Building Bridges - Breaking Barriers

My family friend Lexus McEver joins me on episode 6 of the podcast to share the great work she is doing in Georgia supporting middle and high school students with opioid prevention through the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD). She shares her efforts at the Marietta Alternate Public School (MAPS) to help these students by preparing them with the tools needed to return back into society while they strive to overcome challenges they have faced in the past. Lexus has a beautiful gift to see these kids for who they really are on the inside and has the ability to building bridges of understanding and trust with them and the bright futures possible for them. She shares some of the unbelievably painful situations her students live through each day and the very real struggles they face with generational cyclical inequity and opportunities. We also discuss one of the unique goals of the MAPS school principal, who was a former police officer, to seek to build bridges of trust and love between these students and the police officers and try to help them see each other in deeply personal ways - providing a supportive network for the students in case they ever need help to get out of difficult situations. Lexus shares how we can each leverage our privilege to get involved to help prevent opioid addiction and help restore our community members back into society and see them holistically for who they really are. Thank you Lexus for being on the podcast and for all you are doing! For more information, check out: https://georgiapreventionproject.org/

My friend Dr. Kawanda Foster (MPH in Epidemiology and PhD in Microbiology/Biochemistry) joins me on episode 5 of the podcast to share her vulnerable story of incredible perseverance. For 6 years she endured traumatic emotional and verbal abuse, gaslighting, and microaggressions from her laboratory director all while vigorously trying to complete her doctorate with minimal support. She shares about her life leading up to this experience and helps the listeners understand the background and context behind it. She shares her essential need for therapy to overcome this traumatic experience. She calls for the desperate need for allies and accomplices to stand up against systems of abusive power and oppression, even when it puts their privileges at risk. I deeply admire her strength through so much hardship. It was heart-wrenching to hear with so many things for us to learn from. I'm thankful for her vulnerability and desire to help others walking the hard road to escape abuse and racism of all kinds. Black women in America truly deserve so much more. At the end of the podcast she said: "It's overwhelming how many issues there are in the world and how terrible the world is. But the thing is, you can't do all the good the world needs, but the world needs all good you can do."  If anyone out there is enduring emotional and verbal abuse, gaslighting, and feel like there's no way out: please seek out help. There is hope. You are not alone.

My friend Andrea Forsythe joins us for episode 4 of the Building Bridges - Breaking Barriers Podcast to share her life, journey, and experiences with Activism. She shares her struggles as a Mormon mother with mental health challenges and eventually deconstructing the gender inequality she found around her. She shares the beginning of her journey with activism as she embraced her sister who came out as lesbian. We discuss the importance of seeing the world through new lenses, through the eyes of those on the margins. We discuss the challenges of building bridges for others, especially traditionally orthodox individuals, to help them see the importance of activism and begin the hard work of engaging in it. Andrea shares the specific work that she is doing as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for women, LGBTQIA+, and BIPOC members and how others can build bridges of understanding and love and break down the cultural and religious barriers preventing individuals and families from thriving.

My wonderful friends Lianna Newman (no pronouns, just Lianna) and Valerie Green (she/her) join me on episode 3 of the Building Bridges - Breaking Barriers podcast in honor of Transgender Awareness Week to share their personal experiences and insights as Non-Binary and Transgender members of the LGBTQIA+ community. They share a little about themselves and help our listeners understand some basic definitions like "Gender Identity" "Transgender" "Trans Non-Binary" "Gender Expression". Lianna and Valerie both share their personal journeys growing up and coming to understand their gender identities. They share how they have personally transitioned, whether socially, medically, and/or surgically. We discuss the social justice work that they are both doing including the importance of mental health support and suicide lifelines. We also cover transgender visibility and representation in the media and in political spaces and trans rights, protections, and equity. Lianna and Valerie share the importance of listening to the stories of transgender people and building relationships and connections to them to break down the barriers of misunderstanding and misconceptions. Thank you Lianna and Valerie for both being on the podcast and being so vulnerable and open with us about your journeys and sharing ways that we can build bridges of understanding and love for our transgender family, friends, and neighbors and break down barriers for more diversity, equity, and inclusion.

My wonderful friend Bryn Brody joins us as our first podcast guest to share her experiences and insights with activism and building bridges of understanding. As a mother of LGBTQIA+ children we discuss the importance of "safe spaces" and how we can be safe for those around us. She also shares a painful and vulnerable part of her journey that she recently published in the Exponent about surviving sexual abuse and attempted rape as a child from her stepfather and how this has affected and influenced her life. We discuss the gaslighting she received from family after her sexual abuse and why gaslighting is so dangerous and toxic. She shares her love and desire for all of us to break down our own barriers and help our world be more inclusive and equitable. Thank you for being on the podcast Bryn!

In this first episode, Jonathan Rogers introduces the podcast and shares different aspects of building bridges and breaking barriers - seeing others through their lens, being at the "edge of the inside", standing up against oppressive systems, and more.