Ryan Williams, Chief Executive Officer and Owner of Seedlinks Behavior Management, LLC, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:

0:29 1. Ryan, you were raised in the MLK community, graduated from Green Oaks and went on to receive your Bachelors and Masters from Grambling and Louisiana Tech.

You are the CEO of several companies and extremely active in our community. Let’s start here today. Talk to me about Seedlinks Behavior Management, your company, and some of the services you offer.

3:42 2. In speaking about mental health emergencies you once said,

“They don’t necessarily need a police officer, they need a doctor, they need a social worker, they need someone to ask NOT what’s wrong with you but how can I help you.”

Talk to me about some of the barriers that exist today in our community for dealing with mental health emergencies.

7:25 3. I’m going to pull another quote from you. You once said,

“If you don’t stop people who are cut from bleeding, they’ll bleed on people that didn’t cut them and I think that’s what we’re dealing with in our community”

Talk to me about the vicious cycle of stress as I have heard you call it.

10:05 4. I have also heard you use the phrase “complete city” before. Tell me what it means to be a complete city and what it will take if we ever want to become one.

14:52 5. Lastly, what gives you hope that this community is headed in the right direction?