Profound Conversations

This episode of Profound Conversations will focus on the need for culturally appropriate resources and guidance tailored to younger adult Muslim populations predisposed to shifting attitudes and awareness about donation and the efficacy of local healthcare system. Learning initiatives should also address knowledge and understanding within the different professional areas of the organ procurement organizations and transplant centers in the US. These professionals include Physicians, clinical and hospital services, as well as family services teams responsible for the support, communication and coordination of donor authorization and transplant medical services.

Show Topics

Muslim faith and its impact on organ donation authorization rates in the US Muslim community

The Muslim community in America is diverse, well-integrated, and proud to be both Muslim and American

Scholarly opinions on organ donation allowed by fatwas, but understanding and influence among Muslims is the question

Breaking down silos in organ donation and transplantation

There are various barriers to cross-cultural collaboration in end-of-life care, including religious beliefs and practices.

Chaplains play a crucial role in addressing Muslim patients' concerns about organ donation, including mistrust of healthcare system and cultural beliefs

Working with Muslim families in end-of-life care

There's a need for specific resources and education for Muslim communities, as well as other communities, to address cultural and religious beliefs around organ donation

Muslims' cultural and religious sensitivity should be considered in end-of-life discussions with healthcare teams

Ways to increase organ donation in Muslim communities, emphasizing education and leadership

Profound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level.   MLPN.life

The Profound Conversations podcast is produced by Erika Christie www.ErikaChristie.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Creating cultures of care include an examination of the determinants of health and wellness. To the extent that this analysis demonstrates gaps, the care requires initiatives that are inclusive of all people impacted; the culture must transform.

Too often the physical, mental and emotional needs of Black men and boys are over-looked, ignored. They want to heal and change how they/we are perceived, however, find it difficult to do so unless things within our physical environment change as well. The lack of access to affordably decent housing, nutritious food and underperforming public schools have become standards in our black and brown neighborhoods.

This episode of Profound Conversations is a healing call for our Black community, with a focus on men and boys, to talk about what keeps us sane, where to find love and joy and how we must come together to elevate our spirits and rest our souls, which is OUR RIGHT AND OUR RESPONSIBILITY. Together we need to redefine what it means to be WELL.

Show Topics and Highlights

Importance of mental health and healing in black and brown communities as a critical component of black liberation

Emphasis on the importance of clarity and collective action for black liberation, citing the need to determine the goal and address critical components such as social, economic, and spiritual well-being

Rowe highlights the challenges of programming that hinders black people from depending on themselves and instead relies on the oppressor for liberation, emphasizing the need to connect the dots and come together as a collective to elevate themselves and move their agenda forward

Dayvon Love highlights the significance of historiography in shaping our personal relationship to history and how it impacts our solutions to problems

Healers and mental health professionals can enhance cultural competence to better serve black communities

Importance of intergenerational connection and valuing one another's perspectives to address mental health issues

Challenges of finding a sense of belonging for young people of color in a system not designed for them, and the importance of grounding them in history and the movement

Hazel Taylor Smith discusses challenges in providing mental health care in the community, including insurance issues and limited resources

Value of listening and being present for his children, rather than trying to mold them, and recognizes the importance of working in partnership with his wife in the parenting journey

Value of fatherhood and partnership in African-centered perspective, with a focus on building healthy marriages and communities

Dr. Aneesah Nadir emphasizes the importance of premarital education and counseling to prepare couples for marriage and prevent potential issues

Providing education and support from elders and spiritual leaders can help couples navigate challenges and strengthen their relationship

Importance of building a culture of care that is strength-based, life-affirming, healing-centered, and transformationally focused on every black and brown person

Importance of intergenerational understanding and appreciation of cultural artifacts in creating a culture of care

Profound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level.   MLPN.life

The Profound Conversations podcast is produced by Erika Christie www.ErikaChristie.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode will examine the imbedded strategies and pillars which support effective DEI initiatives within the organ procurement community. We will examine what it looks like to become holistically and systemically equitable, inclusive and diverse? Then we will ask executive leaders to rate their organizational performance alongside the standards recognized as the most effective for multicultural populations.

