Next Steps Forward with Dr. Chris Meek

Joel Lesses founded the Education Training Center as a means of counseling those marginalized by trauma, addiction and psychological distress, and its effects including incarceration, homelessness and institutionalization. He is dedicated to reframing mental health distress as a potential spiritual marker. Joel has lived in Nepal and Israel and is also a poet expressing the landscape of the mystical elements of our human beings. He believes world religion, poetry, spirituality, and meditation encompass the most vital aspects of our mind and life. The crux of his own personal journey are the questions and answers to his own koan or inquiry: "what is the matter with me?" revealing the individual and universal aspects of our inherent and potent creativity. Everything is flux, everything is poetry. His other passions include the intersection of poetry, spirituality, science, and phenomenology shared and disparate in the human experience, with the transformative power of self-inquiry and introspection through contemplative and meditative practices. Joel holds the belief that the fundamental transformation of individuals and our collective comes through barreling inward, relentlessly asking the questions, Who am I? or What am I or What is the matter with me? The latter being a question which after years of examination, shattered a false sense of self, the work of integration of that experience being an ongoing work in progress.

Next Steps Forward host Chris Meek is excited to welcome Dr. Nikole Benders-Hadi to the program to discuss timely topics surrounding wellness, such as how to reduce the stigma around mental health, how to improve mental health care access and address current inequalities that exist in mental health treatment. Dr. Benders-Hadi is a board certified psychiatrist and Medical Director of Behavioral Health at Included Health, a leading virtual care and healthcare navigation company. She is particularly focused on women's mental health and mental health education so that more individuals understand how they too can access the mental health care they want and need. During her appearance, Dr. Benders-Hadi will provide the audience with an inside look into her approach for dealing with everyday stress, how to find the right hobbies to maintain physical and mental health, the benefits and current state of virtual healthcare and actions that can be taken to further create equality across all spectrums of mental health care.

God often uses the weakest among us to make the greatest impact. Bob Vander Plaats, President and CEO of The FAMiLY LEADER whose gospel-first mission is to strengthen families by coming alongside the Church and inspiring Christ-like leadership, provides insight into this very truth. Author of Light From Lucas, Bob joins Next Steps Forward to share the poignant account of his son Lucas, who although severely disabled at birth offered inspirational lessons throughout his life and insurmountable joy. Throughout the hour, he shares the lessons in faith he learned from the fragile life of his son. His experiences in education, health care and human services, as well as politics, business and ministry, have provided a plethora of lessons for success in both life and leadership that will inspire the audience to make a difference in the lives of others and foster leadership in God's institutions: the family, the church and the government. Please join this thought-provoking conversation focused on spiritual growth and the value of every life.

Karith Foster is a Diversity Engagement Specialist whose signature programs are impacting lives at academic institutions, organizations and corporations across America. Now, she is joining Chris Meek on Next Steps Forward to address these same issues of diversity, inclusion and effective communication with the program's audience. Karith's goal is to engage and inspire the audience to navigate the journey of mutual respect between themselves and others with an authentic desire to help others and with a little humor along the way. Along with being a speaker, Karith is the CEO of Inversity Solutions and the founder of F.R.A.M.E, the Foster Russell Alliance for Meaningful Expression, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, whose mission is to inspire free speech, inclusion, social change and empowerment through education and mentorship. It is these same issues that Karith will focus on throughout the hour with a mission to help others foster a greater sense of belonging and to help take division out of conversations surrounding diversity.

Dr. Dawson Church is an award-winning science writer with three best-selling books to his credit and the founder of the EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Universe with a mission to bring the healing benefits of EFT tapping and meditation to others. With a passion for seeing people heal, Dr. Church joins Chris Meek on this volume of Next Steps Forward to speak about how EFT techniques work, why EFT is one of the quickest and simplest ways to produce healing, as well as how to apply these breakthroughs to health and athletic performance. Additionally, he will speak to how healing encompasses body, mind, emotions and spirituality and his largest program, the Veterans Stress Project, which has offered free treatment to over 20,000 veterans with PTSD over the past decade. Dr. Church's breakthrough in our understanding of the link between emotions and genetics is not only fascinating but may prove beneficial to some in the audience.

