In this episode of Mental Health Momentum, host Dr. David Morgan sits down with Isa Perry, a seasoned public health professional with nearly three decades of experience serving her community through the Davis County Health Department.

Isa shares her personal journey where she grew up unaware of mental health challenges, how to navigate family trauma, and ultimately developing the resilience and perspective that now shape her work in community health. 

From supporting loved ones through depression, substance use, and domestic abuse to leading during one of the most chaotic public health crises in modern history, Isa and Dr. Morgan explore:

• Why mental health is a community-wide responsibility

• How the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped our understanding of connection, isolation, and control

• The hidden impact of trauma—both “big T” and “little T”—on emotional development

• Why resilience isn’t taught—it’s built through experience

• How to rethink self-care as preparedness, not indulgence

One of the most compelling takeaways?Mental health is about building a self-care system before, during, and after life’s hardest moments.

If you’re a leader, parent, or anyone navigating the pressures of modern life, this episode offers a grounded, real-world perspective on how to stay steady when everything around you isn’t.

What happens when an aerospace engineer turns his focus from rockets… to people?

In this episode of Silicon Slopes Mental Health Momentum, host Dr. David Morgan, licensed psychologist and Director of Mental Health Awareness at Silicon Slopes, sits down with Aaron Shields, founder of Mountainside, to explore the intersection of mental health, leadership, and human performance.

“The most frustrating, incredible, complicated, beautiful things on Earth are people,” he said, adding that the primary leadership lesson is understanding that performance starts with understanding people, not just process. 

From scaling global tech organizations to navigating deeply personal family challenges, Aaron shares a raw and insightful perspective on what it really takes to build high-performing teams—and healthier humans—at the same time.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why people—not technology—are the most complex systems we’ll ever manage

• How mental health and emotional intelligence directly impact business performance

• The hidden cost of ignoring neurodiversity in families and workplaces

• A powerful real-life story of transformation—from childhood suicidal ideation to confidence and mastery

• What leaders must understand about resilience, burnout, and isolation

• Why the pandemic became both a breaking point—and a breakthrough moment

Aaron’s journey, from aerospace engineering to leading global teams to founding a human performance company, reveals a critical truth: The organizations that win are the ones that understand how people actually work. Learn more now.

What if one of the most powerful tools for mental health… was already part of your everyday life?

In this episode of Mental Health Momentum, Dr. David Morgan sits down with Steve James—award-winning songwriter, executive producer, and founder of Resilient You—to discuss how music can shape resilience, memory, and emotional well-being.

Steve is a creative force at the intersection of music, education, and mental health. As CEO of Something Good, Inc. and founder of Resilient You, he has produced hundreds of original songs and programs designed to inspire and educate. His work spans television, concerts, and nonprofit initiatives focused on children’s well-being.

While mainly consumed as entertainment, Steve shares how music goes beyond to become a tool for emotional recall and resilience.

From childhood memories to life lessons, music has the ability to transport us emotionally, reinforcing both positive and protective behaviors. 

“A song doesn’t just bring back the words, it brings back the feeling,” Steve says. 

Through his work with Resilient You, Steve applies this concept to help children internalize life skills that last into adulthood.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why resilience is a skill, and how it can be taught from a young age

• The science behind how music connects memory, emotion, and behavior

• How repetition and “musical hooks” can reinforce positive mental health habits

• Why early life experiences shape long-term emotional outcomes

• A powerful real-world story of how a simple song helped children avoid danger

• How families can use shared creative experiences (like music) to build stronger connections

From producing large-scale entertainment experiences to building a mission-driven program that helps children navigate life’s challenges, Steve brings a unique perspective: mental health isn’t just clinical—it’s experiential, emotional, and deeply human. Listen now.

In this episode of Mental Health Momentum, host Dr. David Morgan sits down with Tobie Spears, founder of Be Humanitarian, to explore the unexpected connection between mental health, global service, and human resilience.

From leading volunteer-driven nutrition programs in Guatemala where they serve over 10,000 meals per month to raising a family while navigating real-world mental health challenges, Tobie shares a deeply human perspective on what it means to build emotional strength through purpose.

Through Be Humanitarian, Tobie has created a holistic model of impact that combines:

• Nutrition programs to combat childhood malnutrition

• Education initiatives for children, teens, and families

• Volunteer experiences that reconnect people with purpose

Her work highlights a powerful truth: “You cannot separate mental health from environment, opportunity, and human connection.”

