Real Peer Support Podcasts : Recent Episodes
Keith Andertson
We discuss peer support during our podcasts, specifically Chronic Pain and Mental Health, Queer and Neurodivergent, and Men and Mental Health. More Groups will be added, with supporting podcasts.
Join Audrey Balsor and Amber Chinn as they explore how emotions show up in our body and effect our chronic pain. They delve into the science behind unprocessed emotions and how they show up in our bodies. Like what you hear and want to join a peer-led Chronic Pain Support Group? Follow this link to sign up: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/chronic-pain-and-your-mental-health-tickets-850789744027?aff=oddtdtcreator
Join Amber Chinn and Audrey Balsor as they talk about when to disclose (a chronic illness) and how to seek accommodations at work. They explore their own experiences, research, and the lived experiences with others to chart a course to accommodations that can and should be available to people who experience a chronic illness in the workplace. If you would like to join their weekly FREE Chronic Pain and Mental Health peer support group, please copy the link and sign up. https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/chronic-pain-and-your-mental-health-tickets-850789744027?aff=oddtdtcreator
Ryan Gould and Keith Anderson are proud to launch their new podcast - How Life Goes They will be sharing their respective journeys through mental mental health challenges. They share a mutual respect and understanding which fosters a healthy discussion. The conversation will be real and authentic, without filters.
In this second episode of Chronic Chronicles: The Achy Breaky Paincast, Amber and Audrey talk about how having a diagnosis of Chronic Pain can change your identity, both internally and externally, and how to navigate these changes. Link to sign up and details about the FREE Chronic Pain Peer Support Group with Amber and Audrey are here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/chronic-pain-and-your-mental-health-tickets-850789744027?aff=oddtdtcreator
Meet Amber Chinn and Audrey Balsor - Worth Living’s Chronic Pain Peer Support Facilitators - as they get personal and share their personal journeys with Chronic Pain and explore what it means to be a Chronic Pain survivor.
Keith Anderson shares the life changing challenges of the last six months. He is grateful that he is still here with all of you.
Keith and Cat return to the podcast in the new year to discuss 2023 resolutions. Cat encourages discarding the notion of year long resolutions in favor of smaller, more achievable goals. Keith describes his previous goals, including getting more active in the way that he enjoys and improving upon his personal strengths instead of focusing on his weaknesses. Cat reveals her current goal and recommends goals for those unsure of what to focus on right now. Self care is at the forefront of this discussion, which the podcasters see as one of the most important goals to have.
Keith and Cat return from summer break to discuss anxiety. Cat explains the differences between generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and stress, and emphasizes that all mental health challenges are valid and worth seeking help for. Keith discusses his relationship with meditation, and Cat discusses her experience with acupuncture. Both agree that self care is important for improving stress, anxiety, and overall wellbeing.
Cat and Keith return to the Worth Living podcast to discuss anxiety in their respective fields. Cat is currently in medical school, and Keith is a lawyer. Both are highly stressful, highly demanding professions that don’t conform to the traditional 9-5 work day. Cat explains how class rank and upcoming standardized tests have contributed to her anxiety disorder, and Keith discusses staying up until early in the morning in order to meet important deadlines. Both explore the notion of “work life balance” and conclude that work and life for them are intricately intertwined.
Keith and Cat return to the Worth Living podcast to provide some updates for 2022. They describe the new merchandise, designed by Hannah-Grace Morgan, which includes quotes from Life Worth Living: A Mental Health Anthology. Keith also introduces Worth Living Well: a yoga, meditation, and wellness studio offering classes soon. They welcome some new members to the team, including Ryan Gould and Patricia Murray, Mental Health Consultants and Strategists. Worth Living looks forward to continuing the mental health conversation in the new year!
Nikki Opara joins Keith Anderson for a deeply personal conversation. They discuss the challenges that Nikki has encountered over the years, but the message of hope is ever present. They celebrate all that she has accomplished.
Nikki is one of the co-authours of Life Worth Living:A Mental Health Anthology
Caution: Suicide is dicussed
Canada
National Suicide Prevention Line
1-833-456-4566 Text: 45645
United States of America
National Suicide Prevention Line
1-800-273-8255 24/7
Natalie Volpicelli joins Keith Anderson as Worth Living returns with a new series of podcasts. They discuss Natalie's contribution to the recently published Life Worth Living: A Mental Health Anthology. Click to listen to her words of hope and healing.
