In this deeply personal episode of Leave the Light On, Tammy Flake sits down with Brooke Quinn, a registered nurse and mother, who shares a story of unimaginable loss—and the strength it has taken to keep moving forward.

Brooke experienced suicide loss first as a teenager when her best friend, died after struggling with bullying and mental health challenges. Years later, Brooke lost her husband, to suicide while she was pregnant with their daughter.

But Brooke’s story raises another difficult and increasingly important question: What happens when someone in crisis turns to artificial intelligence instead of a person?

Brooke discovered conversations between her husband and AI that had become increasingly harsh, including discussions surrounding his mental health and suicidal thoughts. Her experience has left her questioning how AI should respond when someone is clearly in crisis—and why human connection, professional help, family, and trusted friends remain so important.

Brooke also opens up about pregnancy, grief, therapy, parenting after loss, emotional numbness, guilt, and the complicated reality of grieving someone who died by suicide.

Her message is simple but powerful: you don't have to carry this alone.

Grief isn't a straight line. Healing isn't either. But there can still be hope.

If you or someone you know is struggling, reach out to a trusted person or a qualified mental-health professional. In the United States, you can also call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

This is Brooke's story. Her experience. Her truth.

And maybe, by hearing it, someone else will know they're not alone.

Leave the Light On with Tammy Flake — a podcast about healing, hope, and the unseen battles people carry every day.

When You Think It’s the End, It Might Be the Beginning

What happens when the life you thought you were going to live suddenly changes?

In this episode of Leave the Light On, Tammy Flake sits down with James “Jim” Logan, a 62-year-old Ironman athlete, author, husband, and cancer survivor living with a stage-four metastatic colorectal cancer diagnosis.

Jim shares what happened when doctors told him he was dying—and how, after months of fear, anger, depression, and uncertainty, he made a decision that changed everything: stop planning to die and start planning to live.

Instead of giving up the things that gave his life meaning, Jim kept swimming, biking, and running. He wrote a book, dedicated its profits to charity, strengthened his faith, and set his sights on the Ironman World Championship in Kona.

But this conversation is about much more than cancer or endurance sports. It is about hope when life feels hopeless, the power of small victories, the importance of letting people help you, faith, relationships, vulnerability, and refusing to let the way you may die overshadow the way you choose to live.

Jim's message is simple: Just keep trying (tri-ing)!

Sometimes the finish line isn't where you thought it would be. Sometimes what feels like the end is actually the beginning of something new.

If you're struggling, facing your own dark place, or simply taking someone you love for granted, this conversation may give you a reason to pause, reach out, and keep going.

You don't have to be an Ironman. You just have to take the next step.

Leave the Light On with Tammy Flake — because you never know who needs a little light today.

When Someone Says “How Are You?” — Ask Them How They Really Are

In this powerful episode of Leave the Light On, Tammy Flake sits down with Utah media personality and suicide-prevention advocate Brandy Vega, founder of Promise to Live.

Brandy shares a deeply personal story of surviving a suicide attempt at 12, serving in the military and working in news media, and ultimately facing the unimaginable when her own daughter attempted to take her life.

What began as some of the darkest moments of her life became the catalyst for a mission to help others choose hope, connection, and another day.

Tammy and Brandy talk openly about breaking the stigma surrounding mental health and suicide, why we shouldn't be afraid to ask difficult questions, and the simple words that can change a conversation: “How are you really?”

Brandy also shares the ASK framework — Acknowledge, Support, Keep in touch — and explains how small acts of connection, including Promise to Live's “Pocket Hugs,” can remind someone that they are loved, needed, and not alone.

This conversation is about more than suicide prevention. It's about showing up for one another, recognizing that we never truly know what someone else is carrying, and turning awareness into action.

Sometimes saving a life starts with a text.
Sometimes it starts with a hug.
Sometimes it starts with simply asking, “How are you really doing?”

If someone comes to mind while listening to this episode, don't wait. Reach out.

You are loved. You are needed. And your story isn't over.

In this deeply personal episode of Leave the Light On, Tammy Flake opens up about a tool from Heroes Haven that changed the way she understands trauma, responsibility, and shame: the Responsibility Matrix.

Tammy breaks down the difference between an accident, a choice, and something intentional—and the emotional response that belongs with each: grief, remorse, or guilt. Most importantly, she explains why shame is different from all three. Shame says “I am bad,” while guilt says “I did something bad.” That difference can change everything.

Tammy shares her own journey through Heroes Haven, her experience returning to therapy after a painful first experience, and the courage it took to confront a traumatic assault from her military years that she had carried with shame for decades.

She also explains the three phases of Heroes Haven: healing yourself, coming back to shepherd someone else, and finding a passion project that gives your life purpose.

This episode is ultimately about turning pain into purpose, vulnerability into connection, and shame into truth.

If you're carrying something that you believe makes you a bad person, Tammy wants you to stop and ask: Is this really mine to carry?

You don't have to sort through it alone.

Leave the light on. You are worth being here.

In this episode of Leave the Light On, Tammy Flake takes an honest look at the statistics surrounding suicide, with a particular focus on veterans.

Tammy breaks down the gender paradox of suicide, the role of lethal means, why firearms are such a significant factor among veterans, and the alarming gap between veterans who need support and those actually connected to care. She also discusses military sexual trauma as a distinct risk factor and shares why community involvement may be one of the most important pieces of the puzzle.

But this episode isn't about numbers alone.

