If you recognize her face or name, it could be for a plethora of reasons. The accomplished author, mental-wellness advocate, speaker, podcast host, and yoga instructor is known for normalizing mental health by telling her story. She also acted for 18 years, starting at the age of 4 and bowing out of show-biz altogether at 22. To see Lisa Jakub as Lydia Hillard in Mrs. Doubtfire or Alicia Casse in Independence Day, you would never suspect that she has been dealing with panic attacks, anxiety, and depression since the age of 11. That’s why she stepped away from the Hollywood spotlight and chose to shine light on her own mental health – she wanted to show others who struggle with mental illness that it’s okay to be vulnerable and not feel ashamed of their diagnosis. In other words, it’s okay to be “weird.”
In this episode of “Mental Health Matters,” Lisa Jakub and Executive Director Tom Duff, LCSW talk about why Lisa “wouldn’t be me without the anxiety.” And why, even though mental health and mental illnesses present challenges, they can also create great successes. As someone whose story is familiar to an estimated 16 million people in the U.S. who “struggle with depression – and I include myself in that statistic,” Lisa knows that mental health is “real, and it’s not shameful, and there is help available. You can bring it to the light, you can tell the truth, you can go to a meeting, you can reach out to a friend. None of us are alone.” So go ahead…embrace your “weird.”
Did Covid help us to be more reflective? Our Two Normal Dudes – Jon Franko and Suvir Dhar – along with podcast host Tom Duff, LCSW, think so. They believe that some positives have come out of this past year, including growth opportunities that required us to reflect on how we really look at ourselves in the mirrors that we often use to define ourselves in the world. Tune in to this week’s #MentalHealthMatters #podcast to see that there’s more to one’s reflection than how we look on a Zoom screen.
The “real ‘F’ word”. There’s such power behind it. Just saying it helps you to release all those pent-up emotions that have been bottling up inside you. It frees your mind from all the second-guessing that runs through your thoughts, over and over and over again. Take it from two normal dudes: The “real ‘F’ word” says it all! But why are so many males, so many “dudes” in particular, afraid to include “Feelings” in their conversations?
Two regular guys, Jon Franko, the CEO of Gorilla 76 and past podcast guest, and Suvir Dhar, a lawyer, talk with fellow Leadership St. Louis alumnus, Executive Director Tom Duff, LCSW, about how the men in their lives helped to shape their understanding of mental health. They talk about how talking about their feelings and allowing themselves to be vulnerable have been life-changing. They also talk about the “beauty of therapy.” Yup. Two dudes and a therapist, all talking about their feelings and other beautiful things that make life rejuvenating. There really is power behind the “F” word. Just ask some dudes!
EPISODE #49: Fighting the Special Ops Silent War in Civilian Life
Guest: Tom Satterly, President and CEO, PBP Consulting Group Author, “On Point”
Co-founder/Co-CEO, All Secure Foundation | U.S. Command Sergeant Major (Ret.), Delta Force | Author, “All Secure”
Battle of Mogadishu, Somalia (Blackhawk Down). Afghanistan. Iraq. His classified missions required stealth-like maneuvers to slip under the enemy’s radar so he could save hostages and halt terrorism in its tracks around the world. For two decades, Command Sergeant Major Tom Satterly (Ret.) removed and fixed problems by taking a threat and eliminating it. He was the elite of the military elite – Delta Force. And his success, as well as the medals he has been awarded – five Bronze Stars, two With Valor – prove it. As a Tier 1 soldier, Tom knew how to take command of the most dangerous situations in the world. It was the everyday operations on the home front, after returning to civilian life, that caught him defenseless.
