InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: A Video Podcast Series: Recent Episodes
Tandem Podcasting
Check in for a dose of stigma-break, humor-filling, empowerment building life hacks and motivation for all the “medically-adult-ish” young people. The InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: A Video Podcast Series, is part of InvisiYouth Charity. This international nonprofit helps teens and young adults with various chronic illnesses and disabilities gain the right lifestyle programs, empowerment and fun events to learn how to keep living life. Twice a month, our founder, Dominique Viel, will bring guest experts from all illness/disability fields, like mental health, rare disease, and bereavement, to YouTubers, activists and motivational speakers, adaptive athletes and actors, that are all game-changers for young adult healthcare. We’ll tackle the topics that are often too taboo, or uncomfortable or common sense, and provide some lifestyle management. Join this series, as it will be a one-of-a-kind chat show that clusters motivation and advocacy, entertainment and humor, and life hacks and tips.
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Let’s tap into our inner artists and get playful! Our special guest is the founder and illustrator behind I Heart Guts, an award-winning company that promotes characters based on internal organs through a series of plush toys, stickers and apparel. What started as a side project for Wendy slowly grew into this incredible business where these whimsical, creative and impactful plush toys and products can connect with its thousands customers worldwide. Now 20 years since I Heart Guts was launched, Wendy is expanding her products, continuing to be creative, and allowing her company to embody the mindset of “life takes guts” with media attention like People, Entertainment Weekly and The New York Times.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways:
At 2:55 Wendy shares all of her lasts, like her last travel day, last plush toy that was her favorite, last TV show she found, and last thing added to her work desk that’s super sweet.
At 12:43 Wendy and Dominique dive into the love of art and chat about Wendy’s journey from having art as a hobby to diving down a career in art, how did I Heart Guts begin, top advice for those wanting to get into freelance and art careers while still being practical, and how to break through those moments of low inspiration to keep on feeling motivated.
STORY TIME INTERMISSION begins at 30:24 and Wendy gets her prank on! She shares a story about one April Fool’s when Wendy and an employee planned a prank on her husband that involved some plush toys and a highway, so you won’t want to miss this.
And the final segment at 33:51 talks all things organ plush toys! Wendy and Dominique talk about her go-to tools for illustration and why old school pen and paper are always a great way to start, why her company’s products seem to really resonate with the chronic illness and disability community, the value of having something to bring levity to the challenges or hardships of health issues, her favorite customer story, and what she hopes gets to be in the future of I Heart Guts.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Wendy and I Heart Guts @iheartguts, on all social media platforms! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet or Sticker Collection on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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38th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
This is another addition from our “Personal Growth Series” for 2025, where all episodes will be targeting one of four major personal growth areas in life, so young people living with chronic illness/disability can gain techniques to empower themselves for their best versions of adapting for success.
We’re focusing on our fourth and final area: self-confidence, and specifically how to boost self-confidence with full picture self-talk that not toxic positivity nor pessimism, but rather a mindset of the kintsugi philosophy for some realistic personal perspective.
Learn the steps on why it is so important to gain greater tools of self-confidence, what kintsugi pottery is all about and how the actual philosophy of life is a way of finding growth and beauty within the imperfections the full picture is the focus rather than the cracks or problems, and why a mentality that’s focused on personal development rather than positivity can actually bring more confidence that’s sustaining.
Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, Kintsugi Method, and learn about how to develop self-talk that’s positive realism about the struggles or problems within our lives, how people can understand that reframing the way you look at struggles to see how they’re connected to the full person and their multiple facets versus focusing on the struggle can bring more positive self-talk, and the reasoning behind creating steps to find the personal growth and positives from the challenges in the over person that you are can make self-confidence stronger as it goes because you’re reframing the hardships.
Plus, founder Dominique opens up her journey of self-confidence and positive self-talk through her experience after her spinal correction and fusion surgery during the early years of her chronic illness journey make her self-confidence take a hit, and she wanted to find ways to reframe how she view her chronic illness, scar and overall life with a mindset that empowered the challenges as pieces of herself she was proud of and could find the growth and positives within so her full self-picture was always confident.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
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Let’s get talking about some empowerment with mental and physical health with our special guest, mental health and wellness content creator, Kelly U. With over 200k followers, Kelly has created a vibrant platform filled with vulnerable empowerment all stemmed from her personal experiences living with IBS and mental health. With some of her content reaching millions of views, Kelly has gotten to work with brands like SXSW, Olly Wellness, and Aerie Real to name a few all centered on her strong content creator that’s honest and empowering.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways:
- 3:14 Kelly gives rapid fire answers to her favorite childhood game, a staple in her fridge, why she wants to expand her date night plans, a dream vacation location, and why underdressed to the occasion is her functional favorite.
- 13:43 Dominique and Kelly go through her Medical Pop Headlines as they share the stories behind her winning Health and Wellness Influencer of the Year with The Influence Awards, the power of talking about mental health and therapy from her time on the SXSW Panel, and why some of her viral IBS videos about relationships and IBS explain the value of finding trust in your support system.
- STORY TIME INTERMISSION at 29:09 gets vulnerable as Kelly shares the time she got empowered and learned the importance of setting boundaries with her parents in order to improve her own wellbeing and family dynamic.
- 33:33 ends the podcast as Kelly and Dominique talk openly about the duality between physical and mental health, how she discovered the importance of working on both her chronic illness and mental health equally in order to live and empowered life, the steps she takes to use the distance of time when choosing content topics, her top advice on how to support your physical or mental health when the other part is struggling, and all the different tools they recommend trying in a wellness toolbox so your balance of life with chronic illness and mental health wellness can be achieved.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Kelly @kellyu, on all social media platforms! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet or Sticker Collection on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
Wanna support our nonprofit?
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37th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
This is another addition from our “Personal Growth Series” for 2025, where all episodes will be targeting one of four major personal growth areas in life, so young people living with chronic illness/disability can gain techniques to empower themselves for their best versions of adapting for success.
We’re focusing on our third area: advocacy, and specifically how we can achieve the level of advocacy or ourselves and causes that mean the most to us without feeling like we need to be pushed out of our comfort zones on the level and volume of our advocacy.
Learn the steps on why it is so important to gain greater tools of self-advocacy methods and the types of advocacy that are available, why it’s valuable to understand passive activism as a starting point or way to evoke curiosity to create positive change or raise awareness, and the value of learning how to advocate for yourself and a cause that’s important to you when utilizing your confident communication style so you can feel its impact.
Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, The Shania Method, and learn about how to creating in your self-advocacy style because you’re utilizing kind communication tactics to subtly advocate for your rights and needs while allowing the other party to feel open-minded to learn and grown, and how creating a perspective shift on advocating from a place of sparking someone else’s curiosity to listen, learn and grown can allow you to achieve the maximum amount of equity and support.
Plus, founder Dominique opens up how her personal style of advocacy fused itself into the formation of InvisiYouth’s mission and that she was able to actually utilize our subtle activist stickers in a moment when she needed to self-advocate for her chronic illness to not just educate someone but also raise awareness on her community.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
Wanna support our nonprofit?
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Let’s go on an adventure…a micro-adventure that is. It’s all about taking those small activities and ideas and turning them into big adventures for ourselves so travel and fun can be accessible and adaptive to happen weekly instead of the occasional holiday. That’s why we’re so excited to have a longtime friend of InvisiYouth’s on the podcast because she’s built a business on taking micro-adventures. It's UK Blogger on Micro-Adventures, Katie May Chesworth. Having lived with chronic illnesses like ulcerative colitis, an ileostomy and arthritis since 17, Katie has grown accustomed to finding accessible adventures she can do anytime. Now at 29, working in the space of writing and documenting her micro-adventures on her popular blog, Postcards From, Katie has brought her over 37k followers along the journey.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways:
- At 3:20 we get to know Katie’s random responses about her go to wakeup song, why she’s 50/50 on spontaneity and planning, her favorite scent, how she’d survive a zombie apocalypse and the micro-adventure that’s in the pipeline she’s very excited to try.
- At 11:26 Katie and Dominique talk about her initial draw to micro-adventures, how she transitioned from doing it for herself to making it a profession, why she feels adding micro-adventures into her weekly routine has actually improved her relationship with her physical and mental health, and what are ways others living with chronic illness can adopt the same whimsical mindset.
- STORY TIME INTERMISSION at 25:32 takes us on a spontaneous adventure how Katie’s plan for a January Daily Micro-Adventure Challenge resulted in her getting the opportunity to go to Turkey to create content for a month…only that she’d need to go in 72 hours.
- And our final segment at 31:49 is all about the how-to’s on building your own micro-adventures. Katie shares how to creates her idea list of micro-adventures, the reason it’s valuable to tally in your micro-adventure days at the start of each month before picking them out, why good Google search terms and maps can bring the best results, how solo trips versus family/friends can bring two types of micro-adventure experiences, and her top micro-adventures you can do from home on bad health days or bad weather days.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Katie @postcardsfromkatie_ on all social media platforms! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet or Sticker Collection on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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36th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
This is another addition from our “Personal Growth Series” for 2025, where all episodes will be targeting one of four major personal growth areas in life, so young people living with chronic illness/disability can gain techniques to empower themselves for their best versions of adapting for success.