Thank you for joining Next Steps Forward as we launch into 2023 with a continued commitment to helping improve your wellbeing, become even more empowered and achieve more than you ever thought possible. As always, it's an honor and a pleasure to have you with us again! Our guest this week is Ross Szabo, co-author of the book Behind Happy Faces: Taking Charge of Your Mental Health and author of The Kids Book About Anxiety. As the wellness director at Geffen Academy at UCLA, Ross is working on changing the way students learn about their mental health in grades six through 12. His company, Human Power Project, has developed a curriculum used by more than a quarter-million people of all ages. He is also one of the most sought-after mental health speakers in the country. Host Chris Meek is pleased to welcome Ross Szabo to the program's first installment of 2023 for an important conversation on mental health, wellness, empowerment and so much more!

Vitalijus Majoravas is a sleep biohacker, certified sleep and recovery coach, certified Buteyko clinic breathing instructor and co-founder of Pulsetto, who has spent more than ten years in the sleep products industry. On this episode of Next Steps Forward, Vitalijus speaks with Chris Meek about the vagus nerve, how it is affecting us and, in particular, how vagus nerve stimulation can affect mental health and practical ways to go about stimulating the vagus nerve. Throughout the hour he will also speak about neuromodulation in general, which is essentially an alternative for medical drugs and other kinds of treatment. For those interested in learning about the history and future trends of sleep and recovery methods, this episode will serve as a critical step in your wellness journey.

Constable Kimberley Tent is an author, poet, retired police officer and owner of Apothic Entertainment. In her book "Parts of Me," Kimberley details how she had given up on life and her battle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) when a stranger changed everything and provided her with the courage she needed to face her biggest adversary: herself. Now she joins program host Chris Meek in this installment of Next Steps Forward to speak about how her collection of poems found in "Parts of Me" tells an inspiring story of pain, healing and self-acceptance in a mission to shed a light on the realities of living with PTSD and to provide a sense of hope to others, particularly police officers, who may be suffering in silence. Kimberley will reflect on how a profession in the law enforcement sector can be exceptionally lonely and what specific steps can be taken to better serve police officers who may be experiencing PTSD or other mental health setbacks. For those who might be struggling with PTSD or have ever felt pain or loss, this is a conversation you will not want to miss.

On this edition of Next Steps Forward, Dr. Katherine Grill, the CEO and co-founder of Neolth, a Walnut Creek, California technology company that provides personalized mental health support to teens through a self-guided program, joins Chris Meek for an empowering discussion. Before founding Neolth, Katherine worked at Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C., conducting National Institutes of Health research. She's also been a university professor, teaching courses in psychology and neuroscience at the undergraduate and graduate level. She was selected for the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the 2022 education category. Dr. Grill has accomplished so much, both academically and professionally, at such a young age and will unpack the secrets to her successful trajectory, starting with her educational background. In addition, she will talk the audience through the field of neuroscience and set the stage for the current overall state of mental health among U.S. teenagers. Sit back, settle in and join Chris and Katherine for this important discussion on mental health and so much more.

Did you know that the brain generates more energy in one day than all of the cell phones in the world combined? Dr. Tiffany Tajiri joins Next Steps Forward host Chris Meek to speak more on that incredible fact, as well as in-depth about the power of the brain and how it impacts every single cell of the human body. A licensed and board-certified clinical psychologist, Air Force Veteran, author of the faith-based recovery book Peace After Combat, and founder of the nonprofit Stand Up and Recover, Dr. Tiffany serves as a source of motivation for many and provides thought-provoking insights on mental health to give others much needed perspective. Throughout the hour, she will also discuss rhythm restoration and the power of healing through visualization, regulating human emotions and using the energy within us to pour into our loved ones and to heal ourselves. If you're currently feeling the impact of the energy within you being weaponized against you and manifesting itself into poor health, or even if you're in a place where you're actively pouring your energy back into yourself and others in a healthy way, you will not want to miss out on this motivational conversation focused on emotions, energy and mental health.