When Tom retired from the military, he needed more than orders to break the “flight” wiring of his brain that, for 20 years, demanded violence and aggression as the go-to tactics required to rescue and save lives. A post-traumatic stress (PTS) hole started forming around Tom, and thanks to his wife, Jen, and her commitment to his healing and integration into civilian life, he climbed out safely. Now the two are giving other Special Operation active duty and combat veterans and their families a fighting chance to live a “powerful and fulfilling life that inspires others to do the same.” In this week’s Mental Health Matters video podcast, watch Tom Satterly and Executive Director Tom Duff, LCSW talk about the Slatterys’ brainchild, All Secure Foundation. And learn how a John Cougar concert was the impetus for Tom’s military journey of serving “Our Country”.
Sponsorship Opportunity
If you are interested in helping to break down stigma by sponsoring Mental Health Matters, let us know! Send an email to Debbie Dugan at ddugan@ccstl.org, and she’ll get back with you about how you can be part of this important endeavor that makes mental health okay to talk about around the dinner table. Because, mental health really does matter.
EPISODE #48: Winning Isn’t Everything in Basketball or Life
Guest: Pam Borton, President and CEO, PBP Consulting Group Author, “On Point”
Former Women’s Basketball Coach, University of Minnesota
Winningest coach in Minnesota women’s basketball history
Failure is okay. In fact, according to Pam Borton, the winningest coach in Minnesota’s women’s basketball history, winning really isn’t everything. It’s the mistakes and missed shots that offer the greatest opportunities for growth and preparation for the next play. Position that with building a team where each member lifts the other up, and the odds grow greater that success both on and off the court will follow. The game plan, it turns out, isn’t so much about the lay-ups or slam dunks. It’s about the people.
With March Madness just around the corner, Executive Director Tom Duff, LCSW talks with Pam Borton, who retired from coaching women’s college basketball and now coaches business executives across the country on this week’s podcast. Pam’s strategy is simple: consider the whole individual, group up, and discover the individuals’ and team’s “why.” All the rest – including the losses and fouls – determine the real winners.
Sponsorship Opportunity
If you are interested in helping to break down stigma by sponsoring Mental Health Matters, let us know! Send an email to Debbie Dugan at ddugan@ccstl.org, and she’ll get back with you about how you can be part of this important endeavor that makes mental health okay to talk about around the dinner table. Because, mental health really does matter!
CIT Officers De-escalate Mental-health Crises, 24/7/365
EPISODE #46 | February 14th, 2020
Guest: Sgt. Gary Robertson, Officer Chris Koester, Lisa Flamion, PLCP St. Louis County Police Crisis Intervention Team (CIT)
Your loved one is in crisis. It’s not a heart attack or stroke. It’s bizarre behavior, maybe a meltdown or aggression or mania or threats of harming themselves that is escalating by the minute. What triggered it? You can’t calm them down. You worry for their safety and even yours. But if you call 911, will it make the situation worse? You are desperate to do something, but you don’t know what to do.
Enter a CIT officer. Launched in St. Louis County in 2003-04, the national CIT – Crisis Intervention Team – training has equipped more than 5,200 St. Louis County officers in handling mental-health crises. And, of the 1,000 commissioned officers working in the department across eight precincts today, 550 of those officers are CIT-trained. And two of those officers specifically, Sgt. Gary Robertson and Officer Chris Koester, are leading the charge. Their role? To arrive on the scene and de-escalate the situation to create a safe space for people in a mental-health crisis. But their intervention doesn’t stop there. They also follow up with clients, both through regular conversations, as well as with the help of crisis counselor, Lisa Flamion, PLCP, by seeing clients face-to-face following a crisis to help them get the mental-health care they may need. In this week’s podcast with Executive Director Tom Duff, LCSW learn how CIT officers are playing a significant role, not only in breaking down stigma in our community but also in the ways that their compassion and understanding are making life better for people who struggle with mental-health issues.
If you or someone you love experiences a mental-health crisis, and you need immediate help, call 911 or the non-emergency line of St. Louis County Police or your municipality’s police department, describe the situation and ask for a CIT officer to assist. They will ensure that the officers who are trained to handle mental-health crises arrive on the scene.