We’re focusing on our third area: advocacy for the first time, and specifically how do you learn how to self-advocate, especially when it comes to situations about your chronic illness or disability, in a way that involves the positive reframing of compromise, especially when it comes to advocating for compromise so you can have flexibility to adapt and create success.
Learn the steps on why it is so important to gain greater tools of self-advocacy methods through the skillset of compromise, why looking at compromise as a beneficial action versus one of losing out on is a good reframe, and learning to advocate to know where the wiggle room is for some diversity in the way you achieve the end goal, you can find that inner power and strength that you’ll still be able to be flexible in finding success in a way that suits you.
Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, Double Meaning Compromise Method, and learn about how to creating in your self-advocacy style because you’re utilizing compromise as a proactive and positive skill for yourself, and the ways the positive approach to self-advocating by requesting mutual compromise so there’s success all around and you can find adaptation to create successful outcomes that all parties are comfortable and happy to use.
Plus, founder Dominique opens up a time when she was given a treatment program for her chronic illness that would have seriously impacted her full way of life, and how this strategy of self-advocating through the tool of compromise is used primarily in order to keep the necessary elements in place, while compromising with flexibility on the parts that serve you.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
Wanna support our nonprofit?
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We know the power of sports, so to bring one a top athlete in one of the coolest adaptive sports is going to bring all the fun, excitement and impact. Team USA Para Snowboarder, Zach Miller, who has won two World Championships, six World Championship medals and was on the 2022 Beijing Paralympic team. Born in Colorado with cerebral palsy, Zach was introduced to snowboarding at 13 years old, and has worked through to become the elite athlete he is today. He even won the 2023 Best Athlete with a Disability Award at the ESPYS and is training for the 2026 Milano Cortina Paralympic Games!
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways:
- At 3:27 Zach shares all of his lasts, like the last sport he tried, newest meal he enjoyed, the last video game he played, and the last hobby he picked up…and all the answers will be surprising!
- At 18:20 Zach and Dominique talk all about his start in para snowboard, how the community of adaptive sports has been a game-changer in the trajectory of his life, what he’s learned as a coach for Adaptive Action Sports and teaching the next generation of para snowboarders, and how has coaching while still competing has changed the way he competes on the professional level.
- STORY TIME INTERMISSION is major at 35:35 and Zach shares about his impactful experience of winning his ESPYS, and it goes much deeper than the fun night on the red carpet meeting famous athletes, but a connection to how we need to view ourselves as multi-hyphenate individuals.
- And we end the episode at 50:45 getting to know some facts about Zach’s para snowboarding career, what’s surprised him the most in the sport, how he feels its evolved as a sport from his early days competing, what he’s learned from his first competition that he takes into his current professional competitions, why slow is actually a needed skill in para snowboard, and the one thing he’d want to tell future Zach before hitting the snow at 2026 Milano Cortina in March.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Zac @themountainmiller, on all social media platforms! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet or Sticker Collection on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
Wanna support our nonprofit?
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35th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
This is another addition from our “Personal Growth Series” for 2025, where all episodes will be targeting one of four major personal growth areas in life, so young people living with chronic illness/disability can gain techniques to empower themselves for their best versions of adapting for success.
We’re focusing on our second area: sharing for the final time, and specifically how do you choose when you share with others to gain that community and external support while also needing to digest information and self-disclose in order to process and formulate opinions with themselves through their skills in sharing inwardly and outwardly.
Learn the steps on why it is so important to gain greater tools of sharing methods so you can communicate your wants, needs, information and feelings with yourself and others, how there’s a difference but equal important for inward sharing and outward sharing, what distinguishes between the two types of sharing, and how a person can become better at sharing with themselves to decipher their thoughts, feelings and questions first before sharing with others and prevent getting a diluted opinion.
Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, Zoom In, Zoom Out Theory, and learn about how to fully digest your major information and news drops in your life the ways to initially self-disclose so you can personally reflect and get your thoughts, emotions and questions discovered without them being diluted by external input, and the ways that outward approach to sharing should be to garner a community of support and perspectives so you can share effectively and positively to approach any of those life challenges and major decisions.
Plus, founder Dominique opens up a time when she was given a serious piece of information regarding a treatment program for her chronic illness that would have seriously impacted her way of life, and how this strategy of inward and outward thinking allowed her to process, make choices, gain community support and a successful result to come from it all.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
Wanna support our nonprofit?
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We’re talking about finances, people! Whether you love it or hate it, we all have to deal with our finances, and finding advice and tools to feel confidence when it comes to managing finances effectively is key. UK accountant for small businesses, content creators and entrepreneurs, Emily Rose Vass has taken her over decade of experience as an accountant, along with her experience as a content creator to provide tailored financial guidance to clients to take away initial fears, feel empowered to be insightful with your business and grow finances. Engaging her audience online with financial management topics, Emily has grown and evolved her work to make taking finances an engaging topic.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways:
- At 3:18 Emily gives her rapid answers about the first thing she’d do if she won the lottery, her first job being quite the unique job, the party game she’ll always get competitive playing, favorite accounting phrase, and the Swiftie moment at her wedding.
- At 12:31 Emily and Dominique talk about the ways to not feel overwhelmed balancing finances while being your own boss—especially as young adult living with chronic illness or disability, the main challenges she notices among her clients about their knowledge of finances, why pre-planning the finance goals and annual taxes you’d need to be preparing monthly in key, and the top tip to feel confident asking financial questions with your accountants or inner circle.
- STORY TIME INTERMISSION at 33:03 gets real as Emily shares about her early years with chronic illness as a trip to Japan with her now-husband resulted in an emergency bathroom moment that not only led to her diagnosis of Ulcerative Colitis, but also her feeling more confident in talking about chronic illness with those around her.
- And we end the podcast episode at 38:12 as Emily and Dominique talk about what’s the best starting points to search if you want some free financial guidance and the safety measures to know you’re getting certified advice, ways to get into saving and the benefits of that contingency plan, how to plan your monthly spending personally and professionally, and the top tools and tips to keep up with your finances every month so you’ll be efficient, flexible and learn how to adapt and grow during all stages of your career.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Emily @emilyrosevass, on all social media platforms and their website! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet or Subtle Activism Sticker Collection on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
Wanna support our nonprofit?
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34th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
This is another addition from our “Personal Growth Series” for 2025, where all episodes will be targeting one of four major personal growth areas in life, so young people living with chronic illness/disability can gain techniques to empower themselves for their best versions of adapting for success.
We’re still focusing on our second area: sharing, and specifically how we can improve our ability to share vital information and feelings with those in all the different facets of our lives, and rather, realizing the power each individual has to decipher all the layers of closeness and trust with those in all parts of our lives so we can share different things with different people to get well-rounded support in life.
Learn the steps on why it is so important to gain greater tools of sharing methods so you can communicate your wants, needs, information and feelings with those involved in your life, how you can decipher those different sections and layers of people in your life based off your level of trust and closeness with them, and why it’s valuable to actually have a range of people in your life that you can share certain things with about life, emotions and experiences versus a few people that you share everything with.
Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, Darts and Bullseye Network Mindset, and learn about how to be thoughtful in sharing with those around you, how to take stock of the people in your life in all levels of closeness and trust to decide learning your skills of sharing the personal and surface level elements, and the value of having the bullseye person to share it all with, while also having the full dartboard of people to share different elements of your life with so you can be fully supported.
Plus, founder Dominique opens up a time while working at her publishing job when she met new coworkers for the first time that didn’t know about her chronic illness, and how she handled sharing about a recent injury with those that were new to her life versus those that were her original coworkers that knew more about the intricacies of her life, so she was fully supported.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
Wanna support our nonprofit?
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Function and fashion are two things that should always align, and we love when we get to have a special guest from the fashion world. Founder and innovator of Slick Chicks, Helya Mohammadian, has made sure her brand’s mission is to make intimates, loungewear and active wear that’s accessible and provides a sense of dignity and independence in getting dressed. Selling online and in retailers like Target and CVS, Slick Chicks has connected with the masses for its beauty and comfortability, and Helya has made it her mission to bring a deeper understanding to the fashion industry for more inclusivity and representation.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways:
- At 3:46 Helya gives out some of her life superlatives, like what she would say in her sleep, a dream celeb to model for Slick Chicks, which country she’d want to live in, why she loves a video call, and why Friends is a must TV binge.
- At 13:18 Helya and Dominique talk about how Helya transitioned from the fashion industry to creating her own brand, what she’s learned from the chronic illness/disability community as Slick Chicks has grown, why it’s valuable to listen and lean in as a founder, and her top tips for new entrepreneurs.
- STORY TIME INTERMISSION at 29:31 gets us into the reality TV vibes as Helya tells us about that one time she went on a reality TV show and totally learned that expectation and reality were two different things.
- And the final segment at 34:06 gets us in the fashion energy. Heyla and Dominique talk about how diversity and inclusivity constantly grow to make fashion impact numerous lives, why functional and fashionable need to interest more often, how she breaks the misconceptions and lack of knowledge mainstream fashion and merchandisers have about adaptive fashion so it can reach a wider audience, the reason both female founders feel patience is a virtue and a skill to sharpen, and what are the pieces of advice that Heyla would give to her younger self that she would hope she can continue to take into the future with Slick Chicks.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Helya @helyamohammadian and Slick Chicks @slickchicksonline on all social media platforms and their website! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
Wanna support our nonprofit?
