Counselor Mandy and her guest, Barry Sherman, have known each other for over 25 years. In that time, they have been fighting the good fight championing authenticity and solidarity. Mandy loved it when Barry jumped right in with this bold statement: “There is no sustainable way forward without deeply embracing authenticity.” For over three decades Barry, as a school Social Worker and currently the Coordinator for Social-Emotional Learning and Student Leadership, has been helping young people explore, discover, and develop their own authenticity. In this episode they also have a candid discussion about the lies we have been telling our children which are a detriment to their psychological growth. Barry states “in order to prepare our youth for the 21st century we must guide them into the beautiful authentic truth of their own being AND join it with global solidarity.”

Over the past three decades, Barry Sherman has worked side-by-side with Chris Saade (and a stellar team of noble-hearted people) supporting the development of his evolutionary work including Chris’s H Method model of deep authenticity and global solidarity.

Alongside this nonprofit work, Barry’s work as a School Social Worker with Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools began in 1989, where he currently works at Wilson Stem Academy as the Coordinator for Social-Emotional Learning and Student Leadership. He is very excited and proud to be working with Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, a school district that has made a strong commitment to social and emotional learning.

Barry has an undergraduate degree in music education and a masters degree in social work from the University of South Carolina and is a licensed clinical social worker. He is a singer/songwriter with CDs that focus around themes of authenticity and solidarity.

Barry lives in Charlotte with his beloved South African spouse, Dr. Lyndall Hare, and their academically gifted rescue dog, Jayco.

If you'd like to contact Barry he can be reached at: [email protected]

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Dr. Linda Bender, an internationally renowned animal advocate, speaker, and author joins Counselor Mandy for this episode of Finding Hope. From a young age Dr. Bender had the super-power of communicating with animals and knew she HAD to help them. She felt the grief from the ignorance and cruelty to animals by humans, and has made it her life’s work to advocate for them. The wisdom she has learned from animals is having unconditional love, joy, and peace, as well as how they teach us about death and moving on.

Dr. Linda Bender holds a doctorate degree in veterinary medicine, is a gifted healer, intuitive, and spiritual teacher. She is an internationally renowned animal advocate, speaker, and author of the award winning Amazon best-seller Animal Wisdom: Learning from the Spiritual Lives of Animals. Her work has been endorsed by Dr. Jane Goodall, Dr. Rupert Sheldrake, Deepak Chopra,and many more.

During the 14 years she spent living in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, her work included the rescue, rehabilitation, and protection of wildlife. This work deepened her passion to be a strong voice for the voiceless in the world. Her interest in spirituality led her to study many of the world’s wisdom and healing traditions, she is a certified teacher of meditation, Ayurveda and energy medicine. She is the co-founder of From the Heart, a non-profit charity that directly serves animals and their habitats.

For more information, please visit LindaBender.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lindabenderdvm

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlindabender/

Twitter: @Drlindabender

CONNECT WITH MANDY:

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Counselor Mandy is thrilled to have social change instigator/facilitator/coach Evangeline Weiss joining Finding Hope to talk about her work in educating white women around becoming more self-aware and responsible as a white person. “What I found, from an experience at a very young age, is that we are unprepared in a multi-racial world, and that breaking the silence to talk about these issues is key to the change that needs to happen” says Evangeline. She offers practical tools for taking action and adapting an anti-racist mindset as white people. She is grateful that more and more white people are seeking ways to bring about a more just world.

Evangeline has over 20 years of community building and organizational development experience, integrating racial and gender justice into organizational culture and impact. Evangeline facilitates coaching circles and training programs to sustain leaders on a path towards greater wholeness, intentionality and purpose. Evangeline spent the first 10 years of her career managing volunteers and staff in HIV/AIDS service organizations, and currently facilitates transformational change through her consulting practice, Beyond Conflict and her workshop Finding Freedom. Evangeline is a wife + mother, artist, and justice worker.

You can find out more about Evangeline and her workshops here:

www.wearefindingfreedom.org

June 2021 Finding Freedom Info and Registration 

Website: http://mandybird.com/

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In this episode of Finding Hope we are changing things up a bit! We’ve heard from many listeners that want to know more about our host Mandy Bird’s story and grief journey. So instead of Mandy interviewing a guest…SHE will be the “guest” being interviewed. Our special host is Mandy’s long-time friend and former business partner Tammy Starling.

