Mental Health: Hope and Recovery

Setbacks are commonplace in most lives, but for individuals with mental health issues, they can be devastating or even lethal. Helen and Valerie are well-versed in setbacks throughout their long journeys to their lives in recovery today. This episode’s remarkable guest, Phoenix Wang, speaks with great candor and eloquence about their lifelong struggle with borderline personality disorder and chronic suicidal ideation. A nationally recognized advocate, writer/filmmaker, mentor, and now podcaster, Phoenix offers intimate and profound revelations about their own experiences, insights and setbacks, from the past up to this very minute. As always, Valerie will wrap up with a mindfulness exercise. This is a riveting, brilliant episode, not to be missed by anyone who is involved with mental health challenges. Find Valerie and Helen at https://www.mentalhealthhopeandrecovery.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Throughout a decade of making presentations, Helen and Valerie are often asked, “What can I do when my family member with mental health issues refuses treatment?” A tough situation and difficult to answer until they discovered “When a Family Member Refuses Mental Health Treatment.” They explore this groundbreaking book with co-author Gary Mitchell, a seasoned clinician, researcher and innovator in the mental health field. One of the basic premises is to shift focus from the member who is treat-resistant to the other family members who are seeking help with their own needs. To deal with their issues that can be improved upon, rather than accommodating and enabling their recalcitrant loved one. The end result can create a healthy, productive, healing environment for the entire family. Find Valerie and Helen at https://www.mentalhealthhopeandrecovery.co When a Loved One Won't Seek Mental Health Treatment by C. Alec Pollard, PhD; Melanie VanDyke, PhD; Gary Mitchell, LCSW; Heidi J. Pollard, RN, MSM; and Gloria Steketee, PhD Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The significance and complexities of the family’s role during a loved one’s psychiatric crisis led Valerie and Helen to devote a five-episode series to the topic. This fifth and final episode of the series is filled with invaluable professional advice with guest Lisa Powell-Watts, a seasoned psychotherapist of 40 years.  Please visit the first four episodes of this series for an in-depth exploration of the many challenges and numerous roles in a family where a member has mental health issues. Discover the perspectives of Valerie’s spouse and sister, of caregivers and parents, and of a peer as she shares her own journey with a mental health condition within her family. Find Valerie and Helen at https://www.mentalhealthhopeandrecovery.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Family members’ responses to and support of their loved one who lives with a mental health condition often includes a steep learning curve, uncertainty, misunderstanding, and yes, much love. Each family also has its own journey.  In this episode, we hear from Rebecca as she shares her story of how her family has navigated her mental health struggles and now her life in recovery.  Rebecca offers us her personal recovery toolbox, examples of family education, and much more as her courage and resilience shines throughout the interview.  Please join us as we continue our series, The Family Dynamics of a Psychiatric Crisis—Part Four: The Peer Perspective. Find Valerie and Helen at https://mentalhealthhopeandrecovery.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Part 3 of their in-depth series on the impact of a psychiatric crisis on the family, the topic is the parents’ perspectives and stories of the intricate roles of a parent when dealing with a child with mental health issues. Two guest parents speak with unflinching candor and deep personal knowledge about their family experiences. Over many years, their challenges have evolved into rich insights relayed with unflinching candor and deep wisdom. The delicate relationships with their child and themselves resulted in hard won advancements through the communications, skills, self-knowledge, and changes needed to support a child into recovery. Please join Helen and Valerie for this landmark episode—their 50th episode of Mental Health: Hope and Recovery! Find Helen and Valerie at https://www.mentalhealthhopeandrecovery.