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why mental health is not binary and how it fluctuates just like physical health

• The concept of purpose-driven resilience and why service can be transformative

• How nutrition, education, and mental well-being are deeply interconnected

• What working with postpartum mental health taught Tobie about emotional endurance

• How stepping outside your “bubble” can radically shift your perspective on life

• Why sustainable change requires both immediate aid and long-term education

In a world increasingly focused on optimization, productivity, and performance, this conversation is a reminder that mental health isn’t just managed, it’s shaped by how we live, who we serve, and the perspective we choose.

If you’ve ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or disconnected, this episode offers a different lens. 

Listen now

In this episode of Mental Health Momentum, Dr. David Morgan sits down with Ashley Iverson, founder of Function of Yoga F Yoga, for a conversation that will completely reframe the way you think about healing, self-awareness, and what yoga actually is.

Ashley isn't your typical yoga teacher. With over 15 years of experience inside inpatient psychiatric hospitals, military settings, and behavioral health environments, she has brought trauma-informed yoga to some of the most acute mental health spaces imaginable and the results speak for themselves.

Her groundbreaking methodology, Function of Yoga, treats yoga not as a lifestyle or aesthetic, but as math: you are the input, yoga is the system, and change is the output — a repeatable, evidence based process that produces measurable internal change, even in populations where traditional wellness approaches fail.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• How Ashley pioneered yoga inside psychiatric hospitals and the pushback she faced

• Why self-awareness may be the most underrated mental health tool we have

• The surprising overlap between ancient yoga, modern medicine, and psychology

• How nervous system regulation and embodied healing drive real transformation

• Why simple solutions to complex mental health problems simply don't exist — and what to do instead

• The neuroscience behind yoga for anxiety, depression, trauma, and addiction recovery

Whether you've never tried yoga, work in mental health, or are simply looking for evidence based tools for self regulation and healing, this episode will challenge everything you thought you knew.

Mental Health Momentum is a Silicon Slopes podcast hosted by Dr. David Morgan, licensed psychologist and Director of Mental Health Awareness at Silicon Slopes — where we explore mental health in business and beyond, and look for real solutions.

Subscribe so you never miss an episode 

Like this video if it brought you value 

Comment below — have you ever tried yoga for mental health? 

Share this with someone who needs a fresh perspective on healing

In this episode of Mental Health Momentum, host Dr. David Morgan, licensed psychologist and Director of Mental Health Awareness at Silicon Slopes, sits down with leadership strategist Patti Cook for a candid conversation about the hidden forces shaping mental health at work.

Having worked since the age of 14 across industries ranging from local organizations to national initiatives, Patti has witnessed firsthand how organizational silos, unclear leadership, and structural ambiguity create anxiety, burnout, and imposter syndrome inside otherwise high-performing teams.

Now a client strategist at O.C. Tanner and a former marketing director at the Women's Leadership Institute, Patti works with organizations that see employee recognition and culture as strategic drivers of real change.

This conversation challenges leaders, employees, and organizations alike to rethink how workplace structures influence psychological well-being. Because sometimes the path to healthier people starts with healthier systems. 

Listen now.

What if the most dangerous myth about suicide is the one we’re still afraid to challenge? 

In this episode of Mental Health Momentum, Dr. David Morgan, licensed psychologist and Director of Mental Health Awareness at Silicon Slopes, sits down with Brook Anderson, Suicide Prevention Outreach Specialist at NAMI Utah, to confront the stigma, silence, and misinformation that keep people suffering alone. 

This is a courageous conversation. Because avoiding the topic doesn’t prevent suicide. Talking about it just might.

Brook shares her own story of losing her boyfriend to suicide as a teenager and how that painful experience eventually led her to dedicate her life to prevention, education, and building sustainable, data-driven systems that save lives.

“If you put yourself in the shoes of someone struggling… having someone say, ‘Are you thinking about suicide?’ can decrease their stress enormously.”

Together, David and Brook dismantle the myths and misinformation and replace it with practical tools: how to ask the hard question, how to respond without panic, and how to create environments where dignity and hope stay at the center of prevention efforts.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• Why suicide is far more common—and closer to home—than most people realize

• The dangerous myth that asking about suicide “puts the idea in someone’s head”

• How stigma, religion, culture, and family systems complicate open conversations

• Why directly asking someone if they’re suicidal can actually reduce crisis stress

• What it means to design prevention with community, not just for community

• Brooke’s deeply personal “reason why” behind her 20+ years of advocacy

“If you put yourself in the shoes of someone struggling… having someone say, ‘Are you thinking about suicide?’ can decrease their stress enormously,” Brook said. 

If you’ve ever wondered:

• What do I say if someone tells me they don’t want to be here anymore?

• Am I making it worse by bringing it up?

• Why don’t people use the resources that already exist?

This conversation gives you clarity—and courage. Listen now.

What if the barrier isn’t your ability but the infrastructure around you?

Did you know one in four Utahns lives with a disability? Many also face financial and mental health challenges that compound those barriers. Wasatch Adaptive Sports removes them. 

But let’s start at the beginning. 

Meet Don Webber. 

Don is a former D1 football player, musician, nonprofit leader, and self-described “jack of all trades.” But behind the adventurous résumé is something far more relatable: lived experience with generalized anxiety and post-traumatic stress.

After years in the advertising world—including time at Traeger Grills—Don felt the pull toward something deeper. Through volunteer work, he found his calling with Wasatch Adaptive Sports, a nonprofit founded in 1977 that empowers people with disabilities to improve their physical, mental, and social health through outdoor recreation.

And what started as volunteering became a mission.

At Wasatch Adaptive Sports, participants don’t pay. They redefine what’s possible.

As Don puts it, the shift is simple but radical:

Stop asking what you can’t do.

Start asking: What would it take to make this work?

This episode dives into:

• Why anxiety thrives on limitation thinking

• How businesses can support employee mental health

• The power of removing structural barriers

• Why outdoor recreation is a mental health intervention

• How adaptive sports mirror therapeutic change

If you’ve ever believed something was out of reach, this episode might challenge you to reconsider.

In this deeply personal episode of Mental Health Momentum, Dr. David Morgan, a licensed psychologist and Director of Mental Health Awareness at Silicon Slopes, sits down with Trina Celeste Limpert, CEO of RizeNext, bestselling author of Orchestrating Life-Work Harmony, and co-founder of Tech-Moms.org.

Named one of Utah’s most influential women, Trina blends executive leadership with authenticity. As a mother of eight children in a blended family, she often brings practical perspective to conversations about resilience, balance, and purpose.

Trina is widely known for her leadership in AI strategy, workforce upskilling, and human-centered innovation. But in this conversation, she opens up about something far more personal.

Growing up in a family deeply impacted by suicide and untreated mental health struggles, Trina shares her experience navigating generational trauma, including the loss of her great grandmother and grandfather to suicide, and her mother’s attempts. 

For years, these realities were brushed aside and left unspoken.

In this episode, Trina courageously explores:

• The impact of silence around mental health in families

• How generational trauma shapes identity and leadership

• Why emotional intelligence is essential in the age of AI

• The pursuit of life-work harmony vs. burnout culture

• Building inclusive pathways into tech for women

• Integrating leadership, motherhood, and mental wellness

This conversation is about breaking cycles, rewriting narratives, and building momentum, personally and professionally, through honest dialogue about mental health. Listen now:

What if we stopped waiting for a crisis to talk about mental health?

In this episode of Mental Health Momentum, host Dr. David Morgan, licensed psychologist and Director of Mental Health Awareness at Silicon Slopes, talks with Elysia Butler, founder of the Hope Hero Foundation, TEDx speaker, published author, and one of the most compelling voices in youth suicide prevention today.

Elysia speaks from lived experience when she opens up about the moment everything changed: parenting a seven-year-old who didn’t want to live… and later, losing her sister-in-law to suicide. 

Those defining moments became the catalyst for a movement centered on proactive mental well-being, resilience, and teaching kids—before a crisis—that they matter.

Drawing from Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey and her years as an educator, Elysia explains how the Hope Hero Foundation equips children and teens with the emotional tools most adults never learned:

• How to check in on someone and mean it
  

• How to recognize warning signs early
  

• How to move through anxiety instead of running from it
  

• How to believe you are the hero of your own story
  

You’ll hear the story behind the now-iconic red Converse high tops—a symbol worn by Hope Hero ambassadors nationwide—and how teens are being certified in suicide prevention and empowered to teach these life-saving skills in their own communities.

If you care about youth mental health, suicide prevention, emotional intelligence, or building resilient communities, this is an episode you can’t afford to miss.

Listen. Share. And start asking, “How are you really doing?”