SHARING OUT LOUD

Everyone needs to listen to this episode. Whether you are dealing with a bipolar diagnosis yourself, know someone who is, or know someone you suspect needs help, every human can benefit from listening to Kate's story.

This is the first time EVER that Kate is sharing her 12-year journey with Bi-polar 1 disorder. It takes guts, FAITH, and generosity to "come out" with a mental illness but if we don't share our personal stories Kate and I both agree that we are doing a disservice to people in need. NO ONE IS PERFECT and even licensed professional counselors deal with their own personal issues. There is nothing more real than Kate's story and I am just so grateful to her for coming on the podcast.

More about Kate:

Kate Eldean is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) as well as a Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in Trauma Recovery, EMDR, Neurotherapy, and EFT for Couples. She is licensed in SC, CA, and soon will be licensed in Michigan!

With over 21 years of mental health experience, she provides a nurturing and non-judgmental warmth to her patients as they journey together along a solid path of healing and wholeness. Kate works with patients who struggle with depression, anxiety, mood disorders, trauma, abuse and neglect, addictions, grief and loss, eating disorders, and chronic medical conditions such as Type 1 Diabetes.

Kate is also an author and co-founder of the Gracie Brave book and Foundation. Gracie Brave was created by Katie and her mom to inspire and empower children and families to find hope and healing from depression and other emotional challenges. 

Gracie Brave is the art of connection and community. Gracie Brave is a catalyst for breaking down the stigma of mental illness and helps families discover hope, healing, and freedom. 

In her spare time, Kate loves running, surfing, boating, doing cross-cultural missions in East Africa, and many arts and crafts!

NOTE: When Kate talks about medications, it is important to note that she is medication-resistant. THIS EPISODE IS NOT MEANT TO TREAT MENTAL ILLNESS or recommend medications, it is simply about awareness. Please consult your doctor if you feel you need help.

Education
Michigan State University, BS in Psychology, Minor/Specialization in Health & Humanities (1994-1998)
Antioch University Los Angeles, MA in Clinical Psychology (1999-2001)
Wheaton College, Trinity University and Bethel Seminary Classes towards M.Div and Christian Formation and Ministry Degree
License, Certifications & Awards
MFT Licensure Granted Dec. 2010

Additional Training
Gottman Couples Therapy Level 1: Bridging the Couple Chasm: A Research Based Approach
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT)
The International Centre For Excellence In Emotionally Focused Therapy
EMDR Part One & Two Training Completed.  Certification to be complete Winter 2016.

Professional Activities and Memberships
CAMFT CA Assoc. of MFT's
American Association of Christian Counselors
CAPS~ Christian Assoc. of Professional Studies~ North County San Diego CAPS Leadership team and steering team. 
ANAD~ Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders Community Support Group Leader

You can find more about Kate on her websites or on instagram!

https://www.kateeldean.com/
https://www.graciebrave.org/
@graciebrave on instagram

Today we talk Teen Suicide with Suzi Freeman, owner/founder, of the Elite Minds Academy. Suzi is committed to empowering the next generation with the skills and knowledge they need to maintain positive mental and emotional health.

Her mentorship and training programs focus on cultivating self-care mastery and emotional durability, helping to mitigate the challenges that can arise from mental health issues, and laying the foundation for success in all areas of life.

By also training families in mental health awareness and suicide prevention, she is building a community that is prepared to support each other and prevent a crisis. She also has a program where she trains in schools, both speaking to teachers as well as students. Every school should be spending $ to implement programs, I mean, look at the stats! Over the past five years, suicide has been the second-leading cause of death for people ages 15-19 in the United States—second only to accidents. It might seem convenient or tempting to blame youth suicides on one headlining perpetrator—social media, the COVID-19 pandemic, bullying, or substance abuse, for instance—but the reality is much more complicated. It involves location, race, and socioeconomic status, among other compounding factors. AND even more disturbing, the age of suicidal thoughts and attempts keeps getting younger, with the newer age starting at just age 6.

