In this episode of the Walk With Me Podcast, we sit down with Kay, a lifelong community developer, entrepreneur, and health advocate who believes that the choices we make every day can dramatically change the trajectory of our lives.

Kay grew up in a large Midwestern family as the oldest of eight children. That early responsibility helped shape her curiosity about people and her desire to serve others. Over the years, that curiosity led her far beyond her hometown—working in community development projects in inner-city Chicago and eventually across the world.

For decades, Kay helped communities identify what they wanted for their future and develop practical strategies to make it happen. Her work took her from the United States to Western Samoa and Zambia, where she spent years working alongside local leaders to improve access to healthcare, education, and community resources.

Through those experiences, she discovered a powerful principle: transformation begins when we shift our focus from what's wrong to what's possible.

After returning to the United States, Kay transitioned into entrepreneurship, building a career in health insurance and later expanding into wellness education—helping people understand how diet, inflammation, and lifestyle choices impact long-term health.

Now in her seventies, Kay continues to share her knowledge about vitality, aging, and personal responsibility for health. She believes that by making intentional choices—about food, mindset, and daily habits—people can dramatically improve their quality of life.

This conversation explores:

• How childhood experiences shape our mindset about life

• Lessons learned from decades of global community development

• Why focusing on what you want is more powerful than focusing on what you don't want

• The connection between inflammation, diet, and chronic disease

• How lifestyle choices influence energy, longevity, and vitality

• Why gratitude and mindset play a critical role in overall health

Ultimately, Kay's message is one of empowerment: small changes in thinking and daily habits can lead to meaningful change over time.

About Our Guest

Kay is an entrepreneur, health advocate, and community development leader who has spent decades helping individuals and communities improve their lives through intentional decision-making and lifestyle change.

After years of global community development work, she now focuses on helping people improve their vitality through nutrition, mindset, and healthy lifestyle practices.

Learn More About Kay

Website: https://masteryourvitality.com

Free Report: https://masteryourvitality.com/free

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Episode Overview

In this episode of the Walk With Me Podcast, Stephanie speaks with Adrienne Caldwell, author of Unbroken: Life Outside the Lines. Adrienne shares her extraordinary journey from childhood abuse, homelessness, and foster care to becoming a survivor, mother, and advocate for healing.

Adrienne grew up surrounded by generational trauma, poverty, and instability. Her mother struggled with schizophrenia, and throughout her childhood Adrienne experienced physical abuse, extreme poverty, and constant upheaval—attending 13 different schools before graduating high school.

Despite these challenges, Adrienne found refuge in education. School became the one place where she felt safe and capable. That determination eventually helped her graduate from college with honors and begin building a life outside the patterns she grew up in.

Along the way, Adrienne faced addiction, heartbreak, and moments where life nearly fell apart. But becoming a mother changed everything. She made the conscious decision to break the cycle of trauma and create a different future for her daughter.

Today, Adrienne is sharing her story through her memoir Unbroken: Life Outside the Lines, offering hope and perspective for others navigating trauma, recovery, and resilience.

This conversation is a powerful exploration of healing after childhood abuse, overcoming addiction, and becoming a cycle breaker.

Key Topics Discussed

• Surviving childhood abuse and generational trauma

• Growing up in extreme poverty and homelessness

• Experiences within the foster care system

• Finding stability and identity through education

• Overcoming addiction and self-medication

• Becoming a cycle breaker for the next generation

• The healing power of writing and storytelling

• Lessons learned from surviving trauma and rebuilding life

About Adrienne Caldwell

Adrienne Caldwell is the author of Unbroken: Life Outside the Lines, a memoir detailing her journey through childhood trauma, foster care, addiction recovery, and ultimately rebuilding her life.

Her story is a testament to resilience and the possibility of transformation even after unimaginable circumstances.

Connect With Adrienne Caldwell

🌐 Website https://unbrokencaldwell.com

📖 Book Unbroken: Life Outside the Lines

📚 Read the Prologue & Chapter One Available on her website.

💬 Reader Remarks / Contact Adrienne welcomes messages from readers through the contact section of her website.

Listen to More Stories of Healing and Resilience

The Walk With Me Podcast shares powerful conversations with people who have faced trauma, addiction, loss, and adversity—and found ways to move forward with courage and resilience.

