The National Alliance on Mental Illness’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Ken Duckworth, says university degrees and scientific studies on mental illness are valuable. But they’re not the only ways to gain expertise. People who have lived with mental illness, people who have had front row seats to the struggles of close family members, have the educational benefit of lived experience, should be highly valued in our society. Dr. Duckworth’s book, You Are Not Alone: The NAMI Guide to Navigating Mental Health―With Advice from Experts and Wisdom from Real People and Families” features conversation and wisdom from over a hundred regular people who share their stories.

• (00:00:00) - Hope and Healing: Dr. Ken Duckworth
• (00:02:22) - In the Elevator With People With Mental Disorders
• (00:05:59) - In the Elevator: Voices of Mental Illness
• (00:11:21) - Bipolar Disorder in the World
• (00:12:01) - In the Elevator With Mental Illness
• (00:16:52) - When to Apply for a Mental Health Residency
• (00:19:48) - In the Elevator With Mental Illness
• (00:24:08) - How to Help Someone Who's Trying to Die by Suicide
• (00:29:05) - The role of support for mental health professionals
• (00:34:41) - How to support a depressed person
• (00:37:27) - Family to Family: The Right Advice for Parents
• (00:41:20) - The challenges of the mental health field
• (00:45:55) - Hope and Healing: Dr. Ken Duckworth

It takes a great deal of hard work on the part of many people to keep a place like Children’s Center running at top capacity. That means our therapists and our administrative staff, sure, but it also means the dedicated effort put in by the selfless volunteers who help power all that we do. In this very personal episode of our podcast, we meet two such friends of the organization, Denise Burgoyne and Brian Thompson. They talk about how they came to join the ranks of the volunteers, the work that they have been doing, and the impact Children’s Center has had in the community.

• (00:00:00) - Hope on Healing: Volunteers and Suicide
• (00:01:30) - Donor and volunteer at Children's Center
• (00:05:34) - The stigma of mental health
• (00:08:26) - Mental Health: More People Talking About It
• (00:12:06) - Brian, How do you get a favorable response for Children's Center
• (00:15:00) - Heavy Helps: What They Need You to Do
• (00:21:23) - What's been most meaningful for you in the years of involvement at
• (00:25:32) - The Empowerment of Families
• (00:27:55) - How mental health was discussed in the schools
• (00:33:22) - Mental Health: An Important Topic
• (00:39:49) - Hope and Healing

Any encounter with a medical professional or clinician - whether that’s a family doctor, a psychiatrist, a therapist, or anyone else in the field of helping people - is, at root, a human encounter. And the person you’re talking to is just as vulnerable to mental health struggles as anyone else in society. In this candid and illuminating interview, Dr. Jessi Gold, author of How Do You Feel?: One Doctor's Search for Humanity in Medicine, talks about her own mental health journey and the stigmas and challenges of her industry.

• (00:00:08) - Hope and Healing: Dr. Jesse Gold
• (00:01:45) - Dr. Gold on Drinking Multiple Beverages a Day
• (00:02:17) - How Do You Feel?
• (00:07:54) - In the Elevator With My Mental Health
• (00:15:12) - On Why People Are So Scared of Psychiatry
• (00:16:16) - Teaching Mental Health: How to Talk About It
• (00:23:46) - How to Get Through a Hard Month
• (00:26:44) - Post-Perfectionism: How to Get Over It
• (00:28:53) - Why Psychiatry Is For Me
• (00:31:13) - The Challenges of Starting a Mental Health Practice
• (00:33:24) - Dr. Gold on Changes to the NHS
• (00:35:38) - Hope and Healing: Dr. Jesse Gold's Podcast