It’s about the person behind the statistic—the veteran who stopped calling, the neighbor who seems different, the family member who doesn't know what to say, and those moments when we almost don't speak up.

Tammy shares a personal story about a veteran she met who didn't know about an important emergency-care protection available to veterans in crisis, and how simply having the right information can make a difference.

The message is simple: We can't always wait for the system to find people. Sometimes, we have to be the ones who notice, ask, listen, and stay.

Because every statistic represents someone who mattered to somebody.

And sometimes, the difference between tragedy and another tomorrow is one person deciding to say, “Hey, I've noticed something is different. I want to understand.”

Leave the Light On — because you never know who needs to see it.

Time Can Save a Life | Building Hope Before the Crisis

What if the most powerful tool in suicide prevention isn't having the perfect words—but simply creating enough time for hope to return?

In this deeply personal episode of Leave the Light On, Tammy Flake shares her own experience of reaching a breaking point and the plan that helped her find her way back. Drawing from her journey as an Iraq War veteran, peer support facilitator, and survivor, she explains why suicidal crises are often temporary, why emotional pain lies to us, and why no one should have to carry that weight alone.

You'll learn:

• Why slowing down can save a life.
• How families and friends can recognize warning signs.
• What "lethal means safety" really means—and why Tammy calls it creating breathing room.
• Why asking someone directly if they're thinking about suicide does not put the idea in their head.
• How to build a practical safety plan before it's ever needed.

Whether you're a veteran, family member, friend, or someone quietly fighting your own unseen battle, this conversation is a reminder that you are not alone.

If this episode reaches you on a difficult day, hold on just a little longer. Let someone sit with you. Hope often returns one moment at a time—and you are worth waiting for.

You are worth being here. Leave the Light On.

What if the greatest gift you could give your children isn't money, success, or even security—but knowing without question that they matter?

In this episode of Leave the Light On, Tammy Flake shares the intentional practices that have shaped her family through trauma, military life, and the challenges of raising children in today's world. From journaling and family councils to teaching financial responsibility, navigating social media, and having honest conversations about mental health, Tammy explains how small, consistent actions build resilient families.

Healing doesn't begin in a therapist's office—it often begins around the kitchen table, one conversation at a time.

If you've ever wondered how to break generational cycles, strengthen your family, or create a home where your children always know they belong, this episode is for you.

Remember: You don't have to be a perfect parent. You just have to keep showing up.

In this episode, Tammy Flake tells a story she's referenced before but never fully explained: what she means when she says the military almost killed her. It isn't about combat, and it isn't primarily about suicidal ideation, though she speaks to that honestly too. It's about nearly bleeding to death — twice, after two separate childbirths — inside a military medical system that dismissed her as a pregnant soldier before she ever walked through the clinic door.

Tammy walks through what happened: a hostile on-post OB practice, a delivery where retained placental tissue went undetected, being sent home while hemorrhaging, and a WIC nurse who found her iron levels so low she couldn't understand how Tammy was still upright. She traces the line from that trauma to twelve years of avoiding the VA and the medical system entirely — and to the civilian doctor who, with a second pregnancy, finally listened, prepared for the same complication, and rebuilt what the institution had broken.

This episode is also a direct message to women veterans: that dismissal inside military medical systems is a pattern, not a personal failing, and that distrust born from real harm is a rational response, not a character flaw. Tammy connects her own story to the advocacy work she now does in Washington, D.C., and makes the case for why lived testimony — not just policy expertise — is what actually moves the needle in rooms where veteran healthcare decisions get made.

In this episode, Tammy Flake steps outside the familiar landscape of VA clinics and prescription pads to explore the wide, largely unknown world of alternative healing available to veterans and military families — much of it free, and almost all of it something she's personally experienced before recommending it.

She starts with hyperbaric oxygen therapy, correcting the common image of a cramped medical chamber (it's closer to a comfortable inflatable tent) and explaining the research behind its effect on traumatic brain injury and PTSD symptom severity when paired with talk therapy. From there she shares her own surprising experience with Dive Into Healing, a free scuba program that uses breath-focused pool sessions and float meditation to shift veterans' nervous systems out of hypervigilance — including a session with six skeptical veteran men who left calling it "a cool experience."

Tammy also maps out a broader network of programs: Project Sanctuary for military families, Continue Mission's outdoor adventure model, local Utah resources like Warrior Revival and the Veterans Lounge, rewilding, and equine therapy. She's candid about medication too — she's not anti-medication, but makes the case that alternative, body-based healing can help veterans move past symptom management toward something closer to freedom.

This episode is a resource guide as much as a conversation: a bigger map for anyone looking for the next door to try.

In this episode, Tammy Flake makes the case for what she believes is one of the most powerful tools in healing from trauma — not therapy, not medication, not a hotline, but another human being who has actually lived it. She unpacks the difference between peer-to-peer support and clinical or scripted care, and why people who are struggling most, especially veterans and first responders, can tell instantly when help is coming from a script versus from a scar.

Tammy shares her own story of staying away from the VA and the veteran community for twelve years, not because she didn't need help, but because institutional systems had broken her trust. She describes the specific moment that finally brought her back through the door — a program run "by veterans, for veterans" — and why that distinction mattered more than anything else on offer.

She also speaks candidly about vetting the programs she recommends, calling out organizations that use bait-and-switch tactics with veterans, and explains why shame, not distrust, is often the first and most underestimated barrier keeping people from seeking help at all. The episode closes with practical guidance for anyone further along in their healing who wants to become a peer themselves — starting with showing up, consistently, without an agenda.