If this story resonated with you, explore more episodes and resources at:

👉 https://WalkWithMeConversations.com

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If Adrienne's story of resilience and recovery inspired you, please consider:

✔ Sharing this episode with someone who may need encouragement ✔ Leaving a review for the podcast ✔ Visiting WalkWithMeConversations.com to explore more powerful conversations

Your support helps these stories reach the people who need them most.

In this deeply moving episode of Walk With Me Conversations, we sit down with Alicia Johnson-Niles, founder of Unlikely Courage and author of the forthcoming book Angel in Arlington.

Alicia's story begins with a devastating loss—her father was murdered when she was just two years old. Though she grew up surrounded by love and stability, the trauma of that loss quietly shaped her inner world for decades, manifesting as anxiety, fear, people-pleasing, disordered eating, and a constant sense of bracing for the worst.

In this conversation, Alicia courageously explores what it means to grieve someone you don't consciously remember—and how unresolved childhood trauma can live in the body and nervous system long into adulthood. She shares how facing the truth about her father's death in her 30s became a turning point, opening the door to healing, spiritual connection, and ultimately, freedom.

This episode is a powerful reflection on:

• Childhood grief and complex PTSD
• How trauma shapes our sense of safety and self-worth
• The role of spirituality and meaning-making in healing
• Giving ourselves permission to feel, grieve, and remember
• Finding courage in the places we once avoided

At its heart, this is a story about reclaiming your voice, honoring love that never disappears, and discovering the strength you didn't know you had.

🌿 About the Guest

Alicia Johnson-Niles is the founder of Unlikely Courage, a platform dedicated to helping people overcome trauma by accessing the courage already within them. She is also the author of Angel in Arlington, a true story weaving together grief, spirituality, true crime, and personal transformation.

🔗 Connect with Alicia

• Unlikely Courage: https://unlikelycourage.com
• Angel in Arlington: https://angelinarlington.com

👉 Call to Action

If this conversation resonated with you, we invite you to explore more stories like this.

Visit 🌐 WalkWithMeConversations.com to:

• Listen to more episodes
• Learn about upcoming guests
• Dive deeper into conversations about healing, resilience, and the human experience

And if this episode spoke to your heart, please consider sharing it with someone who might need it today.

You don't have to walk alone. 💛

In this episode of Walk With Me, Stephanie sits down with David Auger—environmental engineer, author, husband, father, and deep thinker—to explore sustainability as more than a scientific metric. David invites us to consider sustainability as a normative, values-based question: What do we want to hold onto, protect, and pass forward?

David shares his personal journey growing up in Denver, attending West Point, serving in the military, and transitioning into a long career in environmental engineering focused on water, air quality, wildlife habitat, and industrial responsibility. Alongside his professional experience, David opens up about one of the most defining chapters of his life—walking with his family through his young son's four-year battle with childhood leukemia, an experience that reshaped his understanding of resilience, family, and purpose.

The conversation weaves together science, philosophy, history, and deeply human stories. David discusses the ideas behind his book Man's Search for Sustainability, inspired by Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, and shares unexpected lessons from nature—comparing honeybees and desert locusts to illustrate how stress, community, and adaptation shape survival. He also reflects on Colorado mining towns, baseball as a form of community resilience, and why sustainability is never a fixed destination, but an evolving journey shaped by expectations and participation.

This episode is an invitation to pause and ask a powerful question: Why do we want to sustain anything at all?

Topics Covered

• Sustainability as a values-based, human question
• Growing up in Denver and family legacy
• Military service and a career in environmental engineering
• Water, air quality, and wildlife habitat stewardship
• Parenting through childhood leukemia and family resilience
• Lessons from honeybees and desert locusts
• Viktor Frankl, meaning, and the power of "why"
• Community, culture, and sustainability through history

About the Guest

David Auger is an environmental engineer with decades of experience in water and air modeling, industrial compliance, and wildlife habitat management. He is the author of Man's Search for Sustainability, a philosophical exploration of sustainability inspired by Viktor Frankl's work on meaning, and is currently working on a second book rooted in Colorado history, community, and resilience.

📘 Book: Man's Search for Sustainability

If this conversation resonated with you, explore more episodes, stories, and reflections at 👉 https://WalkWithMeConversations.com

You'll find past conversations, resources, and ways to continue walking alongside meaningful stories of healing, resilience, and purpose.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and share—it helps these conversations reach the people who need them most.

