Tell and Change Podcast

At the age of 17 Erik makes a very serious suicide attempt and an ambulance takes him to the emergency room. The psychiatrist working at the hospital soon starts to suspect that Erik suffers from something more severe than depression. He gets handcuffed and shackled around his legs and put in a sheriff plane that takes him to a state hospital. This was the beginning of many painful years in forced treatment. In this episode Erik will share his worst memories from his schizoaffective disorder. But he will also talk about the stigma surrounding mental illness and what needs to be done to break the stigma. If you're in the Bay Area and are suffering from mental health illness, you can contact the Mental Health Association of San Francisco for help (https://www.mentalhealthsf.org/). You can also call their warm line for emotional support 855-845-7415

Steve has been struggling with a severe alcohol and drug addiction since his early teenage years. In this episode, Steve will share his worst memories from being homeless, going to prison and how the addiction was hurting his family. But he will also tell us about the way back to a sober life and how anything is possible if you really put your mind to it. Please note that this is a second version of Steve & Shabneez story about Steves severe alcohol and drug addiction.

David was a very well behaved typical teenage boy. He did well in school, he had a lot of friends and he loved to spend time skateboarding in San Francisco. But at the age of 17, David started to take Xanax pills. A couple of months later he passed away in an overdose. But it wasn’t a regular Xanax pill that took David's life…In this episode, David's mother Karin tells us about who David was, the pill that took David’s life and the importance of creating more awareness about the dangers of taking pills. Please make sure to share this personal story with family and friends, and especially among our youth. The youth is our future and awareness is key for change. 

Steve has been struggling with a severe alcohol and drug addiction since he was a teenager. When Shabneez and Steve meet they soon fall in love and Shabneez is doing everything in her power to help Steve. But getting Steve sober turns out being a much bigger challenge than expected. And on top of their struggle their life turns upside down when their child passes away. Everything looks dark until one day when a phone call changes everything. Hear their very emotional story about the struggle of getting Steve sober and how Shabneez saves not only Steve’s but also many other people’s life. Warning: This episode may be very emotional for sensitive listeners.

Sarah is a social worker and a big part of her job is to help the homeless population in Bay Area, CA. But Sarah has also been homeless with her husband and children on several occasions. In todays episode she will share her story about being homeless, staying in shelters, being placed in an apartment with bedbugs and the struggle of trying to stay housed in an area where rental prices has just doubled and doubled over time... If you are homeless in bay area, you can call 211 for homeless services.

Tell and Change podcast is all about spreading personal stories about social problems and traumas. In todays episode “Mary” will tell her story about how it was growing up with an extremely abusive father. She will share memories of how she tried to hide her mother under the bed. How she some days could not recognize her mothers face because it was so swollen. How one of the fights escalated so badly that she believed that her mother was killed. But the story also has a very interesting twist, and it all starts with the family moving to a new country...Warning: The material in this episode might be very emotional for sensitive listeners.