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On this week's Wedotalk, David interviewed Jim Frawley.

Jim is an Executive and Organizational coach, Host of the Bellwether Hub Podcast, and author of “Adapting in Motion: Finding Your Place in the New Economy”. Jim is also a triathlete and competed in his first Ironman event two years ago.

We talk about some of Jim’s early career accomplishments. He started in radio, which he loved, and later joined a data analytics firm, which launched his career in business and finance. He worked for several financial institutions in various locations, but rather than feeling satisfied and fulfilled, he found himself feeling angry and frustrated. Having consulted with an executive coach to help identify new possibilities, he himself became a Columbia University Certified Executive Coach. He founded “Bellwether”, a company dedicated to helping organizations and individuals build resiliency and adapt to change. We talk about changing business cultures, changes that are forced upon us and those that we choose

Jim has used personal experiences and that of his clients to develop strategies to help people navigate mental health issues. Although he is not a doctor or therapist, he generally considers the three key components to be physical health, mental health and social health. Jim has hosted a podcast channel for the last three years, and his two most downloaded podcasts relate to his decision to give up drinking alcohol; and how training for an Ironman event helped him with dark thoughts he’d had and dark places his mind had visited. We concluded with a discussion about mental health in the corporate world and that although some progress has been made, significant work needs to be done in this field.

Jim’s Contact Information:

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimfrawley/

Twitter:

@bellwetherhub

Instagram:

@bellwetherhub

Website:

http://www.bellwetherhub.com

Check us out on Spotify and Soundcloud

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On this week's Wedotalk, David interviewed Rachel Gotto.

We talk about Rachel’s therapy and mentoring business, her experiences leading up to writing her book, her entrepreneurial spirit and the mental and emotional strength that has helped her through the darker times of her life and created a passion to help others.

Rachel first experienced a traumatic loss in her twenties, when her closest brother was diagnosed with cancer, and she nursed him for the last two years of his life, traveling the world with him to try and find a cure. Sadly, her brother died in 1996.  Rachel met and married her husband, who tragically drowned in a scuba diving accident while Rachel was 6 months pregnant with their first child. They had only been married 8 months, leaving her to give birth to their first child alone. When her daughter was aged just five, things began to go badly wrong again. Rachel was diagnosed with a rare form of benign brain tumor and was told she didn’t have long to live. Determined not to give up, she hunted the world for a neurosurgeon who was willing to give her a chance at life. After an exhaustive search she found a neurosurgeon in Bristol who was willing to perform the risky surgery. 15 hours of neurosurgery surgery and one intracranial bleed later Rachel had survived, just.  But the ravages of surgery had unfortunately left its mark and Rachel woke days later to find that she had been left paralyzed down the left-hand side of her body, and it took her more than two years to regain full mobility. The neurosurgery had triggered epilepsy, and after decades of being on prescription drugs to keep the epilepsy at bay she found herself addicted to benzodiazepines. This was the beginning of a particular period of hell as she embarked on a long and horrific withdrawal period in which she charted 47 symptoms over a 2.5-year period. All of these events took more than two decades out of her life, and she felt that she was walking out of a prison in her forties and had to re-start her life completely, and now has a therapy and mentoring business and Amazon published her first book “Flying on the Inside: A Memoir of Trauma and Recovery” in December 2021.

Rachel’s Contact Information:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelgotto/

Twitter: @RachelGotto

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=544863398

Instagram: @rachel_gotto

Website: https://rachelgotto.com

Clubhouse: @rachelgotto

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On this week's Wedotalk, David is joined by Sophia May, mental health nurse, singer/songwriter and Founder, Director & Co-CEO of Mendable.

Sophia gives an overview of Mendable and describes it as a movement, rather than an app or a tool, that provides a safe place for those with mental health challenges to support each other.

Sophia was born in London, but her family moved to rural Somerset when she was a young child. After her parents separated, Sophia bonded with a good friend who was also dealing with the separation of her parents, and so began Sophia’s discovery that she found great satisfaction in helping other people, which led to a career in nursing, and today Sophia works professionally as a mental health nurse.

When her daughter was quite young, Sophia’s music career took off quickly. Although she had some early successes, she did not feel the satisfaction and fulfilment that most people associate with success in the music business. She found more pleasure from writing, creating and performing for others, and enjoyed connecting people in her industry.

