Peace Love and Bring a Bat

What if success is less about money or titles—and more about becoming a better human every day?

On this episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes Rich LaMonica, 22-year U.S. Army veteran, author, leadership mentor, educator, and host of The Misfit Nation.

After four combat deployments and retiring from the Army in 2015, Rich took a full year to reset before beginning his next chapter helping veterans transition into civilian life. Today, he continues training soldiers, writing, mentoring, and sharing lessons on resilience and leadership.

In this episode, you will discover:

• Why Rich believes success starts with being a good human

Rich encourages people to create momentum one win at a time.

Something will go wrong.

A plan will fail.

You will drop the ball.

The question is whether that moment defines the rest of your day.

Instead, Rich says to learn from the mistake, make the adjustment, and keep moving.

Today may bring 16 victories.

Tomorrow, aim for 17.

Progress builds confidence.

Early in Rich’s Army career, leadership often meant giving orders and expecting compliance.

Over time, he learned that people respond differently.

Great leaders observe.

They listen.

They learn what motivates each person and identify their strengths.

Rich’s approach became less about proving he was in charge and more about developing people who could eventually take his place.

When your people succeed, the mission gets stronger.

Rich believes preparation matters most before pressure arrives.

Create procedures.

Practice them.

Test them.

Make sure the plan works in the real world.

When things go wrong, strong teams rely on training, trust, and repetition.

That allows leaders to remain calm and work the problem instead of becoming overwhelmed by it.

Strength does not mean knowing everything.

Sometimes resilience means admitting:

“I need help.”

Ask the expert.

Call the mentor.

Learn what you do not know.

Then use that knowledge the next time.

Rich reminds us that our weaknesses do not have to define us if we are willing to keep learning.

Rich’s final seed is powerful:

Do not make permanent decisions for temporary problems.

Dark days happen.

Take a breath.

Recognize that you are still here.

Reach out to your tribe.

Ask for help.

Keep pushing forward.

You are not weak for needing support.

Sometimes asking for help is one of the strongest things you can do.

The Misfit Nation:

Email: [email protected]

Books: 13-Step Guide to Success and Out of the Darkness

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #RichLaMonica #TheMisfitNation #Leadership #Resilience #Veterans #Success #Mindset #Mentorship #PersonalGrowth #MilitaryLeadership

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What do you do when life hands you trauma, loss, and heartbreak—and you still feel called to help someone else?

On this episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes longtime friend Marilyn Morales, nurse, 9/11 survivor, author, advocate, and founder of Izzy’s Legacy.

Marilyn has spent her life caring for others. She became a nurse at 17, served as a public health nurse in New York City during 9/11, survived PTSD, endured the devastating loss of her daughter Isabella, and transformed her grief into a mission of service.

Her story is about more than survival.

It is about showing up.

In this episode, you will discover:

• Marilyn’s firsthand experience as a public health nurse during 9/11

On September 11, 2001, Marilyn was working as a public health nurse near the World Trade Center.

She helped triage people escaping the towers, cared for injured survivors, and witnessed events that stayed with her long after the day ended.

Later came nightmares, migraines, hypervigilance, and paranoia.

Eventually, Marilyn was diagnosed with PTSD.

She began exploring different tools and discovered that aromatherapy helped interrupt her triggers and remind her nervous system:

This is not happening again. I am safe right now.

Years later, Marilyn faced another life-changing trauma when her daughter Isabella was diagnosed at seven months old with a rare leukemia.

Isabella needed a stem cell transplant.

No one in the immediate family was a full match.

That experience exposed Marilyn to another crisis: the shortage of diverse donors in registries.

After Isabella passed away at only 19 months old, Marilyn and her family made a decision.

They would keep talking.

They would keep educating.

And they would keep helping other families.

Today, Izzy’s Legacy supports donor awareness and provides financial assistance to families navigating cancer.

Marilyn’s book Please Don’t Say That addresses something many people struggle with:

What do you say to someone who has experienced a devastating loss?

One phrase Marilyn wishes people would reconsider is:

“They’re in a better place.”

