OTR - Achieving Mental Health for Real

Statements of Humanity is a collection of declarations that confront the internal family scripts we absorb in childhood and the external family scripts we’re expected to perform in adulthood. Internal scripts shape how we see ourselves — the roles we were assigned, the beliefs we inherited, the emotional rules we learned without ever choosing them. External scripts dictate how we’re supposed to act in the world — who we protect, who we obey, what we silence, and what we sacrifice to keep the family system stable.

These scripts are powerful, often invisible, and passed down through generations. Most people follow them automatically, even when they cause harm.

Statements of Humanity interrupts those inherited patterns.

Each statement offers a new script — one grounded in dignity, safety, curiosity, and connection. Instead of repeating the old roles (the fixer, the quiet one, the strong one, the scapegoat, the peacekeeper), these statements create a language for choosing humanity over harm. They replace obedience with agency, punishment with understanding, and emotional isolation with relational integrity.

This project is a framework for rewriting how we treat ourselves and each other. Not the family scripts we were handed — the human scripts we choose.

Statements of Humanity Read full list on the Public Square

Recommended Reading:

Healing the Shame that Binds You on Amazon

OTR Sites:

Podcast Website: https://bobadleman.wixsite.com/otrmentalhealth

Blog: https://realplus.bearblog.dev/otr-lies-from-the-tablecloth/

Public Square Community Ko-Fi.com/otrachieving

Mail: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/otrachievingmentalhealhfr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/over_the_rainbow_achieving

X: https://twitter.com/overtherain1bow

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChEYTddPDUaiZbFliit1r5Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-adleman/

Dr. Thomas Attig, PhD is one of the most influential voices in contemporary grief theory and applied philosophy. He is the author of Seeking Wisdom in Death's Shadows: Collected Writings on How We Grieve published by Oxford University Press. Also, The Heart of Grief: Death and the Search for Lasting Love and How We Grieve: Relearning the World, also published by Oxford University Press. His work centers on the idea that grieving is an active, choice‑filled process — a relearning of how to be in the world after loss. s.

Attig has written extensively on grief, loss, care of the dying, suicide intervention, death education, and the ethics of interactions with the dying. He is a past President of the Association for Death Education and Counseling and has delivered keynote talks and workshops across the U.S., Canada, England, Australia, Israel, and Germany.

He taught philosophy at Bowling Green State University for nearly 25 years, serving as department chair and helping establish the world’s first Ph.D. program in Applied Philosophy. Since 1995, he has worked independently as an applied philosopher, writer, and speaker.

Attig’s central theme: grief is not about letting go — it’s about learning to love in separation, carrying forward the legacies of those we mourn while rebuilding our lives.

He currently lives in Victoria, British Columbia, where he continues writing, teaching, and speaking.

Dr. Thomas Attig's Sites:

Website: https://www.griefsheart.com/links.php

Books: Seeking Wisdom in Death's Shadows: Collected Writings on How We Grieve AT https://global.oup.com/academic/search?q=Seeking+Wisdom+in+Death%27s+Shadows&cc=us&lang=en

30 % Discount on book with Promotion Code: "aufly30" on left side of checkout screen

Look for all his work at https://global.oup.com/academic/search?q=+Thomas+Attig&cc=us&lang=en

or other fine book stores (Amazon and others in home website above).

OTR Sites:

Podcast Website: https://bobadleman.wixsite.com/otrmentalhealth

Blog: https://realplus.bearblog.dev/otr-lies-from-the-tablecloth/

Public Square Community Ko-Fi.com/otrachieving

Mail: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/otrachievingmentalhealhfr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/over_the_rainbow_achieving

X: https://twitter.com/overtherain1bow

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChEYTddPDUaiZbFliit1r5Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-adleman/

Mark Michaels doesn’t enter life quietly — he arrives through a literal test tube birth, grows up with a brain wired for rebellion, and finds his voice in the raw electricity of punk rock. In this conversation, he opens the door to the parts of his story most people never hear: the science experiment origin, the years of feeling like an outsider, the bands that shaped his worldview, and the therapy that finally helped him stitch all those jagged edges into something whole.

This episode is loud, honest, and human. Mark talks about how punk gave him a language for anger and identity, how therapy gave him tools to survive the fallout, and how he’s learned to live with the strange mix of biology and chaos that made him who he is. It’s part origin story, part emotional excavation, part celebration of the misfits who find their way anyway.

