Regular People Talking About Mental Health

We are back from our hiatus, and we tried something a little different for this episode. It was a fun episode. We actually recorded the show while we were on Facebook LIVE in our Facebook Group, “Regular People Talking About Mental Health”. If you would like to check out the video recording of this podcast, we would love to have you join our “Regular People Talking About Mental Health” group on Facebook! Here you can view the video, leave comments, and ask questions, or feel free to engage with the group as much or as little as you want.  If you have a moment, let us know what you think about our new ideas for the show by sending us a message through Facebook or shooting us an email at NickandTriciapodcast@gmail.com Do you want to watch more LIVE podcast recordings on Facebook? Do you want to hear “stories” about the real life mental health struggles and successes that other people are experiencing? Or do you have your own “story” that you would like to tell? If you are interested in having us share your “story” about your own mental health journey on the podcast, please reach out to us. We would love to give your stories a voice. As always, thanks for listening. Keep talking!   www.NickandTricia.com

In this episode, Mike Schlossberg shows us that there is not just one way to advocate for mental health.  Mike is the author of “Redemption” which is a young adult, science fiction, dystopian novel about depression, anxiety, and the end of the world. He has used his science fiction book to explore mental health-related issues. The main character has depression and anxiety, and he has to lead a spaceship and crew to save the world against a deadly virus. (A side note worth mentioning is that the book was written before Covid-19.) Check out his book at www.MikeSchlossbergAuthor.com Mike Schlossberg is not only an author, he is also a House Representative in Pennsylvania and a mental health advocate. In 2015, with the death by suicide of Robin Williams in the news, Representative Schlossberg shared his own struggles with depression and anxiety in an op-ed in the Morning Call. His story set forth a very public conversation about mental health and stigma which has become a central focus for Representative Schlossberg. Since 2015, he has been a keynote speaker at conferences, advanced legislation in the General Assembly and been invited to Washington, D.C. to help Congresswoman Susan Wild’s efforts to enact federal legislation to improve mental health care delivery across the country. Representative Schlossberg was also appointed to the Mental Health & Justice Advisory Committee for the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and was named Co-Chair of the Suicide Prevention Task Force by Governor Wolf. www.pahouse.com/schlossberg You can also connect with Mike on Facebook, and he is @MikeSchlossberg on Twitter.   As always, thanks for listening, and keep talking! www.nickandtricia.com

Today we are joined by Superconscious Coach, Patrick Morales, who talks openly about his own mental health journey, and his new business. For years Coach Patrick unconsciously chose anxiety and depression, but then he began to experience freedom when he realized that he had a choice in the emotions that he was experiencing. He realized that by simply choosing to love his life he could shift his frequency out of that low vibration of sadness and depression to a higher vibration of love and acceptance. Coach Patrick is kicking off his coaching business which is designed to teach people how to remove emotions, judgments, inner conflicts, beliefs, and anything else that is causing resistance in their lives and stopping them from creating a life that they love. You can contact Coach Patrick by heading over to his linktree where you can find all the links to connect with him. https://linktr.ee/coach.patrick.morales To connect with us, head over to our Facebook group, "Regular People Talking About Mental Health". It is a whole community of regular people sharing about their own experiences with mental health. We would love for you to join us too! See you there. As always, thanks for listening. Keep talking. NickandTricia.com

Lately we have both been indulging in our own hyperfocus activities. Nick has playing his new game, and Tricia has been working on her new business. For the most part both of us have been enjoying the hyperfocus, but there are some drawbacks as well. For example, sometimes hyperfocus gets in the way of our communication... and sometimes we stay up too late. But as anyone with ADHD knows, it just comes with the territory. Hyperfocus is not all bad or all good. It just is. We do our best to make it work for us and not against us. Spoiler alert: The best part of this episode is probably hearing Nick laugh. He may have even laughed a little too hard a couple times, but no one is complaining! Thanks for listening, and keep talking! www.NickandTricia.com

