Beyond Well With Sheila Hamilton

Lyme Disease is the fastest growing infectious disease in the world, eclipsing the HIV/Aids crisis by over 10X. It is now reported in all 50 states and 79 countries. The CDC estimates 400,000 new cases per year, but even that number is thought to be on the low end of the problem. Lyme has been reported to be associated with various psychiatric presentations because Borreliaburgdorferi can present with symptoms similar to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Because Lyme patients are so often misdiagnosed and mistreated, a higher level of risk to self and others is associated with multiple symptoms developing after acquiring LAD. 

Liz Prato is the author of several award-winning books and story collections. She talks with Beyond Well about the challenge of a creative life while living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  Liz says, “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome has forced me to get very quiet with myself, and ask who am I, apart from this body?” Liz’s insight into the psychological and physical toll of Chronic Fatigue is both illuminating and sobering. People who suffer from Chronic Fatigue syndrome are often dismissed by both the medical community and too often, their friends and family.  Chronic Fatigue is a medication condition of unknown cause, with fever, aching, and prolonged tiredness and depression. 

If you’ve ever passed a homeless teen on the street and wondered, “How did they get there?” or “How can I help?” this interview with Rei Scozylakas is worthy of your time. Rei Scozylakas wasn’t dealt an easy hand in this life. But, as you can hear in our conversation, Rei’s story isn’t just one of struggle. In fact, that’s not even the most compelling part of their story “Nobody is born wanting to be an outcast. It wasn’t until I was really seen by the volunteers at Outside Inn, that I realized there was a different path than the one I was on.”

In honor of Suicide Prevention Week, we are bringing you multiple stories of hope, resilience, and healing. Lois Chauncey lost her husband to suicide in May, and like many other suicide loss survivors, she feared she would also lose her job due to her complicated grief. Paul Sale, her Supervisor, provided a textbook-like example of how a company should appropriately respond to a suicide loss survivor in the workplace.   From the humbling way in which Paul responded to the initial news of suicide, to the steps Lois and Paul took to inform others in the workplace, the empathy, compassion, and kindness one team took to welcome back in a suicide loss survivor is a hopeful study in how a workplace can help heal a co-worker's grief, and win a valued employee's respect and loyalty. 

Twenty-two veterans die by suicide every day in America, outpacing deaths in combat or war supporting activities. Despite the military’s best efforts to contain a public health crisis, the numbers of deaths continue to rise. The Beyond Well team had extraordinary insight into the causes and potential remedies of military suicides in our conversation with New York Times bestselling author and former Special Tactics Officer, Dan Schilling.   Schilling spent more than 30 years in the military, primarily as a Combat Controller and Special Tactics Officer, though he proudly started his career as an infantry grunt. His numerous combat and clandestine deployments have taken him around the world and include Operation Gothic Serpent, popularly known as Black Hawk Down from the movie and book bearing the same name, where he is credited with saving the lives of a Ranger and SEAL Team Six SEAL while under fire. He later founded and then served as the first commander of two special operations squadrons, one of which’s n

Ken Cervera's openness, his honesty and his path to wellness have all been informed by an immensely isolating period in his late twenties when he attempted to end his life. Ken drove his motorcycle through a Los Angeles intersection straight into an oncoming vehicle. Miraculously, both drivers escaped harm.  It is Suicide Prevention Week and we believe suicide attempt survivors can be extremely helpful in understanding the suicide epidemic, the mindset of suicidal ideation, and why relationship-centered and evidence-based treatment is essential to recovery.  Ken Cervera is the host of Own Your Truth Podcast, a personal coach, and the Director of Wellness for Mind Health Institute, Pasadena.

Edan Armas is an award-winning Spoken Word Artist and Poet and graduate of Stanford University. Armas was the 2019 Baccalaureate student speaker, and an outspoken voice on the topic of student mental Health. Edan’s undergraduate career focused on how emotion manifests in the body, mind and the  collective consciousness.  Edan encourages students to embrace both the tribulations and triumphs of the college experience, noting that the process of adulting is difficult—even painful, and how vulnerability became his superpower.