Momming, Working, Guilting, and Self-caring
EPISODE #45 | February 7th, 2020
Guest: Chelsea Link, LPC and Nicole Ostrowski, LCSW, Supervisors, School Partnership Program (SPP)
Mom guilt. How often do moms beat themselves up for not having spent enough quality time with the kids? For not feeling grateful or joyful when they do spend copious time with them? For feeling exhausted and barely having enough energy to carry on a conversation with their significant other, much less plan – or show up in clothes other than pajamas – for a date night? The guilt is prevalent among moms who work outside the home and those who work in the home full-time. How can moms stave off the guilt and just “be”? Two Saint Louis Counseling therapists, both moms, have some suggestions from their own life experiences.
Work-life balance isn’t always easy, but it can happen! Check out this week’s podcast with therapists Chelsea Link, LPC and Nicole Ostrowski, LCSW, both of whom counsel kids all day through our School Partnership Program and then go home to their own children. Hear what has worked for them and what hasn’t, as they talk with Executive Director Tom Duff, LCSW about “momming,” working, guilting, and self-caring.
Sponsorship Opportunity
If you are interested in helping to break down stigma by sponsoring Mental Health Matters, let us know! Send an email to Debbie Dugan at ddugan@ccstl.org, and she’ll get back with you about how you can be part of this important endeavor that makes mental health okay to talk about around the dinner table. Because, mental health really does matter!
EPISODE #42 | December 20th, 2019
Guest: Angie Peacock, MSW, United States Army Veteran
It was right after 9/11, when Angie Peacock of the United States Army received orders for combat duty in Iraq. But the designated warzone proved to be only one segment of the battle that she was about to endure. Prior to deployment, Angie was sexually assaulted. With the unspoken toll that such trauma was taking mentally and emotionally, and with the call of duty involved in the Middle East, a new war was beginning to wage from within. Angie began to significantly lose weight. Panic attacks blindsided her. She was fighting for survival. Angie had to be medevacked to Germany for essential medical care.
The tour of duty required for her healing has been years in the making. Having been immediately treated with 18 different medications when she arrived in Germany, Angie’s life was halted. She was told she could never go to school again, that she would be on medication for the rest of her life, that the PTSD was getting worse. She wouldn’t leave her house and eventually became homeless. She was a war veteran who had suffered normal reactions to trauma, yet she felt like she had fallen hostage to the treatment that was supposed to help her. After years of significant struggle, she took up her most strategic maneuver yet. See – in our first-ever Mental Health Matters remote video podcast – how Angie has pulled herself up by her bootstraps with copious outside help and support to go the distance with a new documentary that tells her story, in an RV, all across the Southwest.
EPISODE #41 | December 13th, 2019
Guest: Arica Foster, Community Engagement Manager, Kranzberg Arts Foundation
It was five years ago. The death of Michael Brown and the grand jury verdict were still raw. So was the murder of Arica Foster’s cousin, a young man whose life was stripped from his family and friends far too soon. Arica couldn’t shake the reality that so many young people dying. Nor could she get over how deeply trauma was impacting the St. Louis community at large. That’s when the inspiration to tap into a new life rhythm struck a chord. As a musician and Gospel singer, along with working for the Kranzberg Arts Foundation, Arica knows how music – and the arts in general – can heal. So does bringing people together. Why, then, not blend both arts and people to compose a new movement and rhythm for the entire St. Louis community?
Introducing PACE (Performance Art Creative Expression), Arica’s brainchild that sets up various platforms in the Grand Center District to connect people through and with music. From Wednesday Night Jazz Crawls to the Family Sunday Series, Arica orchestrates free community arts events to foster healing. In this week’s Mental Health Matters with Executive Tom Duff, LCSW, MSW, learn how Arica’s endeavor that debuted in 2015 has scaled back the cacophony of trauma to create a new harmony for healing.