We are talking with Safe Space CNY's founder, Tracy Mergler. Tracy is also a kindergarten special education teacher and a mom of 2. She has been in active recovery for the past 4 years, but prior to that she had an active eating disorder for 25 years as well as PTSD, anxiety, and depression. Tracy saw the need for more mental health resources in Central New York, so she founded Safe Space CNY to help others get the help they need. Safe Space CNY is "a communal mental health space that is focused on providing safety, connection and understanding for community members. With a range of groups, creative therapies, mentorship support and community partnership, Safe Space is a hub for healing and personal growth." Thank you, Tracy. We really appreciate the work you are doing. Thank you for making a difference! Thank you for being a part of the solution! If you want to know more, or if you want to get involved with Safe Space CNY, here is where you can find Tracy. email: tracymergler@safespacecny.com website: www.safespacecny.com social media: @safespacecny   As always, thanks for listening! Keep talking. www.NickandTricia.com  

It is our 50th episode!! We can hardly believe it! In this show we take the opportunity to thank our listeners, subscribers, guests, and members of our Facebook group. We are so grateful for everyone who is a part of the "Regular People Talking About Mental Health" community. Thank you for your support. Then we talk about the past week. Despite the challenges the week presented, we were feeling relatively good. We end up reflecting on our school experiences since having a kid that is in middle school in our house is often a reminder of the challenges that we faced in our own school days. If you haven't joined the Facebook group yet, check us out. We are the "Regular People Talking About Mental Health" Facebook group. NickandTricia.com

Our guest today is Mrs. Katherine Major who is a co-administrator for the Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria Support Group on Facebook. She is an advocate for RSD, but she also advocates for adults and children with ADHD and ASD. Mrs. Major is a graduate from the University of Mary Hardin Baylor and has been an Early Childhood Elementary Teacher for 23 years teaching mostly Pre-K and kindergarten. During her years of teaching, Mrs. Major received much mental health training and worked with children who have ADHD/OCD and Autism. Katherine has been married for 21 years and has 3 teenagers in High School. She herself has ADHD/OCD, and she has two sons on the autism spectrum who have ADHD as well. Two and a half years ago, her son with significant high functioning autism and ADHD was needing more support as he transferred from Junior High to High School, so Mrs. Major has been staying at home to be more available for the needs of her family. During this time, she has been able to reflect, discover, monitor and grow personally from all that she is learning in her life. In this episode, Katherine presents information from her perspective. She shares stories from her journey in managing her mental health, and she shares some resources she has collected along the way.  Mrs. Major is very passionate and dedicated to learning all she can to make a positive difference for learners of all ages who struggle with mental health. Thank you, Katherine for your contributions and support in the RSD community!Look for the Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria Support Group on Facebook if you would like to join this amazingly supportive community too. We will see you there!Also checkout the Regular People Talking About Mental Health Facebook Group. We would love to have you join us as well!www.NickandTricia.com

Nick and Tricia chat about how the winter has been treating them. This time of year is rough. Taking time for a little self-love is important, yet making that time is challenging. On top of that, Covid continues to impact so many of our decisions. We are fitting in little bits of self-care when we can manage it.Nick has been recording snowplowing and snowboarding videos. Check out his YouTube channels to experience it for yourself. Go to YouTube.com/BorsellinoCarpentry for the plow videos, and check out his personal YouTube channel by searching for "Nick Borsellino" on YouTube to watch snowboarding videos.As always, thanks for listening! Keep talking.www.NickandTricia.com

In this episode Nick talks about meeting his new psychiatrist and the process that led up to that first appointment.Feel free to join our Facebook group, "Regular People Talking About Mental Health".nickandtriciapodcast@gmail.comwww.NickandTricia.com

In this show we reflect on Nick's unspoken experience of the prior episode on suicide. Then we talk about Tricia's very different fear of dying before she does everything she wants to do. Both experiences seem to stem from the same place of wanting to be okay with just "being". The truth is that we are enough. Hopefully we can get better and better at living in the moment. Hopefully we can get better and better at accepting and enjoying ourselves as we are and life as it is in those moments.www.NickandTricia.com  

On today's show Patrick Venetz who is an Officer in the United States Coast Guard joins us to talk about suicide. Pat is currently also working toward his MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. He wants to help end the stigma surrounding mental health and seeking help. Pat has lost several friends to suicide, and has one friend who made a miraculous recovery from his suicide attempt. Suicide is generally not any easy topic to talk about, but Pat was very open with us. He shared stories about his friends, and he shared about his own experience. Patrick, thank you for having the courage to shine light on this dark topic. People all over are struggling, and they need to know that they are not alone. Better days will come. Be kind. Ask for help... and keep talking!Connect with Patrick on Instagram: patrick.h.venetzNational Suicide Prevention Hotline (800)-273-8255www.NickandTricia.com"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that". -Martin Luther King Jr.