By creating Mendable and the Clubhouse room that Sophia hosts, she has introduced a platform for men to come forward and share their challenges and support each other. Having witnessed men’s abusive behaviour, Sophia attributes that in part to the lack of emotional support, from which men have typically not been able to benefit.

Sophia’s Contact Information:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-may-446b2429/

Instagram: @sophiamaymusic

Twitter: @sophiamaymusic

Clubhouse: @sophiamaymusic

Websites:

https://www.mendable.app

https://www.sophiamaymusic.com

Email:

[email protected]

[email protected]

Check us out on Spotify and Soundcloud!  

https://soundcloud.com/wedotalk  

https://open.spotify.com/show/4I9FMo7...

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On this week's Wedotalk, David spoke with Jamie Kirkwood, Jared Muscat and Mike Mulkey on the subject of father-son relationships. This is particularly poignant as we approach November 11, which is Veterans Day in the USA and Remembrance Day in the UK. All three guests have appeared on previous Wedotalks.

We first reflect on our own relationships with our fathers; then we talk about what we have each learned from our fathers that shapes us as adults. We continue by discussing what aspects of our fathers’ characters we most admire, and finally, what we have learned from our parents to help us in our own parenting skills, and what type of fathers we want to be for our own children. Mike and David both have a daughter and a son who are adults; Jamie has a three-year-old daughter and Jared has a two-and-a-half-year-old son.

Contact Information:

David – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-jaques-91a/

Jamie – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiemmkirkwood/

Jared – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredamuscat/

Mike – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmulkey/

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On this week’s Wedotalk podcast, David interviewed Australian entrepreneur Balendran Thavarajah.

Bala was born in Sri Lanka. Tragically, his mother took her own life when he was an infant and he was raised in the loving homes of his aunts. His childhood saw the outbreak of a civil war and as a result, Bala had very little schooling beyond the early years and followed the path of many young men at the time and joined the army at the age of 14. In his early twenties, he took refuge in India and from there migrated to Australia. 

As a new immigrant in Sydney, with little schooling and no knowledge of English, his future looked bleak, but Bala was determined to re-build his life. Most educational establishments refused to consider him, but he was eventually admitted to Western Sydney University where he used his energy and determination to learn the English language and succeed by earning a degree in computer science. 

After graduation and with an entrepreneurial spirit, Bala first started a company to offer insurance service to the elderly; in his second company he created a point-of-sale software for supermarkets; and then partnered with the founders of Bluedot Innovation as the Founding CTO. Bluedot is a successful location-based service company in Australia and the USA. 

Today he is the Founder and CEO of GetMee, an AI-enabled application for mobile devices to help people adopt better language and communication skills. GetMee provides the service to people that Bala himself could have used when he arrived in Australia. 

Bala’s Contact Information: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balatry/ 

Instagram: @getmeeai 

Twitter: @getmeeai 

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

Website: https://getmee.ai 

Email: [email protected] 

Remember to like this video and subscribe if you want to see more interesting people like Balendran!

Check us out on Spotify and Soundcloud!  

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https://open.spotify.com/show/4I9FMo7...  

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https://www.instagram.com/wedo_hq/  

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https://getwedo.today/find-wes/

On this week's Wedotalk podcast, David interviewed Jessie Mae. Jessie is one of nine siblings in her family and she tells her story of how she experienced many traumatic events in her childhood. She was the victim of verbal abuse and was repeatedly told by her father that she would never achieve anything in life and was not worthy of the love and security that she needed in her early years. She was also the victim of spankings from her parents and recalls being sprayed with a water hose and other physical punishments for not conforming with the discipline that her parents expected.

As an adult, Jessie feels love for her parents and has come to realize that they did the best that they knew, were not equipped with the skills to cultivate their family and most likely, treated their children the same way that they were also treated in their own childhoods. Her lack of self-worth as a child and young adult, propelled Jessie into a life as an over-achiever and people-pleaser. Despite the traumas that she suffered as a child, she had a successful career in automobile sales and is the mother of four adult daughters.

In late 2019, Jessie needed to have a surgical procedure that required a three-week recovery period. It was during that time that she was able to reflect on her childhood, and her life as an adult, and realised that some of her own parenting styles had been similar to the way she had been treated and that her other behaviours, such as road-rage and general lack of tolerance in others, were triggered by childhood memories.

Today, Jessie has launched her own business to coach and help others to become the best version of themselves and to overcome their self-doubt and lack of confidence. In her own words: “I am high on life, because I discovered what it means to heal from childhood adversity and trauma. Now I’m free and hella happy”. She is in the process of writing her first book.

