Join us for our sixth episode with Emily the Organizer!

Mental Health and Creativity Collide is about celebrating inspiring stories through the lens of mental health and creativity. This week's episode features Emily Shepherd, owner of Lively Organizing Co.

"My name is Emily and I would love to help you get organized so you can live a more efficient & beautiful life. I’ve been helping people get organized for 15 years, it’s my passion. When not organizing, I can be found drinking coffee, reading, helping people buy & sell houses,  or eating with my family. I firmly believe that when our homes run more efficiently, even the most chaotic day is easier to handle."

-Emily

We talk about what keeps Emily organized while taking care of her own mental health. And how staying organized can help the body and mind more easily transition into creation or calm. Emily even offers some tips on how to clean your space from a professional organizer! Kate (your host) has known Emily for almost 20 years, and can speak first had to the change Emily creates in the world by helping it become more organized, it is truly beautiful.

Want to stay in touch with Emily? Find her under the following handles!

Ig: @emilytheorganizer

We go live every other Thursday on The Network’s Twitch channel. If you want to watch the live video stream, ask the guests questions in real time, or be a part of a community that values mental health and creativity we would love to have you! New to Twitch? It’s free and amazing, you can find us here: https://www.twitch.tv/the_hope_for_us_network

You can also watch the video component of our show on The Network's Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hulOd-nFKLM) after it has aired.

Join us for our fifth episode with the Dungeons and Dragons Dudes!

Mental Health and Creativity Collide is about celebrating inspiring stories through the lens of mental health and creativity. This week's episode features Benjamin, Christian, Andrew, Jason, and Sam. Friends who have been meeting weekly to play D&D online each week during the pandemic and how this has supported their friendship, mental health, and creativity.

We talk about the stigma on D&D, masculinity, creativity, characterization, and they even do a demonstration of how a live role playing game works!

What is Dungeons and Dragons you ask?

"The core of D&D is storytelling. You and your friends tell a story together, guiding your heroes through quests for treasure, battles with deadly foes, daring rescues, courtly intrigue, and much more. You can also explore the world of Dungeons & Dragons through any of the novels written by its fantasy authors, as well as engaging board games and immersive video games. All of these stories are part of D&D."- www.wizards.com

Resources to start playing D&D, or heighten your current experience:

- DNDBeyond.com

We go live every other Thursday on The Network’s Twitch channel. If you want to watch the live video stream, ask the guests questions in real time, or be a part of a community that values mental health and creativity we would love to have you! New to Twitch? It’s free and amazing, you can find us here: https://www.twitch.tv/the_hope_for_us_network

You can also watch the video component of our show on The Network's Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzn3JNEuo4Q&t=5049s) after it has aired.

Join us for our fourth episode with dr moore (lower case preferred by the artist)!

Mental Health and Creativity Collide is about celebrating inspiring stories through the lens of mental health and creativity. This week's episode features dr Sharon moore, she is a conscious wanderer, consistent wonderer, lifelong educator and learner, originally from the south suburbs of Chicago and now a resident of Bronzeville. When not writing stories or facilitating others in the writing of their own, she can be found putting together expert level Legos.

dr moore is one of the most inspiring humans I have ever met. Not only does she nourish a healthy and beautiful creative world of her own with her writing, but she invests in creating that relationship within her students as well. The poem she shares has been a constant for me on the hard days. I hope you enjoy the gift of dr moore being dr moore.

dr moore's poem:

Friday, June 4, 2021 I woke up today with much the same spirit as I have for too many days in a row to matter. My waking up is a faint echo of my going to sleep, which is fitful when it happens, and soul defeating when it eludes, hiding behind one of the four pillow on the bed or nestled underneath one of my UGLY dolls that linger on the unused side of things, variously serving as reminders of what has been lost (one orange doll whose black string mouth has come undone was a gift I gave Pamela which she apparently laid her head upon for the last time in the passenger’s seat of her ‘64 Corvair) and a teasing reminder of a playfulness I perhaps will never again know. Anyway, I woke up today wishing the day wouldn’t start, wishing the sun would hold in place and than Earth would stop rotating on its axis for if I could just be fixed in space, in time, in mind, I could figure out all the things: what I am doing, what I need to be doing, where I want to be, who I want to be.

