This is part 2 of one of our current projects, MamaMimicry, which aims to provide therapeutic relief to premature babies in neonatal intensive care units (or NICUs for short), through products that have been developed to mimic a baby’s mother, which provides various benefits like increasing oxygenation levels in their blood and a more normalized heart beat. This project was started by Heather Chow, a medical student with a huge heart for preemie babies. Check out episode #19 if you haven't already to hear all about the project and how you can support it.

We are continuing to tell the story of MamaMimicry by interviewing a mother, Ingrid Cognato, about her experience going into labor at 26 weeks (6 months)with her daughter WIllow. We talk about what it was like for her and her premature baby to stay in the NICU. Her daughter Willow actually was given a long appendaged stuffed animal to keep her company during her stay and still has it to this day. Hearing what she and her baby experienced really helps us appreciate what the MamaMimicry project can provide for these babies and why it is so needed.

We have been focusing our efforts over here at PDG to actually get behind peoples doing good projects and help make them a reality. By researching, strategizing, networking and marketing their projects. We are helping everyday people, just like you, really make an impact on society. Our current project in progress Is called MamaMimicry. Started by the amazing and wonderful Heather Chow. Its aim of this project is to provide therapeutic relief to premature babies in NICU’s (neonatal intensive care unit) through making products that mimic the babies mother. Heather is a 3rd year medical student pursuing her dream to become a pediatrician. She recently got the idea that would enable her to start caring for children even in the midst of medical school.

This will be a multipart series that we are documenting as it progresses. If you can crochet or have design skills and can help come up with a rendering for the first prototype, please email us at [email protected] or go to our website and click the submit button. If you have any insight or would like to be of help in any way with the MamaMimicry project please reach out to us.

You can find us on iTunes, Stitcher and Soundcloud. If you enjoy this podcast please subscribe and leave a 5 star rating and review. We also have an amazing website SO VISIT US AT projectdoinggood.com where you can hear about the latest projects we're supporting.

In this episode I tell you about my health story and how it relates to mental health and the challenges that exist. I'm also using part of my interview with Lian Zeitz who works for citiesRISE, the amazing organization transforming global mental health policy and practice.

Prior to joining citiesRISE (see Ep. 16), Lian worked with therapeutic programs for struggling youth in 15 states in the US to identify pathways for young people to play a greater role in their own care and the development of mental health programs. He has also worked internationally on areas such as suicide prevention, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse in Bhutan, Indonesia, and Zambia.

He frequently speaks at national and international conferences about student experiences in therapeutic programs, trauma-focused community development, and pathways to successful transitions in life. Lian earned a B.A. from Quest University Canada, where he focused on public health and international development, and a certificate for Leadership in Mental Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. If he isn’t dreaming big about playing his part in solving the world’s most pressing challenges, Lian can most likely be found playing outside or climbing mountain peaks.

Kristen Anderson is a freshman at Stanford University. She founded Kitchen on a Mission at the age of 16. It started by her wanting to help homeless people in her hometown of Vancouver, but was unsure as to what she could do. She visited restaurants in her community, asking them for leftover food. After getting rejection after rejection she finally found an bakery willing to help.

Kitchen on a Mission is a community of students making a direct impact on their community's relationships with food waste, homelessness, and people. They currently deliver over $7600 of food to those in need every week with help from dedicated volunteers

Kitchen on a Mission partners with a local business, they take only food that a business is going to throw away. Rather than throwing the food away, they save it to be picked up by one of the volunteers for delivery to a shelter. They are not only helping to feed the homeless, but eliminating food waste as well.

Lian Zeitz, program officer, at citiesRISE. He has been an active contributor to the philosophical underpinning of citiesRISE and leads international youth activities.

citiesRISE is a global platform committed to transforming the state of mental health policy and practice in cities and beyond to meet the mental health needs of populations across the world.

To achieve significant, measurable improvements in mental health – especially among young people – citiesRISE is scaling up proven methodologies and tools and harnessing the skills and energy of experts and communities.

Their vision is a world in which cities enable young people to grow up, develop resilience, and lead productive lives through mainstreaming mental health across sectors. They have built three core initiatives to help cities and surrounding communities significantly improve the mental health of the maximum amount of people in the least amount of time: Local Collective Action, Young People and Youth Leadership, and Innovation and Acceleration

To learn more visit their website at cities-rise.org

Lian is very passionate and competent about mental health. citiesRISE is an amazing organization and he explains how they are solving mental health problems from a systems level approach. This should really change the way you think about mental health on a societal and global level.

Nancy Lee Sánchez is the Executive Director for the Kaplan Educational Foundation, a 501(c)3 public charity, that seeks to eliminate barriers to higher education for overlooked and underserved students. Developing them into world leaders and advocates for their communities by providing a comprehensive array of financial and academic support, transfer admissions, advising and leadership skills development

Nancy also created the Kaplan Leadership Program, a community college to four-year advisement model, focusing on selective college admissions, developing the whole student while preparing them for a lifetime of socially conscious leadership.

Nancy has over 18 years of expertise providing access, improving the college experience, and supporting leadership among low-income, underrepresented and non-traditional students. As a 2014 National Hispanic Executive Leadership Fellow, Nancy completed an Executive Leadership Program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She just released a new book entitled “Your 2018 Guide To College Transfer” complete with 90 School Profiles. If you are a student looking to enter higher education, this will give you all the information you need.

Thank you for listening.

You can find us on iTunes, Stitcher and Soundcloud. If you enjoy this podcast please subscribe and leave a 5 star rating and review. We also have an amazing website SO VISIT US AT projectdoinggood.com where you can hear about the latest projects we're supporting.

Your 2018 Guide to College Transfer - https://www.amazon.com/Your-2018-Guide-College-Transfer/dp/1506233910

Kaplan Educational Foundation website -http://www.kaplanedfoundation.org/about-us/