- Watch on YouTube
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33rd InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
This is another addition from our “Personal Growth Series” for 2025, where all episodes will be targeting one of four major personal growth areas in life, so young people living with chronic illness/disability can gain techniques to empower themselves for their best versions of adapting for success.
We’re focusing on a new area: sharing, and specifically how we can improve our ability to share vital information and feelings with those in our support networks or medical teams so we have the open-minded communication and be heard fully without any external factors hindering progress by the usage of bookended communication.
Learn the steps on why it is so important to gain greater tools of sharing methods so you can communicate your wants, needs, information and feelings with those involved in your life, the methods of sharing in a confident manner that improve how others can absorb the information you share, and the reasons using a bookended communication method can improve how another person doesn’t feel judged and will reinforce the details share in future interactions.
Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, Positive Bookended Communication Style on why it’s necessary to start and end conversations that you’re sharing major details with bookended kindness so the participant can feel they aren’t on the defensive but open to listening and learning, the ways you can incorporate supportive language to share your needs and feelings that will allow you to adapt and excel, and the rationale behind how your ability to share information in this way can actually improve how your information and needs are being met while simultaneously increasing the ability for someone to retain that information to implement in their support of you.
Plus, founder Dominique opens up about a time in her medical journey when her healthcare team want to revert back to a treatment from her past that she experienced positive and negative side effects, and how both parties were able to use positive bookended kindness as the sharing method so a compromise and accurate solution could be made and everyone felt validated.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
Wanna support our nonprofit?
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Bridging Instagram friends into the podcasting world, our special guest has creating a company and influencer lane for themselves all before they’ve graduated from university.
Talk about rockstar status! We have founder of Sugardrop Sweetwear Co, Type One Diabetes Advocate and Influencer, Kate Beaulieu. Diagnosed at 11 years old while living in Canada, Kate immediately began to learn about her T1D diagnosis while raising awareness, launching Sugardrop to sell sweatshirts and raise awareness on early signs of T1D months after her diagnosis. Shipping globally, expanding the brand and a large social media presence of over 22k TikTok followers, Kate is taking the world by storm.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways:
- At 3:30 get to know all the quirky and insightful facts about Kate like her favorite accent, ideal celebrity roommate, overused emojis and adjectives, and why she’d be joining the Friends cast if she could.
- At 11:11 we dive into Kate’s TikTok life, learning all the behind-the-scenes of her inspiration behind taking hot trends and giving them T1D awareness spins, why she enjoys raising awareness in how-to posts so everyone across the spectrum can learn more about T1D and chronic conditions, and how she’s balanced sharing the multifaceted emotions that come with a chronic illness that’s both cathartic and impactful.
- STORY TIME INTERMISSION at 28:11 gets us all in the friendship vibes as Kate shares how going to an annual Diabetes Conference in Florida has given her deep friendships around the world with fellow T1D warriors and broadened her horizons of friendships in the community.
- And we end the podcast at 36:14 as Dominique and Kate share all their tips on how to use social media in fun ways while being mindful of your lasting digital footprint, the tips on how to share your diagnosis with friends, ways to give some exposure to friend groups about your chronic illness or disability to engage them and gain their support, and how she’s looking into the future for her advocacy for T1D for the years ahead.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Kate on @sugardrop_co, on all social media platforms and their website! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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32nd InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
This is the next addition from our “Personal Growth Series” for 2025, where all episodes will be targeting one of four major personal growth areas in life, so young people living with chronic illness/disability can gain techniques to empower themselves for their best versions of adapting for success.
We’re focusing on the area of independence for the final time, and specifically how we can improve our perception of independence being a state of being that requires actions to be done alone and rather alter that opinion to approach it with supports and flexibility to bring personal growth and mental well-being into your end goal of independent living.
Learn the steps on why it is so important to reach levels of independence as we grow up, what are the main life factors that can impede our goals of independence, why it is important to reframe the way we approach independence as a state of being free, and not a state that needs to be achieved alone at all times, and why it’s even more valuable for those with chronic illness and disability to approach independence as an altered independence mindset.
Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, Triangle Independence Mindset, on why looking at independence in a new light as something to achieve in an end goal versus the process of getting there needs to be done alone can reframe your goals, why it is vital to incorporate supports to reach the same end goal without the solo work that can hurt your health, and how independence is actually a state of being that can still be achieved with an altered approach of allowing those supports (whether they’re people or structures) into our lives so that we can still achieve independence and independent living just in a way that breaks away from the societal norm.
Plus, founder Dominique opens up about her recovery process after her spine surgery and how she lost a sense of independence by needing help from others, but when she reframed her mindset on what her independence goals were while at school, she was able to look at it from a new framework, incorporate some pillars of support that assisted her health needs, and achieve independence in a new way.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
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An absolute fan moment as we get to have someone within the Formula 1 world on InvisiYouth Chat Sessions! Jennie Gow has been reporting on motorsport since 2010, being part of BBC MotoGP, Formula E and joining Formula 1 as a BBC F1 broadcaster.
She’s even been featured on Netflix’s Drive to Survive. But in December 2022, Jennie suffered a stroke that damaged parts of her brain associated with speech, on top of other long-term effects. With the support of her medical team, family, friends and colleagues, Jennie worked hard in her recovery and returned to F1 as a broadcaster and correspondent in July 2023, and released her first book, How to Read F1, this past fall!
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways:
- At 3:45 we learn all of Jennie’s lasts, like the last hotel that gave her a favorite meal, last supper lineup she’d create, last time she saw something for the first time at a F1 Grand Prix, and how family Pictionary was a cry-laughing moment.
- At 12:22 Jennie opens up about her stroke journey, how recovery is never linear and finding comfort in the evolution of acceptance can bring the most growth, why she chose to go public about her stroke early on, how she focused the early days of stroke recovery with the drive of her family, and her advice on returning to work after a health setback or new diagnosis. Plus a fun story about trying to take a nap at McLaren during Zandvoort Grand Prix brought the techno music.
- STORY TIME Intermission at 33:49 has Jennie sharing about her first interview with 7x F1 Driver’s Champion Lewis Hamilton during his early McLaren days, his vibrant answer on describing what it’s like driving an F1 car, and what that meeting meant for Jennie.
- And the final segment at 40:11 is for all the F1 and motorsport fans! Jennie and Dominique talk why she wanted to write her book and how the multiple facets of F1 can bring in all sorts of fans, why Jennie’s never watched a full race until her stroke recovery, the reason the Austin GP is a prime starter race for anyone, the new driver she feels everyone needs to watch, and the one thing she appreciates about F1 differently after coming back to broadcasting after her stroke.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Jennie @jennie.gow on all social media platforms and buy her book, HOW TO READ F1 in UK bookstores and online today! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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31st InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
This is the second addition from our “Personal Growth Series” for 2025, where all episodes will be targeting one of four major personal growth areas in life, so young people living with chronic illness/disability can gain techniques to empower themselves for their best versions of adapting for success.
We’re still focusing on the area of independence, and specifically how we can improve our mental clarity and focus by embracing a sense of play during serious times and the rationale behind that being a critical aspect of independence for your personal growth and mental well-being.
Learn the steps on why it is so important to incorporate play into your routine as a successful and well-rounded young adult, the connection between improving your personal independence in your skills and life while improving your skills in play, the benefits of fostering a sense of play to balance the seriousness of responsibilities with improved mental clarity, and why it aligns so deeply to those having to grow up fast while living with a chronic illness or disability.
Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, Play Time Game, Time Theory, on how important it is to recognize your stress indicators when you feel you’re not able to be as independent or stress-free as you’d like to be successful, know the value of adding play time activity breaks that align well to hobbies or activities that give you a sense of jovial, inner child enjoyment, learn how to decompress and unwind mentally so you can foster that independence through play by improving your problem-solving, decision-making and embracing enjoyment with a sense of autonomy, and understand how having that time of play will directly improve your mental clarity and continue you on a positive and success trajectory of independence.
Plus, founder Dominique opens up about her senior year of university, which was a time of a lot of medical changes, educational responsibilities and building InvisiYouth, so she was handling a lot of stressful and challenging roles and getting bogged into it, which meant that she needed to infuse some regular play into her routine to recharge and gain mental clarity to be successful in my independence.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
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Season 7 begins today, and we’ve reached a milestone of 101 podcast episodes! Plus, we’re excited for an entirely new set of special guests, fun segments, empowering life advice and great stories.
We have an epic first guest of Season 7, Adaptive CrossFit athlete and mentality coach, Amy Bream. Born with PFFD (proximal focal femoral deficiency) and missing majority of her right leg, Amy has grown up thriving to challenge herself. After moving to Nashville in 2014 to pursue a music career, Amy was led into the work of fitness and soon introduced to CrossFit, After beginning to compete professionally in 2021, Amy has thrived, even ranking 3rd Worldwide in Women’s Lower Extremity in the 2023 CrossFit Games. And now she’s taken her expertise to personal and mentality coaching for amputee fitness programs.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways:
- At 3:16 Amy answers a lot of rapid fire questions like a trendy workout class Amy would attend, the song she always sings in the car, where she’d buy a second home, why she loves her thirties and the surprise board game Amy would always win at a party.