I woke up today and for the first time in some time I wished I hadn’t. Not because I am actively suicidal, not because I have devised a plan for the 9th time, the 12th? No, I woke up today and thought, I need peace. And ceasing to be would provide that. My mind could use some quiet. My heart could use something? Anything. Anyone? I woke up today and thought, it is all too much. And then I took a shower, I fed the animals, I walked my dog, I went to Roseland and painted and planned and talked and listened, I texted with former students, I facetimed my folks to explain where the SNAP device must be installed in their cars only to realize what I already knew which is that that will happen on Saturday when I visit and help them navigate senior citizen drivers’ bootcamp online for 8 hours which leaves me wondering who in the world thinks having septuagenarians and older on a computer for that long is a good idea or will work. I smiled, I laughed, I was present. I did, and I did, and I did some more. And here is my current truth, I woke up this morning and thought, it is all too much, and then, well, then, it wasn’t.

Art mentioned:

Luscious Jackson

James Baldwin The Fire Next Time.

Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass

Walt Whitman: Song of Myself: This is where dr moore's tattoo “All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses.." comes from.

Maybe we all become trees: Ovid's Metamorphoses.

Want to connect with dr moore? Email: [email protected]/contextos.org

Want to watch the episode on Youtube? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD48jzUT1WU&t=18s

Join us for our first episode with Ben Mattson! HE is the COO of The Network, a philosopher, a drummer, a lover of poetry, and an all around inspiring human. We broach the gambit of topics surrounding creativity and mental health: how to listen, philosophy, wisdom, OCD, creativity, abstraction, HSP, empathy, love, alchemy, how to be creative as a COO, how to have mental health in a non-profit, what is proactive prevention, and more. We mention a few links in our talk together and you can find them below. Reach out to us on Twitch or Discord with feedback or thoughts!

Thank  you to Theater Above The Law for hosting us during this filming session! You can check out their current season here!

Connect with Ben at (benm2035), or me your host Kate (KateMarieStudio) on The Network's Discord!

What is OCD?

What is an HSP (Highly Sensitive Person).

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert (the audio book is fantastic if that’s your thing).

"Prediction is very difficult,  especially if it's about the future"- Niels Bohr.

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers by Emily Dickinson.

We go live every other Thursday on The Network’s Twitch channel. If you want to watch the live video recording of the podcast, ask the guests questions in real time, or be a part of a community that values mental health and creativity we would love to have you! Our next session is on Sept 16th 2021 6:30-8:30 CST with a live Q&A starting at 7:30 PM between me, the guest Lana Smither Death Doula, and those in the Twitch channel! New to Twitch? It’s free and amazing, you can find us here: https://www.twitch.tv/the_hope_for_us_network

You can also watch the video component of our show on The Network's Youtube channel (https://youtu.be/B_O_qC1QUuU) after it has aired.

Join us for our third episode with Teagan Walsh-Davis!

Mental Health and Creativity Collide is about celebrating inspiring stories through the lens of mental health and creativity. This week's episode features Teagan Walsh-Davis, a writer, performer, ceramicist, art omnivore, and anxious bisexual cliché. She lives in Chicago with her two cats, does a lot of crafts, and goes to bed at a reasonable hour.  

We talk about the stigma on medication, how to balance a 9-5 job and creativity, the process of renovating her own home and much more! I (Kate your host) have known Teagan for almost 20 years, and I believe you would be hard pressed to find another human that creates better balance in their world. I hope you enjoy learning from her as much as I do!

Want to stay in touch with Teagan? Find her on under the following handles!

Instagram(s): @teaganwithoutsara + @straubhandmade

We go live every other Thursday on The Network’s Twitch channel. If you want to watch the live video stream, ask the guests questions in real time, or be a part of a community that values mental health and creativity we would love to have you! New to Twitch? It’s free and amazing, you can find us here: https://www.twitch.tv/the_hope_for_us_network

You can also watch the video component of our show on The Network's Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFi8nnAvecY) after it has aired.

Lana is fascinated with all the ways to release, and how that keeps us alive (exhales, tremors, laughs, mini-deaths, orgasms, births, mourning, digestion, sleep and so on). She’s living for a moment on Timucua land in Florida while focusing on death doula-ing and green burial advocacy. Lana weaves her performing past, meditation, filmmaking, and other-than-human communication into all she does. Oh and the trees… and water… hots springs, tears, oceans, waterfalls, mist, tea…

Lana curates a community service project called ‘death, me, dying tree’ that explores how we can learn to support each other through death, grief, and the climate crisis with mourning rituals. If you want to attend an event or join the project reach out: 

by email [email protected] 

or visit the website deathmedyingtree.com

and instagram: @death_me_dyingtree 

and facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deathmedyingtree

What is a death doula/end of life doula?