Katie, Cat and Keith tackle the “holiday blues”: signs of depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses that occur specifically during the holiday season. Eating disorders can be exacerbated by Thanksgiving meals. Seasonal depression during the winter months can be amplified by the expectation of a perfect Christmas. New Years Eve can feel foreboding if you think you have nothing to look forward to in the new year. The co-hosts encourage listeners to accept all of their feelings as valid, especially during what many perceive as the “most wonderful time of the year.” They understand that this year has had and will continue to have unique difficulties, but encourage people to take care of themselves and ask for help when needed. We will get through the end of this year together.
In Part 2 of a two part mini-series, Cat, Katie and Keith address common topics related to mental illness and relationships. The co-hosts discuss 1) getting back into the dating game after being diagnosed, 2) disclosure of mental illness throughout the relationship, and 3) advice for dating someone with mental health chgallenges.
In Part 1 of a two part mini-series, Keith, Cat and Katie explore their respective journeys addressing mental illness in their romantic relationships. Each speaker has a different viewpoint on how and when mental health should be talked about, but all agree that open discussion is key to a long lasting and healthy relationship. Check back soon for Part 2!
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Katie, Keith and Cat discuss the importance of maintaining your mental health in the workplace, describing their positive and negative experiences talking about mental illness with their colleagues and superiors. They decide that a welcoming and compassionate work environment should be the norm, not the exception, and encourage employees and employers to do their part to ensure their companies are open to conversations on mental health.
Katie, Keith and Cat describe what self-care means and looks like for each of them. They emphasize the importance of daily self-care routines and explain the difference between appropriate self-care and the unhealthy self-care portayed in the media.
Cat Davis, Keith Anderson and Katie Campeau lay out their individual paths to self-esteem, acknowledging both the similarities and differences in their journeys. One grew up with confidence, one had to find confidence after a childhood heavy with insecurity, and one had to figure out the critical difference between confidence and grandiose delusions. The co-hosts end on a light hearted, feel good note by highlighting a couple of their individual attributes that give them feelings of self-esteem.
TRIGGER WARNING: Suicide and Self Harm Discussed
September 10th is World Suicide Prevention Day. In this very important and very personal podcast, Katie, Keith and Cat talk about their struggles with suicidal thoughts, plans and even attempts with raw honesty and openness. They end the podcast thankful that they have made it through these difficult times and they are “still here."
Resources for suicide prevention include
Emergency Services 911
National Suicide Prevention Line ( Canada ) CALL TOLL FREE 1-800-273-8255 (Available 24/7).
Nova Scotia Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team Available 24/7 902-429-8167. Toll Free 1-888-429-8167
Crisis Services Canada 1-833-456-4566
Kids Help Phone kindshelpphone.ca 1-800-668-6868 text TALK to 686868
Cat Davis and Keith Anderson discuss the feeling of guilt for past behaviour. We took responsibility for our lives by addressing and accepting what we did in the past, before we were diagnosed and treated.The focus of the podcast is ourpast personal relationships with respective partners.
Cat Davis, Keith Anderson, and Katie Campeau discuss mental illness misconceptions in bipolar disorder, depression, OCD, and eating disorders. Each host shares some of the most outlandish stereotypes they’ve heard and provide appropriate alternatives using their experiences with the disorders.
Cat Davis, Katie Campeau, and Keith Anderson delve into treatments: how they came to be treated, what treatments they used, and how effective those treatments have been. Therapy and medications are hot topics; each speaker shares their personal experiences with both and describes how their treatments have evolved with their disorders.
Katie Campeau, Keith Anderson, and Cat Davis debunk the myth that “recovery” is an ever-attainable, concrete state of mental illness. Each speaker presents their viewpoint on what recovery means to them using personalized examples. The conversation then turns into a reflection on each speaker’s current state in their journey, proving that asymptomatic recovery is not a qualification for mental health activism.
Keith Anderson, Cat Davis, and Katie Campeau discuss mental health and the media, citing both good and bad examples of how movies, books, and the news portray mental illness.
Cat Davis, Katie Campeau and Keith Anderson express their opinions on how loved ones can best help friends and family living with mental illness. They advise support teams to listen and learn from the person who is diagnosed, and encourage the mentality that we will all figure out how to best handle mental illness together. They conclude by mentioning the plethora of resources available to people trying to learn more about mental health, such as activeminds.org (USA) and jack.org (Canada).