Interested in learning more about ALL of Suzi's programs? Visit her website at www.suzifreeman.com and you can also find her on instagram @suzifreeman.

xoxo,
Heather

Are you experiencing BRAIN FOG? Mood swings? Hot Flashes? Weight Gain? General feelings of things just being off? Then this episode is for you! Don't think you have to be IN menopause for you to start experiencing symptoms. In fact, you could be 10 years away from actual menopause (or more, eek!) so now is the time to start taking care of your health with someone who has an actual education and background in this area (not all "lady docs" do nor do all health and wellness/fitness people).

A little more about Jen:

At 37, I stopped taking the pill but rarely had a menstrual cycle after that and I, simply put, just felt "unwell." It dawned on me that maybe I was going through some kind of early menopause and that’s why I was feeling so terrible! My traditional medical doctors ran my blood labs to check my hormone levels, but ultimately, the labs came back “normal.” I felt so deflated, even more so because my doctors could offer nothing much more than antidepressants. I felt they gave up on me — there was little empathy and no reassurance that they would work with me to get to the bottom of it.

At that moment something in me changed and I knew I had to take charge of my own health, so I set out on a long and exhausting path to solving my health mystery. I learned that not only could my overall health be better by implementing the use of digestive enzymes, supplements, probiotics, and specific food combinations, my menopausal symptoms could be influenced for the better as well! But I also had to truly understand the root cause of what was triggering my issues because, without that, these solutions were still just a band-aid. This is when I became a true student of Functional Medicine.
As time went on and I engaged with holistic, functional practitioners and further testing, I learned that my perimenopausal symptoms had been legit for a while, but also deeply connected to stress levels, and underlying autoimmune and gut issues (all of these conditions can have similar symptoms). With an understanding of the body’s interconnections, my unique patterns, and taking the right steps, I’ve been able to make the positive changes in my life needed to heal and live a full and healthy life (yes, even in menopause)!

If you are suffering from ongoing health issues and frustrated with the limitations of traditional medicine, or you are being told to simply take hormones and “deal with your menopause symptoms,” I am here to help because you deserve a happy, healthy life! 

Please check out Jen's website for more information: https://www.thriveandshinefw.com/

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Meet Tiffany Lee Gaston! Tiffany is an author, philanthropist, and highly published fitness personality, with recurring appearances on local television networks and contributions to health and fitness publications worldwide. She promotes her own unique brand of fitness, with an emphasis on the discovery of our own best self and not a one-size-fits-all approach. AND NOW, SHE CAN ADD SOBER WOMAN TO THE LIST OF AMAZING ACCOMPLISHMENTS!

For the first time ever, after 9+ months of sobriety, Tiffany is sharing her journey about living the sober life. We go into WHY she felt the need to stop, HOW she managed it, and how and why she STAYS sober. I am beyond filled with gratitude with Tiffany for sharing her story with me and being willing to SHARE IT OUT LOUD with the hope that it might help someone else out there that's struggling.

Tiffany also gives back to the community and in 2019 began working with Chrysalis, a nonprofit organization with goals to provide a safe haven for individuals and families in need of breaking free from a life riddled with fear and violence.  Want to learn more about WHY this organization hits home? Order a copy of her memoir, From Broken to Badass, and you’ll understand where her passion to support this incredible nonprofit was born.

Want to learn more or get in touch with Tiffany for questions on sobriety, fitness, or health and wellness? See below:

Instagram: @tiffanyleegaston
Website: www.tiffanyleegaston.com 

Hello! Happy 4th of July week. What does Freedom mean to you? And I am not talking about our country's freedom, I am talking a personal kind of freedom.

For me, it's freedom from alcohol. Everything good in my life now can be traced back to quitting "the booze." Quitting drinking freed me up to live a happy, authentic, amazing life. Quitting drinking has allowed me to deal with the hard stuff in a (mostly) thoughtful way, one of those things being the realization that my ADHD seriously impacted my life. It wasn't until I listened to a recent Mel Robbins podcast about adult ADHD that I realized so much of my past was from not being diagnosed -- I can't go back to my school years, or my time in advertising, I can't change the past and think "if only...," all I can do is recognize my "different abilities" and learn how to best navigate in my everyday life.

If anyone out there listening has ADHD, whether you were diagnosed as an adult, or as a child, I would love to speak with you! Shoot me a message.

xoxo,
Heather

This was such a FUN conversation! Daphne and I both grew up in Holland, MI, but went to different schools (Northside vs Southside of the town). A few years ago a mutual friend "saw" me posting about living a life post-corporate life and introduced us, and here we are!

