Inner Monologue

This week I sit down to have a chat with Dean Walker, artist and fitness guru. Dean and I talk about the humor of judging a book by its cover related to the people we meet, the benefits of a good diet for positive mental health & the need to create art, not for acknowledgement, but to scratch the itch of desire.

Zak Chipps returns for this week's episode to continue the saga of the 2012 RISE bicycle tour. What started with an awesome community event in Santa Cruz was quickly followed by disappointing guest attendance and participation with unexpected gifts. Zak and I reflect on the mediocre support in our home turf of Arizona. We also touch on the subjects of oral surgery, transcendence through gong baths and finding the inspiration, from the movie Lord of the Rings, to keep moving forward.

This week's guest in the ashram is Christina Tetreault, co-founder of the Commit Campaign. Growing up as a light hearted, positive, goofy kid with a love of show tunes, Christina's world was rocked after losing friends to suicide. She entered the pageantry world to use it as a platform to talk about mental health and break the stigma.

This week I sit down with Krysten Aldridge of One True Love, a food truck out reach program for the homeless and less fortunate of society. Krysten talks us through her extraordinary journey from being a food addict to being an activist. It's a fantastic tale of irony, how one woman turned her addiction into a symbol of hope.

This week's guest is artist, Kelly Birg. Kelly talks about her awareness of her own sexuality at the age of 12. While attempting to come out about it, she hid her true feelings for the next 13 years of her life. Kelly shares her journey in finding her true authentic voice as well as her passion for art, her creative process and the freedom that comes with moving cross country.

This week I sit down with Survivor, Steven Simpson. I reflect on the slow, but positive transformation I witnessed in Steven during his time attending survivors of suicide support group. He shares the awful truth in his dark decent, and how a weekend of college debauchery took him to the brink of madness only to inspire within him the will to return to the light. Oh, and there is also talk of space squirrels with laser beams.

This week's guest is Jill McMahon, facilitator, therapist, and all around rad lady! Jill and I discuss how she fell into working with survivors of suicide, the culture of depression and how she prepares and processes an evening of facilitating a support group.

This week’s guest is Kelsey Oney, co-founder of the Commit Campaign, a grassroots photographic and social media movement to end the stigma to suicide, depression and mental health. Kelsey opens up about the loss of her father how her grief and how the stigma of suicide contributed to her pain. She opens up about her process and road through the darkness only find light in a newfound purpose of activism with the Commit Campaign.

I sit down and chat with the amazing artist and Inner Monologue partner, Sharon Stelluto. We talk about our first phone conversation and how I was mesmerized by her voice. Sharon also explains the power and inspiration that comes with being sensitive of the world around you and most of all her passion for art and her own creative process.

This episode is with Zak Chipps, Co-Founder of R.I.S.E. (Revolution Inspired by Self Evolution).  Thomas and Zak talk about how the idea of the R.I.S.E. cross country bicycle tour came to fruition, the process of tour preparation and how it felt to begin the journey by riding over the Golden Gate Bridge on a dark and stormy day.