Katie Campeau, Keith Anderson and Cat Davis discuss using the term “disability” to describe mental health in layman’s terms, legislation, and academia. They flesh out “ableism” and how we as a society can work to eliminate discrimination based on mental illness.
Sources and further information for this podcast include: Davis, Lennard J., ed. 2017. The Disability Studies Reader. Fifth edition. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis; Donaldson, Elizabeth J., ed. 2018. Literatures of Madness. New York, NY: Springer Berlin Heidelberg; Aubrecht, Katie. 2012. ‘Disability Studies and the Language of Mental Illness’. Pp. 31– 44 in Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal. Vol. 8. Review of Disability Studies; Beresford, Peter. 2000. ‘What Have Madness and Psychiatric System Survivors Got to Do with Disability and Disability Studies?’ Disability & Society 15(1):167–72; Mulvany, Julie. 2000. ‘Disability, Impairment or Illness? The Relevance of the Social Model of Disability to the Study of Mental Disorder’. Sociology of Health and Illness 22(5):582–601;
Keith Anderson and Cat Davis welcome long-time Worth Living contributor and mental health advocate Katie Campeau to the podcast. Each speaker talks through their mental health journeys from first symptoms to present day and opens the floor to questions. Worth Living is truly a safe haven for open discussion about mental health, and Katie is a great addition to the podcast team!
Cat Davis and Keith Anderson take it back to the beginning of their mental health journeys and reminisce on how they met in March of 2017 after overcoming personal hardships. Two lives and two journeys converged, and three years later they are still going strong. After sharing their stories, Cat and Keith encourage anyone listening to the Worth Living podcast or reading the blog to get more involved! Worth Living is a safe haven and wonderful place to meet new people during these uncertain times.
Cat Davis takes control of the Worth Living podcast as she and Keith Anderson discuss the ever-growing fear of the future regarding COVID-19 and encourage praise for the present. While unnerving thoughts such as “When will self-isolation end?” and “What will the world look like afterwards?” tend to pile up on each other and overwhelm us, Keith and Cat urge listeners instead to consider the positives that can come out of this time of uncertainty. Simply naming the things you are thankful for today is a great start to keeping yourself sane during moments of global insanity, a quick exercise that Keith and Cat both practice during the podcast.
Cat Davis and Keith Anderson discuss the Worth Living motto of the 4 H’s plus Home as it pertains to the coronavirus pandemic. They encourage listeners to seek out hope for the future, be active participants in their healing, discover new ways to keep mentally and physically healthy, and find daily happiness all from the safety of home.
Cat Davis and Keith Anderson discuss the impact COVID-19 has had on their respective lives and the challenges of staying at home.
Cat Davis and Keith Anderson continue with their discussion on the Worth Living message. In today's podcast, they cover Health & Happiness. These last 2 H's are important aspects of recovery. Cat and Keith explain how they consider the roles of Health & Happiness during their dark days and now with more light in their lives. The uniqueness of perspective is critical to acknowledge.
Cat Davis and Keith Anderson discuss their journeys through mental health challenges with a focus on hope and healing.
Cat Davis joins Keith to discuss natural remedies that helped on their journey through the darkness of mental health challenges. Walking, dance, meditation, yoga, journals, and music festivals. It's full of great suggestions to make your life worth living.
Cat Davis and Keith discuss their fears and concerns for the future for their respective personal lives. A very interesting and engaging conversation.
Tylia Flores joins Keith to stomp out cerebral palsy and mental illness. Tylia is a strong advocate who takes her life to a better place each day. Her faith and determination show her true resilience. Proud to have her on the WL Team.
Cat Davis and Keith Anderson discuss their determination to address their mental health challenges. They cover their reactions on being diagnosed, taking medication, and their next steps to thrive in life.
Cat Davis, Director of Worth Living USA, and Keith Anderson, Founder of Worth Living, discuss their mental breakdowns. They are different generations, different backgrounds, and even from different countries, but they share mental illness. They have common experiences with mental breakdowns and life after.
My first attempt at a podcast. I discuss how depression moved in and took hold of my mind and thus my life. But through the darkness, I am still here. As well, I provide a brief history on how and when Worth Living came to exist.