EPISODE #40 | December 9th, 2019
Guest: Jon Franko, Cofounder, Gorilla76
Hiding in plain sight, under the guise of the marshy thatch of a duck blind, Jon Franko has spent countless hours wading in still waters and standing by for the flocks’ glide pass to reach the landing zone. Not knowing at the onset of the hunt what the day will bring or what the final waterfowl tally will be, but realizing that success depends largely on patience and timing, avid hunters understand the “wait.” And the “catch.” Duck hunting has taught Jon a lot about life.
Just a few years ago, the 30-something industrial marketing entrepreneur and outdoorsman found himself plucking those lessons from experience and wading through a year-long hunt of an altogether different nature. Doctors couldn’t explain why, despite taking good care of himself, Jon “felt like garbage” and was losing weight. Finally, a neurologist caught sight of what was hidden for at least an entire decade. Jon had Multiple Sclerosis. In this week’s Mental Health Matters episode with Executive Director Tom Duff, LCSW, hear how Jon has attacked his diagnosis, rather than let it define him. And learn how, by applying the patience and timing of the duck hunter that he is, Jon has accepted the greatest physical challenge of his life and the mental-health conditions that have accompanied it.
EPISODE #39 | November 23th, 2019
Guest: Tracy Hinson, Meteorologist and General Assignment Multi-skilled Journalist, KSDK
Nothing clouded her vision for what she predicted as her future career. Having always enjoyed science in school, she was instantly attracted to watching an anticyclonic tornado, one that rotates the opposite direction, back in Sunnyvale, CA, where she grew up. As a fan of science already and a newfound fan of weather phenomenon, Tracy had a hunch in grade school that she wanted to grow up to be a meteorologist. What she hadn’t forecasted, though, was how, as a female TV weathercaster, winds of shame could pick up so quickly.
What popped up most recently isn’t so much related to the weather as much as it is a reflection of unsolicited stormy feedback about appearances. A few weeks ago, someone named Mary fat-shamed Tracy, via email. Tracy’s response on Twitter went viral. Find out why having confidence, empowering herself and other women, and loving food – especially mac and cheese – reduced the fat-shaming to nothing more than a blip on the radar screen in this week’s Mental Health Matters with Executive Director Tom Duff, LCSW.
EPISODE #38 | November 12th, 2019
Guest: Jenny Beatrice, Director of Communications, Sisters of St. Joseph of Cardonelet
Gravity takes on extra force, and everything is a struggle: Getting out of bed. Showering. Eating. And then there’s the self-talk: I’m no good. I’m a burden. I have nothing to contribute. The lies feel like revelations. And the revelations feel like truth. Until you start to realize again how valuable you really are. And as that realization surfaces, along with the acceptance of help from family, friends, doctors, counselors, and medication, the gravity starts to lift, and you are once again able to rise from the emotional and physical weight that felt insurmountable.
Have you ever wondered what life is like for people who have been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder? In this episode of Mental Health Matters, Jenny Beatrice candidly shares her story, shedding light on a mental illness that is wrought with challenges as well as hope. Her honesty about how she has lived with the mood swings, that aren’t as severe as Bipolar 1 but every bit as real, gives a real-life perspective to a disease that requires understanding for all those living with it and their loved ones. Tune in as Jenny and Executive Director Tom Duff, LCSW talk about how courage, acceptance, and presence are essential in managing the ups and downs of mood disorders.
EPISODE #37 | 11/1/2019
Fr. Chris Collins, SJ, Assistant to the President of Mission and Identity, SLU
Sr. Virginia Herbers, ASCJ, Director of Spiritual Formation, SLU
What is forgiveness, really? For Christians, Jesus taught to forgive “seventy times seven times.” We often hear that we should forgive, but what if we don’t know exactly how to forgive? What if an offense has been so hurtful or destructive that we don’t want to forgive the person, or we simply aren’t ready to? What if we aren’t Christian, do we still need to practice and receive forgiveness? Does someone saying, “I’m sorry,” mean that we have to reconcile with that person at that moment? Or ever?