To the grieving parent, spouse, child, or friend, that may not bring comfort.

Sometimes the greatest gift is simply:

“I’m sorry. I’m here for you.”

Then listen.

Allow people to talk about the person they love.

Marilyn’s seed is:

Show up for one another.

When you see something terrible happening, do not stop at:

“That’s awful.”

Ask:

“What am I going to do about it?”

You may not be able to solve everything.

But you can change one thing.

Take action.

Help someone.

Give back.

And remember that underneath our differences, we all bleed red.

Izzy’s Legacy:

Instagram: @author_morales

Book: Please Don’t Say That

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #MarilynMorales #IzzysLegacy #PleaseDontSayThat #Grief #911Survivor #PTSD #CancerSupport #StemCellDonation #BoneMarrowDonor #Healing #Community #GiveBack

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What happens when a job stops feeling stressful and starts affecting your sense of safety, trust, and identity?

On this episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes Katie Hadiaris, workplace trauma coach, HR professional, former recruiter, and founder of Work Is Not Family.

Katie spent 15 years building a successful career in corporate America before taking a risk and moving into a smaller company. At first, the move felt like everything she had hoped for.

Then the environment became toxic and abusive.

That experience destabilized Katie for nearly two years and eventually pushed her to study workplace trauma, nervous-system regulation, employment systems, manipulation, and recovery.

Today, she helps others understand what happened to them—and how to move forward without abandoning themselves.

In this episode, you will discover:

• Why workplace trauma is real

When someone is trapped in a toxic workplace, people often say:

“Just get another job.”

Katie explains why that advice can create even more shame.

People stay for many reasons.

Income.

Health insurance.

Family responsibilities.

Fear of the unknown.

Hope that things will improve.

And when your nervous system is already overwhelmed trying to survive the current environment, making a major life change can feel almost impossible.

Katie uses a simple framework to help people recognize what their nervous system is doing.

GREEN — Regulated

You feel safe, calm, connected, clear, and confident.

YELLOW — Activated

Your system detects a threat. You may experience anxiety, anger, frustration, worry, or rage.

Katie suggests releasing some of that energy through movement, shaking out your hands, walking, or long exhales.

RED — Shutdown

You feel depleted, numb, detached, depressed, or unable to engage.

Gentle movement, stretching, walking, swaying, or humming can begin helping the body reconnect with energy.

Katie believes work should be understood first as an agreement.

You provide the work you were hired to perform.

Your employer compensates you.

Healthy workplaces can absolutely provide friendship, community, support, and belonging.

But expecting unconditional family-style relationships from coworkers or an organization can create emotional expectations the workplace never agreed to fulfill.

Before rushing toward positivity, Katie encourages people to identify their experience.

Was it betrayal?

Gaslighting?

Manipulation?

Abuse?

Broken trust?

A blindside?

You cannot fully process something you refuse to name.

Healing often begins by acknowledging the impact before trying to find the silver lining.

Katie’s seed is:

You have more control than you think.

You may feel stuck.

You may not know the solution.

But ask:

What is one small step I can take?

You do not need every answer today.

You simply may not know the answer yet.

Keep moving.

Keep learning.

And most importantly:

Don’t give up on yourself.

Work Is Not Family:

Find Katie’s coaching and free workplace recovery resources through her website.

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #KatieHadiaris #WorkIsNotFamily #WorkplaceTrauma #ToxicWorkplace #Burnout #Leadership #NervousSystem #WorkplaceCulture #MentalWellness #CareerGrowth

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What if the best way to connect with an audience is not to tell them how successful you are—but to show them where you failed?

On this episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes Dr. Danny Brassell, educator, speaker, author, coach, and co-founder of The Well-Crafted Story.

Danny’s career has included journalism, teaching, speaking, coaching, writing, and plenty of pivots along the way. He once covered President George H.W. Bush, became a teacher for what he jokes were “the noble reasons of high pay,” lost everything financially after a real estate seminar scam, and then built a successful speaking business during one of America’s toughest economic periods.

