Choose Love Movement

Scarlett Lewis’ guest is mitigation specialist, Kate O’Shea. Scarlett met Kate when she was working on the Parkland, FL high school shooting trial. Mitigation is the storytelling part of representing the criminal defendant. Her job is to explain who a person is, and how this shooting could have happened based on their childhood and past traumas. Kate and Scarlett discuss why there is so much suffering and violence in our world and how we can address the root cause of this violence to end school shootings. 

Scarlett and Kate talk about how the individuals who commit mass shootings have unmet needs and they explore how to proactively reduce and prevent these tragedies. Living through trauma as children affects brain development and can result in having no concept of the consequences of their actions. Conduct disorder is something that Kate says is a mental diagnosis given to someone under the age of 18 with a pervasive pattern of using weapons, setting fires, rule violations. This is a trauma based disorder. These are labels that suggest the conduct is what you need to be treating, but in reality the trauma and pain that are the cause of these unsettling behaviors are what needs to be addressed. Treating the underlying trauma is necessary, finding out what happened to them, rather than what’s wrong with them can help us move towards solutions instead of always being one step behind. Healthy attachment and connections, essential life skills, and support, help to overcome these childhood traumas to become successful, productive adults. 

Scarlett Lewis’ guest is leading health and wellness expert, Joy Bauer, MS, RD, CDN. Joy is one of the nation’s leading health authorities. As the nutrition and healthy lifestyle expert for NBC’s TODAY show, Joy shares reliable, practical and easy to follow advice that helps millions of people eat better, live healthier and lead more fulfilling lives. She is a #1 best selling author with 14 best selling books to her credit! In this podcast, Scarlett and Joy discuss selecting the right foods and food combinations that can catapult us to utmost health and wellbeing. Food is more than fuel and Joy’s philosophy is 90/10. Eat healthy 90 percent of the time and the other 10 can be your favorite, indulgent foods. 

Food also provides an avenue for connection which is the key to happiness. We can incorporate the Choose Love pillars into our healthy eating plan. Have the courage to love yourself with what you put into your body, and commit to making meal plans and eating with your family. Be grateful for the food choices and supermarkets that we have access to in our communities. Forgive ourselves for not following healthy eating at times, but tomorrow is another day to start fresh.  The compassion in action component is stepping outside of our own busy schedules and distractions to bring our family together to be present and eat together around the table. Joy provides helpful hints to simplify our family’s nutrition and how to be mindful and thoughtful about the fuel we put into our bodies. Fueling our bodies with the correct foods will increase our physical, psychological and emotional well-being. 

Listen to this informative podcast for tips on how you can help yourself and your family make healthy food choices to improve our well-being and, “Have a Lot of fun!”.

Scarlett Lewis’ guest is Stephanie Cinque, Director of the Resiliency Center in Newtown, CT and former Sandy Hook resident. The Resiliency Center of Newtown offers trauma-informed services focused on long-term individual and community healing for children and adults impacted by the tragedy at Sandy Hook School on December 14, 2012. They discuss the essential services that worked best for healing trauma and what Stephanie learned directing this trauma healing center over the past 10 years including an update on Newtown’s progress and the impact that the Resiliency Center had on the community and survivors of the Sandy Hook tragedy.

Stephanie discusses the creation of a new app, ResilienceNet, that can simulate a resiliency center to help other communities going through a hard time and assist community members in growing their resilience. There are four pillars: prevention, education, resilience and connection. This platform will provide a central location for all of these essential healing modalities that have emerged over the course of a decade as the most effective.

Scarlett’s guest is Garrett Lavallee, principal and director of special education at Spaulding Academy & Family Services in Northfield, NH. Garrett wanted to go into social services to help children in need and carry on his family legacy at Spaulding which has been serving children who have dealt with child abuse and neglect for 150 years. His dad worked there for forty years so this school has always been a part of Garrett’s life and held a special place in his heart. 