- Get empowered at 9:57 as Amy and Dominique talk about her love of CrossFit as Amy shares what about this community drew her in the most, why there’s so much power in the athleticism of Adaptive CrossFit athletes that should be seen by the world, what about CrossFit is misunderstood, and the deep connections Amy’s music roots have in her CrossFit training and fitness world will definitely surprise you.
- STORY TIME Intermission at 23:43 brings the empowerment as Amy talks about the turning point for her to being taking those steps in her confidence-building which began from her brother-in-law asking a very blunt but important questions!
- We end the podcast at 29:01 getting all the fitness tips and confidence boosts as we chat about how to ease worries of getting into fitness, why Amy’s a firm believer in starting before your mind can run away with worries, the value of talking to those working at gyms or fitness classes to take the lead in getting to supports tailored to your needs and personality, what’s the one piece of advice she gives to her amputee fitness program clients, and how to build up your confidence if you’re living with chronic illness and disability but feel that discomfort or fear of going to a gym of group fitness class.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Amy on @onelegtostandon, on all social media platforms and her website! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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30th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
It’s the first addition from our “Personal Growth Series” for 2025, where all episodes will be targeting one of four major personal growth areas in life, so young people living with chronic illness/disability can gain techniques to empower themselves for their best versions of adapting for success.
Our first 2025 topic will be focusing on the area of independence, and specifically how we can improve our own personal medical literacy in a way that’s one critical aspect of independence for your personal growth and mental well-being.
Learn the steps on why it’s massively valuable to understand what health literacy is and how you can incorporate it into your health plans, why it directly links to personal growth within independence, and the ways in which digging into your own personal learning patterns and connections to altered independence can actually allow you to embrace your health literacy with confidence.
Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, Personal Health Literacy Research Method, on how spending time learning about your comprehension styles and communication styles can enable you to be sharper in your health literacy, the ways in which articulating your health literacy style early can allow for your personal health research in times of evolution, setbacks and change can be vital in your own independence in adapting to grow, and why it is crucial for daily living to have a strong grasp on personal health literacy because if you’re able to master your skills in absorbing information and then implementing it efficiently, you’re able to be a much more proactive participant in your health journey.
Plus, founder Dominique talks about the evolved wave of her chronic illness journey when she reached past 10 years since her injury and her health changed, so she needed to sharpen her skills independently on her personal medical literacy to keep up with absorbing and implementing new health plans and goals to adapt and thrive in her new way of living.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
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It’s the Season 6 FINALE episode, so we had to celebrate in style not only bringing on a brand new special guest, but someone that had created a business of interior design that’s beautiful and functional. It’s the founder and principal designer of Blue Copper Design, Maegan Blau. After an accident 15 years ago left Maegan with a spinal cord injury and became a wheelchair user, Maegan took her love of interior design and her challenging experience of finding an accessible and beautiful home and created her own interior design company in 2018. Blue Copper Design, based in Arizona, fuses modern, southwest aesthetic with barrier-free design so clients are empowered to have beautiful homes that are functional for their needs. And they relay even more advice online for all those looking to make their spaces accessible and beautiful.
Here’s our Four Hot Takeaways:
- At 3:34, Maegan examines all of her ‘lasts’ like the last design in a home she became obsessed with, the last new restaurant she went to, the last time she watched a home renovation TV show as actually an episode she was on.
- At 12:16 Dominique and Maegan talk all about Maegan’s origin story of going from homebuyer to interior designer, why it’s valuable for our personal spaces to mirror our aesthetics and functional needs, the reasons it’s important to break the mentality that you can should adapt to live in your own home, and the top tips to mention to a realtor, construction worker or yourself when making your non-negotiables during the house/apartment hunt.
- INTERMISSION STORY TIME at 31:02 brings the humor as Maegan tells the story of when she worked at Lululemon and fell backwards in her wheelchair while ringing out a customer and had a good laugh as her coworkers had to find her.
- And the final segment at 35:21 gets deep in the interior design feels as Maegan and Dominique talk about the ways you can bring some styling and accessible projects to your home without a full renovation, what’s the difference between renovating communal spaces versus private spaces in your home, how to get creative when figuring out renovation projects so you tackle one room at a time, and why it’s not you, in the space, when it comes to making it functional and beautiful for each person.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Maegan @bluecopperdesign **on Instagram!
Donate during our Donate Match Campaign until New Years Eve on our website (*www.invisiyouthcharity.com/donate) and all donations will be matched by a private board member! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth*!
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29th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
It’s the final addition from our “InvisiYouth Galaxy Question Box Series” for 2024, where all episodes have been InvisiYouth answering questions submitted by our InvisiYouth Galaxy Community that are life challenges they need some advice and guidance.
Our final 2024 question dives deep into how you can be empowered through your own preliminary research when you want to make requests at your job or school for supports or accommodations and you feel nervous to ask for fear their lack of experience will hinder you, but rather your presentation of knowledge can make things easier for all.
Learn the steps on why people feel the double edged sword worries of needing to ask for supports in their jobs or schools but feel they won’t be supported, why preliminary research skills are good out of the classroom so you can have knowledge to succeed, the reminder that others ignorance on your accommodations or accessibility at work or school shouldn’t hinder you from requesting it, and the ways it’s valuable to remember you’re never asking for too much when it’s just to equal the playing field. Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, Mise En Place Research Method, how you can learn the mental visual of ‘everything in its place’ that works for prep work when setting up for successful cooking actually works for how to prep your reasons/skills when asking for supports in the workplace or classroom, why gaining your personal knowledge on the how’s and why’s of getting the supports you need can be achieved will help you when presenting the ease it can take for your job or school to provide them for you, and the reason requesting to reach the same end goal in a new path is never a bad thing.
Plus, founder Dominique talks about her early years working in the publishing industry and how she had to do that research of ways she could run errands and out-of-office tasks when she was dealing with new health issues, and the way she presented it to her boss that not only enabled her to feel comfortable giving the supports, but it also make tasks easier for coworkers.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
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Bringing back an old friend always brings the fun on a podcast, and this episode doesn’t disappoint. It’s returning guest, burn survivor, physiotherapist for Katie Piper Foundation, model and public speaker, Catrin Pugh. After surviving a coach crash and fire in the French Alps in 2013, Catrin was left with 96% burns on her body, and along her journey, Catrin has found great work sharing about her life and getting to charity work, public speaking, and modeling in campaigns for Avon Beauty, or feature in Vogue Portugal. And now, she’s a physiotherapist for Katie Piper Foundation, a nonprofit that provides rehabilitation and supportive services to survivors of burns and traumatic scarring.
Here’s our Four Hot Takeaways:
- At 3:25 Catrin drops her favorite word in another language (which also connects to her favorite vacation spot), why she loves a cozy meal, her favorite scent, and why she’s a talker over texter.
- At 13:33 Catrin and Dominique share lots of tips on how to travel and vacation successfully when you’re traveling as someone with a chronic illness/disability, some fun stories about her modeling campaigns like how a last minute modeling job ending up being put in Vogue Portugal, and the girls advice for remaining confident in the dating scene as a young person with chronic illness or disability so you can get the most out of new people and find the partnerships that allow both to shine.
- STORY TIME INTERMISSION at 30:32 let’s Catrin share a story about how a time when she was in a bit of a rut, traveled to Paris and ended up meeting people that were inspired by her sharing about her scarring and being a burn survivor so it reinvigorated her love of motivating others.
- And the final segment at 36:43 had Catrin sharing about her experience getting into physiotherapy, how others had preconceived notions of her capability and she worked through it to succeed in schooling, what about physiotherapy intrigues her the most, and advice from Dominique and Catrin on how to confidently strive towards professional goals in the face of adversity and outsiders questioning capability in order to still love your work and adapt to thrive.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Catrin @catrinpugh on Instagram! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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28th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
It’s the latest addition from our “InvisiYouth Galaxy Question Box Series” for 2024, where all episodes will be InvisiYouth answering questions submitted by our InvisiYouth Galaxy Community that are life challenges they need some advice and guidance.
Our latest question dives deep into how to improve our way of becoming more proactive in your mindsets of communicating your needs when you feel like you’re not getting invited to as many social gatherings after needed to say “no” to invites, so you’re able to regroup and keep the invites open.
Learn the steps on why so many people worry that if they decline too many invites from friends that it’ll negatively impact their friendships and possibly mean they’ll be excluded from future hangout, why most young people feel pressured to say yes to invites even if it doesn’t sync with their health or disability needs, and what are the reasons many young people with chronic illness and disability need to spontaneously cancel plans or not meet and why communicating that with friends is vital for healthy friendships. Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, No Now But Boomerang Later Method, how you can learn how to proactively reframe your way of communicating to avoid being forgotten or uninvited to social gatherings when the reasons you say no are out of your control, how to use causal conversation ques to share the rationales and reasonings behind your no’s and validate your desire to continue being invited, and how to empower your friends to never take your no’s personally, but rather, feel confident in adapting hangouts to your accessibility or health needs, and keeping the boomerang of invitations.