Through every chapter, Danny learned how powerful stories can be when they connect instead of impress.

In this episode, you will discover:

• Why Danny believes his autobiography could be called Pivots

Danny’s advice to speakers is simple:

Share your failures.

Not everyone in your audience has achieved what you have achieved.

But everyone has failed.

When you share mistakes, setbacks, and moments of uncertainty, people can see themselves in your story.

That creates connection.

And connection is what makes people want to keep listening.

Danny gives clients a simple exercise.

Sit down for one hour and write short triggers for every story you can remember:

The time you locked yourself out of the car.

The embarrassing dinner.

The mistake at work.

The childhood experience you never forgot.

Then ask:

What is this story really about?

Persistence?

Love?

Trust?

Leadership?

Failure?

Once you know the meaning, you know where the story belongs.

Danny studies comedians, politicians, speakers, and performers to understand why certain people stay in our minds.

The lesson?

Use what makes you different.

Your accent.

Your appearance.

Your humor.

Your experiences.

Even what you once considered a weakness.

Instead of hiding those things, turn them into part of your connection with the audience.

Danny encourages speakers to stop worrying about sounding “salesy.”

Instead, focus on serving.

If you genuinely believe something you offer can help another person, your responsibility is to clearly show them the opportunity.

The objective is not manipulation.

It is helping the right person take the right next step.

Danny’s seed comes from what he used to tell his students:

Education is valuable, but execution is priceless.

Knowledge alone is not power.

Applied knowledge is power.

Knowing what to do and actually doing it are two completely different things.

Learn.

Then act.

And use what you know to make the world a little better.

Free Well-Crafted Story Blueprint:

Learn more about Danny’s speaking, coaching, books, and The Well-Crafted Story.

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #DannyBrassell #Storytelling #Leadership #PublicSpeaking #TheWellCraftedStory #Communication #Execution #Motivation #PersonalGrowth #Speaking

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What if the emotional weight you have been carrying is affecting you more than you realize?

On this episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes longtime friend Sheli Dodson, full-time traveler, live-in life coach, and practitioner of Splankna, a faith-centered approach she uses to help clients explore emotional healing.

After more than 40 years in Alaska, Sheli now travels across the country, often living directly alongside clients so she can help them apply personal-growth tools in the moments when life is actually happening.

Her journey has taught her that healing is not simply about understanding what happened. Sometimes it is about releasing the emotional weight attached to it.

In this episode, you will discover:

• Why Sheli became a full-time traveler and live-in life coach

During one Splankna session, Sheli wanted to address a specific issue.

Instead, the session moved toward unresolved emotions connected to her second marriage and divorce.

She was not happy about it.

She believed that chapter was finished.

Then, weeks later, someone mentioned her former husband—and Sheli noticed something surprising.

The old anger was no longer there.

The circumstances had not changed.

Her response had.

For Sheli, healing created something incredibly valuable: a fork in the road between an automatic emotional reaction and a conscious choice.

Sheli and Uncle Dave discuss how often people say they want change while resisting the tools that might help create it.

Wanting life to be different is only the beginning.

Growth requires participation.

You have to practice.

You have to explore.

And sometimes you have to surrender the expectation that healing will happen exactly the way you planned.

One of Sheli’s favorite practices is walking a labyrinth.

Unlike a maze, a labyrinth has one continuous path toward the center and back out.

For Sheli, walking becomes a way to quiet everything competing for her attention.

She enters asking:

What do I need to know?

Sometimes slowing down is what finally allows clarity to arrive.

Sheli shares an idea she has been reflecting on:

“We love them, but we don’t want to be like them.”

We can deeply love family and friends while recognizing behaviors, bitterness, or patterns we do not want to carry into our own lives.

But Sheli turns the question inward too:

What parts of me would someone else not want to become?

Where does my character need refining?

Where am I holding resentment?

Where can I demonstrate more grace?

Sheli’s seed is about continual growth.

Ask yourself:

What do I need to do today to become better than I was yesterday?

Love people.

Learn from people.

But also have the courage to examine yourself.