Garrett has been at Spaulding Academy & Family Services for twenty three years and he believes that children need to feel safe and nurtured before they can focus on their academics. Spaulding looks at how trauma has influenced their students’ behaviors. The Spaulding mission statement is that ‘everyone deserves to love and be loved.’ And this applies to both the children and employees. Garrett collaborated with his staff when introducing the Choose Love program to let them know that, “We are on this mission together.” He encourages students and staff to use the Choose Love language in everyday actions. According to Garrett, the healing that has taken place has been incredible for both children and staff. The cultural shift and growth at Spaulding Academy because of the Choose Love program has been tremendous. 

Listen to this podcast to learn more about Garrett’s mission of Choosing Love with his staff and students.

Scarlett and her mom, Maureen Lewis, Jesse’s Nana, discuss a powerful tool Maureen used with her kids consistently when they were growing up. ‘Here’s what you could have said,’ or done differently when you are in a reactive mode, and feeling angry or sad. This provides an opportunity for a thoughtful response and a positive resolution rather than escalating a conflict. The Choose Love Movement teaches the importance of pausing and then thoughtfully responding instead of responding in anger. We all make mistakes, but it’s important to hold yourself accountable and have the courage to admit that you made a mistake and apologize.

Scarlett’s guest, Rick Osborne, is a former gang member who spent 25 years in the penitentiary and the past decade working with at-risk youth. Though he grew up in a loving family, one poor decision led him down a path of heroin use, gang involvement, incarceration, and trauma. Today, Rick speaks to young people about the real dangers of drugs, gangs, and prison, using a unique approach that incorporates movement and kinesiology to build authentic connection—because he’s been where they are. In this powerful conversation, Scarlett and Rick explore post-traumatic growth, the foundation of the Choose Love Movement, and how life’s challenges are meant to help us grow. Listen to this inspiring podcast today.

Scarlett Lewis speaks with Nadine Miles, who introduces Functional Medicine and explores what it means for our overall wellness journey. Together, they discuss how this approach can transform the way we understand and support our health—shifting from reactive care to intentional, preventive living.

They also explore the importance of taking personal responsibility for our wellbeing in all aspects of life, emphasizing that we are not victims of our genetics. Instead, our daily choices play a powerful role in shaping our health, resilience, and long-term vitality.

Key Takeaways:

• You are not defined by your genetics.
  
• Functional Medicine focuses on root-cause healing.
  
• Self-love and self-confidence are essential for healing and growth.
  

Scarlett Lewis and her mom, Maureen Lewis, Jesse’s Nana, talk about how people come in, and out of your life, and how it’s similar to being a bus driver watching people get on and off your bus. It is a loss when people leave your life and there is a period of grieving, but it is important to appreciate the ride that you had with them. We are responsible for our own life and making ourselves happy. A big part of happiness is feeling that you have some control over your life and there is hope. How many people are on your bus? 

Scarlett Lewis and Shannon Desilets, program director of the Choose Love Movement for the state of NH, speak with Dan Jewiss, founder and president of The RAK Academy, about school safety. Dan Jewiss is a retired Trooper and Detective of the Connecticut State Police. Dan and his co-instructors teach audiences easy to understand strategies to save lives in Active Killer incidents.  The RAK Academy’s primary audiences are 1st Responders, School Personnel, Houses of Worship Communities and Businesses. Dan recommends the Choose Love Movement on his website, www.therakacademy.com, saying that it is one of the best “upstream“ solutions he’s seen. Dan says "the Choose Love Movement is a powerful upstream and downstream tool that I whole heartedly support because it makes our world a kinder and safer place."

Scarlett and Dan talk about the outdated concept of lockdowns and Dan offers tips and hints on the best way to keep our kids safe.

Scarlett Lewis’ guest is her childhood friend, Kristen Deitz, who discusses candidly and openly about her journey with her daughter and her early diagnosis of autism. Researching and advocating, she found a community and opened the doors, literally, and figuratively, to help others. Kristen discusses the methods she used and incorporated to produce incredible outcomes that can help many other parents in similar situations.