Simply put, diversity is defined as the presence and representation of people of differing races, religions, ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities, languages, nationalities, political parties, socioeconomic groups, and other characteristics that inform an individual’s worldview and experiences. It is impossible to comprehend or foster equity and inclusion without diversity.

Show Topics and Highlights

"Why is important that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is embedded in the cultures of organ procurement organizations or any other organization institutions for that matter?"

You need to have representation within the organ procurement community that reflects the population that you're serving in order to be able to reach that or that population.

We focus most of our efforts on figuring out what the barriers are, instead of making sure there is a more diverse leadership team.

We need to look into why it is that we're not getting applications from more diverse members that are capable of the job and can perform at a high level.

"What are the opportunities for people to get the minimum and necessary education and conditions to apply for the positions in the first place?"

The talent has to be developed in to be able to create pathways for people to be able to rise up in the organization.

"My experience is there's no shortage of people of color to fill CEO positions. The problem is that we're not reaching them and it can be because it's the personal bias of those that are doing the hiring."

We prefer, at the Nevada Donor Network, to try to give the opportunities to people within the organization versus having to recruit from the outside. When your organization prefers to develop its own, then it becomes about removing barriers and providing opportunities.

I think that's important that people looking to become a CEO find time to be exposed to those all areas of the organization. That's what makes an effective leader.

"I want to just expand the concept of diversity beyond the realm of race and ethnicity. Can people bring their whole self to work? If I'm a Muslim, do I feel comfortable being a Muslim in that environment?"

Profound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level.   MLPN.life

The Profound Conversations podcast is produced by Erika Christie www.ErikaChristie.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the non-medical factors that influence health outcomes. They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life. Violence within communities across America has a major impact on health outcomes. Washington DC, Baltimore and many other urban centers throughout America experience the horrors of gun violence and other serious acts of crime.

This episode seeks to create a dialogue which examines these challenges to social determinants of life, as we learn from grass root change makers and mental health professionals about the role their organizations are playing in the transformation of our communities under siege.

Show Topics and Highlights

What are the social determinants of health?

How much an individual is exposed to other negative health outcomes, whether that is violence or other forms of trauma, is a huge determinant of their health outcome

Importance of living in the community and getting to know the people

“It amazed me how many of the young people didn't expect to live beyond 20 years old”

We're really good at blaming the victim

“When you're told something long enough you start to believe it”

Viewing and being around violence can be just as damaging as being physically harmed

Stereotypes about mental health and treatment

There needs to be a definition of what "help" is for a community

The accessibility, or lack thereof, of mental health resources

Bringing help to the communities and meeting them where they are

Profound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level.   MLPN.life

The Profound Conversations podcast is produced by Erika Christie www.ErikaChristie.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most Executives clearly advocate for “work/life balance”, however what does that balance actually require; and is it a shoe size that fits all? In 2023 how do women who have questions about balancing their desires for financial stability, luxury, family responsibilities, health, joy, and fulfilment, achieve this while pushing back against burnout and self-sacrifice?

How do our diets play a role in our ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and what are the signs to be aware of that hint to onset mental, emotional and physical decline in our wellbeing? These and other fascinating ideas will be examined by our Conductor and guest conversationalists.

Show Topics and Highlights

We exist in a society that supports and really actually rewards hustle culture, grind till you make it, sleep when you die, culture of high achievement, competition acquisition, that is made of just a bit worse by the fantasies that we see on social media

This construct of the 80 hour a week working until you drop, sleep when you're dead, was constructed by white men, and a aggressive drive to possess, own, and dominate. It's not something we have to take with us

Being born actually makes you equipped for every hard experience that you're ever going to have. That's why a birthing canal is so vitally important, because now you've experienced the biggest trauma and everything else is easy

You have to start to eliminate the noise. Right? We all have a very quiet space within us, every human being is given this, no matter what physical state you are in, you have this quiet space where if you go in there, there's answers to everything in there.

There are circumstances that bring you to your humble knees. And you have to take time to unfold into those spaces except where you are, and then try to develop a pathway out of those spaces.