Plus, founder Dominique talks about her first year with chronic illness when she had to say no to more invites and that resulted in her beginning to be invited out less often with friends, so she had to proactively share her reasons behind her declines and reinforce to her friends that she wanted to them never take it personally and continue to invite her and thus, allowing her to have open invitations.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
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We’ve got one of our favorite sister duos back on the podcast, and we’re celebrating all of their achievements! It’s Rachel and Abigail Heringer! You’ll remember Abigail from Season 25 of The Bachelor and Season 7 of Bachelor in Paradise (where she met her fiancée Noah) but now she’s a published author to her new memoir, The Deaf Girl! Abigail and Rachel have grown so much in the years since they were on the podcast in Season 3, both now living in Tulsa with their dogs, and they’ve been achieving successes!
Here’s our Four Hot Takeaways:
- At 4:20 Rachel and Abigail answering questions about each other and reveal the new things they learned about each other from living together, what reality shows all four Heringer siblings would excel on together, what Abigail thinks a book about Rachel’s life would be titled, and the priority Rachel has when helping to plan Abigail’s bachelorette party and bridal shower.
- At 15:00 the sisters dive deep into Abigail’s book and why now was the time to write Abigail’s story, how gaining their mom’s perspective on raising two daughters that were deaf and going through their CI journeys made them appreciate her strength even more, and how Rachel and Abigail believe the book writing experience allowed them to value and appreciate each other’s journeys with CI’s.
- STORY TIME INTERMISSION at 33:13 and Rachel and Abigail share stories how a fender bender meant one of them lost their “ears” (AKA processors) and couldn’t communicate with the driver, and why Abigail will forever recommend looking at magnetic materials first since she misplaced her processors.
- We end at 38:29 with Abigail and Rachel talking about their moves to Tulsa and their tips to acclimating to a new environment, and how Abigail’s fiancée Noah played a big role in welcoming them to the new city, why they both agree finding confidence in how you want to share about your disability allowed them to find deeper friendships, Abigail’s piece of advice for those dating with disability, Rachel’s advice in building up relationships with new family members/friends so they’re comfortable being a good support, and why they both love being dog moms to Abigail and Noah’s dog, Maki and Rachel’s dog, Lou.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Abigail @abigail_heringer and Rachel @heringer_rachel on Instagram! Check out Abigail’s new book, The Deaf Girl on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.And enter our donation book giveaway until October 4th to win a signed copy of the book by just donating any amount on our website www.invisiyouthcharity.com/donate ! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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27th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
It’s the latest addition from our “InvisiYouth Galaxy Question Box Series” for 2024, where all episodes will be InvisiYouth answering questions submitted by our InvisiYouth Galaxy Community that are life challenges they need some advice and guidance.
Our latest question dives deep into how to improve our way of reframing our mindsets both introspectively and interpersonally when it comes to sharing about good and bad health days and the worries and guilt of how others will perceive it, and how we’ll feel if we’re not there yet.
Learn the steps on why understanding the elements of imposter syndrome in our mindsets and behaviors can reframe how we approach potentially feeling guilty for both good and bad health days, how it is important to learn that each person’s health journey is unique to them and doesn’t get to be mirrored by others and their timelines, and the value of understanding how we personally can feel confident in not just sharing with others that understand, but feel confident in how we internalize others’ updates without infusing it into our view of our own journeys in negative ways. Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, Imposter Guilt Syndrome, how you can learn how to introspectively reframe your way of thinking to yourself when you want to feel confident about your current relationship with your chronic illness or disability, and how that can then be relayed to others in a kind delivery, and the ways you can be honest in your delivery of your health wins and flare ups so they are personalized to you while being mindful of others not experiencing the same situation as you at that time.
Plus, founder Dominique talks about a situation when she used Imposter Guilt Syndrome when she was working with other young people with chronic illnesses in a grant research group and how she used this technique to feel confident in the ebb and flow of her chronic illness, while confident in how she was mindful of delivering updates on her good and bad health days with kindness and personalization so guilt wasn’t felt all around.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
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It’s all about hanging with the besties on this podcast episode as our host, and InvisiYouth’s founder/executive director Dominique, brings back a returning podcast guest that’s also one of her closest friends, charity social media manager and social lead at The Children’s Society, and disability/chronic illness advocate, Ali Hemsley. Ali has a plethora of experience in social media and the chronic illness community, and has evolved her career from being an influencer to now being in the charity sector sharing her skills to positively impact great causes.
Here’s our Four Hot Takeaways:
- At 3:08, Ali goes through so quirky questions as she explains her perfect date with her husband, James, the first thing she notices about new people, how her dog, Piper, would want an ideal day to have lots of activities, why a favorite water bottle can make a home office all the better, and which motto to live by is also tattooed on her arm.
- At 10:24, Ali and Dominique dive deep into her social media experience and how to establish friendships through the digital space first (much like these besties did), how she navigated sharing her new Crohn's diagnosis to her social media community that knew her for her first chronic illness, and the value of being flexible in bringing things into your life that you loved before a diagnosis.
- STORY TIME INTERMISSION begins at 28:23 when Ali shares about the challenging experience of her first part-time job when beginning to add work beyond her self-employment actually led to her learning a lot of disability rights in the workplace and advocating for herself to the highest level.
- And we end the episode at 36:29 as Ali and Dominique share how to make decisions on going into self-employment versus working for a company, the pros and cons for both directions when living with chronic illness and disability, how Ali knew when making a career change was necessary and how she still remains passionate about social media management in a new charity sector with The Children’s Society, the best advice to evolve your career while still maintaining some joy, and how BTS’ member Jin might have inspired some advice on passion within jobs versus hobbies.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Ali @alihemsley on Instagram! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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26th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
It’s the latest addition from our “InvisiYouth Galaxy Question Box Series” for 2024, where all episodes will be InvisiYouth answering questions submitted by our InvisiYouth Galaxy Community that are life challenges they need some advice and guidance.
Our latest question dives deep into how to improve our way of reframing a mindset when we have to change our plans and goals in life, especially when the reason we need a quick pivot is because of our chronic illness/disability changes. And it’s all about getting creative and building around the setbacks for the same end goal.
Learn the steps on why it is vital to be comfortable with spontaneity and unpredictability—especially as a young adult living with chronic illness or disability, why the origin story of Lego actually connects greatly to how you need to approach change to plans in your life, what’s the major value in utilizing creativity in order to solve our problems so we can consistently adapt to thrive, and the purpose of acknowledging all our emotions when plans are forced to change, but not harboring negative ones because they’re counterproductive.
Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, Creative Legos Practice, how you can learn how to proactively reframe your missteps and flareups so they’re less of fully destructive burdens are rather opportunities to continue building around them, the importance of not consistently starting back from the start to rebuild but building up from where you’re paused, how getting creative with the available tools and supports around you can allow you to build a new formation that’s equally successful, joyful and enjoyable, and the benefits of adapting to thrive.
Plus, founder Dominique talks about how she had to utilize the Creative Lego Practice during the early years of InvisiYouth Charity when she was busy with the initial plans of our programming and needed to pivot quickly when health and life changes happened spontaneously. And how when those original plans had to be changed, Dominique’s usage of our practice ultimately led to our current roster of digital resources, and the Audio Flash Files.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
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It’s great to catch up with old friends and our special guest has been part of the InvisiYouth community for over six years! We have award-winning British blogger and freelance writer and cerebral palsy activist, Chloe Tear. With over 11 years of blog/freelance writing experience, and years of working in the cerebral palsy community, Chloe has carved a lane for herself as someone with wit, intelligence and passion to support the disability community, and share her life experiences along the way to empower others.
Here’s our Four Hot Takeaways:
- At 3:20, Chloe answers some rapid-fire questions about her secret talent, the language she wishes she was fluent in, why Grey’s Anatomy is still her guilty pleasure five years later, what’s the phrase her guide dog, Dezzie, would say to her if he could speak, and the one person Chloe would love to interview.
- At 11:45 Chloe and Dominique talk about the reality of how lengthy and in-depth it is to get a guide dog, how training and compatibility matter for both human and dog, and why Dezzie is actually like owning two dogs as a worker and nonworker. Plus, Chloe shares about how independent living as someone with CP has been while owning her first home, what she’s done to bring accessibility into her independent living that other young people with disability can learn from, and why we believe altered independence is the way to go for a realistic mentality.
- At 33:29, STORY TIME Intermission gets us in the romantic vibes as Chloe talks about one of her first dates with her boyfriend, George, and how a health lock-up and some hand-holding actually led to their first kiss at sunset.
- At 37:56 we end the podcast as Dominique and Chloe talk about the realities of balancing freelance/entrepreneurial work with a traditional job, especially as people with chronic illness/disability, the ways you can find freedom in structure and find freedom in knowing that you can have an ebb and flow in your work amount and still feel passion, why Chloe has trusted her instincts to find a new relationship with her public social media platform, and why she wants to create a book on cerebral palsy in adulthood is a must-cover topic.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Chloe @chloe_tear on Instagram and her blog, www.chloetear.co.uk! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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25th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
It’s the latest addition from our “InvisiYouth Galaxy Question Box Series” for 2024, where all episodes will be InvisiYouth answering questions submitted by our InvisiYouth Galaxy Community that are life challenges they need some advice and guidance.
Our latest question is a shoutout to our stellar healthcare professionals, to the doctors and nurses, and medical and nursing students, that do their work to strengthen our health. We’re diving deep into how to improve communication with healthcare teams so the “why” questions get asked more, and that open dialogue can happen to create well-rounded healthcare plans so young people can thrive fully.