In this deeply honest and unconventional conversation, we sit down with Dale Walsh—poet, mentor, and mental health advocate—who shares his lived experience with schizophrenia spanning nearly five decades.

Dale's journey began in the summer of 1975, when a psychotic break during his freshman year at Dartmouth College led to involuntary hospitalization and a diagnosis that would shape much of his adult life. What followed were years inside psychiatric institutions, long-term stigma, and a mental health system that, at the time, offered little hope for recovery.

In this episode, Dale speaks candidly about:

• The culture of psychiatry in the 1970s and how it framed schizophrenia as incurable

• The lasting impact of being told he had "broken his brain"

• Anosognosia—why many people with mental illness don't believe they're ill

• The language gap between those with mental illness and those without

• Cannabis, personal agency, and controversial paths to self-regulation

• Creativity, poetry, and meaning-making as survival tools

• What it means to finally release a lifelong delusion and reclaim identity

Today, Dale is living independently, writing poetry, and mentoring family caregivers of people with schizophrenia, helping them move out of burnout and codependency and into resilience, self-worth, and compassionate understanding.

This episode challenges conventional narratives around mental illness and recovery—and offers a powerful reminder that healing is not linear, fast, or one-size-fits-all.

🌱 About the Guest: Dale Walsh

Dale Walsh is a poet, mental health advocate, and mentor for family caregivers of individuals living with schizophrenia. Drawing from decades of lived experience, Dale focuses on educating caregivers while helping them rebuild self-esteem, emotional resilience, and healthy boundaries.

🔗 Connect with Dale

• Website: https://www.dewlivelove.net

• Schedule a Session (Calendly): https://www.calendly.com/dalecoach55

✨ Call to Action

If this conversation resonated with you, we invite you to explore more stories like this at 👉 https://www.WalkWithMeConversations.com

You'll find podcast episodes, reflections, and resources centered on healing, resilience, and the shared human experience.

🎧 Subscribe, share, and leave a review to help these stories reach the people who need them most.

In this deeply moving episode of Walk With Me Conversations, we sit down with Damian Bloss, author, recovery advocate, and mental health group leader, to explore a story of grief, addiction, redemption, and hope.

Damian shares how a seemingly "normal" childhood—filled with baseball dreams and close family ties—was forever altered by the suicide of a father figure during his late teens. Carrying unspoken guilt and unresolved trauma, Damian turned to alcohol as a way to numb the pain, a coping mechanism that slowly grew into a 20-year battle with addiction.

What followed were years of fractured relationships, legal trouble, emotional isolation, and a growing sense of despair—until Damian reached a breaking point in his late 30s. In a moment of crisis, an accidental phone call became a lifeline, leading him to rehab, recovery, and a completely new way of living.

In this conversation, Damian opens up about:

• Losing a loved one to suicide and the weight of survivor's guilt
• Using alcohol to cope with trauma, anxiety, and depression
• Hitting rock bottom and confronting suicidal thoughts
• Entering rehab and learning how to truly heal—not just stay sober
• Trauma therapy, accountability, and emotional honesty
• Rebuilding trust with his wife and children
• Repairing a broken relationship with his daughter
• Becoming a leader, mentor, and advocate for mental health and addiction recovery
• Turning pain into purpose through service, speaking, and writing

Today, Damian facilitates mental health and addiction support groups, mentors incarcerated individuals through partnerships with local law enforcement, and continues to share his story so others don't have to suffer in silence.

This episode is for anyone navigating addiction, grief, mental health struggles—or loving someone who is. It's a reminder that healing is possible, help can come from unexpected places, and one honest conversation can change a life.

📚 About the Guest

Damian Bloss Author of Breaking the Silence Mental Health & Addiction Recovery Advocate Group Facilitator & Mentor

🔗 Connect with Damian:

• Book: Breaking the Silence Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all major online retailers
• Facebook: Breaking the Silence
• Instagram: Breaking the Silence
• Linktree: Available via Damian's social profiles for book and contact links

If this episode resonated with you, or if you're looking for more honest conversations around healing, resilience, and the human experience, visit:

👉 https://www.WalkWithMeConversations.com

There you'll find more episodes, resources, and ways to stay connected. If this story helped you, consider sharing it with someone who may need it—and remember, you don't have to walk alone.