Mandy reveals that when she was 8 years old her parents divorced. She remembers feeling very alone and having no one to talk to about it. But she also had a voice inside that said “this pain is not going to be in vain.” This traumatic experience birthed in her a desire to help others. She talks about some of the things that have been supportive in her grief journey and also the people along the way that have inspired her. “It has always been essential for me to grow my emotional/spiritual life. I feel that I have an ethical responsibility to be a servant of The Divine” says Mandy. We hope you enjoy this special episode of Finding Hope!

Mandy has been delivering her brand of hope and heart-centered therapy from the stage, the sound booth and through dynamic personal counseling sessions since 1993. She is a benevolent advisor, inspired author, and profoundly intuitive counselor and teacher whose personal experience with loss and tragedy helped awaken her, to her true purpose as a loving healer and grief guide. She started the Finding Hope Podcast as her creative response to the pandemic and all that is transpiring in the world at this time. Mandy considers it her purpose to free the hearts of those experiencing loss by literally loving their hearts into action. It is her highest wish that we live our authentic and purposeful lives with power and joy. She is VERY excited to announce that her book, Tears are the Source of Your Passion, the power and passion of authentic grief, co-authored with Chris Saade, will be released early Summer 2021.

CONNECT WITH MANDY:

Website: http://mandybird.com/

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Author Chris Saade joins Counselor Mandy once again to offer hope and tools for those suffering with migraines and/or chronic pain. After battling with acute chronic migraines for 10 years now, Chris knows first-hand how debilitating they can be. In addition to using various integrative medicine approaches, he and Mandy talk about three tools that have been life-saving in dealing with this pain: Authenticity and Stress, Pleasure, and Love!

Chris says “People with migraines often feel misunderstood and devalued, when actually, the simple act of showing up each day is heroic! I hope that these tools I’m offering, and have used myself, will give them a new perspective on dealing with physical pain.”

Chris Saade is an author, a psychological and philosophical teacher, trainer of professionals, and a life coach. After years serving as a psychotherapist in private practice, Chris spent two decades training therapists, coaches, and the general public in two of his models: Integra: 6 Keys for Heart-Centered Living, and The Quest for Individual Authenticity and Global Solidarity. To date, Chris has led nearly 250 multi-day cutting-edge workshops.

Born in Beirut, he was involved in peace and humanitarian work for 14 years before and during the Lebanese war. The difficulty of those times led him to develop a great respect for freedom, authenticity, diversity, peace, and a passion for justice and solidarity, especially for children.

Chris recently published his 5th book, Rebellion of the Heart, which is available on Amazon, along with is other books: https://amzn.to/2NvPgIM

You can find out more about Chris on his FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/ChrisSaadeAuthor

CONNECT WITH MANDY:

Website: http://mandybird.com/

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We are starting Season 3 of Finding Hope with a budding heart-centered mystic poet, Chelan Harkin. I was captured by Chelan’s poetry because she reminds me of a modern day feminine Hafiz and Rumi. In my interview with Chelan she revealed that growing up and in her early 20s she suffered from acute loneliness and an eating disorder. When this became too painful she sought out ways to become more authentic and to feel good again. Poetry has become one of her tools. She shared that she has learned to “receive” the poetry that comes to her and tries not to do much editing to them. Chelan graced us by reading her poem “Say Wow.” Listen in to hear these profound words about the choices we are presented with each day to say “WOW!”

Chelan Harkin recently published her first book of poetry, Susceptible to Light. This process has been the most satisfying, door opening, and wildly rewarding and encouraging of her life. Shalan’s path is somewhat direct. She feels, she heals, she accesses new insights and inspiration through living on her growth edge and moving through shadows into new horizons of understanding. Then she writes about it. She cares about living truthfully, open heartedly and honoring the authentic self.

You can find out more about Chelan and her book on Facebook at Chelan Harkin Poetry and on Amazon. 