Learn the steps on why it is vital to have steady and open communication with the doctors and nurses treating young adults living with chronic illness and disability, why the healthcare professionals have to look at the full person and full life behind the diagnosis to treat each person uniquely, and the value of asking the why questions not only of your young adult patients specifically because they understand the ramifications of treatment plans on their equally important non-medical life, but also the value of healthcare professionals sharing their whys on the rationale for their treatment ideas and those pros and cons. Gain the ideas behind our life-improving technique, The Why Effect, how you can read body language to see if a young adult patient is overwhelmed or closed off to the plan, how using supportive language around asking your ‘why’ questions is how you can dig deeper to learn the rationale of your young adult patients and what non-medical aspects of life are super valuable to them in order to treat the full patient, and why it’s necessary to have open dialogue and learn the value of tailoring treatment so you can compromise treatment plans without compromising the health of your patients.
Plus, founder Dominique talks about the first time she had a doctor ask her the “why” questions to dig deeper into why she wasn’t agreeing to a new treatment plan for her chronic illness and once that dialogue was open and trusted with her doctor, they were able to work together to find a new avenue of treatment that was a compromise to the original plan but not a compromise to her health and full life.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
Google Play: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions
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Such a full-circle moment to have our Season 1 finale special guest on the podcast five seasons later! And it’s such a special episode because we have special guest, co-founder and executive director of Claire’s Place Foundation, Melissa Yeager. The mom of Elle and Claire, Melissa has continued Claire Wineland’s legacy of cystic fibrosis activism and philanthropy with her foundation, now impacting over 5,000 people with $1,000,000 in extended hospital stay grants, and even more programs. Melissa has not only continued Claire’s mission, but found her own passion in this work, and we catch up for the episode, five years after we did our Legacy Tribute podcast after Claire’s passing.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways:
- At 3:36 Melissa chats it up about her go-to dinner, the most meaningful gift she’s ever given, a childhood favorite book she passes along to everyone, and the activity she loves to do with her daughter, Elle, and they did with Claire too.
- At 12:05 Melissa and Dominique dive into the evolution of Claire’s Place Foundation since Claire’s passing, how a new program mirrors the improvements in CF healthcare and would be something Claire would have adored, and the major things Melissa has learned about herself as a philanthropist during her years as executive director.
- STORY TIME Intermission at 26:56 is super funny as Melissa shares about how the time Melissa, Claire and Elle adopted their first dog…only to find out she would be a soon-to-be momma of two more puppies, and how they mirrored their three dogs. Plus, we heard about a top-secret hospital visit with puppy Izzy and Melissa for Claire that you won’t want to miss!
- Final segment at 33:29 Melissa and Dominique get deep to share some advice and support on how to manage through the emotions of bereavement and grief, how Melissa has balanced celebrating Claire’s memory and legacy in her work while also honored her grief of losing a child, the pieces of advice she would give to others dealing with grief in the early days versus years later, and how she and her younger daughter, Elle, have both dealt with grief in different ways but found how to continue to support one another on their journeys after Claire’s passing so they are celebrating Claire and honoring their grief.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Melissa @melissa.yeager1 and Claire’s Place Foundation @clairesplacefoundation on Instagram! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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24th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
It’s the latest addition from our “InvisiYouth Galaxy Question Box Series” for 2024, where all episodes will be InvisiYouth answering questions submitted by our InvisiYouth Galaxy Community that are life challenges they need some advice and guidance.
Our next question that we’re answering in the Audio Flash Files that was submitted to our InvisiYouth Galaxy Question Box tackles the topic how to avoid falling into the mindset that you need to conform your way of living and comfort in order to make those more comfortable, especially when it comes to a chronic illness or disability.
Learn the steps on how to be empowering and thoughtful in your approach of living confidently and not to make others comfortable with your chronic illness or disability, why many young people fall into the martyr complex and end up suffering to make others comfortable, the problems with stereotypes on chronic illness and disability, and the ways you can approach outsiders with personalized confidence styles.
Gain the ideas behind our Anti-Martyr Pro-Blinders Theory, how having a two-fold practice on how to approach your confidence in situations where others want you to conform to a box of what living will chronic illness and disability is supposed to be, the ways in which you can reframe your mindset to focus on your multifaceted goals to realize that being uncomfortable with the unknown is more of a ‘them’ problem then a ‘you’ problem and your confidence in living authentically will actually remedy that, and why it’s valuable to know that joy and sadness and chronic illness and disability coexist.
Plus, founder Dominique talks about her journey to using her cane when she needed it was delayed by forcing herself to suffer for others comfort, and the one question a charity friend asked her that allowed her to implement InvisiYouth’s steps and ultimately live her life authentically and confidently so she could keep up blinders and subtly showcase good and bad days with her health.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
Google Play: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions
All other platforms available on our Linktree: https://linktr.ee/invisiyouth
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Bringing back old friends and celebrating all the things that have flourished in their lives is a great feeling. InvisiYouth Chat Sessions is now going to be bringing back former podcast guests and catching up with them during the next two seasons…and we’re starting with one of our Celebrity Ambassadors. It’s British actress and disability activist, Melissa Johns. Evolving her career through the years, Melissa has been part of expanding her cofounded nonprofit, TripleC, to assist disabled creatives to grow in their craft, while also landing acting roles on and off the screen, playing series regular, Miss Scott, on the popular ITV period detective show, Grantchester.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways:
- At 3:13 Melissa answers hot take questions in Five Second Challenge and shares how she’d spend lottery winnings, why she brings perfume to sets, why her family trip to Italy was super meaningful, and how one of Dominique’s favorite British reality shows would be Melissa’s dream choice to join.
- At 13:03 Melissa and Dominique talk about the evolution of her acting career, what makes stage and TV acting unique to each other, her parallel growth in life that coincided with her getting her role on Grantchester and why she loves playing the character so much, the development of representation and accessibility in the acting industry and why momentum needs to continue, and how Melissa might have manifested her role on Grantchester while on Episode 9 of InvisiYouth Chat Sessions...and why we're manifesting a disabled lead on any upcoming season of Bridgerton!
- STORY TIME Intermission at 36:41 has Melissa sharing her story of how she got engaged on her birthday and the summer solstice and how a bad virus and a hospital visit were also part of her engagement story.
- And we end the episode at 44:37 with Melissa and Dominique talking about how her work with TripleC has grown over the years and serves so many people in the creative industry to have support and resources for their growth in their artistic crafts, the advice Melissa would give to those living with chronic illness and disability that are dating and looking for relationships with mutual love, patience and respect, and the one piece of advice Melissa would give to her younger self that all of us should add into our lives.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Melissa @melissa_johns_1 on Instagram! And Season 9 of Grantchester premieres on June 16th on Masterpiece on PBS! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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23rd InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
It’s the fourth addition from our “InvisiYouth Galaxy Question Box Series” for 2024, where all episodes will be InvisiYouth answering questions submitted by our InvisiYouth Galaxy Community that are life challenges they need some advice and guidance.
Our next question that we’re answering in the Audio Flash Files that was submitted to our InvisiYouth Galaxy Question Box tackles the topic how to handle failure, and our response in the art form of successfully incorporating some failure into your life so you can build up confidence and self-belief.
Learn the steps on how to be reactively proactive in our outlook on failures, and reality the utility of failing in order to discover your own lane of success and build up empowerment in oneself, how the momentum forward with fails can be a helpful tool to drive one forward each day if it’s reframed positively, and the power a threshold of fails can create more confidence to evolve grow more than being perfectly successful all the time. Gain the ideas behind our Star-Points Daily Fails Theory, how allowing yourself a set of mini-fails each day can give yourself the grace and rom to grow, evolve, have health flareups and setbacks without making each hold the power to tarnish the entire day’s productivity, and how to utilize habit-forming behaviors in our self-talk to establish a pattern of bouncing back positivity to setbacks so we have more control than the fails.
Plus, founder Dominique talks about how a change in your chronic illness journey during a major change in InvisiYouth programming led to some extra fails during her daily routine, and the steps Dominique took to combat those negative filters so she could give herself a tally of mini-fails before a true failure happened, and the way that boosted her confidence that she could achieve her goals.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
Google Play: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions
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Bringingsports videography to life and seeing athleticism through the lens brings so much high energy that the person behind the camera has to have the passion. And our special guest has that passion! It’s senior video producer for UCLA Athletics, videographer, director and Lupus warrior, Suzi Mellano. Doing sports videography work that’ll get all sports fans crazy, Suzi also has contracts with the NFL and NWSL, capturing athletes achieving great success and teamwork. And reaching this career goal happened simultaneously with her Lupus diagnosis in 2019. While knowing life would change, Suzi has been determined to raise awareness for the Lupus community while simultaneously never giving up on her dream job and growing her outstanding videography.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways:
- At 3:22 Suzi answers rapid-fire questions letting us know the sport she’d love to film, the most impactful sporting event she worked, what she’ll binge-watch, the sweetest last card she mailed, why her Italian genes will definitely impact where she’s like to live and dual language goals, and the best adjectives for her videography style.