Healing is not about becoming perfect.

It is about becoming lighter, more aware, and more intentional about the person you are becoming.

Website:

Learn more about Sheli’s coaching, travel, Splankna work, and other projects through her website.

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #SheliDodson #Healing #Faith #LifeCoaching #Splankna #PersonalGrowth #SelfAwareness #Forgiveness #Labyrinth #Mindfulness #SpiritualGrowth

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What separates someone who manages people from someone people genuinely want to follow?

On this episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes Dr. Andy Neillie, leadership speaker, coach, author, and founder of Neillie Leadership Group.

Andy’s fascination with leadership began by seeing two very different examples: the servant leadership he read about through his faith and bosses whose behavior showed him exactly how he did not want to lead.

Those experiences began a decades-long journey of studying what makes leaders effective, how trust is earned, and why leadership ultimately starts with the person in the mirror.

In this episode, you will discover:

• The difference between managing and truly leading

Andy describes managers as often having their eyes down—focused primarily on processes, numbers, deadlines, and production.

Leaders learn to get their eyes up.

They still have responsibility for results, but they also ask:

Do my people have what they need to succeed?

That means balancing accountability with empathy, helping people grow while still fulfilling the mission.

One of Andy’s most powerful teachers was Redford, a Golden Retriever rescued from a terrible puppy-mill environment.

When Redford arrived, he was terrified of Andy.

Trust did not happen because Andy wanted it to happen.

He had to slow down, meet Redford where he was, and make small deposits over time.

The same principle applies to leadership.

You cannot put “Trusted Advisor” on a business card and make it true.

Other people decide whether you have earned their trust.

Andy also talks about anti-mentors—leaders who demonstrate exactly what you never want to become.

One former boss took credit for the team's successes. Another early supervisor struggled to control his anger.

Those experiences helped Andy recognize that leadership is not about being the most important person in the organization.

Sometimes the leader is closer to the bottom of the pyramid, supporting everyone else.

Andy’s bestselling book, The Golden Principles: Life and Leadership Lessons from a Rescued Dog, uses Redford’s story to explore trust, relationships, patience, and leadership. His work emphasizes that trust takes time—and purposeful investment in people.

Andy’s seed is:

You will never be a better leader than you are a person.

Leadership starts with you.

Andy encourages leaders to create a Leader’s Hour—not necessarily exactly 60 minutes, but intentional time devoted to personal disciplines.

Exercise. Reflection. Prayer or meditation. Planning. Reviewing priorities. Thinking about your people.

Before you can effectively lead others, you must continually practice leading yourself.

Neillie Leadership Group:

Book: The Golden Principles: Life and Leadership Lessons from a Rescued Dog

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #AndyNeillie #Leadership #ServantLeadership #TheGoldenPrinciples #Trust #LeadershipDevelopment #SelfLeadership #CompanyCulture #ExecutiveLeadership

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What if the hardest moments of your life could become the foundation for helping someone else survive theirs?

On this episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes Carolyn Sophia Skowron, author, speaker, mental health advocate, and creator of Unbreakable.

Carolyn grew up feeling different, isolated, and misunderstood. At 16, she was diagnosed with Nonverbal Learning Disability (NVLD), helping explain challenges with executive functioning, spatial awareness, conceptual skills, and overthinking.

Her journey went much deeper.

Carolyn shares openly about anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, therapy, a life-threatening car accident, and the moments that helped her realize her story had a purpose.

In this episode, you will discover:

• What Nonverbal Learning Disability is and why awareness matters

Carolyn says her book Unbreakable came from years of struggle, but the catalyst was a 2020 car accident that could have ended her life.

Seconds before impact, she grabbed her seatbelt.

Surviving changed the way she looked at life.

Years earlier, during college, Carolyn had also experienced suicidal thoughts and came frighteningly close to losing her life. A phone call from her best friend arrived at exactly the moment she needed it.

Those experiences helped Carolyn understand why sharing her story mattered:

You are not alone.

Mental wellness, Carolyn says, is often built through small, repeatable actions.

Drink water.