I don't like starting over from scratch, I like to build off the heels of another. My motto is "the second mouse gets the cheese."

When I talk about cultural practices, oftentimes routine is everything. Right? Because routine will restart the clock, no matter what you're going through.

It's the inner critic, that small voice that most of us don't know is even talking. That tells us what we can't do. It says, "You're not enough, you're not enough, you're not enough, you're not enough, you haven't done enough." I teach my clients a mantra, "I Am enough, I have enough, I do enough."

You don't have to be a human doer, you can be a human being

Stop and listen to your body

There's a big movement now, thankfully, for this whole expression of like "doing the work" like doing your own work. And people think of that in the in the frame of mental health therapy.

Some things on social media are completely not beneficial to our society, in terms of the sort of the images and the messaging that that we're seeing and the attention seeking and the ways that people are rewarded for bad behavior, but there's been a surgence of positive messaging of people on social media, of people offering alternative ways of thinking and looking at things that has actually benefited a lot of people and I've seen that myself

How do you deal with your inner critic?

Profound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level.   MLPN.life

The Profound Conversations podcast is produced by Erika Christie www.ErikaChristie.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The virtues of sight, sound and movement are therapeutic modalities essential to obtaining Universal Health, Well Being, and Community Transformation. Episode one speaks into the use of sound/music as a common bond that provides an on ramp for deeper examinations of the realities of where we experience disease. This informative conversation is part one of a series of episodes which will examine sight, sound and movement as therapeutic modalities for patients as well as those who may not perceive the health challenges they are inside of due to inequality, white supremacy, lack of trust, as well as a myriad of social challenges prevalent in today's world.

Show quotes and highlights

When you get older and you start to appreciate music on its own, you see that it’s sustaining you generationally

There used to be more of a close connection between music, education, and learning

I'm so happy to hear what you're doing to bring your students back to those essences of the music so they can get to the scholarship of it, you know, the legacy

I teach jazz history, jazz combo, and jazz percussion, and it’s been quite a reward for me to be working with young people

I prove how the rhythms that we use today are rhythms that come straight out of Africa, I prove it by standing in front of them and showing them what the rhythm is

Music is a healing force. Especially if it is coupled with the strongest force in the universe, which is love

My work primarily now focuses on community development

My experience around building galleries and revitalizing theaters, actually revitalizing neighborhoods, is that inevitable they become richer and whiter and the local community gets pushed out

We do a deeper dive by trying to get into local communities, into schools, and to neighborhood associations, and so forth and so on. It's a lot of it's a lot of groundwork, you're trying to really improve the local conditions before the contractors move in, in other words, so that folks are prepared

Why don’t we decide that we're going to invest in our communities? That means that our communities will deliver the best that it can for us, because we have hands on. That will mean that our needs and our desires will be will be dealt with

The idea of attracting wealth and attracting opportunities to grow wealth, and develop wealth, means that if you have the positive attitude, and a positive outlook about it, it will seek you out, it's an attraction

A lot of times I think our voices are not centered in the conversation because they go looking for “experts”, and those experts, unfortunately, often don't look like us

What I like to tell the young people I work with is that I’m an old dog who learned new tricks

Creative spaces are so transformative for communities because all of those, those places that we've kind of abandoned, they will almost always see the creative places or they had multiple functions

Profound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level.   MLPN.life

The Profound Conversations podcast is produced by Erika Christie www.ErikaChristie.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When organizations set out to achieve lofty goals, whether they are record breaking profits, client satisfaction indexes or the achievement of record-breaking organ transplants, what are essential elements that must exist within their culture in order to achieve success? This episode examines how effective Executive Leadership has the potential to create the deep sense of purpose and commitment to an organization's values and mission, and how this can ultimately lead that organization to breakthrough outcomes.

Show quotes and highlights

The difference between an organization doing well, or not, typically has to do with their culture.

A company's culture determines the behavior of the organization and how effectively it provides its service.

People can be insecure as it relates to what their strengths might be and sometimes they might need someone to identity those strengths for them

A leader knows that his or her job is to make the tough decision. And by definition, you're going to be wrong a lot of the time, and it's going to be your fault. And you're going to have to take that on your back and move forward. And nobody will see you as a leader until you're able to do that.