Mark Michaels's Sites

Website: https://markamichaels.com/

Publication: Binaries, Multitudes, and Beyond: A Client-Authored Case Study in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy, Artificial Intelligence, and Narrative Agency - https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6317678

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.a.michaels

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markamichaels/

Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mark-Michaels

OTR Sites:

Podcast Website: https://bobadleman.wixsite.com/otrmentalhealth

Blog: https://realplus.bearblog.dev/otr-lies-from-the-tablecloth/

Public Square Community Ko-Fi.com/otrachieving

Mail: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/otrachievingmentalhealhfr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/over_the_rainbow_achieving

X: https://twitter.com/overtherain1bow

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChEYTddPDUaiZbFliit1r5Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-adleman/

In this episode, Jon Edlin walks us through the night an EF3 tornado tore his Nashville home apart in six seconds while he and his family sheltered in a hallway — the only part of the house left standing. He describes the moment of impact, the shock that followed, and the long months of PTSD symptoms that reshaped his daily life.

Jon explains how trauma lived in his body long after the storm passed: waking every night at the exact minute the tornado hit, freezing during weather alerts, losing the ability to work, and reliving the event in vivid detail. He talks about the turning point — discovering EMDR therapy — and how eight sessions helped him process the memory, release the physical symptoms, and regain control of his life.

Jon also shares how he turned the experience into purpose. After speaking publicly about the tornado, he realized how many people had no idea what to do in a severe weather emergency. That led him to write The Tornado Survival Guide and eventually launch TornadoSmart, a company that provides pre‑built tornado go‑bags, safety education, and practical training for families who want to be prepared before a storm hits.

It’s a grounded, honest conversation about survival, memory, recovery, and the work of turning trauma into something that helps others.

Jon Edlin's Sites

Website: https://tornadosmart.com/

Mail: [email protected]

Book: Edlin Tornado Survival Guide

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=jon%20edlin%20tornado%20shelters

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@edlintornadosolutions

OTR Sites:

Podcast Website: https://bobadleman.wixsite.com/otrmentalhealth

Blog: https://realplus.bearblog.dev/otr-lies-from-the-tablecloth/

Public Square Community Ko-Fi.com/otrachieving

Mail: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/otrachievingmentalhealhfr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/over_the_rainbow_achieving

X: https://twitter.com/overtherain1bow

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChEYTddPDUaiZbFliit1r5Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-adleman/

⚠️ Content Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and trauma that may be triggering for listeners with PTSD or related experiences. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

This is the conclusion of the story of Andrew Mclean who spent 18 years as a police constable with the Waterloo Regional Police Service, after starting his career as a news reporter. He served three years as a Detective in the General Investigations Unit, leading major cases involving shootings, stabbings, armed robberies, and gang‑related violence. On front‑line patrol, he stepped into the role of acting Sergeant and coached new recruits entering the job he once loved.

In May 2021, the weight of everything he had seen — and everything he had carried alone — finally broke through. Andrew was diagnosed with Post‑Traumatic Stress Disorder and has been off duty since. During that time, he wrote a book about his descent into PTSD and the long climb back, becoming an advocate for emergency‑service mental health and the people who are still silently drowning inside the uniform.

If you heard Part 1, you know Andrew’s story began with a collapse — a moment where the job, the pressure, and the untreated PTSD finally broke through. But the break isn’t the whole story. Part 2 is about the climb back.

This is where we look at the recovery, the counseling, the medication, and the support he finally received and also the parts of the system that tried to smooth it over. Because whitewashing doesn’t happen in the crisis — it happens in the cleanup. It happens when institutions try to make the story look cleaner than it really was.

Andrew Lorne McLean

Website: beaten-black-and-blue.com/beaten-black-blue

Book: https://www.amazon.ca/Beaten-Black-Blue-Journey-Light-ebook/dp/B0F5BMPPN3

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrew.mclean.90410

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beaten_black_and_blue_book

OTR Sites:

Podcast Website: https://bobadleman.wixsite.com/otrmentalhealth

Blog: https://realplus.bearblog.dev/otr-lies-from-the-tablecloth/

Public Square Community Ko-Fi.com/otrachieving

Mail: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/otrachievingmentalhealhfr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/over_the_rainbow_achieving

X: https://twitter.com/overtherain1bow

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChEYTddPDUaiZbFliit1r5Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-adleman/

This episode is NOT about Binge‑Eating DIsorder(BED). But still falls into the mental health category and is important to talk about; It’s that everyday moment where one small bite turns into too much. Our guest Nan — short for Nadège Saysana — is a coach who helps women stop binge(or over) eating most commonly occurring after dinner. Her work is simple, kind, and grounded in emotional skill, not restriction. Her specialty is women weightlifters since that is her roots, but she helps anyone in need.

Nan binge ate for 30 years. She looked disciplined on the outside but felt out of control at night, especially after the house was quiet and the day was done. “Just one bite” became the whole box. She believed she lacked discipline.