Jessie’s Contact Information:

Instagram: @iamjessie.mae

Clubhouse: @iamhellahappy

Email: [email protected]

Websites:

https://www.twicecreated.com

https://www.abundantgoddesses.com

Check us out on YouTube!

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https://getwedo.today/find-wes/

This week, David interviewed professional magician and mental health advocate, David Burgess. David is also qualified in neurolinguistic programming; is a hypnosis practitioner, coaching expert and mental health first aider. His mission is to bring the magic back into people’s lives, giving them the tools to gain confidence in their own abilities.

David tells the story of how he successfully became a magician and developed a passion for helping others; but his journey has not always been filled with joy and happiness. At a young age he was physically and verbally bullied at school, associated himself with the wrong group of friends and turned to using drugs and alcohol. At the age of 17, he made an attempt to take his own life, and with the love and support of his family, embarked upon his journey of recovery and realisation of his own abilities. We talk about the resources available to individuals that are going through difficult times, and that no one should feel isolated and alone when they are at their most vulnerable.

David’s Contact Information:

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

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/david-burgess-magician/about/

Instagram: @db_magician

Twitter: @db__Magician

Clubhouse: @mental_health1

Website: https://dbmagician.co.uk

Check us out on YouTube!

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On this week's Wedotalk, David interviewed Joseph Costello, founder of Joseph Costello Mentoring.

Early in his life, he found himself unfulfilled. Having worked in a coal yard and then as a civil servant, he realised that the traditional work-life of a “9-to-5” job was not working for him, and that he was following in the footsteps of his elder generations rather than designing his own life. He found himself depressed and needed long periods of sick leave from his job, mostly due to mental illness, which he and others did not recognise.

Once he had identified what was making him sick, he decided to take ownership of his life and in 2004, Joseph bought a limousine, which started his life of working independently. He went on a journey of self-discovery, in which he focused on relationships, studied the mind, qualified in hypnosis and creative energy, and studied with many mentors. Joseph believes that within each individual lies infinite potential.

Today, Joseph works to help people develop their own pathway forward in their professional and personal lives. Joseph is a global expert in the human mindset, develops thinking into results, and helps his clients deal with negative thoughts, become better decision makers and more focused and disciplined.

Joseph’s Contact Information:

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

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-costello-mentor/

Instagram: @josephcostellomentor

Twitter: @JCostelloMentor

Website: https://josephcostellomentor.com

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On this week's Wedotalk, Laura Duff is joined by Maliha Shoaib, Editorial Intern at Vogue Business.

Remember to like this video and subscribe if you want to see more interesting people like Maliha!

Maliha’s Contact Information:

Instagram: @malihashoaib_

Twitter: @malihashoaib_

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malihashoaib/

Website: https://www.malihashoaib.com

Check us out on Spotify and Soundcloud!

https://soundcloud.com/wedotalk

https://open.spotify.com/show/4I9FMo7...

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https://www.instagram.com/wedo_hq/

https://twitter.com/wedo_hq

Find out more about Wedo and sign up to become a beta tester at https://getwedo.today

This week, David interviewed Sebastiaan Hooft, joining from Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Sebastiaan grew up in suburban Amsterdam and developed a flair for business and entrepreneurship as a young teenager. He founded twenty companies in fifteen years, became recognized as one of the Netherlands’ top tech entrepreneurs and was listed as one of the country’s 100 most successful self-made entrepreneurs by the Dutch business magazine “Quote”. He had achieved fame and wealth, and was a recognized public figure.

In 2009, his life changed radically when the pressure of long work hours, managing multiple enterprises, travel, intense focus and lack of attention to health and diet, resulted in Sebastiaan suffering from a complete physical, mental and emotional breakdown.

After nine months of recovery, he made it his mission to help fellow entrepreneurs avoid the same path of self-destruction. One result of his redesigning his own life, was the publication of his first book “Redesign – Becoming a Happy, Healthy and Successful Entrepreneur”, in which he simplifies and summarizes the five facets of achieving this goal. The fifth facet is that of “Health” and in this podcast, Sebastiaan shares some insights into his journey to recovery and how others can learn from his experiences.

Sebastiaan’s Contact Information:

Twitter: @sebastiaanhooft

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastiaanhooft/

Website: https://www.sebastiaanhooft.com

Remember to like this video and subscribe if you want to see more interesting people like Sebastiaan!

Check us out on YouTube!

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