Move your body.

Go outside.

Listen to music.

Practice gratitude.

Find community.

Talk honestly with people you trust.

And when professional help is needed, find someone you genuinely connect with.

Therapy requires participation. Carolyn explains that her progress came when she became honest, engaged in the process, and used what she learned outside the session.

Carolyn has learned to recognize when her thoughts begin moving down what she calls the “rabbit hole.”

Today she works to interrupt the pattern:

Pause.

Breathe.

Ask what you can control right now.

Step away from comparison.

Use the tools and people that bring you back to center.

Progress does not mean life stops being difficult. It means you become better equipped to meet difficulty without letting it erase everything you have built.

Carolyn’s seed is:

Don’t wait to get help.

A painful season does not have to become your permanent reality.

Use your voice. Reach out. Find your people. Grow through what you are going through.

And remember:

You are unbreakable.

If you are in the U.S. and experiencing a suicidal or mental health crisis, call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Website:

Book: Unbreakable: Breaking the Silence, Finding My Voice, Sharing My Story

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #CarolynSophiaSkowron #Unbreakable #MentalHealth #Resilience #SuicidePrevention #NVLD #SelfAwareness #MentalWellness #YouAreNotAlone

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What if leadership is not something you are born with—but something you can learn, practice, and continuously improve?

On this episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes Joe Wyrwas, leadership coach, keynote speaker, educator, Vice President at Anthem Engineering, and founder of Wyser with Joe.

Joe’s leadership journey began in high school during a 10-day leadership development program that transformed how he saw himself. A quiet, shy teenager discovered that leadership did not require a title. It required a willingness to step forward, learn, and make an impact.

Today, Joe develops leaders while continuing to practice leadership inside the technology world—and even brings lessons from his experience as a skydiving coach into conversations about risk, decision-making, and growth.

In this episode, you will discover:

• Why leadership can be learned

One lesson Joe wishes he understood earlier is:

Start now and learn as you go.

Too many people wait until they feel completely prepared.

Joe believes growth happens when we stretch outside our comfort zones, take action, make mistakes, and learn from the experience.

Leadership does not have a finish line.

Every new level creates another opportunity to grow.

Joe learned an important principle from a mentor:

Over-communicate—because what feels like over-communication is often just enough.

Leaders frequently assume everyone understands the vision.

They usually do not.

Communicate down.

Communicate across.

Communicate up.

Then ask whether the message was actually understood.

As a skydiving coach with hundreds of jumps, Joe understands that eventually you have to leave the plane.

Leadership decisions work the same way.

You will rarely have 100% of the information.

At some point, more data produces diminishing returns.

Joe recommends listening to your:

Head.

Gather enough information, talk with trusted people, make the decision, and then evaluate what you learned.

Joe recommends having at least three types of trusted advisors:

Someone who has walked the path.

Someone who challenges your thinking.

Someone who knows you at your foundation.

You do not need people who simply agree with you.

You need people who help you see more clearly.

Joe’s seed is:

Find your why.

Your why becomes your North Star when circumstances change or the path becomes unclear.

Ask yourself:

When do I feel most alive?

When do I lose track of time?

What do people see me light up about?

Then keep asking deeper questions.

Joe’s why is creating opportunities for other people to learn, grow, and become better.

Find yours—and use it to guide the decisions you make.

Connect with Joe Wyrwas on LinkedIn.

Learn more about his leadership development, coaching, speaking, and Wyser with Joe.

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #JoeWyrwas #WyserWithJoe #Leadership #FindYourWhy #GrowthMindset #RiskWell #SelfAwareness #LeadershipDevelopment #Mentorship #PersonalGrowth

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What if the biggest obstacle to your team’s performance is not talent—but the conversations happening every day?

On this episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes Shaun Mader, leadership coach, strategist, and creator of TeamWare and the Team Flow Architecture.

After years of leading transformational leadership programs, Shaun realized something important: developing the leader alone is not enough.

The entire team has to participate.

His work focuses on helping leaders create the conditions where people take ownership, communicate clearly, build trust, navigate conflict, and move from simply doing their jobs to functioning as a true team.