Everything changed when she learned binge eating wasn’t about food — it was about stress, emotions, and the moments before the binge. As she learned to respond differently, the urges weakened, then faded.

Today she teaches women how to understand why binges happen. How to build self‑trust instead of control. How to stop at enough and feel done.

She teaches women weightlifters how to feel as strong with food as they are in the gym

Nan lives in Paris with her family, lifts weights, reads, walks, and watches The Big Bang Theory. At 50 she became a bodybuilder and lost three dress sizes. Her 106‑year‑old grandmother is her daily reminder of why strength matters.

Nan works with women who are strong and consistent in the gym but feel out of control with food at night. They train hard, eat well all day, and look disciplined from the outside. Then evening comes, the house gets quiet, and “just one bite” turns into the whole box.

Nan knows that world because she lived it for 30 years.

She started binge eating at 16, right after her first diet. She lost weight fast, thought she had fixed herself, and then gained it all back. For decades she lived in the cycle so many people know: disciplined all day, out of control at night, always promising to start over tomorrow.

Most of her binges happened after dinner. Kids asleep. Kitchen light on. The moment when the day’s pressure finally hits. She believed she lacked discipline.

This is a gentle, honest conversation about nighttime eating, emotional coping, and the skills no one teaches us.

Shirt campaign closes this week: https://www.bonfire.com/otr-universe160/

Nadège Saysana Sites:

Website: https://www.milobingefix.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nadege.saysana1/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nan.saysana.coaching/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nadegesaysanacoaching

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nan-saysana/

OTR Sites:

Podcast Website: https://bobadleman.wixsite.com/otrmentalhealth

Blog: https://realplus.bearblog.dev/otr-lies-from-the-tablecloth/

Public Square Community Ko-Fi.com/otrachieving

Mail: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/otrachievingmentalhealhfr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/over_the_rainbow_achieving

X: https://twitter.com/overtherain1bow

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChEYTddPDUaiZbFliit1r5Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-adleman/

⚠️ Content Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and trauma that may be triggering for listeners with PTSD or related experiences. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

Andrew spent 18 years as a police constable with the Waterloo Regional Police Service, after starting his career as a news reporter. He served three years as a Detective in the General Investigations Unit, leading major cases involving shootings, stabbings, armed robberies, and gang‑related violence. On front‑line patrol, he stepped into the role of acting Sergeant and coached new recruits entering the job he once loved.

In May 2021, the weight of everything he had seen — and everything he had carried alone — finally broke through. Andrew was diagnosed with Post‑Traumatic Stress Disorder and has been off duty since. During that time, he wrote a book about his descent into PTSD and the long climb back, becoming an advocate for emergency‑service mental health and the people who are still silently drowning inside the uniform.

This conversation isn’t polished. It isn’t rehearsed. It’s Andrew telling the truth as he lived it — the moments that shaped him, the ones that scarred him, and the ones he’s still trying to understand.

This episode is part 1 of 2. This part covers Andrew speaking to what contributed to his unset of complex PTSD and finally his collapse. Part 2 will be published the last part of June and will chronicle his road to recovery.

We need to improve the process. PTSD effects a large part of the population between the inflicted and there love ones. It also has a effect on the recruitment of the hero's - the first responders.

Andrew Lorne McLean

Website: beaten-black-and-blue.com/beaten-black-blue

Book: https://www.amazon.ca/Beaten-Black-Blue-Journey-Light-ebook/dp/B0F5BMPPN3

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrew.mclean.90410

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beaten_black_and_blue_book

OTR Sites:

Podcast Website: https://bobadleman.wixsite.com/otrmentalhealth

Blog: https://realplus.bearblog.dev/otr-lies-from-the-tablecloth/

Public Square Community Ko-Fi.com/otrachieving

Mail: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/otrachievingmentalhealhfr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/over_the_rainbow_achieving

X: https://twitter.com/overtherain1bow

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChEYTddPDUaiZbFliit1r5Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-adleman/

Special announcements

• Coming in May a new voice in the OTR Universe
• OTR Universe Blog is here, start at:

https://realplus.bearblog.dev/otr-lies-from-the-tablecloth/

Today’s guest is someone whose story reaches into the deepest places of grief and still finds a way to breathe life back into the room. Her name is Marcia Earhart — founder of The Sterling Rose Sanctuary, grief and trauma responder, HeartSync minister, mediator, author, speaker, and a woman whose faith has carried her through losses most of us can’t imagine.

Marcia has lived through the deaths of two sons — one to sudden tragedy, and one to murder — and somehow, through all of it, she learned how to keep breathing, keep moving, and keep living. Not by erasing the pain, but by walking with it. Her book, Gripping Grace in the Garden of Grief, is a raw and honest look at what happens when life breaks you open… and what it takes to stand back up.