- At 16:07 Suzi and Dominique talk all about how a unique full circle moment led her from being in front of the camera to behind it, how she’s seen growth in diversifying the male-dominated sports videography worlds she’s been part of, what makes her excited about that and where there could be change, and how there are ways she can adapt to excel when handling the physical demand of the job while balancing a chronic illness with the conversation of knowing you can always ask for supports to bring your independence forward.
- STORY TIME Intermission at 37:07 gets real as Suzi talks about a pre-diagnosis struggle of hair loss and how she navigated that journey with some signature dark humor and even got humorously creative in the ways of hiding it when she wanted to put her hair up that might have added more sparkles than needed.
- And we end the podcast at 43:45 Suzi and Dominique talk about their advice on how to process emotions during a diagnosis process and ways they manage emotions during flare-ups as time has gone on, they give advice on how to ask for supports in the workplace and with your families to make your health manageable while not allowing others to question your capability, and the one piece of advice that Suzi would give her pre-Lupus diagnosis self about her future, and it’s full of how extra rich and rewarding her outlook would become.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Suzi @suzimellano, on Instagram! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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22nd InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
It’s the third addition from our “InvisiYouth Galaxy Question Box Series” for 2024, where all episodes will be InvisiYouth answering questions submitted by our InvisiYouth Galaxy Community that are life challenges they need some advice and guidance.
Our next question that we’re answering in the Audio Flash Files that was submitted to our InvisiYouth Galaxy Question Box tackles a topic we hear about often: handling outsider opinions. Deciding how to manage decision-making when the worries of outsider/third party perspectives might curtail how you live life.
Learn the steps on how to pensively nurture your thoughts when you begin to feel your allowing a public self-consciousness of outside perspectives to derail how you want to live your life, and why it’s important to note that external perspectives are just making potential opinions of you without full understanding of you as a full person. Gain the ideas behind our Third Person POV Mindset, why it’s important to be mindful that their impression of one scenario cannot hold power over your personal opinion of yourself, how outsider perspectives especially about one’s chronic illness and disability come from a place of ignorance versus prejudice about you personally, how there are mental and actional steps to take in order to harness your inner confidence to live your life without worries of what others will think, and how to become empowered to live your life with your actions and goals as your focus and allow public self-consciousness to take a backseat in influencing your decision-making.
Plus, founder Dominique talks about an early stage during her diagnosis when she worries more about that third person perspective about her life with chronic illness and the proactive steps she took to regain her control to confidently decide what she wanted to do in life without worrying about outside perspectives of herself.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
Google Play: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions
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Bridging smart, approachable, fun and chic into advocacy isn’t easy, but our special guest has carved out a lane for herself in the content creation world. It’s advocate, content creator and reporter for Accessible Media Inc, Mara Hutchinson. Living with Retinitis Pigmentosa and Usher Syndrome, Mara deals with hearing loss along with being legally blind, Mara has shared a lot of her journey using her confidence and voice. From Canada, Mara uses her platform to share about her life with her husband and son, her incredible advocacy work raising awareness, along with all the intersections of her life being legally blind, like her love of travel, fitness, reporting and so much more.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways:
0:00 - Intro and Meet our Guest!
3:41 - Mara goes through a Rapid-Fire Round-Up of questions and tells all about her favorite food to buy, why she’ll always have coffee in the house, the staple in her closet, and her favorite charity experience that’s continued for years deals with some tandem cycling.
14:31 - Dominique and Mara give all the tips on how to have confidence on your social media posts, how reflecting on the dark and challenging times can help you find your strength, acceptance and power in your chronic illness/disability, how open communication that evolves has created a strong bond with her son, Bronx, and more tips for parenting and disability, and the two things that have strengthened the foundation of her relationship with her husband, Bas, as they have navigated her journey becoming legally blind.
33:27 - STORY TIME Intermission is a big moment for Mara and Bronx when a recent trip on the bus, and a packed disability seating section brought out the inner advocate in her son and made a major proud momma moment.
39:43 - And we end the podcast asking all the questions about how representation for visual impairment and blindness has evolved and could still grow, the two things Mara wishes the general public understood about the blindness spectrum, how to find confidence and accessibility in situations when fear of the unknown with your chronic illness/disability could heighten, and how allies and support networks could best support those living with visual impairment/blindness to thrive and find their intersectional communities.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Mara @atemara, on Instagram! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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21st InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
It’s the second addition from our “InvisiYouth Galaxy Question Box Series” for 2024, where all episodes will be InvisiYouth answering questions submitted by our InvisiYouth Galaxy Community that are life challenges they need some advice and guidance.
Our question this month is one we get all the time because it’s how to cope with the waiting periods between doctor appointments and test results. And so many living with a chronic illness/disability go through a diagnosis period, tests and waiting for results is a common worrying period. Learn the steps on how you can recognize how the waiting period in relation to your health can actually play a role in your daily life, the ways you need to pause with a proactive nature when that worry spiral can happen to achieve optimal success, and why it’s important to note that having different thinking patterns and styles actually makes waiting for results and doctor appointments different reaction-wise for everyone.
Gain the ideas behind our Waiting Room Theory, why it’s important to be mindful the waiting period brings strain and your ability to lower that anxiety comes from you honing in on your thought processing style in a proactive manner, why you need to focus on what you control in your thoughts in the present instead of the future what-ifs our minds can take us down, and what ways each person can untangle their emotional and logical reactions to the waiting period with doctor appointments/test results so they can process the potentials in a more manageable fashion so you never invalidate your feelings, but you hold the most power in the actionable thinking so you can be empowered in the present as you head into any doctor visits, appointments and tests.
Plus, founder Dominique talks about one of her first experiences having to go through the waiting game of test results in the early stages of her chronic illness journey, and how she had to work through the initial worries and what-ifs by pausing to focus on the present, and the ways she handled the emotions and logic of the waiting game.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and joy being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
Google Play: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions
All other platforms available on our Linktree: https://linktr.ee/invisiyouth
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Season 6 begins today! And we’re excited for an entirely new set of special guests, fun segments, empowering life advice and great stories. And we have an epic first guest of Season 6, it’s the owner and designer of the popular walking stick and cane company, Neo-Walk, Lyndsay Watterson. Launched in 2013, Neo-Walk creates handmade acrylic walking sticks that fuse individuality, comfortability and stylish for the mobility aid community. This was sparked by Lyndsay’s journey with disability after developing a MRSA infection and later needing an above-knee amputation. Now sending canes to over 25 countries, Lyndsay had created a company that’s touched thousands of lives.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways:
0:00 - Intro to Season 6!
3:34 - Lyndsay and Dominique get real on how to have mobility aid confidence, how the evolving journey played a huge role in Lyndsay’s life, advice on moving past self-consciousness of trying out mobility aids and dealing with the general public stars or comments.
20:32 - Get empowered by the fusion of fashion, confidence and chronic illness/disability as Lyndsay talks about how an oven, wine bottle and a dream fused style with mobility, the best reactions of people who’ve purchased Neo-Walks, what’s the main reason you gotta add some style to boost your personal and social confidence, and ways to make stylish upgrades on a budget to your mobility aids.
36:15 - STORY TIME Intermission gets celebratory as Lyndsay talks about her time doing trapeze and aerial performance work for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 London Paralympics. And she might have flipped arounds in 50 meters/164 feet in the air above Coldplay!
42:07 - We end the podcast when Lyndsay and Dominique talk about developing a chronic illness/disability later in life, and how do you not focus on the loss but instead think of how the transition into a new way of living can bring beautiful new thing, Lyndsay expressing how adapting to continue during things she loves like evolving to hand-pedal-cycling has been so valuable, and all the tips and advice on trying new things when you might worry of injury or self-consciousness because fear stems from the same place they would have without any diagnosis.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow NeoWalk @neowalksticks, on all social media platforms and their website! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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20th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
It’s the first episode from our “InvisiYouth Galaxy Question Box Series” for 2024, where all episodes will be InvisiYouth answering questions submitted by our InvisiYouth Galaxy Community that are life challenges they need some advice and guidance.
Our first question is fitting for February’s love month…we’re talking about dating. More specifically, how to take that fresh relationship and make sure you can actually open up to one another and if your partner can actually fit into your daily routine. That’s a big deal when part of your routine incorporates your chronic illness/disability and you want to make sure they’re ready to be in your full life. Learn the steps on how you can recognize when you’re at that stage in dating someone that you want to open up, why blaming your diagnosis for any failed dates is a huge no, and how you can understand why it’s important to date with the mindset that it’s more about finding partners that thrive in supporter roles versus finding someone that fits a specific mold to your diagnosis, and not everyone will.
Gain the ideas behind our Leader Taste Tester Method, what are the steps you can proactively add into dating life in those new relationships to lead with your confident communication style to slowly share parts of your chronic illness/disability life with your partner without overloading or involving, the ways you can dissipate their ignorance and answer questions without intimidating them, and how your leaderships gives a taste test to your romantic partner so they cannot spiral in the ‘what if imagination’ and learn if you’re mutually interested and suited for one another. Plus, founder Dominique drops a success story of how a friend of her did some major Leader Taste Tester Method with her new boyfriend (now husband) to share your chronic illness and that slow reveal actually made him super confident that he could be a supporter, their relationship could be balanced, and they were ready to commit.