“The way you build a movement is through empowering small groups to success and to connect wit each other.”

“I have a friend, David Burkus is the absolute best teams guy out there. And one of the things he says is, the talent doesn't build the team, the team builds the talent.“

If you want to change behavior, you have to start with the majority, you can always expand a majority out, but the second you're in the minority, you're gonna feel immediate pushback

There are important differences between management and strategy

“Trust has to be a foundational element in any movement you're trying to create”

“And so I went through a period of time in my career where it was difficult for me to ascertain what exactly I was trying to accomplish, what was my passion, what was I good at. And then I realized something that was even more profound, that goals that I wanted to accomplish, and that I had set up for myself are only possible and could only be as fulfilling as possible, if I enjoyed the company of others while I was doing it”

If people don't believe that you value what they do, no factors or figure or evidence you put in front of them is going to make a difference.

If you can find others who believe as you do, and are just as enthusiastic as you are. And you can help them to succeed and get out of the business of selling an idea and into the business of selling a success

Although I didn't realize it at the time, when people were trying to help me, enable me, I took a path of humility and decided that I was going to be of service rather than just trying to fulfill my own goals and aspirations. It really created a this genuine love for trying to help other people actualize themselves

“Far too often we confuse leadership with authority”

Profound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level.   MLPN.life

The Profound Conversations podcast is produced by Erika Christie www.ErikaChristie.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of Profound Conversations will explore the intersection between cultures of care, the dynamics of loss and grieving, as well as the impact that donation has for families that give and receive the gift of life. Our intent for this episode will be to create new understandings and pathways to wellness within the context of great loss.

Our Profound Conversationalists include Dr. Clive Callender, Ingrid Palacios, Nila Schwab, Joey Boudreaux, and our conductor Joia Jefferson Nuri.

Show Topics and Highlights

“Over the past year we've been talking about organ donation and how that works. But the one thing we haven't discussed yet, until today, is the grieving process. The world knows more about grieving now then probably did two years ago as we grieve in mass numbers around COVID. “

“My brother wanted to be an organ donor. He wanted to help somebody.”

“If you ever met a donor recipient, they always want to give back. They want to share the story they want to help.“

It's very hard to think when you're in shock, and that's usually what's happening when we approach a family about organ donation.

There are many people who help support families through the organ donation process. What exactly does that "support" look like?

“There are so many different levels of grief. And sometimes it comes back.”

Not everyone is educated to work with different types of grieving, different types of culture.

“We are there to be advocates, we are there to be liaisons, we are there to be those people that will honor those family's wishes.”

“The law requires the deceased persons wishes be followed, whether the family likes it or not. That you if you decided you wanted to be a donor, you will be a donor. And if the family doesn't like it, it is unfortunate, but the donation will proceed.”

There's still a percentage of people who still believe that they need their organs to get into Heaven, that is why more education is needed.

“In the African American community, there is a fear that you will be left to die because your organs are needed, you could keep five people alive. And that the emergency room doctors will not do the best for you, because they want your organs. That's wholeheartedly not true.”

“Grief is ongoing. And someone like me who held it in for quite some time because I didn't know who to say it to, I didn't know if anybody would understand what I was going through. But when I got to LOPA and I tell everyone, my healing began when I began to share my story began to listen to others and and how we can help each other through what we were going through.”

Profound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level.   MLPN.life

The Profound Conversations podcast is produced by Erika Christie www.ErikaChristie.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The opioid epidemic refers to the enormous surge in opioid addiction and overdose over the last several decades in the United States. Much of the epidemic has its origins in medical practice. Devastating consequences of the opioid epidemic include increases in opioid misuse and related overdoses, as well as the rising incidence of newborns experiencing withdrawal syndrome due to opioid use and misuse during pregnancy. Opioid overdoses accounted for more than 42,000 deaths in 2016, more than any previous year on record. An estimated 40% of opioid overdose deaths involved a prescription opioid.