Logan Lynn is a musician, writer, producer, filmmaker, TV personality and LGBT activist. Since 1998, Logan has released nine studio albums and is the former host of Logo's "NewNowNextMusic." But, in the midst of his success, Lynn relied on self-medicating with drugs and alcohol as a response to years of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of a trusted family friend. It wasn't until a therapist asked Lynn, "What happened to you?" that Logan was able to deconstruct his own history of trauma. In this intimate interview, Lynn talks about his own unique path to recovery, why medical marijuana is part of his treatment plan, and how he consciously chooses life every day.

We hire personal trainers to help us get in shape, tutors for difficult subjects, and music instructors to learn to master musical instruments.  So, why are people reluctant to hire a therapist, a person trained to help people better manage their minds? In this episode, Jenna, Sheila and Brian talk about how therapy works and what really goes on in therapeutic sessions.

Sharma Shields wants us all to get real about the things we've done, the mistakes we've made, and the people we are hoping to become. Her writing, including her highly acclaimed novels, The Sasquatch Hunter's Almanac, and the Cassandra, along with her award-winning short story collection, challenges readers to confront the most awful aspects of our society--sexual abuse, poverty, crimes against children, bullying, and environmental injustice.  But, Sharma is equally as open with her own life story, including alcoholism and living with multiple sclerosis. Sitting down with her was sheer joy, complete honesty, and a loving openness. How can we be both things? Both dark and light? Listen in:

Is it the sex itself, or something about sexual activity that is so good for our happiness? You might argue that people who are happier are more likely to have sex more often because they’re in a good relationship and are satisfied with it.  But, why do so many couples get hung up on frequency and type of sex? And how do we begin to communicate our needs honestly, without hurting our partners? Dr. Jenna LeJeune and Dr. Brian Goff talk about the positive emotional aspects of sex, disagree on porn, and get real on what good sex is all about. 

In this episode, Dr. Jenna LeJeune and Dr Brian Goff go deeper into some of the strategies they use with clients in recognizing, accepting and working with anxiety in order to continue to lead productive lives. Dr. LeJeune and Dr. Goff both practice Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a unique empirically based psychological intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies, together with commitment and behavior change strategies, to increase psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility means contacting the present moment fully as a conscious human being, and based on what the situation affords, changing or persisting in behavior in the service of chosen values.

  Long before the death of Anthony Bourdain, Restauranteur John Gorham was addressing the issue of mental health in the kitchen. Restaurant workers have the highest rate of illicit drug use and the second-highest rate of suicide. In this episode, John talks with the Beyond Well team about the structural changes he's made to address anxiety, depression and drug use in restaurant workers. "Anthony's suicide was brutal on our industry," John says, "Because he had it all. He had the dream. He had it all. So if life wasn't good enough for him, how could it possibly be good enough for others who don't have his skills?"  John Gorham is Executive Chef/Owner of iconic Portland restaurants Toro Bravo, Tasty n Daughters, Tasty n Alder, PLAZA DEL TORO and co-owner of Mediterranean Exploration Company, Shalom Y'all, and Bless Your Heart Burgers. Gorham believes that a chef’s cuisine and style is influenced by a trade route composed of travels, past work and cities lived in. 

Haley Johnsen is a singer-songwriter best characterized by her powerhouse vocals and unique lyrical perspective. Drawing inspiration from acts like Bonnie Raitt, Grace Potter, and Brandi Carlile, Haley sings with a soulful determination. Her songwriting speaks to common themes of loneliness, self-doubt and self-criticism. We talk to Haley about how she copes as a performer despite battling anxiety.  During 2017 and 2018, Haley toured as an opener for Sawyer Fredericks and as lead support for The Wind and The Wave all across the United States. She recently released her first full studio album and LP Golden Days now available everywhere. Haley talks with the Beyond Well Team about doing what she loves despite anxiety and self-doubt. 

