The reality of how under-educated and under-resourced our first responder heroes are promoted an eye-opening conversation with Emergency and Disaster Management specialist, Emergency Medical Technician and Fire Fighter, Tony Young. In this episode of the CuriosiFy Podcast, Tony shares his personal experience of discovering what post trauma consequential symptoms feel and look like. We explore trauma triggers and the distracting and numbing tactics that he tried in an attempt to feel better. He talks about the healing he has found utilizing Internal Family Systems therapy and various reroutes in lifestyle choices. And he sheds light on some shocking statistics of suicide in the fire fighting population. Tony is a walking, talking, breathing example of the many emergency responders who suffer life-altering consequences of trauma response because of the work they do. He encourages listeners to embrace vulnerability and to unlearn the social myth that asking for help is indicative of weakness.

Suicide is uncomfortable to talk about. But we have to. Bringing the conversation into the light with intention and courage will help expand our perceptions of why it happens and increase our compassion around it. I believe having brave discussions will ultimately result in a decrease in the rates of suicide. This episode was unplanned and is unscripted. Its just me, encouraging us all to change our perceptions and approaches to suicidality. The instinctive fear-based and reactive responses to someone's thoughts or actions of suicide contribute to making the problem worse. When we dial into empathy and learn to use more question marks, compassion is felt and healing can begin. The world lost an incredible human to suicide on April 14th. Please join me in honoring and memorializing my friend, Max Kraus, with your listen of this episode.

Since the mid-80s, research shows that consumers have spent increasingly more and more money, year after year, on drugs and hospital treatment for mental health issues. Interestingly, the data on reported mental health-related symptoms and deaths has also been on an endless and steady rise. Something is very wrong with that. Brett Shrewsbury, the Chief Commercial Officer of Meru Health, Inc., is an innovator and entrepreneur who is putting his energy into finding new ways to provide mental health servicing. Brett is also using his voice to speak truth to what is NOT WORKING as we work to help people tend to psychological functioning and wellness. This is a topic that touches every single human and is important for us all to be in-the-know about.

If you are anything like me, the fact that its a presidential election year makes you want to turn your TV off and hide in a cave until it is all over. At the very same time, I am grateful for my right to vote and want to be an informed, involved citizen. Emily Haggstrom has been involved in the political journalism, advocacy, communications and the creation of public affairs campaigns for nearly two decades. She travels all over the world constantly expanding her own perspectives. In this episode, Emily talks about how and where to find non-biased information, the importance of respecting each other's differences while challenging our own beliefs, and how to have a meaningful conversations with someone who does not think or believe in the same way that you do.

Most of us know what it feels like to believe there's just supposed to be more to life than this... especially when we have settled into complacency or misalignment. Artist, aerial yogi, photographic creator, and business owner, Katy Paulson joins me for a conversation about how to move from a life that feel less than thriving into one that is full of passion, creativity and so much fun! You can follow Katy on social media at @AirKaty or contact Angel Productions or Morse Code Malas via her website: KatyPaulson.com

The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has raised the level of collective fear amongst all of us. Instead of fighting like crazy to distract from, outrun, numb out, out-think, or sit in denial of our fear, what if we began to lean into it with the intention of learning from the wisdom or perspective it perhaps has to offer? The ridiculously inspirational Corporate and Public Speaker, Chad Bruegman joins me for this vulnerable episode as we explore our own relationships to fear and make a case for YOU to up your self-awareness game and speak honestly in moments when you feel afraid.
***There is no explicit content in this episode.***

Nationally recognized sportscaster, television host and Colorado native, Lauren Gardner, speaks boldly about the importance of knowing herself and living in alignment with that truth, especially as a female working in the male-dominated sports industry. She shares about a people-pleasing part of herself that contributed to living smaller than what she was meant to, and the process of rumbling with the recognition that she was meant for more and built to live fully in her personal power. She wraps it up with some pretty amazing stories about her favorite moments in the limelight.

As an athletically built adolescent, Kelsi Kraus was tormented and bullied about her “boy” physique, lending to an inner battle with shame and a long-term struggle with body image. In this episode, Kelsi opens up about that pain from childhood and the lasting effects of it. She shares a story of healing reconciliation, between her beliefs and her body, that required not running away from her biggest fears, but rather racing towards them and stepping straight into spotlights that once seemed terrifying and impossible. Kelsi’s faith-based journey reminds us of the powers of self-love, always being on the lookout for joy, a discipline of gratitude, and in the willingness to trust that something much bigger than us always has our back.

The Denver Broncos Cheerleaders are known as a top-notch organization of particularly high-caliber women. In this episode, program Director (and member of the first DBC team in 1993) Shawna Peters, helps us understand how the late Pat Bowlen (owner of the NFL team) played an integral role in conceptualizing this powerhouse program, inside perspective of the life-changing experience of being a Broncos Cheerleader, and how the legacy lives on through the active DBC alumni community. We explore the roles we play as women in the world and discuss the shift from neurotic female competition and comparison to support and empowerment.

Megan La Grave is the epitome of an entrepreneurial spirit who, at one point, lived out of her car so that she could invest her whole self into a brilliant passion project business. Early childhood tragedy birthed a love affair with collecting information, which serves Megan well in her data analytics work. But her inherent curiosity keeps her mind busy with scrolls and scrolls of innovative ideas. Paired with a fiery sense of courage, this female phenom lives a big life of expansive thinking. In this episode, we explore Megan’s route into entrepreneurialism as well as specific guidance to anyone who is feeling stuck or complacent in any area of life.