In this episode of Mental Health Matters, Executive Director Tom Duff, LCSW talks with Fr. Chris Collins, SJ and Sr. Virginia Herbers, ASCJ, who work in the office of Mission and Identity at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, MO. Their experience and expertise from spiritual perspectives, coupled with Tom’s extensive background in mental health, offer profound insights into what forgiveness is, what it’s not, and what it offers the person asking for it and the person doing the forgiving. In a world where wronging others seems to be the “answer” to so many problems, maybe it’s time to see that perhaps there’s more to life than getting even.
EPISODE #36 | Debbie Dugan, a mom of an adult son with ADHD, a podcast scribe, and Saint Louis Counseling Business Development/Marketing Director
If you take any nugget away from this podcast, hopefully it’s that parenting a child with ADHD has many rewards, along with many challenges. So often, ADD/ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is judged as a result of bad parenting or lack of disciplining. Kids and adults with ADHD are often judged as lazy or scattered. But as we learn more about the brain – and executive functioning in particular – we’re also learning that ADHD is physiological. In fact, the prefrontal cortex of an ADHD brain actually looks different on MRIs than those of people without ADHD. According to Thomas E. Brown, Ph.D., a leading expert in the study and treatment of ADHD, “a new working definition of ADHD equals a complex syndrome of developmental impairments of executive functions, the self-management system of the brain, a system of mostly unconscious operations. These impairments are situationally variable, chronic, and significantly interfere with functioning in many aspects of the person’s daily life.”
As a mom of a 21-year-old son who has ADHD, understanding this “complex syndrome” has taken time – and involved many mistakes and much humility along the way. Finding the answers to our kids’ struggles can be difficult, no matter what those circumstances or conditions may be. But as with most of life’s questions, there are many people and experts who can help us navigate the journey, including therapists at Saint Louis Counseling! Hopefully, this podcast with Executive Director Tom Duff, LCSW, MSW and this scribe will help other parents know that they are not alone. And if your tendency is to think that you should have done more for your child, it’s time to cut yourself some slack and remember that we’re all doing our best to help our kids become the very best versions of themselves, as their true selves, no matter what diagnosis they may or may not have! Breaking down stigma starts with us!
Aside from sharing the first four letters of their last names, Executive Director Tom Duff and Kansas City Royals pitcher Danny Duffy are on the same team when it comes to speaking out about mental health. After his favorite MLB franchise was eliminated from post-season play last week – thanks to the Cardinals’ awesome four-game sweep at Wrigley (no bias whatsoever from this St. Louis-native scribe!) – Tom took to the podcast microphone to air his disappointment about the recent W-L record of the 2016 World Series Champs and discuss Danny Duffy’s pitch to the Kansas City Star that hits on a game-changing win for his life.
In this week’s podcast, Tom talks about emotional and mental health from the LCSW seat of a downhearted fan to the roughed-up mound of a struggling pitcher. He credits Duffy for the courage it took for him to candidly share his story about mental illness, especially as a Major League Baseball player who is held to such high – and often unrealistic – standards of performance by the public. Duffy doesn’t balk. He understands that mental health matters for everyone and that mental-health conditions hit people in all walks of life. For both Duffy and Duff, it’s about knowing when to go to the mound and face situations head-on and when to walk off to recharge and heal. And it all starts with talking.
When her friend, Rain, a dancer, was struck by eight bullets in her upper torso, giving her a five-percent chance to live that first night, Paige Walden-Johnson knew she had to take a stance. Paige understood that Rain’s healing would demand rigorous, excruciating grit. As a woman who has struggled with her own anxieties, Paige also intuited that the violence against her friend rippled farther than her immediate circle of family and friends. It pierced the community. And it begged the question, why was the violence in St. Louis proliferating?