A little about Daphne and where to find her!

Like so many, Daphne was laid off during COVID, almost 30 years into working for others, and ready to ditch corporate life and escape the 9-5 forever.

She is passionate about food, travel, history, and how it all can be part of her next chapter- the one all about FREEDOM at age 50 and forward!

Money is a necessity she says, but time is more valuable. So she went from employee to entrepreneur.

Daphne started with her flagship blog, freeat50.blog, and recently she started a history blog sharing her passion for history, and life in Williamsburg Virginia! She also started a FB group for like-minded entrepreneurs, a place where people can share ideas, struggles, insights, WINS, and more! Join here: Ditching the 9-5 Facebook group.

Daphne is a great resource so if you are looking to ditch that 9 to 5, reach out to her! 

TRIGGER WARNING! If this episode triggers you in any way please take a pass. Listen to another episode or stay tuned for the next. XOXO.

I am so very honored that Judy decided to come out and talk about her journey with food and what she has recently realized is disordered eating. Disordered eating is not an eating disorder, it isn't bulimia and anorexia. Where an eating disorder is a clinical diagnosis, disordered eating refers to abnormal eating patterns that do not meet the criteria for an eating disorder diagnosis. Someone with an eating disorder may exhibit disordered eating behaviors, but not all people with disordered eating will be diagnosed with an eating disorder.

After my first interview with Judy, we stayed on the phone for a while longer and she so bravely admitted to me that she was in a 12-step program to work on the way she thinks about food. While her years of being a professional bodybuilder were rewarding, she, unfortunately, developed a negative relationship with food that she couldn't shake even after retirement from competition. I would venture to say that most of us think of any kind of negative relationship with food is for young people, or that it starts when you're young and that is simply not the case.

Take a listen and if you find it helpful, share it with others who might be going through something similar, This is why it is so important to SHARE OUT LOUD. We help others by sharing our experiences.

You can find Judy on instagram @judy_arazoza or on her website at https://gratefulfitness.com/

Have an eating disorder or struggle with disordered eating? There is help.

https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/what-are-eating-disorders

https://eatingdisordersanonymous.org/

xoxo,
Heather

Welcome back! This episode dives deeper into Kristi's divorce and how because of what she went thru she decided she wanted to help other women.

Kristi wasn't allowed to "bare it all" because of an agreement she signed with her ex, but I am here to tell you that her divorce was AWFUL, and in my opinion, the courts failed her. The entire system failed her. That being said, Kristi has PREVAILED! She is killing it as a single mom and as a businesswoman. She is the epitome of not allowing her past to define her but to fuel her.

From Kristi:

"This is all about being free.

Being free from the past and judgement. My experiences led me to a path of helping other women find their own empowerment and love for themselves, in, through, and past difficult circumstances. 

Becoming a Certified Recovery Coach as well as a Certified Divorce Coach has been a vessel to do just that, authentically and fearlessly."

Visit Kristi's website for more info on divorce and recovery coaching: www.mocktailmommy.life

And be sure to follow her on Instagram for inspiration and to see what she's up to in her daily life:
@mocktailmommy

Meet Kristi Tanner, a badass divorced mom of 4 (all under 10!) and recovering alcoholic turned recovery coach and divorce coach. This episode was so good we had to record it in 2 parts, and even then we still didn't get it all in.

If you think you are alone in your drinking or marriage gone horribly wrong, think again. Kristi's story is like so many other moms -- yes her drinking started before she had her babies but once she had kids she joined that secret mom's society where you develop the mindset that you "need" alcohol to "deal" with your kids... instead of moms helping other moms to cope with the hard parts of parenting (and there are LOTS), drinking was encouraged! At birthday parties, at playdates, you name it...  And in addition to coping with young children all so close in age, her marriage was falling apart.

Listen now to hear her jaw-dropping story in 2 parts! Part 1 drops Wednesday, and part 2 drops Thursday. 

You can find Kristi on Instagram @mocktailmommy and on her website: www.mocktailmommylife. 

If you are looking for help with your recovery from alcohol, Kristi is a certified coach that can support you in person or virtually. If you are in need of support with divorce, Kristi has been through it all and has gone through an extensive certification to coach others.