference in the social, emotional, and educational experience of students, regardless of the numbers served
• Working in partnership with the school district to understand strategic educational priorities that will inform, but not dictate, the BEF’s funding choices

SECRETARY

Jim Mugford

TREASURER

Lesley Mugford

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Stephen Bourgeois

Jennifer Faulkner

Hope Guardenier

Steven Opalenik

Jennifer Smolinski

Katherine Tungate

*Open Position*