In this episode, you will discover:

• Why great individual performers do not automatically become great leaders

Shaun often sees high performers promoted because they were excellent at doing the work.

Then suddenly their job is getting results through other people.

That requires a completely different skill set.

When leaders constantly tell people exactly what to do, team members can become passive.

The better question is:

How do I create the conditions for my people to perform at their best?

Trust.

Listening.

Communication.

Conflict.

Self-awareness.

These skills may not appear directly on a quarterly KPI, but without them everything becomes harder.

Shaun argues that these are not “soft” skills.

They are the power skills that determine whether teams can execute when conditions become difficult.

A real team is different from a group of people working for the same company.

Shaun describes the shift from:

What is my job?

to:

How does what I do affect everyone else?

When people understand each other’s strengths, working styles, and perspectives, they can stop fighting their differences and start using them.

You do not need an entire basketball team made up of point guards.

Different positions create stronger teams.

Shaun encourages leaders to look for the places where time, attention, and energy are being wasted.

Unclear ownership.

Meetings without decisions.

Different definitions of the same words.

Unproductive conflict.

Duplicated work.

Teams often do not need to work harder.

They need to remove the friction preventing good work from flowing.

Shaun’s seed is:

Lead through inquiry.

Instead of immediately giving someone your answer, turn your point of view into a question.

Ask something that activates their thinking.

When people discover the answer themselves, they are far more likely to own it.

That is one of the most powerful shifts a leader can make:

Stop giving every answer. Start asking better questions.

Friction to Flow Consulting:

TeamWare Essentials:

Connect with Shaun Mader on LinkedIn.

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #ShaunMader #Leadership #TeamWare #FrictionToFlow #TeamBuilding #Trust #Communication #HighPerformanceTeams #LeadershipDevelopment #PowerSkills

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What happens when we stop asking, “Why can’t this child do it?” and start asking, “What support do they need to do it?”

On this episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes DJ Nicholson, former teacher, instructional coach, trainer, and founder of Inclusivology—the study of inclusion.

DJ works with educators across the country to help create classrooms where every child feels included academically, socially, and emotionally.

Her passion is personal. Growing up, DJ struggled intensely with math and was even told by a teacher that she was the worst math student they had ever taught. Years later, she earned an A in graduate statistics.

The difference?

She finally had the tools, context, and learning environment she needed.

In this episode, you will discover:

• Why inclusion means more than putting every student in the same classroom

DJ repeatedly reminds educators that children may simply not be ready yet.

A five-year-old may not sit still yet.

A fourth grader may not read on grade level yet.

A child may not know how to organize their backpack yet.

“Yet” does not lower expectations.

It creates room for growth, development, support, and possibility.

As Uncle Dave puts it, “yet” is a promise that something can change.

DJ challenges teachers to ask what is actually preventing a student from succeeding.

If a student struggles to read a math problem but understands the computation, is math really the problem?

If a child cannot independently read grade-level material, could text-to-speech give them access to the same content?

Instead of stopping at:

“They can’t.”

Ask:

“What can we try?”

DJ believes teachers need multiple strategies because children do not all learn the same way.

Sometimes a student needs technology.

Sometimes they need a visual organizer.

Sometimes they need movement.

Sometimes they need information presented differently.

Sometimes they simply need more time.

The goal is meaningful access to learning—not forcing every child to reach the destination using the exact same path.

Parents play an important role too.

DJ encourages families to build conversation, curiosity, routines, and independence early.

Let children get dressed.

Let them organize their belongings.

Let them make breakfast when developmentally appropriate.

And let them make mistakes.

Those everyday experiences help build executive functioning skills that support success later in school and life.

DJ Nicholson’s seed is simple:

See kids for who they are right now.

Not the label.

Not the diagnosis.

Not what they cannot do.

Look at the child in front of you and ask what support will help them take the next step.

Every child deserves the opportunity to feel safe, successful, capable, and included.

And if they are not there today?

They are simply not there yet.

Inclusivology:

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