In this show we check in to see how the mood tracking has been going. We both discovered it is difficult, but we were able to get some practice doing it and will hopefully keep at it. Then we reflect on how we both experienced a car ride we took the day before. It is so interesting how we can perceive things so differently. We continue to work on awareness of our feelings, and we definitely are still working on improving communication. It is a work in progress. Thanks for listening to us fumble our way through it. We hope you will also keep trying and keep talking!Also, find us on Facebook. We would love for you to join our Facebook group "Regular People Talking About Mental Health".www.NickandTricia.com

Sarah Tietje-Mietz is an artist, freelance writer, and the director of Hilltop House and Studio. In this episode she is very open and forthcoming about her own mental health struggles. Her vulnerability is inspiring. Sarah talks about how OCD, social anxiety, and alcoholism have affected her throughout her life. She admitted to almost cancelling on us and not doing the podcast. We are so grateful that she didn't. Sarah truly gave us a gift by joining us and sharing about her experiences so openly. Again Sarah, thank you so much!Instagram: @sareteej 

In today's show we talk about Nick's current struggle with his mental health. Nick is overwhelmed by a combination of factors that are contributing to his emotional roller coaster. He is dealing with seasonal depression, a lifelong disdain for Christmas (and all holidays), closing his business...and of course we can't forget that complication multiplier, Covid-19. Nick had taken a break from mental health treatment and medication that didn't seem to be getting him the relief he was seeking. Now he seems to be ready to try getting help again. This time Nick is going to try tracking his moods with Tricia's help to hopefully be able to gain some insight into his patterns and provide whichever psychiatrist he meets with a better snapshot of his mental health struggle. www.NickandTricia.com

Musician Dave Bellevue joins us to talk about his journey struggling with mental health and anxiety after losing his best friend to suicide. Drawing from his own experience Dave became a story teller for The JED Foundation, a nonprofit that protects emotional health and prevents suicide for our nation’s teens and young adults. Then Dave saw a need for more mental health resources in the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) community, so he founded a mental health organization called Swag for Stigma earlier this year. Swag for Stigma's mission is to share relevant BIPOC statistical data, resource information on where to get help, and access to identify therapists who are also BIPOC. Their ultimate goal is to launch the “It Takes a Village” initiative to donate cost-covered therapy sessions and support for under served communities. As we all know, it does take a village! Thanks, Dave! You can find more information at www.swagforstigma.org.   or   @SwagforStigma on InstagramAlso be sure to check out Dave's band, Oxymorrons (with 2 "R"s) on YouTube.WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGEAnd hey, and if you are on Facebook, we invite you to join our Facebook group "Regular People Talking About Mental Health". Hope to see you there!www.NickandTricia.com  

In this episode we dive into the subject of Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria once again. The show has highs and lows. There are moments when we are unified and moments where we are each triggered. We are not acting. RSD is very much a part of our lives. This ADHD struggle is real.We invite you to join our "Regular People Talking About Mental Health" Facebook group to connect with us and start talking to other regular people in the community about mental health.In the show Nick talks about an article from additudemag.com. Here is the linkhttps://www.additudemag.com/rejection-sensitive-dysphoria-and-adhd/ NickandTricia.com 

We cover a lot of topics in today's show. High school teacher, improv teacher, and podcaster Andy McIntyre joins us to talk about getting sober and dealing with depression. We end up talking about that and more. We touch on what grieving is like during Covid, what his experience has been like teaching during Covid, and we even get into talking about the benefits of doing improv and the power of "Yes, and...".Be sure to listen to Andy's podcast, "Silver Linings Playback" wherever you listen to podcasts, and check out Andy's improv on highwireimprov.com.@bigandymac on Instagram

We always struggle with holidays. This year Thanksgiving was different for us because of Covid-19. We stayed home and had dinner with just the two of us. The holiday season is always a stressful time of year, but this season is already proving to be especially emotional...and we are just getting started.