“End-of-life doulas provide non-medical, holistic support and comfort to the dying person and their family, which may include education and guidance as well as emotional, spiritual or practical care, from as early as initial diagnosis through bereavement.”- quote from National End Of Life Doula Alliance’s website

TRE (tremoring) explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQkwLrSxd5w

TRE (tremoring) exercises: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeUioDuJjFI

Cheetah and Impala (close to a gazelle but not) video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox7Uj2pw-80&t=19s

*disclaimer when we are talking about "our mask" we are referring to our facial expressions and the outward persona we present to the world, not a mask to protect against COVID-19

Death File creation: how one can prepare for death outside of crisis, ahead of time, so that in the moment of crisis you can be fully present and not worry about paperwork and what your loved one's wishes might be.

You can access Lana's free resources to get your file started here: https://deathmedyingtree.com/resources/

A Sacred Passing- inspiring end of life care community based out of Seattle, WA: https://asacredpassing.org/

The Faces of Fortitude by M. Abeo and here's their website: https://mariangelaabeo.com/faces-of-fortitude/

You are not alone, connect with us here at The Hope For Us Network via out Twitch Channel at the bottom of this page!

Grief Literacy Training with Being Here, Human:https://www.beingherehuman.com/online-grief-literacy-training

If you are interested in reading more about somatic experiencing and trauma in the body please check out the below:

- Waking The Tiger by Peter Levine

- The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel van der Kolk

We go live every other Thursday on The Network’s Twitch channel. If you want to watch the live video stream, ask the guests questions in real time, or be a part of a community that values mental health and creativity we would love to have you! New to Twitch? It’s free and amazing, you can find us here: https://www.twitch.tv/the_hope_for_us_network

You can also watch the video component of our show on The Network's Youtube channel (https://youtu.be/95J7rhA6XWY) after it has aired.

Mental Health and Creativity Collide is about everyday creatives. Whether they are a CEO, a chef, a death doula, or a professional artist, mental health and creativity are gifts we all have as humans. This podcast explores how our guests find balance between mental health and creativity, and how the two are intimately linked. It is a celebration of their stories, and an invitation for us to share our own.

We go live every other Thursday on The Network’s Twitch channel. If you want to watch the video of the podcast, ask the guests questions in real time, or be a part of a community that values mental health and creativity we would love to have you! Our first session is on Sept 2nd 6:30-8:30 CST with a live Q&A starting at 7:30 PM between me, the guest, and those in the Twitch channel! New to Twitch? It’s free and amazing, you can find us here: https://www.twitch.tv/the_hope_for_us_network

What is The Network you ask?

Mission Statement

The Hope For Us Network is a lived experience coalition disrupting the highest risk factors for mental health crises.

Vision Statement

The Hope For Us Network is a non-profit organization dedicated to catalyzing transformational change in mental health care through proactive prevention practices to achieve effective mental health care and suicide prevention.

About your host:

Like so many others, Kate has had an intense journey with her own mental health and has lost many friends to suicide and depression. All of this inspired her to create the production One Woman Hamlet and the podcast Mental Health & Creativity Collide, shows that inspire conversation and education surrounding mental health. Her hope is that people can better understand their own mental health and find the same peace and freedom she has found. This is a developing community. If you have feedback, or stories you want to hear expressed on this channel please connect with me through the Twitch or Discord Channels. Your voice is wanted and important as we collect our stories together and inspire one another to live creative and mentally nourished lives.

Kate is an award-winning performer and producer in Chicago. You may have seen her in Chicago Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew, or in the acclaimed indie film Jack and Anna. For five years, Kate also acted as the community outreach coordinator and ensemble member for the theater company One Year Chekhov. Outside of her life as a creative, Kate is also a trauma-sensitive trained yoga teacher. She has been privileged enough to use this training to teach trauma-sensitive prenatal yoga in Cook County Jail through Yoga For Recovery, and to educate teachers in their 200 hour level certification on the importance of trauma sensitivity in the world of yoga. For the past four years Kate has worked on developing One Woman Hamlet in conjunction with her own journey around depression and anxiety. It was created alongside Hope For The Day and with the support and advice of professional mental health counselors. Kate has over 200 hours of extended and certified mental health education, and she is currently working on a community to support creativity in those dealing with mental health struggles. Stay current with Kate at  www.onewomanhamlet.com.