OPTIMIST In Progress

One of the upsides to the pandemic is that people have opened up to conversations around mental wellbeing. In fact, it seems like everyone is talking about mental health right now, but for most of us it is pretty intangible, and responses still seem to be limited to general terms - “fine/not fine (but not sure how else to describe it) ...”

This week Dr Drea (UCLA) talks to Tom about how using a continuum model, perhaps a color scale, can help us  recognize the shades and subtleties of mental health, and give us the tools to understand, and help others understand, where we’re at. Among professionals, the discussion around mental wellness is shifting from a binary model of diagnosis to a dimensional approach; one which could help us all reframe our own path back to active optimism.

More about the Five zone model of mental health / the mental health continuum

Full list of resources for mental health help

National Alliance on Mental Illness

More about the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)

Listen to Mark Hunter on OIP

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For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

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Olympic gold medalist and world rowing champion, Mark Hunter, talks to Drea and Tom about his three Olympic performances, what he refers to humorously as “the bad, the good and the ugly”.  His turbulent journey forced him to develop the mental strength and resilience to deal with pressures that came with competing at a time when mental health was not openly discussed in sport or indeed in the world at large. He credits today’s athletes for courageously opening up the conversation around mental health in competitive sports, talks about how he recognizes his own ‘triggers’, and shares his hopes for supporting future athletes in their field and beyond.

More about Mark Hunter

Watch Eminem's Lose Yourself on YouTube

To get in touch with us, email: [email protected]

For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

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As Optimists in Progress we hoped to spring into Season 2 firmly in a “post-pandemic” world or at least something approaching 'normal',  but as the pandemic morphs into an endemic, we are welcoming our new season of guests into a time of cautious acclimation to a new reality. In this first episode of Season 2, Tom and Drea reflect on where we find ourselves right now, and some of the positive habits we can build to accept, cope and ultimately thrive in this next, constantly shifting phase. Listen in to our conversations with change-makers and future-shapers over the coming months. Activists, athletes, entrepreneurs, musicians, chefs and many other guests share how their own paths to active optimism have helped them find radical joy and purpose in this time of flux.

Read more about:

Kubler-Ross stages of grief / change curve

Acute v chronic stress and post-covid stress disorder

FORBES: Delta Variant and second wave of health issues

Suicide rates among youth of color are rising

The Nation: Howard Zinn, Optimism in Uncertainty

To get in touch with us, email: [email protected]

For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

Follow Optimist Drinks @optimistdrinks

Follow Dr Drea Letamendi @arkhamasylumdoc

Follow Tom Johnstone @tommyjohnstone

We are living through a global pandemic, and viral contagion is something we are all very familiar with. But what about emotional contagion? How can the idea of collective energy help us to navigate through difficult times, and empower us to create something better? In this episode Drea and Tom talk 'collective effervescence', how we can spread that positive energy deliberately or unconsciously and how we should seek out other people to guide us through - and raise our spirits - when we find it harder to see.

More on Crop Swap LA

Read about Jamiah Hargins and Asante Micro Farm 

To get in touch with us, email: [email protected]

For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

Follow Optimist Drinks @optimistdrinks

Follow Dr Drea Letamendi @arkhamasylumdoc

Follow Tom Johnstone @tommyjohnstone

Growing vegetables might seem an unlikely way to fight the power, but Jamiah Hargins has no doubt it offers a revolutionary means by which to address social inequity, build community and address problems centuries in the making. He quit a career in finance to focus on social entrepreneurship, founding Asante Microfarm and Crop Swap LA, and his vision of an urban paradise is, he believes, fully achievable if we engage in active optimism, and break out of the ‘self perpetuating cycle of non-action’.

More about Crop Swap LA

More about Asante Microfarm

More about LA 2050

More about Enviroscapela.com

Listen to Tao Te Ching on Soundcloud 

To get in touch with us, email: [email protected]

For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

Follow Optimist Drinks @optimistdrinks

Follow Dr Drea Letamendi @arkhamasylumdoc

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Why do so many of us feel guilty or lazy when resting? This week on OIP, Tom and Drea discuss why our fast-paced, high-achieving culture values “busyness” and how taking an intentional pause seems at odds with this concept of productivity. They talk about how writing our own ‘permission slips’ to ditch the ‘to do’ list and instead experience moments of idleness is actually the key to better creativity and focus, as well as an empowering boost for our mental health.

For more information on Timeka Drew's Biko Flower

More about The Liberty Tree Foundation

To get in touch with us, email: [email protected]

For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

Follow Optimist Drinks @optimistdrinks

Follow Dr Drea Letamendi @arkhamasylumdoc

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Cannabis entrepreneur Tamika Drew talks about how a debilitating disease led her to embrace cannabis as medicine and her personal journey to establishing her family-run cannabis business Biko Flower. She tells Tom and Drea about how her Nigerian ancestry and strong female leadership inspired her along the way and the vital importance of continuing her social activism work in the field of corporate cannabis.

For more on Biko Flower

More about Nat Turner

More about The Liberty Tree Foundation 

More about The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign

Listen to Luna Lovebad 

To get in touch with us, email: [email protected]

For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

Follow Optimist drinks @optimistdrinks

Follow Dr Drea Letamendi @arkhamasylumdoc

Follow Tom Johnstone @tommyjohnstone

‘Reframing’ or ‘cognitive restructuring’ is a concept accessible to all of us. Tom and Drea discuss how it takes some work, but we can shift our perspective in order to lift the lens of negativity and distorted thoughts. Sometimes a small shift in thinking can have a huge impact in our daily lives.

More about 'Cognitive reframing' 

TED talk: How to make stress your friend 

Follow Josh Harris @josh_the_bon_vivants 

More about The Bon Vivants 

To get in touch with us, email: [email protected]

For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

Follow Optimist Drinks @optimistdrinks

Follow Dr Drea Letamendi @arkhamasylumdoc

Follow Tom Johnstone @tommyjohnstone

Renowned hospitality entrepreneur and influential San Francisco bar owner, Josh Harris, discovered his passion for bartending after a sports injury cut short his athletic ambitions in his early twenties. He talks poignantly about his early struggles with alcohol and drug addiction, the calm he found being on the other side of the bar and navigating the cocktail renaissance sober.  As the hospitality industry makes tentative steps towards recovery, Josh shares how his commitment and resolute mindset help him face the post-pandemic challenges ahead, with a little pick-me-up from vintage hunting along the way.

For further info on anything you have heard: 

Follow @josh_the_bon_vivants

For Josh's vintage finds, follow @bvintaesf

More about Pig & Punch

More about The Bon Vivants

To get in touch with us, email: [email protected]

For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

Follow Optimist Drinks @optimistdrinks

Follow Dr Drea Letamendi @arkhamasylumdoc

Follow Tom Johnstone @tommyjohnstone

Inspired by their conversation with award-winning architect Michael Lehrer, Tom and Drea discuss how we can enhance - and even challenge - our own environments for better well-being and spark joy in our daily work spaces/lives. As companies make decisions about a return to the office, how could we evolve traditional work spaces to allow for greater creativity and dignity?

More on Happy by Design by  Ben Channon

More on  Michael Lehrer

To get in touch with us, email: [email protected]

For more about the show visit optimistdrinks.com and click on the journal pages.

Follow Optimist drinks @optimistdrinks

Follow Dr Drea Letamendi @arkhamasylumdoc

Follow Tom Johnstone @tommyjohnstone