What if the pain you've carried could become your greatest source of power?

In this raw and deeply inspiring episode, we sit down with veteran, entrepreneur, and business coach Jim Shields, a man who transformed childhood trauma and military discipline into a mission of impact, purpose, and human-centered leadership. From food stamps to Fortune 500, Jim’s journey is one of resilience, forgiveness, and the belief that who you are matters more than what you do.

Jim shares how embracing faith, fatherhood, and emotional healing led him to build a life and business rooted in integrity. Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or someone on a personal growth journey, this conversation will shift your perspective and challenge you to show up fully, scars and all.

Guest Spotlight:

Jim Shields is a multi-branch military veteran, business owner, and coach helping leaders build sustainable companies with values that last. His core message? Lead with humanity or don’t lead at all.

🔹 Jim’s 3-part recipe for growth: Grit, gratitude, and great people  

🔹 How trauma shaped his mindset and business philosophy

🔹 Why forgiveness is the most powerful form of freedom

🔹 The myth of military discipline and what veterans really learn

🔹 Building a business that thrives without you

If this episode sparked something in you, please share it with someone who needs it. Subscribe, leave a review, and keep the movement going.

🔗 Jim’s Website – jimshieldscoach.com

🔗 Instagram – @coachjimshields

🎧 New episodes drop every Wednesday. Subscribe and stay connected.

Before the ball drops, before the resolutions rush in, pause.
This episode is your space to reflect, release, and realign. It’s a gentle, soul-centered meditation designed to help you honor everything this year held…and powerfully choose what you're calling in next. The people. The energy. The doors. The you that’s ready to rise.

In this special solo episode, your host guides you through a7-minute meditation to help you close out the year with peace and step into the new one with grounded clarity and fresh intention.

🔹 Key Takeaways:

🔹 Reflect on what this year taught you, and what you're ready to release
🔹 Get clear on the people, energy, and environments you want in your next chapter
🔹 Set heart-centered intentions without pressure or perfection
🔹 Use your breath to anchor into possibility and peace
🔹 Start the new year from a place of presence, not hustle

📢 Call to Action + Guest Links:

If this meditation moved you, share it with a friend whoneeds a moment of stillness.
Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and come back to this practice anytime you need a reset.

🔗 Instagram: @wearementallyshredded
🔗Website: mentallyshredded.org

🗓 Weekly Drop Note:

🎧 New episodes drop every Wednesday. Subscribe and stay connected.

What if the pivot you’re resisting is the exact path to your purpose
In this transformative Growth Accelerator episode, Christopher Weedon welcomes back the ever-authentic Keesha Starr for a raw, faith-filled conversation on surrender, identity, and navigating the unknown. Whether you’re facing a career shift, a relational crossroads, or just questioning your next step, this episode meets you where you are.

Keesha shares powerful stories from her upbringing on a farm, where riding horses became a sacred space of trust andcommunion with God. Christopher opens up about letting go of his dream to be a professional soccer player and how releasing that vision made space for a deeper calling. Together, they remind us that you don’t need all the answers to move forward. You just need to trust the pivot.

👤 About Keesha Starr
Coach, speaker, and spiritual mentor, Keesha helps others walk through transitions with courage, clarity, and purpose.

🔹 Key Takeaways
🔹Letting go is not failure it’s faith in action
🔹Contentment is power not passivity
🔹The dream isn’t the destination it’s the vehicle
🔹Storms shape strength not identity
🔹Praising the pivot honors your growth journey

📢 If this episode spoke to you
Subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs encouragement to shift.

Connect with Keesha Starr:

🔗Website: kstarrcoaching.com

🗓 New episodes drop every Wednesday. Subscribe and stay connected.

"I took a life in the line of duty and almost lost mine in the aftermath."

This isn’t just a story. It is a raw, unfiltered journey through trauma, silence, and redemption. In this powerful episode, we sit down with Adam A. Meyers, a 23-year law enforcement veteran and former U.S. Army MP, who opens up about the 2016 critical incident that shattered his world and how he fought his way back to purpose.

Adam’s courage to relive his darkest days, abusing alcohol, masking pain with casual sex, lying to avoid work, and spiraling into self-harm, will leave you breathless. But his recovery through therapy, faith, vulnerability, and honesty will leave you inspired.