✨ What We Talk About

• What it's like growing up undiagnosed autistic and ADHD in the 90s
• Masking, people-pleasing, and the cost of being "the good kid"
• Panic attacks, anxiety, and sensory overload that went unseen
• Why autism in women and girls has been historically missed
• Parenting neurodivergent kids while discovering your own diagnosis
• Sensory sensitivities (sound, food, textures, touch, water, heat)
• Learning to work with your brain instead of against it
• Redefining self-care, routines, food, hygiene, and daily expectations
• Letting go of shame and embracing a neuro-affirming life
• Why there is no "right way" to be human

💡 Memorable Takeaways

"I wasn't lazy. I didn't lack discipline. I just didn't have the words."

"Good food is food you can eat."

"It's not your job to dim yourself to make other people comfortable."

"Different is not wrong."

📚 About the Guest: Dr. Kristen Williamson

Dr. Kristen Williamson is a licensed professional counselor specializing in autism, ADHD, anxiety, and trauma. She works exclusively with neurodivergent clients and is passionate about normalizing late diagnosis — especially for women.

Kristen is also the creator of:

• Neuro-Spicy Workbooks designed to help adults understand their brains with compassion
• A forthcoming book on late-diagnosed autism in women, from puberty through menopause

You can find her educational content on TikTok and Instagram by searching Dr. Kristen Williamson.

🎧 Why This Episode Matters

So many adults — especially women — grew up without language, support, or validation for their neurodivergence. This conversation offers relief, understanding, and permission to stop forcing yourself into boxes that were never made for you.

You are not broken. You are not behind. You are not too much.

🌱 Call to Action

If this episode resonated with you, there are more conversations just like this waiting for you.

👉 Visit WalkWithMeConversations.com to explore episodes, resources, and stories that remind you that healing doesn't happen alone — it happens when we walk together.

And if you loved this episode, please subscribe, rate, and share it with someone who needs to hear they're not alone.

Guest: Matt Von Becklin – Founder of QuitKit

Episode Summary

In this deeply honest and powerful conversation, Matt Von Becklin shares his journey through addiction, identity loss, abandonment wounds, and ultimately recovery. From growing up with an absent father and feeling perpetually on the outside socially, to navigating substance use through alcohol, cigarettes, tramadol, and kratom, Matt opens up about how addiction became both a coping mechanism and a cage.

Matt explains how his lowest moment—facing suicidal thoughts—became the catalyst for radical self-responsibility and innovation. Drawing on his background in chemical engineering, he developed QuitKit, a non-prescription, research-backed supplement regimen designed to ease opioid and kratom withdrawal symptoms. What started as a personal survival tool quickly became a lifeline for others.

This episode explores the emotional roots of addiction, the dangers of socially accepted substances, the mind-body-spirit trifecta of healing, and how one person's willingness to stop abandoning themselves can ripple outward to help others reclaim their lives.

🧠 Topics We Cover

• Growing up with abandonment, loneliness, and feeling "different"
• The social pressure to fit in and how it fueled substance use
• Alcohol as a culturally normalized escape
• The transition from recreational use to dependency
• Tramadol and kratom addiction—and why kratom is dangerously misunderstood
• The moment suicidal ideation forced a life-or-death choice
• How Matt used science, research, and self-trust to heal himself
• Creating QuitKit as an alternative to traditional detox pathways
• The power of being just "one or two steps ahead" and reaching back
• Redefining self-worth through service, recovery, and integrity

✨ Key Takeaways

• Addiction often stems from unresolved emotional pain and self-abandonment
• Healing requires addressing the physical, mental, and emotional layers together
• Quick fixes train the brain to abandon long-term solutions
• You don't need to have everything figured out to help someone else—just be a step ahead
• True freedom comes from reclaiming agency and honoring who you really are

🔗 Connect & Learn More

To explore more conversations like this—focused on healing, resilience, and real human stories—visit:

👉 https://WalkWithMeConversations.com

You'll find podcast episodes, reflections, and resources designed to support meaningful growth and connection.

💬 Final Reflection

Matt's story is a powerful reminder that sometimes our darkest moments hold the blueprint for our purpose. When we stop abandoning ourselves, we create space not only for our own healing—but for the healing of others.

