James Donaldson is our guest for this episode.

James was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics in 1979 after a 4 year career at Washington State University. James played 20 years in professional Basketball.

After retiring James has been a successful business owner, tireless volunteer, and much more. During our conversation James shares stories from his time in the NBA, and from his  in volunteer work across Washington State.

After a major health setback James dealt with significant depression and had  thoughts of suicide.  He was able to recover by building a team around him to help provide structure and support.  James was able to draw from his sports career and saw the power in teamwork.  After months of hard work James was able to realize it was better to hang in there.

James has created a non-profit foundation Your Gift of Life Foundation that is a voice to an advocate and voice for mental health and suicide prevention.  The foundations objectives are.

• To Raise Awareness About Mental Health and Suicide Prevention
• To Raise Money to Contribute to Like-Minded and Like-Hearted Efforts
• To Provide Scholarships to Students of Color and International Students Going Into the Mental Health Field. And also for continuing education purposes as well.
• To Have James on an Ongoing Basis, Speaking About Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Issues.

Find out more about James Donaldson and his journey is this episode. James is an inspiring storyteller and truly passionate about helping the less fortunate in Washington State and beyond.

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