She works with people carrying trauma, loss, depression, anxiety, addiction, and the kind of sorrow that sits in the bones. Not as a distant expert, but as someone who has been there — someone who knows what it means to fight for your mind, your family, and your faith.

Today, we’re talking about grief, resilience, the brain, the heart, and what it really means to heal. This is not a conversation about ‘getting over it.’ This is a conversation about learning to breathe again, move again, and live again — even when the world has gone dark.

This is Grieve Work. And this is Marcia Earhart.

Marcia Earhart

Website: https://www.thesterlingrosesanctuary.us/meet-marcia

Book: https://www.thesterlingrosesanctuary.us/gripping-grace-in-the-garden-of-grief

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TSRS21/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesterlingrosesanctuary/?hl=en

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCinV--gh_jy1OdeiS4XmoYA?view_as=subscriber

OTR Sites:

Podcast Website: https://bobadleman.wixsite.com/otrmentalhealth

Public Square Community Ko-Fi.com/otrachieving

Mail: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/otrachievingmentalhealhfr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/over_the_rainbow_achieving

X: https://twitter.com/overtherain1bow

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChEYTddPDUaiZbFliit1r5Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-adleman/

Special announcement OTR Universe Blog is here, start at:

https://realplus.bearblog.dev/otr-lies-from-the-tablecloth/

**Today’s guest is Dr. Tony Iezzi — a clinical psychologist with more than 35 years on the front lines of trauma, chronic pain, and the behavior loops that keep people repeating the past. He’s the co‑author of *Reenactments: Break the Behavior Patterns That Keep You Stuck in Trauma, Stress, and Everyday Life*, a book that blends science, clinical clarity, and real‑world insight into why we do what we do — even when we don’t want to.**

In this conversation, Dr. Iezzi breaks down the unconscious reenactment patterns that show up in everyday life: the habits we repeat, the reactions that feel too big for the moment, and the emotional echoes that follow us from childhood into boardrooms, relationships, and Tuesday afternoons.

If you’ve ever wondered why you keep ending up in the same situations — or why certain moments hit harder than they should — this episode gives you the framework to finally understand it.

**Dr. Tony Iezzi doesn’t just explain trauma. He explains the architecture underneath it — and how to break the loop.**

Dr. Tony Iezzi Sites:

Website: https://tonyiezzi.com/

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Reenactments-Behavior-Patterns-Trauma-Everyday-ebook

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Breaking-Reenactments/61577256044969/

OTR Sites:

Podcast Website: https://bobadleman.wixsite.com/otrmentalhealth

Public Square Community Ko-Fi.com/otrachieving

Mail: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/otrachievingmentalhealhfr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/over_the_rainbow_achieving

X: https://twitter.com/overtherain1bow

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChEYTddPDUaiZbFliit1r5Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-adleman/

Warning: Please be advised that this episode has adult content about young child abuse and an account of attempted suicide. This may contain triggers for some.

Matthew F. Stevens, CCTRP, is our guest in this episode. He is the host of EQ Unlocked Podcast on Emotional Intelligence and Nervous System Informed Growth.

Matthew and I went through several recovery subjects which included Matts terrible abuse and his other losses, fears, grief and abandonment issues. And I once again got on my high horse. Throughout the show the two of us really connected.

Don't miss his techniques to lessen anxiety and other processes of the nervous system in the last part of the show. Matthew goes over the his emotional regulation systems. He builds emotional regulation systems that reduce stress, prevent escalation, and support clear, integrity-based decision-making—through practical systems including Operational Regulation Systems (ORS™), Neuro Advanced Learning Systems (NALS™), and EQ Unlocked. Check out his website in the links below.

Matthew is a survivor of many different traumas and challenges, He worked with kids mentoring youth for 20 years as a business owner , who had a loving family and great hopes for the future. He eventually lost everything piece by piece. This episode covers the difficult family history, the kind that leaves marks.

It’s a steady, grounded talk with real weight under it. Clean audio, Its a little longer than usual but it moves quickly.

Matthew Stevens Sites:

Website: https://matthewfstevens.com/

Podcast: EQ Unlocked: https://eq.matthewfstevens.com

Find your regulation baseline: https://matthewfstevens.com/emotional-regulation-baseline/

OTR Sites:

Podcast Website: https://bobadleman.wixsite.com/otrmentalhealth

Public Square Community Ko-Fi.com/otrachieving

Mail: [email protected]

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/otrachievingmentalhealhfr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/over_the_rainbow_achieving

X: https://twitter.com/overtherain1bow

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChEYTddPDUaiZbFliit1r5Q

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-adleman/