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the holidays all around, this episode is an annual tradition for Helen and Valerie. For some of us, this time of year is emotionally charged due to the pressures and expectations of the holidays. Individuals can become stressed out, depressed, anxious, exhausted. For others, the joys of the season also can create the need for emotional downtime. Valerie and Helen offer a perfect gift for anyone overwhelmed by the intensity generated during this time: a full episode of mindfulness exercises from the past year. Regardless of holiday feelings, they hope their audiences will use the healing gift of mindfulness, and will accept their best wishes for all listeners and their loved ones to have a safe, healthy new year. Find Valerie and Helen at https://mentalhealthhopeandrecovery.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Part Two of the series Family Dynamics in a Psychiatric Crisis, Valerie and Helen have a frank, candid conversation with Valerie’s sister and husband, who were the principal caregivers during her severe mental illnesses and behaviors. The result is Caregivers Talk Turkey to Caregivers, where they explain the knowledge, relationships, coping skills, and self-care that allowed them to persevere through the long, dark years until Valerie’s full recovery. What sustained, inspired and comforted them throughout the process are a revelation for listeners who are involved in the care and treatment of a family member with mental health challenges. Their examples of supporting the young children involved are especially insightful and poignant. This episode makes for an invaluable listening experience for family members everywhere. Find Valerie and Helen at mentalhealthhopeandrecovery.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When a family member faces a mental health challenge, family relationships can become formidable and problematic, while being loving and supportive, as well. The complicated nature of these relationships has launched Helen and Valerie on a five-episode series – The Family Dynamics of a Psychiatric Crisis. Their goal is to define and demystify the impact of mental illness on the family; and to enlighten and strengthen the impact of the family on mental illness. In Part One: Personal Perspectives from a Sibling and a Spouse, Valerie has invited her own husband and sister for intimate conversations with her about their journeys together for the years she was drastically sick before her recovery. This riveting episode reveals the dramatic impact on a marriage, children, siblings, friends, and caregivers. A surefire classic, not to be missed. Find Valerie and Helen at https://mentalhealthhopeandrecovery.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is so vast and perplexing, Valerie and Helen devoted two episodes to OCD. They discovered a complex and harrowing mental illness often trivialized and misunderstood by those who don’t have it. To legitimize the severity of the disorder, they turned to the experts. In Part Two, their searching questions are answered by a seasoned OCD professional, Dr. Ginny Fullerton. Her encyclopedic knowledge of OCD encompasses causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment methods and breakthroughs, along with profound insights for individuals battling OCD, their families and loved ones. To supplement this invaluable education, Helen and Valerie urge audiences to listen to Episode 45, which features the miraculous story of Mel, a woman who had OCD from early childhood into her adult life, and who made a heroic recovery. Find Valerie and Helen at https://mentalhealthhopeandrecovery.com Show Notes: International OCD Foundation — https://hiocdf.org Family Accommodation Behaviors — https://ysph.yale.edu/familyaccommodationocd/about/ When a Loved One Won’t Seek Mental Health Treatment: How to Promote Recovery and Reclaim Your Family’s Well-Being by C. Alec Pollard PhD, Melanie VanDyke PhD, Gary Mitchell LCSW, Heidi J. Pollard RN, MSN, Gloria Mathis PhD Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, OCD, is an illness many people trivialize because they don’t understand it. OCD proved to be a condition so vast and complex that Valerie and Helen divided it into two episodes. In this first episode, they explore the components of OCD: diagnosis, causes, symptoms, treatment, and hope for recovery. To fully enlighten listeners, there is the firsthand account from Mel, a woman who struggled with OCD from early childhood until her hard won recovery years later. Her experiences, insights and courage are not to be missed. OCD Part Two will focus on the professional expert’s perspective through an in-depth interview with OCD specialist, Dr. Ginny Fullerton. Find Valerie and Helen at mentalhealthhopeandrecovery.com Show Notes/Resources: The International OCD Foundation—iocdf.org Brain Lock by Jeffrey Schwartz, MD Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eating disorders are pernicious and powerful, with dangerous symptoms and sometimes lethal consequences. However, researchers and scientists are developing effective methods to treat them. Valerie and Helen share some of the most recent breakthroughs in eating disorders treatment.  