Interviewing someone about the suicide attempt and what happens after is one of the ways that I hope to help bring awareness to Mental Health & Wellness that so many of us struggle with in silence. Nancy Virden’s story of how she found the light within during her dark night of the soul is so inspiring because she speaks a truth that so many of us experience but either can find the words, don’t have the support to say or haven’t found the courage to come forward for fear of being ridiculed. It’s stories like Nancy’s, who captures it so eloquently in her book titled, Called to Live: A Chronicle of Recovery After Attempted Suicide, that paves the way for education and ally-ship around mental illness.

Called to Live: A Powerful & Uplifting Interview With Mental Health Advocate Nancy Virden

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Social marketing uses marketing techniques to change social behaviour and aims to influence behaviours that benefit individuals and communities for the great social good. In a world condensed with media how can we wade through the noise of consumerism in order to create social change?
Population Media Center (PMC) creates serialized dramas, also called soap operas, on radio and television in which characters evolve into role models for the audience for positive behaviour change, and the impact of PMC’s dramas are dramatic. PMC is a nonprofit, international nongovernmental organization, which strives to improve the health and well-being of people around the world addressing a variety of issues. Founded in 1998, PMC has over 15 years of field experience in behaviour change communications with projects around the world.
www.populationmedia.org
Music by www.bensound.com 

Population Media & Bill Ryerson: Soap Operas that change social behaviour & create a better world. Episode #57

In western culture we so often are focused on the individual. Taking care of ourselves and then our family and friends. Travelling the world I was always aware of how so many other countries and cultures were entrenched in the philosophy of union and a tribe mentality. Even when it comes to the Eastern practice of Yoga we somehow manage to separate the practice from the practitioner. We turn the union into a physical and material trend. How to we learn to adopt a union with ourselves, our bodies and our minds?
I will never forget the first time I tried Yoga. I was so nervous and really thought I would not fit in. My good friend Karen and I grabbed our coffees and walked into the studio and from that moment on I was hooked. 
Yoga came in and out of my life, a sporadic practice that definitely did not incorporate my spiritual self into the mix, well not intentionally anyway. Even though I was never an athletic person and I hated going to the gym, something about Yoga called me to want to teach. So for my 40th year in this world I gave myself that treat and enrolled in my teacher training with Kelda Anderson at Love Life Hot Yoga. It was the best gift I could ever given myself.
Kelda Anderson was exactly what I needed in my life as a teacher. I had already gone through so many spiritual phases that I was ready for teacher that didn’t take themselves too seriously. Someone who knew how to make fun of themselves, still respected and loved spirituality but in a way that was grounded and fun. Check out our interview, learn about yoga adventure and how Kelda teaches her baby birds to fly.
www.lovelifehotyoga.ca
Music by www.bensound.com
 

Yoga Adventure: How my teacher Kelda Anderson laughs at her ego self & teaches her baby birds how to fly Episode #56

I love the feeling of teaching youth the power of using multimedia for social good. We hold these incredible tools in our hands every day with unlimited possibilities in how we can capture the world around us. How can we empower others to embrace digital creativity and use it as a platform to help important stories be told?
Today I’m going to share with you something special to me. It’s the audio from my very first documentary and it’s still one of my favourites. When I was learning this art form we had to choose and organization or an individual in our community to capture. I knew the perfect person and his name is Jeff Murray. 
Jeff has cerebral palsy and at the time used a piece of paper to point to letters spelling out what he needed to say. I would always see him going full speed down the street in his electric wheelchair and I wondered what life was like in our small town when it came to accessibility. 
As I got to know Jeff and the people in his life I came to find out he was hilarious, a smart ass sometimes, but also an incredible advocate and inspiration for change.  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVFpdbAxm7Q&t;=214s 

My Journey of Using Digital Media for Social Good. The Roadrunner, Episode #55

Women today have so many more opportunities than we did fifty years ago. When you had an aptitude for math or science back then you usually had two options presented to you, being a nurse or a teacher. Those were not the options my guest today wanted to hear. In fact she had other plans, even if she was discourage, she knew she was going to be in the space program.
Stephanie Osborn is a veteran of more than 20 years in the civilian space program, as well as various military space defence programs, she worked on numerous space shuttle flights and the International Space Station, and counts the training of astronauts on her resume. Her space experience also includes Spacelab and ISS operations, variable star astrophysics, radiation physics, and nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons effects.
Stephanie holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in four sciences: astronomy, physics, chemistry and mathematics, and she is “fluent” in several more, including geology and anatomy.
Now retired from space work, Stephanie has trained her sights on writing. She has authored, co-authored, or contributed to over 35 books, including the celebrated science-fiction mystery, Burnout: The mystery of Space Shuttle STS-281.
Music credit: www.bensound.com
http://www.stephanie-osborn.com/ 
 

She was told to be a nurse or a teacher but she wanted to be an Astronaut! Stephanie Osborne, International Woman of Mystery #Episode 54

Lately the political climate feels as if you are walking on eggshells. There are so many opportunities to be a part of something great, to be a ally for change, but if you can’t speak your mind without fear of retribution how do we be ourselves, share our opinions and learn from others without policing our every thought and feeling? A great teacher once said to me, “We were born with two ears and one mouth because we are meant to listen twice a much as we are meant to speak.”
Sharp Dopler has been an educator, community worker and activist for over 20 years. Sharp is a member of the Ottawa Indigenous community and is of Cherokee/Sauk/Fox and Irish descent. Sharp has presented at various venues at the local, regional, provincial, national and international level and  is honoured to be considered a Traditional Knowledge Keeper and carrier of Ceremony. As a two-spirit pipe carrier Sharp has incredible stories, knowledge and a ridiculous sense of humour that I absolutely love.
Visit Sharp at Sharp Solutions:
https://www.sharpsolutions-indigenius.com/

Two Spirit Pipe Carrier Sharp Dopler Episode #52

Cara Jones Speaks

Called to Live: A Powerful & Uplifting Interview With Mental Health Advocate Nancy Virden

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