👤 About the Guest Adam Meyers is a certified peer specialist and mental health advocate on a mission to stop the threat and stop the stigma. After surviving the weight of silence, he now speaks up so others don’t have to suffer alone.

🔹 Key Takeaways

🔹 Trauma doesn’t end when the crisis does. Adam reveals the emotional toll of a justified shooting and how it haunted him for years

🔹 Poor coping is still coping. He breaks down the destructive ways he numbed pain and why they only deepened his suffering

🔹 Silence is heavy. You’ll learn how the burden of hiding his struggle nearly cost him everything

🔹 Healing is possible. From therapy and medication to deep conversations with his daughters, Adam shows what growth looks like in real time

🔹 You are not alone. His message to fellow police officers and anyone in pain is clear. There is life beyond the breakdown

📢 If this episode moved you, don’t keep it to yourself. Share it with someone who needs to hear it. Subscribe, leave a review, and help us break the silence around mental health

🔗Connect with Adam:

🔗 ⁠StopTheThreatStopTheStigma.org⁠

🔗 ⁠988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline⁠

🗓 New episodes drop every Wednesday. Subscribe and stay connected.

The holidays can be beautiful but also emotionallyoverwhelming.

Between family dynamics, perfectionism, and pressure toplease everyone, it’s easy to lose yourself in the chaos. This week on Mentally Shredded, we’re joined by therapist Maria Dimova to help you reset the narrative and reclaim peace during the season.

👤 Meet Maria Dimova Licensed marriage and family therapist and founder of The Ridge Therapy in North Carolina. Maria specializes in helping people navigate stress, family tension, and relational patterns, especially during high-pressure seasons like the holidays.

🔹 Key Takeaways

🔹 Why the holidays resurface old roles and emotional triggers

🔹 How perfectionism and people pleasing lead to burnout

🔹The truth about boundaries and how they build connection

🔹How group therapy fosters growth, clarity, and community

📢 Group Now in Progress: Surviving & Thriving the HolidaysMaria’s six week virtual therapy group just launched and there’s still time to join. If you're in North Carolina and feeling the weight of the season, this is a space to regroup, reflect, and build practical tools for peace.

🗓 Remaining Sessions: Tuesdays — Nov. 18, 25 and Dec. 2, 9, 16🕠 Time: 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM (Virtual)💵 $55 per session

👥 Adults 18 and up, limited spots available

🔗 theridgetherapy.com

🔗 Email Maria

💬 Know someone who needs this? Share it. One session can shift a season.

🎧 New episodes drop every Wednesday. Subscribe and stay connected.

Before the holiday chaos begins… pause. 🧘🏽‍♂️

This 7-minute meditation will help you reset your energy, reclaim your peace, and remember what actually matters this season.

You don’t have to run on empty to show love.

You don’t have to please everyone to feel worthy.

You get to choose how you show up, grounded, full, andpresent.

✨ Start your month with clarity.

🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and stay connected.

What if your pain was invisible and no one believed it was real?

This powerful episode dives deep into the lived experience of Shannon La Douce, a veteran, CrossFit coach, single mother, and licensed psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. Her journey from being the only girl on all-boys hockey teams to becoming a voice for trauma-informed care is one of grit, heart, and undeniable purpose.

Raised in male-dominated spaces and shaped by high-pressure environments like collegiate athletics and active-duty military, Shannon learned early how to fight for belonging. But it wasn’t until a wounded soldier wished he had “lost a limb” instead of sustaining a traumatic brain injury that her calling became clear.

The mission: to change the way we see mental health especially the parts we can’t see.

👤 Meet Shannon La Douce
Shannon is a former NCAA athlete, Army nurse, and now a licensed psychiatric nurse practitioner at Upwell Psychiatry. She specializes in trauma-informed care and holistic healing, particularly for veterans, healthcare workers, and first responders.

🔹 Key Takeaways

🔹 Invisible wounds matter
The story of a soldier with TBI changed Shannon’s career and revealed how damaging mental health stigma truly is.

🔹 Your brain is an organ
Mental health should be treated like any other system in the body without shame.

🔹 Healing is a team sport
From CrossFit gyms to virtual communities, Shannon emphasizes the power of connection in recovery.

🔹 Motherhood and mission can coexist
As a single mom, Shannon leads by example, showing her kids the power of purpose and self-care.