CONNECT WITH MANDY:

Website: http://mandybird.com/

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In our final episode of Season 2 of Finding Hope, Counselor Mandy talks with author/coach and mother Elizabeth Catignani about how she used her grief tools and self-care during the pandemic. After several unexpected losses at the age of 27, Elizabeth passionately dedicated her life to helping others experience healing, joy, and purpose after loss. During the pandemic she, like many others, have been isolated at home with children (her daughters are ages 4 and 12). “I felt like I was on a hamster wheel and knew something HAD to change” says Elizabeth. What she did is what she has taught others to do…go back to the basics of self-care. Her and Mandy talk about these practical tools, as well as the importance of giving ourselves grace. Living in this time in history is new territory for all of us. Do the small things and they will add up and remember you are not alone.

Elizabeth is a Certified Creative Grief Coach, Health Coach and author of Creative Grieving: A Hip Chick’s Path from Loss to Hope. She established Her Creative Wellness, a blog and online platform as a supportive space for women to become empowered on their journey in healing and wellness, from grief to hope. She believes in the transformative power of the human journey and our sacred stories. Through sharing her own story, she hopes to light the way for others seeking a healthy, heart-centered, and fulfilling life.

You can find out more about Elizabeth and her book at www.hercreativewellness.com.

CONNECT WITH MANDY:

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In this episode of Finding Hope, Counselor Mandy talks with spiritual director and interfaith chaplain Nicholas Collura about the importance of coming back home into our authentic nature. As a young child, Nicholas had a sense that he wanted to help people and asked a lot of big questions…that, sometimes, weren’t met with enthusiasm. He now sees that asking those “life” questions led him to his current profession. He also talks about how using the tools of gratitude and mindfulness have helped during this time of the pandemic.

Nicholas Collura is a board-certified interfaith healthcare chaplain, as well as a spiritual director and retreat director affiliated with St. Raphaela Center outside of Philadelphia. He studied film and literature at Yale University and the University of Paris before earning a Master of Divinity from the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. Beyond his work in health care, Nicholas spent three years of his life as a Jesuit on the West Coast, and has worked as a chaplain on college campuses, in juvenile halls and state prisons, and at a shared life community for people with and without developmental disabilities.

You can find out more about Nicholas and the Spiritual Direction he offers to individuals as well as in retreats at: www.nicholascollura.com

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By popular demand I’ve decided to re-post the Finding Hope episode where I spoke with internationally known author Andrew Harvey! 

Internationally renowned religious scholar, writer, teacher, and the author of more than 40 books, Andrew Harvey, joins Counselor Mandy in this episode of Finding Hope. Andrew shares what’s on his heart as we are in the midst of this “global dark night of the soul” saying that this is an opportunity for old systems that have not been serving us to die. It is also a time for birth, which is exploding in all sorts of ways. AND, that it’s SO important to be radiating hope in action – “Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up!” He offers listeners a simple sacred practice to help stay grounded and connected to the Divine (in whatever tradition you come from).

Andrew Harvey was born in south India in 1952 and has devoted much of his life to studying the world's mystical traditions, including intensive study of Hinduism, Buddhism and Sufi mysticism.

To find out about Andrew's latest offerings, visit his website at: https://www.andrewharvey.net

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In this episode of Finding Hope, Counselor Mandy talks with counselor and interfaith chaplain Neil Beresin about how the loss of his parents, just five weeks apart, led him to shift his career path to becoming a Chaplain and discovering how poetry can be an integral piece in the grief process. Neil shared “When I would visit patients in the hospital, after I got to know them, I would select a poem from the collection I had put together and read it to them. I found that it opened up a space for feelings and reflection, and was a wonderful tool into their world to help them grieve or provide a respite from their worry.”

In Neil’s private practice he specializes in helping individuals navigate the unstable and disorienting waters of grief and loss. He may use poetry to provide additional comfort, deepen the space, and encourage reflection and opening. Neil moved into chaplaincy work as an encore pathway following the death of his parents five weeks apart in 2014. The experience of caring for and companioning them in their final nine months of life was profound and life-changing.

Neil’s article, “A Chaplain’s Notebook: Poetry as Spiritual Nourishment” was published by the Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling in March of 2020. You can also find him at:

· @griefandpoetry (Instagram)

· www.facebook.com/griefandpoetry (Facebook)

· www.linkedin.com/in/griefandpoetry (LinkedIn)

· www.griefandpoetry.com (website)

CONNECT WITH MANDY:

Website: http://mandybird.com/

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/counselormandy