Grief is something we all experience, yet it is so difficult for many people to talk about. In today's show we move towards this uncomfortable topic and explore the subject of grief with Caron Grossman who is an End of Life and Grief Coach. We chat about the importance of grieving, and we discuss some ways of approaching the conversations and making the space to grieve.To hear more from Caron Grossman, watch Caron's TED Talk: Permission to Grieve.https://www.ted.com/talks/caron_grossman_permission_to_grieve?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare www.carongrossman.comcarongrossman@gmail.com www.NickandTricia.com

We are joined by Becky Ruben-Navarro whose commitment to personal development and self-care, has helped her manage her anxiety and the stresses of life. Becky has many roles including being a mom, a wife, an Employee Benefits Consultant, and a student, yet she also manages to somehow juggle a couple side hustles and do fundraising with "Extra Life" for the Children's Miracle Network. Unbelievable! How does she do it?!Check out "Extra Life" on Facebook.FB.com/phoenixoverdrive

We catch up with Comedian and "The Joker in the Rye Podcast" host, Tim Warner, while he is visiting Syracuse, NY, not far from where we live. Tim left his home in NYC last week to start a new chapter. He is daring to explore the unknown as he embarks on an exciting journey traveling around the United States indefinitely. Tim will be performing comedy, experiencing America, rewriting his story, and manifesting his dreams. Follow what Tim is doing by checking out "The Joker in the Rye Podcast" where he will continue to document his journey.www.iamtimwarner.comwww.patreon.com/iamtimwarnerwww.youtube.com/iamtimwarneron social media: iamtimwarner NickandTricia.com 

Tricia just had a rough week dealing with her doctor and the pharmacy getting her ADHD meds filled. She even planned enough buffer time so she wouldn't run out but the doctor screwed up, then sent an illegible prescription so the pharmacy denied it and she had to start over. What a pain!www.nickandtricia.com

Nick's Business and Lifestyle Coach, Kevin Hood, joins us to close out our October ADHD series. Kevin was diagnosed with ADHD in the fourth grade. Today, after decades of wilderness immersion, embodied practices, and holistic health, Kevin draws from his life experience to create an immersive and healing learning environment helping to transform the lives of the sensitive leaders, creators and entrepreneurs that he coaches. email: kevin@kevinhood.me   website: www.kevinhood.me     social media (IG/FB):  @anim.movement  www.NickandTricia.com

In keeping with October's ADHD theme, we are joined in today's podcast by painter and fellow ADHDer, Jodi Edwards. We had a great time chatting with Jodi and hearing stories about her life and her experience with ADHD. Be sure to check out Jodi's paintings on her website www.JodiEdwards.net.You can find us at www.NickandTricia.com 

We finally had our first guest on the show! In this episode Abby Minor from "The ADHD Manual Podcast" joins us to talk about ADHD. We both really enjoy listening to Abby's podcast, so we thought that since October is ADHD Awareness Month it would be a great time to have her on our show.NickandTricia.com

Todays topics: ADHD Awareness Month! Trying a new podcast format. Spoiler about a GUEST on our next episode! New office, desks, computer, camera and more! Sold the El Camino. We hired a cleaning lady. Don't forget to subscribe/follow the show and share with your friends!Oh and check out the cool ADHD/Mental Health coffee mugs Tricia designed on our website!www.nickandtricia.com 

In this episode we discuss our frustrations with dealing with the same issues over and over. We talk about some strategies for breaking the cycle. Once we are triggered, we usually default to our old ways of dealing with conflict, but we need to try to do things differently in order to change. www.NickandTricia.com

In this episode we talk mostly about being overwhelmed in every aspect of our lives because life is demanding (and we are sensitive). It is especially overwhelming right now because Nick is changing career paths and trying to do what is best for him. Big changes are rarely easy.www.NickandTricia.com

EXPLICIT LANGUAGE - Relationships test all of our life skills. Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria is a symptom of ADHD that we both have. In this episode I (Nick) have a bad RSD moment and we actually had to pause the show so I could regroup. This is a little embarrasing but it is exactly why we do this show in the first place, to break the stigma.www.nickandtricia.comJoin our facebook group "Regular People Talking About Mental Health"