🔹 Burnout prevention starts with the basics
Sleep, movement, hydration, and community are non negotiables in Shannon’s toolkit.

📢 Love this episode? Subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review to help more people discover stories like Shannon’s.

🔗 Upwell Psychiatry - Website

🔗 Connect with Shannon - Website

🗓 New episodes drop every Wednesday. Subscribe and stay connected.

What if the very thing you thought was holding you back…was actually your greatest strength?

In this eye-opening episode, we break the stigma around ADHD and discover how it can fuel success, not failure. Whether you're a student, entrepreneur, or parent, this conversation will shift how you view neurodivergence and personal growth.

👤 Meet Hannah Bookbinder — academic coach, ADHD advocate, and founder of Academic Ally. She is also the visionary behind the MyTOAD App, a revolutionary platform that builds executive functioning skills for students and professionals alike.

🔹 Key Takeaways

🔹ADHD isn't a flaw. It can be a superpower when harnessed with the right tools

🔹The “coach in your corner” approach that creates lasting behavioral change

🔹How hyperfocus, creativity, and resilience make ADHD minds thrive in sports, business, and life

🔹The MyTOAD App and its unique blend of accountability, time management, and motivation boosters

🔹The importance of building buy-in with neurodivergent learners, not control

📢 If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who needs to hear it. Leave a review and help spread the Mentally Shredded message!

🔗 ⁠https://www.mytoadapp.com⁠

🔗⁠Connect with Hannah on LinkedIn⁠

🗓 New episodes drop every Wednesday. Subscribe and stay connected.

What if the very thing you thought was holding you back…was actually your greatest strength? In this eye-opening episode, we break the stigma around ADHD and discover how it can fuel success, not failure. Whether you're a student, entrepreneur, or parent, this conversation will shifthow you view neurodivergence and personal growth.

👤 Meet Hannah Bookbinder — academic coach, ADHD advocate, and founder of Academic Ally. She is also the visionary behind the MyTOAD App, a revolutionary platform that builds executive functioning skills for students and professionals alike.

🔹 Key Takeaways
🔹ADHD isn't a flaw. It can be a superpower when harnessed with the right tools

🔹The “coach in your corner” approach that creates lasting behavioral change
🔹How hyperfocus, creativity, and resilience make ADHD minds thrive in sports, business, and life
🔹The MyTOAD App and its unique blend of accountability, time management, and motivation boosters
🔹The importance of building buy-in with neurodivergent learners, not control

📢 If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who needs to hear it. Leave a review and help spread the Mentally Shredded message!

🔗 https://www.mytoadapp.com
🔗Connect with Hannah on LinkedIn

🗓 New episodes drop every Wednesday. Subscribe and stay connected.

We’ve all been there. You show up to a networking event,exchange business cards, make small talk, and leave feeling... disconnected.

In this powerful Growth Accelerator episode, Christopher andleadership coach Keesha Starr unpack why authentic connection always wins over transactional networking. They dive into the three grounding principles of Growth Accelerator: no selling, no pressure, no long-term commitment. Thesesimple expectations are redefining how professionals build real trust and collaboration.

You’ll hear real stories, honest lessons, and a look insidehow this monthly mastermind creates safe space for personal and professional growth. Whether you're a business owner, creative, or leader, this episode will challenge how you think about community and purpose.

👤 About Keesha Starr:

Keesha is a leadership coach and founder of GrowthAccelerator, a monthly mastermind where entrepreneurs and professionals connect, reflect, and grow without the pressure to perform or impress.

🔹 Key Takeaways:

🔹 Connection > Networking: Why shared vulnerability builds trust that lasts

🔹 The 3 Rules of Growth Accelerator: No selling, no pressure, no commitment equals real relationships

🔹 Growth as a Shared Journey: Transformation happens when you show up for others, not just yourself

🔹 Letting Go to Level Up: Growth often means surrendering control and making space

🔹 It’s Not a Box Jump: Big change starts with one small step

📢 Call to Action:

If this episode resonated with you, share it with a friend,leave a review, and hit subscribe. Your support helps us grow and reach more listeners like you.

🔗 More information:

🔗 Website – kstarrcoaching.com

🗓 Weekly Drop Note:

🎧 New episodes drop every Wednesday. Subscribe and stay connected.