Tag: #mentalhealth

Melissa M. Monroe “Mom’s Search for Meaning: Grief and Growth After Child Loss”

by Billy Dees, posted in Books, Podcast

This podcast contains content that some viewers may find triggering.

Our guest on this episode is Melissa M. Monroe, author of, “Mom’s Search for Meaning: Grief and Growth After Child Loss.”

Paralyzed by guilt, grief, and PTSD after her 2-year-old daughter Alice died in her sleep of unknown causes, Melissa Monroe was determined not to become a victim in the story of her life. While taking the advice she had given to many grief and trauma patients throughout the years, hoping she could create a meaningful life without closure, she took notes throughout her healing process.

Melissa M. Monroe

Struggling to advance her timeline beyond that of her daughter’s – and still eager to be the keeper of Alice’s stories – Melissa began to write about Alice’s life and the impact of her death. She became her own lab rat, trying various approaches to healing with the hope that her experience might be helpful to others stuck in a trauma time loop.

During this interview Melissa talks about her experience with child loss, her career, and the process of writing.

You can find out more about her at MelissaMarieMonroe.com.

You can find the Billy Dees Podcast on your favorite podcast platform. The audio podcast and the videocast are both below.

Barbara Legere – “Keven’s Choice – A Mother’s Journey Through Her Son’s Mental Illness, Addiction, and Suicide”

by Billy Dees, posted in Books, Media, Podcast

This episode contains discussion that some listeners may find triggering.

Author Barbara Legere

“Keven’s Choice: A Mother’s Journey Through Her Son’s Mental Illness, Addiction and Suicide”

Keven had spent half his life struggling with addiction while his single mom battled courts, health care companies, rehab facilities and mental health professionals to protect him. As their relationship strained and his drug use progressed, Legere was forced to accept and love Keven as he was in their limited time together—two years before his suicide.

In Keven’s Choice, Legere tells the story of trying to navigate the dark worlds of her son’s substance use and depression while also addressing her complicated guilt and regret over how she handled it. In the process, she shines a light on the hidden anguish of countless parents who are taking care of children that society tells them to abandon.

For parents who have borne witness to overdoses, arrests, addiction treatment and incarceration and even death, Keven’s Choice is a raw and intimate memoir of a mother’s grief that shows it’s possible and necessary to go on, even amidst the unimaginable.

You can find out more about the author’s story at her website www.barbaralegere.com.

Kitt O’Malley Author “Balancing Act: Writing Through a Bipolar Life”

by Billy Dees, posted in Books, Media, Podcast
Kitt O’Malley

Kitt O’Malley, author of “Balancing Act: Writing Through a Bipolar Life,” is a mental health advocate, public speaker, and former psychotherapist who lives with bipolar disorder. Her personal experience and clinical background inform her advocacy and enable her to help herself and guide others toward mental health recovery.

Over the years, Kitt has struggled with bipolar, experiencing depression so deep that it was a living hell and mania so severe that she was psychotic.

However, there is help. Psychotherapy, medication, and coping skills have enabled her to live a full life.

Acceptance has been key to her mental health recovery. Acceptance is essentially a spiritual experience.

To accept yourself is to love yourself. There is hope.

You are enough.

You can visit Kitt’s website for more detailed information KittOMalley.com and on Twitter @KittOMalley.

You can find the Billy Dees Podcast on your favorite podcasting platform. For your convenience the full episode is embedded below and the webcam version is below that.

“Walking with Fay – My Mother’s Uncharted Path Into Dementia” by Carolyn Birrell

by Billy Dees, posted in Books, Podcast
Carolyn Birrell

Carolyn Birrell retired to Bonners Ferry, ID, in 2006, after living in Atlanta, GA, for 20 years where she worked for the American Cancer Society National Headquarters and then as a real estate agent and a new home builder. She began caring for her aging mother shortly after her move and started chronicling her journey.

What began as a written collection of her mother’s difficult behaviors during dementia’s earliest stages quickly turned into a comprehensive book that she continued to update until the inevitable end of her mother’s disease.

In this interview, Carolyn talks about her years long journey with her mother and Alzheimer’s dementia, and how her journals turned into a book.

An estimated 6.2 million Americans aged 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s dementia in 2021.

You can find Carolyn Birrell’s website here carolynbirrell.com.

You can find the full interview on your favorite podcasting platform on the Billy Dees Podcast. For your convenience the full interview is here along with the webcam version.

Food, Exercise, and Their Impact on Wellness with Guest Lenora on Twitter Spaces

by Billy Dees, posted in Podcast, Uncategorized
Billy Dees and Lenora Colarusso

Twitter Spaces is an audio medium allowing for a configuration of hosts, speakers, and listeners. This Space was hosted Thursday January 6, 2022, at 2:00pm EST.

If you are familiar with the app “Clubhouse,” you are likely to recognize Twitter Spaces which is very similar. Spotify, LinkedIn, and any number of other social media platforms are also exploring what is being termed as “social audio.”

Currently, the only way to take part in a Twitter Space is via the Twitter smartphone app. If you already have Twitter on your phone you can utilize Twitter Spaces.

Spaces is an audio only platform.

In my opinion, for podcasts and as a production tool, the guests sound a bit “phoned-in” on Spaces but otherwise is acceptable. I am not sure how much I will be using Spaces for podcast episodes, but it has potential as a break-through medium. Real-time and trending topics are built into the fabric of Twitter which gives the platform a head-start in the social audio spectrum.

Our guest for this episode was Lenora Colarusso, who has been on the podcast numerous times. The first part of the episode covers Lenora and her journey of recovery and well-being. It is followed by snippets from a Question-and-Answer period that followed on the Space. Guests take part from all over the world, which is one of the great things about the Twitter Spaces format.

“50 Ways to Worry Less Now” with Gigi Langer

by Billy Dees, posted in Podcast, Uncategorized

On this episode of the podcast we are talking with Gigi Langer, PhD who is the author of the book, “50 Ways to Worry Less Now” which presents practical spiritual, cognitive, and energy strategies; to gain peace, clarity, and wisdom, no matter what is going on in our lives.

During this interview and in her book, Gigi shares her personal journey of alcohol along with struggles with worry, negativity, perfectionism, and chronic pain.

Gigi Langer, PhD

The book is available online or for discounts and information about obtaining a signed copy visit GigiLanger.com/buy.

For Gigi’s blog, courses, and study groups, check out GigiLanger.com.

As always the Billy Dees Podcast is available on most of the major podcasting platforms. For your convenience this episode is available in this post.

The webcam version is also available here.