Episode VI will explore the less than obvious connections between mental illness and substance abuse. We would like to assert that one, often overlooked foundational connection is, the unhealthy need that leads to the opioid use, which completely destabilizes a Healthy Mental decision-making process. Are we still in an epidemic in 2022? What are harm reduction policies and what have been their outcomes? Which populations are currently most affected? What can individuals, neighborhoods, communities, cities actively do to assist in solving this epidemic? What are good Samaritan laws? Are their signs that the tide is changing? What are the Trust factors in need of transforming that will lead to satisfactory resolutions?

Show Topics and Highlights

There is a lag between technology and knowledge and the criminal justice system

A physician's background beliefs may influence their decision making

My own efforts have been in getting new technologies into African American and Latino communities.

There's what we call an opiate, and then there's what we call an opioid.

Everyone has a genetic element that dictates what their response is to medications

Are doctors ever held responsible, legally?

What training are doctors getting on proper use of opioids?

We've had great difficulty in changing the dosage requirements, which is set by law in some places, and we find that when people get inadequate medication they may end up using drugs to get by

A lot of a prescriptive practices involve the patient being given responsibility of taking the medication correctly.

There is a huge importance in getting a support system around the patient

There's more training and information needed on the best ways to work with people and making sure you're doing right for that person

This is where health equity comes into play. Because it's not just about making things equitable. It's about what investments would have to go on to raise the value of care.

The number of African American physicians is actually about the same numbers as it was the 1960s. Same as for the Latino community.

Profound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level.   MLPN.life

The Profound Conversations podcast is produced by Erika Christie www.ErikaChristie.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The overriding opinion within the medical community of practice is that caregivers should attempt to reduce psychiatric barriers to successful transplantation. However certain questions remain after years of debate: (i) are current evaluations uniform throughout transplant centers throughout the country? How should we view transplant eligibility criteria that exclude patients with affective and psychotic disorders from transplantation on the basis of their psychiatric diagnosis? These and other questions will be explored during this in depth hour of Profound Conversations with our esteemed guests from the medical community.

Conversationalists:

Farha Abbasi, MD Michigan State University Dept. of Psychiatry

Clive Callender, MD Professor of Surgery, Howard University Hospital

Shawn-Paul Harrison Medical Navigator Specialist Louisiana Organ Procurement Association

Anil Paramesh, MD, Professor of Surgery, Urology, and Pediatrics Tulane University School of Medicine

Joey Boudreaux Chief Clinical Officer Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency

Show quotes and highlights

A lot of people think that anyone can become an organ donor. And unfortunately, that's not the case. It's a very small few who suffer a brain injury of some sort. So it's always a sudden event very tragic.

So one, our primary roles, besides obviously saving lives through donation, is to support these families who are suffering through this acute extreme grieving.

I started the transplant program at Howard University in 1973. And as we looked at the situation, the number one problem in transplantation, then and even now has been the shortage of donors.

There is a stigma around mental illnesses, right? And this stigma always arises from lack of information, not having that awareness, and things we don’t know about can lead to fear.

Imagine a scenario where we have a very scarce resource where there are not enough organs for everybody.

Because us as family advocates supporting the family, it's not just for donation purposes, every family should be supported during a time of loss.

We spoke earlier that transplant centers are graded upon your success rate, plus we're trying to look at utility as well as equity.

One of my favorite parts of my job is when the transplant recipient, and those donor families meet.

I think everyone here has expressed that we need more donors, we need more of the community to be part of the donor committee, and every show, I get to say I am a donor, I'm an African American, I'm an elder, by some people standards, and I still want my body to do something for somebody

I would like to say that saving a life is saving humanity

I'd add also to this that some people just aren't healthy enough to give organs. So they can also give tissues. Tissues that can enhance lives can make the blind see the deaf ear, the lame walk again, so that it is in this gift of life that we can have on this.

Profound Conversations Executive Producers are the Muslim Life Planning Institute, a national community building organization whose mission is to establish pathways to lifelong learning and healthy communities at the local, national and global level.   MLPN.life

The Profound Conversations podcast is produced by Erika Christie www.ErikaChristie.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.