From Ari Mathae: "As I've come out, first as pansexual a couple of years ago and recently as nonbinary, I've had a lot of conversations with my friends and family and coworkers about gender and identity. For me, being nonbinary allows me to make my own rules for how I move within the world and form my own idea of feminine and masculine. But I still struggle frequently with redirecting my mind when I worry about fitting in or not fitting in enough with our culture's binary expectations." This episode is with Ari and their dad, Paul, talking about gender expectations, masculinity, and the role of the evangelical church in shaping gender expectations. 

Drew Holguin was born in a predominantly black neighborhood to mixed-race family. "I was too white in my neighborhood, but not white enough at the white dominant schools I attended. Regardless of where I was, I wasn't accepted." Holguin began delivering drugs as a way of getting attention and friends.   Holguin is one of 3.45 million kids in this country who are suspended or expelled from public school, with few options for what comes next. Open School is an innovative education program for students like Drew, who needed something different than a traditional school. Open School knows which kids are most likely to drop out. Educators interested in the whole person find those students and surround them with what they need to graduate and get ahead; rigorous academics, teachers who believe in them, and a whole lot of relentless love and support.  In this conversation, Drew talks about how emotional skill-building helped him create a healthy relationship, earn his Master's degree in Social Work, and return as a

Narcissistic Personality Disorder or NPD is a condition characterized by an overwhelming need for attention and admiration, a heightened sense of self-importance, and a lack of empathy toward others. It is difficult enough to encounter a partner or business associate with NPD, but Liz Scott grew up with narcissists as parents. Like an archaeological dig, Liz Scott’s memoir This Never Happened goes in search of the answers to the mysteries of her family. In her relentless quest to uncover the truth, she mines photographs and letters, leaving no one, including herself, unexamined.  In the end, Liz's struggle clears decades of familial pain to make room for compassion.

Storm Large: musician, actor, playwright, author, awesome. She shot to national prominence in 2006 as a finalist on the CBS show Rock Star: Supernova, where despite having been eliminated in the week before the finale, Storm built a fan base that follows her around the world to this day. Storm joins us to talk about growing up with a severely mentally disturbed mother and the message she received from her mother's doctor, "Oh yeah, you will absolutely end up like your Mother. It's hereditary." But, this conversation is not about Storm's efforts to outrun a diagnosis, it's an artist's journey back to herself. Storm's autobiographical musical memoir, Crazy Enough, played to packed houses in 2009 during its unprecedented 21-week sold-out run in Portland. She's back for the ten-year reunion stronger, wiser, and larger in spirit than ever before. (Don't miss the after the show conversation about cancel culture and what really goes on in therapy.)

Skye Fitzgerald is an Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker whose work on issues of social justice takes him to the epicenters of suffering. We talk with Skye about how he maintains his sense of self while covering brutally difficult topics.  Skye's most recent film, Lifeboat, forced this choice: "When you see someone drowning after falling or being pushed from a boat filled with refugees, do you get the shot or do you pull someone to safety? I put down the camera and grabbed people from the water. It was the decision I made so that I could live with myself." 

     Today’s show with Nyna Giles exposes the good and bad news about psychological suffering. Let’s start with the bad news first… Psychological suffering doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t care who you are, how wealthy your friends are, how beautiful you are, or what circles you run it. Psychological suffering can and will affect us all. Of course, privileges give certain people access to resources that may help those people cope more effectively with the suffering life deals them, but the suffering will happen all the same.   Nyna’s mother had all the trappings of the “perfect” life: she transcended her humble beginnings to become one of the “beautiful people,” hobnobbing with the rich and famous, including Grace Kelly, who she counted as her closest friend. And yet, psychological suffering, this time in the form of psychosis, came crashing down on that beautiful picture. As her mother’s world shrank, Nyna did what any child would do; she tried her very best to “save” her mom. But, of course, even our best a