Though these disorders are damaging and destructive, a life in recovery with an eating disorder is possible, as we hear in Valerie and Helen’s insightful interview with Cailin. We don’t often hear about the long-term impact of these disorders on one person’s life. Cailin affords us the rare opportunity to do so by sharing her first-hand account of her life-long battle and subsequent triumph. Cailin shares the accessible, impactful strategies and skills she uses effectively during tough times and in on-going recovery. Cailin’s story of her fight and victory over eating disorders is empowering and invaluable. Find Valerie and Helen at https://mentalhealthhopeandrecovery.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Healing Power of Animals and Pets is a revelation and celebration for Helen, Valerie and listeners everywhere. The positive impact of animals on people with mental health challenges is as uplifting as it is irrefutable. Science shows that the closeness and touch of a pet can stimulate mood-enhancing hormones in the brain; help with emotional regulation; ward off depression and sadness; promote healthy connections. The use of animals began sixty years ago, and now is recognized as an effective method in many cases. Two expert animal therapists, one in Equine Therapy with horses, and one in Canine Therapy with dogs, are fascinating guests whose experiences and successes bring tears to the eye and hope to the heart. Find Valerie and Helen at mentalhealthhopeandrecovery.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this important episode, Valerie and Helen explore the subject of work and its critical role in recovery. For people with a mental health condition, work is a weighty challenge that can evoke anxiety and fear, hopes and dreams. Given their extensive backgrounds in the workplace, both successes and the inability to have a job due to acute mental illnesses, Helen and Valerie understand the great benefits of work as well as the downsides. Research shows that for American workers, employment is far more than a paycheck. It provides structure, a social network, meaning, and a positive identity. Few things can be as meaningful to recovery as a job. Don’t miss this full exploration of work, and finding, getting, and keeping employment. Find Valerie and Helen at mentalhealthhopeandrecovery.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Valerie and Helen pursue the holy grail of recovery—thriving in the aftermath of mental illness. For centuries, the ability to thrive would seem almost inconceivable, as traditional treatments focused on the cessation of symptoms and basic survival. But recent studies prove that thriving is possible, even for those who’ve suffered from severe, long-term illness or multiple diagnoses. Helen and Valerie reveal how they progressed into thriving after long years of struggle. Three guests also share their insights and methods for thriving today. As proven in research, thriving after mental illness is becoming recognized as an achievable outcome. Helen and Valerie’s wish for their listeners is the chance for a rich, fulfilling, meaningful life worth living. Find Helen and Valerie at www.mentalhealthhopeandrecovery.com NAMI: “Thriving with Bipolar” by Maureen Goldman  Mental Health Nursing Magazine. 2012, Issue 11. From Survive to Thrive: Living Your Best Life with Mental Illness by Dr. Margaret S. Chisolm, 2021 A Guide to Thriving with Mental Illness by Mequell W. Buck, 2016 Canadian Community Health Research Survey: Thriving with a Mental Illness, 2012 University of Southern Florida, Mood and Emotion Lab Research Study: Thriving with a Mental Illness; Dr. Andrew Devendorf, 2022 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Loneliness has been declared the new American epidemic by the U.S. Surgeon General. Its destructive impact on an individual life and on society as a whole was explored in the previous episode. Nowhere is loneliness more debilitating and dangerous than for those with mental health challenges. In this second part, Valerie and Helen provide multiple methods for overcoming loneliness through relationships, skills and strategies, goal setting, social activities, and community. Their research shows the impact loneliness has on the brain, and how the brain is hardwired to need and seek human connection for basic survival. In light of this human necessity, science now shows that the brain distorted by loneliness can be regenerated through new behaviors, beliefs, and practices. Do not miss this opportunity to learn about new pathways of recovery from the loneliness epidemic. Find Helen and Valerie online at www.mentalhealthhopeandrecovery.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices