Part 2 of our series on the Good Life Camp features Andy Bachmann. One of our partners in this endeavor was Camp Highlands in Sayner Wisconsin. Andy is the third generation in his family to serve as the Camp Director at Camp Highlands, and he has been at camp as a camper, counselor and Director every summer for most of his life. When not in Sayner, Andy serves as Minister for Education, Outreach and Justice at the United Church of Gainesville, in Gainsville, Florida. In this episode we get Andy's thoughts on how the mission of the camp worked so well with the mission of the Good Life project, and reflects on the impact this had on him and his staff, and what he sees for the future of this program. Don't forget to check out the previous episode and watch for more on the Good Life Camp, and the Good Life project coming soon. 

This is the first in our multi episode series about the Good Life Grant, and the Culture Camp. This summer Lac Courte Oreilles Child Support Services (LCO CSS) launched its first ever cultural camp for youth. The camp is part of The Good Life Vision project, which brings LCO CSS together with community partners to preserve, strengthen, and renew Ojibwe values in the LCO youth by providing opportunities to learn about the culture’s history, values, and practices to support Good Life parenting and reduce the negative effects of generations of cultural trauma.

The LCO Cultural Camp is one of the many programs in the works this year to develop culturally relevant and long-sustainable curricula and other tools for middle school, high school, and college students and young parents.

On this episode of the News from Peak’s podcast, Melinda McKevitt-Isham, who was the lead from the LCO CSS office, shares her perspectives on the goals of the camp with us, how it turned out, discuss with us lessons learned, and the impact she has already seen on the youth and the community at large, and hopes to build on in the future.

During this time of high stress, organizations are finding it more important than ever to support employees and teammates and encouraging self-care. Organizations are realizing that employees that are take care of themselves and feel supported have reduced stress, are more efficient and productive. Employees that take care of themselves, take less sick time and stay at an organization longer. Self-care helps ensure ongoing good health (both mental and physical), and help you better manage your stress and build resilience.

Grays Peak Strategies has been doing work with organizations on energy management, chair yoga, and meditation. This idea of a health coaching has been a recent topic that has come up and we have been introduced to an amazing health coach, Lenka Dostalova.

On this episode, Maureen Leif welcomes 4 outstanding leaders answer questions on the topic of women in leadership. We feel so lucky to have interviewed Betsy C. Donat - Ardita, Vice President of Compliance at Everside Health, Kim Newsom Bridges, Director of Child Support Services at Conduent, Keri Batchelder Jacobs, Programs and Services Section Manager, Division of Child Support Services at Colorado Department of Human Services and Kristie Arneson, Senior Administrator, Economic Security Divsion/Wyoming IV-D Director at the Wyoming Department of Human Services. They talk about their leadership styles, how they have overcome obstacles and challenges during their career, and what advice they would give if they could talk to themselves at age 25. It's an insightful and interesting conversation, and we hope it will spur on more conversation for our listeners.

On this episode we welcome Author, Photographer and Restorative Justice Scholar Howard Zehr. This episode is focused on his book Still Doing Life, 22 Lifers, 25 Years Later which is a follow up to a book he published in the 1990's. In addition to the book, we talk to him about the concept of restorative justice, and get some insights into his other projects. A fascinating guest, and after you listen you will want to visit our website for links to all his work. Be sure to listen to the end! Real fans know... 

In this edition of our Community Table Talks series, we speak with 4 guests with different perspectives and experiences with the Child Welfare program. We start with Judge Ann Meinster from Jefferson County Colorado, Korey Elder, the Permanency Manager from the Colorado Division of Child Welfare, Ángela Quijada-Banks, author of The Black Foster Youth Handbook: 50+ Lessons I Learned to Successfully Age-Out of Foster Care and Holistically Heal (Soulful Liberation Publishing), and Bill DeLisio, the Family Law Program Manager at the Colorado State Court Administrator's Office. Each guest offers their own perspective on our two questions - What is the most pressing issue in Child Welfare Today, and What is the number one way we can make a substantial difference. The panel has a lot to say, and shares some big ideas. 

More information on the guests, and links to their other work, can be found on our website at Grayspeakstrategies.com in the News from the Peak section. We encourage you to also search for the Soulful Liberation Podcast to hear more from Ángela Quijada-Banks.

In this episode we proudly present the first podcast interview with the new OCSE Commissioner Tanguler Gray. In this episode we celebrate her success, talk about her background, and get just a little preview of her approach to this new and exciting role. We get to also get a sense of her warm and welcoming personality, her sense of humor, and her commitment to the program and child support professionals across the country. 

From the OCSE Website - 

Tanguler Gray serves as the commissioner of the Office of Child Support Enforcement at the Administration for Children and Families within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Prior to her appointment in the Biden Administration in December 2021, Gray was a deputy commissioner in the Georgia Department of Human Services.  She previously served as the director for the division of child support services in Georgia, with over 26 years of leadership and child support experience there.  Gray has served as a member of the board for the National Child Support Enforcement Association, including president and secretary, and is serving a second term as a board member of the Eastern Regional Interstate Child Support Association.

She graduated from Valdosta State University and has a daughter and a son.

On this episode we re-visit the topic of peer support groups first introduced on this podcast in April of 2020. At that time we had just begun working with the State of Colorado on a grant to expand the use of peer support groups and study their effectiveness. In this episode we are joined by three people who serve as coordinators and leaders of the group in Montezuma County, Colorado. We get a look at how this really works from the point of view of participants, group leaders and parents who have been through the system. 

In this episode we asked several members of the GPS team to talk about 2021 and how the work we did and the people we've been fortunate to cross paths with has made this a good year. 2021 had it's ups and downs and it wasn't the huge relief over 2020 that we may have expected, but there was a lot of good stuff. Thanks for spending this time with us, and we are very excited for what we have coming up in 2022, both on the podcast and with Grays Peak Strategies in general. Speaking on this episode - in order of appearance - Joe Mamlin, Maureen Leif, Robert Riddle, Jasmine Robinson, David Ramm, Liz Bullard and Puni Kalra. Listen to the end! Watch for more episodes soon! 

In this episode we welcome back wildlife artist Carl Ramm. As many listeners remember, Carl is part of a team that manages bears—Alaska Peninsula brown bears, to be exact—at Brooks Camp in Alaska’s Katmai National Park. As part of a team of bear techs, he helps track the bears’ movement and, as much as possible, guides them away from the camp’s many visitors and toward a place that’s safer for bears and humans alike. In this episode we hear all about Fat Bear Week from Explore.org. Visit the website soon – voting begins September 29 and ends on October 3. The episode begins with the conversation in progress – they got excited – and features Carl Ramm, David Ramm and Maureen Leif.