As a way to understand what factors contribute to people using violence as a means to an end, Paige started CommUNITY Arts STL. The non-profit’s technique uses the arts – dance in particular – to guide children and adults who have suffered traumatic events or live in crime-infested areas to discover their own dance movements that express their pain and create their own voice for healing. Hear how Paige’s brainchild inspires communication, education, and healing to help people go deeper than words, as she and Executive Director Tom Duff, LCSW, MSW discuss in this week’s episode of Mental Health Matters how the arts can heal – one step at a time.
How can you look at nutrition as a source of life? That’s a question that Registered Dietician Reshaunda Thonton has been chewing on for several years. For the “dietician against diets,” as she refers to herself, Reshaunda reminds her clients to choose food that is best for their health. And that means physical, mental and emotional health.
As the author of “Play to Win: The Food Fight,” and the nutrition expert for Fox 2’s morning show, Reshaunda knows that the most successful and sustainable way to eat healthy is to have a healthy relationship with food. This week in Mental Health Matters, she and Executive Director Tom Duff, LCSW, MSW discuss the food-body connection, how people can make food choices that work best for them, and how to see nutrition as a way to build upon the whole self.
Michelle Schiller-Baker’s work is her life’s passion. And her 37-year journey of helping women in abusive relationships find the safety, resources and healing they need has been as much about assisting the women as it has been about helping society. As Executive Director of St. Martha’s Hall, a shelter care program for abused women and their children and an agency in the Catholic Charities of St. Louis federation, Michelle brings candor and cognizance of violent relationships to light. And once she makes one aware of the impact, it’s difficult to ignore its organic effects on society.
To understand what domestic abuse is, one regrettably need not look very far. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, nearly half of all women and men in the U.S. will experience psychological aggression by an intimate partner in their lifetime. And for women, that number is even higher. Eighty-five percent of domestic violence victims are females. How can women who live in abusive relationships receive help, right here in St. Louis? Executive Director Tom Duff, MSW, LCSW and Michelle discuss what women need to look for in relationships that may be warning signs of impending abuse and how they can move forward in their lives if they do find themselves living with violence in this week’s Mental Health Matters.
If you are in an abusive relationship and need help, please call St. Martha’s Hall: 314.533.1313 (available 24/7) or www.saintmarthas.org
Or the National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1.800.799.7233 | 1.800.787.3224 (TTY)
Readiness for the National Guard isn’t focused only on gaining physical endurance for deployment. It’s also about being mentally fit to deal with the day-to-day stressors that figure into balancing work and home life, especially for those men and women who have enlisted in the Active Guard Reserve (AGR).
A couple years ago, Major Stephan Baker and Saint Louis Counseling forged a partnership, educating men and women in the Missouri Army National Guard about mental health and what to do when mental and emotional issues hit the front lines of daily living. What evolved from that collaboration was a new awareness and openness about mental-health conditions. In fact, due in large part to Major Baker’s efforts to strengthen the Guard’s mental-health programs, Missouri is now one of the top states to deploy AGR soldiers because of their physical and mental readiness for reporting for duty. In this week’s “Mental Health Matters,” Major Baker shares his own insights and opinions with Executive Director Tom Duff, MSW, LCSW about the Guard’s mental-health programs and how they ensure a first line of defense to the ready citizen Soldiers, who defend and serve the people of Missouri and the U.S.
She was 7 when her inner self started to let itself be heard. When your mom is the church choir director, chances are pretty good that you will understand music, and any expression of art, as the voice of the soul. And when your soul deeply feels the pangs of past experience and an inner voice tries to convince you that you are smaller than others, music takes on a life of its own. A life destined for healing.
Having released her first song, “Phoenix Rising,” songwriter and singer, Katarra Parson, has “stepped into her power” and spread her wings as a black female artist who often feels invisible in a male-dominated industry. In this week’s “Mental Health Matters,” Katarra and Executive Director Tom Duff, MSW, LCSW discuss how having anxiety and being an introvert (which is NOT a sign of weakness as is often assumed) give her a rich perspective on the human condition and how soul-searching clears the way for that voice to the soul to be heard and to heal.