Episode Summary

In this episode of Walk With Me Conversations, I sit down with author Tony Stewart to explore a love story shaped by creativity, devotion, and the hardest kind of grace. Tony shares his background growing up as a free-range kid in Manhattan, driven by theater, filmmaking, and a lifelong impulse to create. But the heart of his story centers on his late wife, Lynn, and the seven-year journey they walked through her stage-four non-smoker's lung cancer.

With honesty and tenderness, Tony opens up about caregiving—the fear at diagnosis, becoming the "project manager" of treatments, pushing himself past his limits, and learning to accept help. He also reflects on the surprising beauty inside the hardest moments, especially during Lynn's home hospice, which he describes as sacred and deeply meaningful. Through it all, Tony shows what grief can teach us about love, presence, and the possibility of joy alongside sorrow.

What You'll Hear in This Episode

• Tony's early life in Manhattan and how creativity shaped his identity
• His path from lighting design and filmmaking to software and global consulting
• The unexpected way he met Lynn at a college swimming pool
• Lynn's humor, spirit, and the ease she brought into Tony's life
• The shock of her cancer diagnosis and the terrifying early days of uncertainty
• How caregiving reshaped their world—and Tony's sense of himself
• The role of CaringBridge in building community, documenting the journey, and staying connected
• Tony's breakdown after the first year, and the healing that came through openness and support
• The narrowing of life through illness, and the deepening of love within it
• Home hospice, Lynn's death, and the grief that followed
• Why Tony wrote Carrying the Tiger and what he hopes it offers others walking similar paths
• A powerful reminder: don't run away from the sacred parts of dying and grieving

Memorable Moments / Key Quotes (paraphrased)

• Lynn's wicked deadpan humor was part of what made Tony feel truly at home with her.
• Caregiving was both brutal and beautiful—filled with exhaustion, fear, intimacy, and love.
• Sharing the journey publicly helped them survive it privately.
• Grief and joy can coexist; joy doesn't betray love.
• Being present for a loved one's death can be one of life's most meaningful experiences.

About the Guest

Tony Stewart is the author of the memoir Carrying the Tiger: Living with Cancer, Dying with Grace, Finding Joy While Grieving. His book chronicles the caregiving and grief journey he shared with his wife Lynn, offering a compassionate, unfiltered look at illness, death, and the long road after loss.

Resources & Links

• Tony's memoir: Carrying the Tiger: Living with Cancer, Dying with Grace, Finding Joy While Grieving
• CaringBridge: A private community platform for sharing health journeys and receiving support

Call to Action

If today's conversation resonated with you, there are more stories like this waiting for you. Visit WalkWithMeConversations.Com to explore episodes, guest resources, and ways to stay connected to the community. And if this episode helped you, consider sharing it with someone who might need it too.

📄 Episode Summary:

In this uplifting and unexpected conversation, host Stephanie Bloom sits down with Zander Phelps — also known as Z Play Coach — a creative soul on a mission to help the world reconnect with joy through play, laughter, and presence.

From his idyllic childhood in Orange County to the stark reality of military life underground in Japan, from corporate burnout at NBC to selling everything he owned to travel the world with just a backpack and a foot bag — Zander's story is a testament to resilience, transformation, and the magic of human connection.

You'll hear how a single sack (or "foot bag") opened the door to global friendships, spontaneous laughter, and a lifelong purpose. Zander also shares the benefits of juggling, laughter yoga, and cultivating play as a daily practice for better health, happiness, and human connection.

🗣️ Topics We Explore:

• Why play is not a luxury — it's a fundamental human need
• How juggling helps you focus, balance, and relax your brain
• The healing power of laughter (and why adults need it more than ever)
• How one foot bag turned into a passport to connection around the world
• Zander's mission to inspire a new generation of "ambassadors of play"
• The science behind why play makes us more productive, creative, and joyful

🛠️ Tools, Takeaways & Resources:

• Learn more about Zander's work:
• Try juggling or foot bag play to engage your brain and body
• Start your day with a 10-minute laughter exercise to reset your mood
• Embrace play as a form of resistance against stress, burnout, and isolation

🔗 Connect & Explore More:

👉 For more inspiring conversations like this one, visit: WalkWithMeConversations.com Your journey to healing, purpose, and deeper connection starts here.