Talked about our new facebook group, fear of being on camera and much more. We recorded this episode on a GoPro so this episode will also be available on YouTube! The audio quality isn't great because we are riding in a very loud 1984 El Camino, but after a little EQ tweaking I was able to get the engine and road noise down quite a bit. This one was really fun to do and I hope you enjoy.www.NickAndTricia.com

In this episode we talk about "imposter syndrome". This is when you doubt your own talents and accomplishments and have a fear of being exposed as a fraud. You feel like an imposter, even though you are not. Your imposter syndrome makes you feel not good enough, even though the truth is you are good enough!NickandTricia.com

In this episode we discuss our experiences with meditation and encourage listeners to explore meditation themselves to discover what works for them.NickandTricia.com

Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) strikes again! Tricia starts out bad then Nick spirals down in this episode. Listen in real time to mental illness doing its finest work!Do you need help? We just added a list of resources to our website at www.nickandtricia.com

This episode touches on a variety of mental health topics. We delve into a difficult discussion about suicide and talk about how teens and kids are struggling during the pandemic. We also give an update regarding our ADHD medications, and we express our current frustrations including how frustrating it can be to find the help you need.

No specific topic this week. Lots going on in our mental stratospheres. We talk about a whole bunch of stuff including ADHD, Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, medication, therapy, treatment, and so much more...www.nickandtricia.com

In this week's episode we started off talking about our new ADHD medications. Nick talks about another depressive episode he went through last week that we think was caused by some RSD (rejection sensitivity dysphoria) which we had done a previous podcast about. As always, those are our starting points and we spin off from there...www.nickandtricia.com

There are lots of professionals in the medical field and therapists who have helped us tremendously. We talk about our experience with them but also touch on some other professionals who have the potential to help us in ways that indirectly could improve our mental health.www.nickandtricia.com

In this Podcast we talk about the L word. Love is a word that Nick struggles with and Tricia throws around like any other word... We took a quiz based off a book "The 5 Love Languages" and we learned a lot about love that we didn't know!www.nickandtricia.com

In this episode we talk about the positive effects that support groups have had on our lives. Support groups are just one of the many resources available to people with life's struggles.www.nickandtricia.com

This is the second half of the previous episode (#15). We are participating in the Tony Robbins Comeback Challenge.www.nickandtricia.com

We have been participating in the Tony Robbins Comeback Challenge all week. It is a free 7 day challenge and we discussed the first three days in this episode. It was a long episode so we split it in half and will release the second half in a few days (episode 16)www.nickandtricia.com

We talk about this daily decision of deciding what to have for dinner. As we get older, this little life stressor never goes away. However, we have come up with some ways to ease the stress somewhat.https://www.nickandtricia.com

In today's episode we dive deep into the topic of Anxiety! From grocery stores to vacation and everything in between. We talk about some of the things that make us anxious.www.nickandtricia.com

The last week we have both suffered from major depression. We both also have ADHD, but it manifests differently in each of us. The Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria we talked about in a previous episode gets brought up again. And we also talk about how we use medication, nutrition and exercise to try to combat our ailments.www.nickandtricia.com

Black Lives Matter, Coronavirus, Riots, Protests, Police Brutality, Mental Health and more...www.nickandtricia.com

We discuss Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD). For people with ADHD or ADD, Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria can mean extreme emotional sensitivity and emotional pain — and it may imitate mood disorders with suicidal ideation and manifest as instantaneous rage at the person responsible for causing the pain.www.nickandtricia.com

In this episode we discuss feeling not good enough. That crippling mental roadblock that gets in the way of everyday life.www.nickandtricia.com

We talk about how self care is so important for our mental health and how we still struggle with doing it, even though we know it is important.www.nickandtricia.com

We discuss the law of attraction, focusing on what you want instead of on what you don't want, what you can do to help your mental state and more.www.nickandtricia.com

In this episode we talk about addictive personalities and how they have manifested in different ways throughout or lives. We are using brand new recording equipment today so the audio quality is way better!www.nickandtricia.com

In this episode we are responding to questions from a listener about how we are coping with the pandemic, especially in regards to our ADD/ADHD tendencies.We would love to hear your feedbackwww.nickandtricia.com