Let's get talking and learn how to incorporate as many elements of this life-improving technique as possible for your optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, and jo being added into all aspects of your life living with chronic illness/disability!
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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
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19th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
As the final episode for our “Mediator Communication Series” for 2023, we are focusing on the communication dynamic that every single one of us deals with…our self-talk. That’s right, we’re focusing on the steps anyone can take to bring a positive outlook to how we communicate with ourselves, and once you do these steps, you’ll never want to have that inner dialogue any other way.
As we end the year and get ready for any of those resolutions or ways to improve ourselves, we gotta look inward and figure out how to communicate better with ourselves. With 96% of adults having inner dialogue every day, we need to take just as much time learning how to talk to ourselves with more kindness, realness and respect so we can have a better mental wellbeing and better outlook on life situations. Learn the steps on how you can recognize when your self-talk has gone from fleeting thoughts and pondering to actual tints of negativity, doubt, worry or judgement so you’re actually looking at life, yourself and situations in a tinted framework. Gain the ideas behind our Pseudo Full Tank Mindset, what are the four steps you can proactively add into your thought processing so you can be more productive and kind to yourself, why you need to challenge the negativity in order to be more productive in how you view and tackle life, and why gaining a pulled back view on the negative layers your subconscious can add to your self-talk can actually speak with respect and kindness to yourself while fusing realism and positivity into your communication style with yourself. Plus, founder Dominique drops how her previous self-talk used to be framed in some frustration and negativity when she was in the early stages of her chronic illness journey, and how she utilized that pseudo full tank to reframe and gain some positivity in how she communicates with herself for a better life outlook.
Let's get talking and make your communicate style with yourself optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, joy, and always add your type of chatting style to the forefront so productivity thrives along with your health’s wellbeing!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
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Season 5 Finale episode, let's get into it! Sharing your life on a public and personal level when you’re also living with a chronic or progressive illness is a daily balancing act, so it’s important to find the ways you’re able to thrive personally and with those around you. Our special guest knows exactly how to do that and has made us a fan of hers from the beginning. Gerry Langan, a public speaker and paid patient consultant has been living with a rare disease and progressive illnesses like severe Idiopathic Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension and Congestive Heart Failure since she gave birth to her twin sons. Now, she helps other find hope and inspiration during their journeys with chronic illness through her work and social media platform.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways:
- At 3:11 have some fun with Gerry as she answers rapid questions all about herself like the adventures of Hawaii, who mails her letters, a great date night and when she laughed so hard she cried.
- Get your relationship advice flowing at 10:29 when Gerry and Dominique share the best tips on how to maintain autonomy when getting outside opinions, why you don’t need “one-size-fits-all friends” in your life, the best tips of navigating a strong romantic relationship when chronic illness/disability are in the mix, and how to talk to kids about your chronic illness/disability so it doesn’t too scary for them.
- STORY TIME Intermission at 30:21 brings all the laughs at the realities of living with an invisible illness as Gerry shares how one time opting for the stairs instead of an elevator with her friend that has a prosthetic leg brought humorously misplaced reactions from those around them.
- And we end the podcast episode (and Season 5!) at 34:25 with all the insider techniques and mindsets to bring balance and inner advocacy into your world. Gerry and Dominique share how to balance a public/private life on social media, what ways help you navigating digesting information about your chronic illness, especially if it’s a progressive illness, and so many great tips on how to bring balance and confidence into your self-advocacy with your medical teams and facilities so you can thrive with those people like all the other relationships in your life.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Gerry @itsgerrylangan, on all social media platforms and her website! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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18th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
We’re focusing on the relationship and communication within the family gatherings. Since a lot of our lives deal with the process of going to family gatherings of all sizes, it can be super important to make sure that we have the communication tools to be successful in these settings and feel the most confident.
Holiday season is upon us, and with that comes something that some of us enjoy and others do not…the family gatherings. We are surrounded by family and friends from all levels of closeness and involvement in our daily lives at these gatherings, so it can be overwhelming how we are trying to navigate catching up with keeping our boundaries when conversations can become invasive.
This podcast gives our steps on how to navigate when you need to redirect conversations but maintain that respect and inner comfort. Gain the steps of implementing our Ice-to-Simmer Chat Syndrome in your next family gathering when the conversation focuses on parts of your chronic illness/disability that are too personal, nosy or invasive for your boundaries. You will gain the ability, with your own conversational style as the focal point, to develop your own verbal “ice” cues and discover how redirection in conversations, when done correctly, can simmer any conversation or emotional heat to make it more comfortable and enjoyable for all involved. Plus, founder Dominique drops the details about a Thanksgiving in her past when the extended relatives were asking way too many questions about her chronic illness issues and how she used some metaphorical ice conversation cues about KTape to redirect and allow for both her comfort and social ease to build into the family gathering.
Let's get talking and make your communicate style within those family gatherings optimal for success and comfortability so there’s a sense of ease, success, joy, and always add your type of chatting style to the forefront so productivity thrives along with your health’s wellbeing!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
Google Play: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions
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Director of Family Support and PTSD Services for the nonprofit, Ryan’s Case for Smiles, Katie Holcomb, knows the importance of caregivers and siblings for young people with chronic illness/disability and how to best serve this bond professionally and personally. The nonprofit is inspired by her late brother, Ryan, who passed away at 17 from osteosarcoma, and Katie’s passion to have initiatives and sibling programs to help families cope when loved ones struggle with health issues is deeply impactful.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways:
- At 3:25, Katie does a Rapid-Fire Round on what’ the deep meaning being RCFS’s pillowcase and her favorite design, guilty pleasure to unwind from a long day and why she’d want to learn some piano skills.
- Give their empowering POVs at 14:22 as Dominique and Katie share the major struggles siblings can face, how we can provide outlets of support for them and tops to make sure there’s no “struggle ranking” but rather the nudge of intentional fun times between siblings.
- STORY TIME Intermission at 29:32 gets the laughs going as Katie describes a sibling day at Hershey Park with her brother, Ryan, and how his prosthetic leg and rented wheelchair made for a fun, memorable day at the candy-themed amusement park.
- And final segment at 36:36 reveals all the advice for caregivers to fuel independence while playing a major role in your young adult’s life, how to strengthen your communication to add some grace, the value of mutual apologies and why caregivers deserve some self-care and Dominique’s three types of support beams each caregiver should have in their lives.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Ryan’s Case for Smiles @caseforsmiles, on all social media and LinkedIn, and their digital resources Just Sibs, and Coping Space! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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17th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
We’re focusing on the relationship and communication with people in positions of power, like teachers and bosses. Having to spend so much time between schooling or work life, it’s super vital that we learn how to communicate our needs with these individuals, while also putting out the best results and being successful in our lives.
It can become so nerve-wracking to imagine how we can build a successful dynamic with individuals in positions of power when we’re also balancing our chronic illness/disability and wanting to be given the equal playing field to fully show our worth and be understood. During this podcast episode, we’re going to be diving deep into what makes this power dynamic and why it’s vital for those in positions of power to maintain open-communication and fairness in the way they lead so their staff or students will feel confident to express how they can adapt to work their best and create the best results.
We teach about the Slow Burn Syndrome, and the multi-step process you can take to improve your communication with your boss or teacher so they can slowly become aware of your health or disability needs, without allowing them to overstep and make decisions without your input and without understanding the full capability you have. The proactive nature of Slow Burn Syndrome is laid out in steps so you can learn how to prepare before talking with a boss, how to slowly integrate your adaptations or accessibility needs into conversation to spark your boss/teacher’s curiosity so they’ll be more responsive to assist you in thriving, and how to maintain open-minded communication so the dynamic is fair and successful. Plus, founder Dominique drops the details about her other work life…besides her daily InvisiYouth life, and how she’s gotten the goodness of a slow burn with her boss so she’s understood and supported as an employee and communicates openly with her boss always.
Let's get talking and make your communicate style with those in positions of power optimal for success and fairness so there’s a sense of ease, success, joy, and always add your type of chatting style to the forefront so productivity thrives along with your health’s wellbeing!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
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We LOVE nurses, and they are a fundamental part of the lives of teens/young adults living with chronic illness/disability. So having a nurses where we get to chat with nurses, talk about improving their mental health wellbeing, and getting to connect better in our visits is a goal! We have two incredible podcast guests that took their experience as nurses and amplified it to empower and help others. Both from the nonprofit, Operation Happy Nurse, founder Shannon McPeek and board president Mallori Walker, have the aim of helping those in the nursing profession battle work-related stress, anxiety and depression and end the stigma around mental health. And it’s been a rockstar-level of success ever since!
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways from this podcast episode:
- At 4:23, Shannon and Mallori answer a rapid-fire of questions about how they got into nursing, why the origin story of OHN’s name would make all the sibling energy proud, and each of their favorite resources that the nonprofit provides.
- At 15:20 we dive deep into the origin story about how Shannon created Operation Happy Nurse, Mallori gives the facts on what can be the pitfalls of working in nursing and mental health, and how to provide self-care and wellbeing into nurse’s lives on and off the clock.
- STORY TIME INTERMISSION at 31:07 lets Shannon and Mallori talk about two of their mentors that led to two of the biggest life changes and impacts on their careers as nurses. Shoutout to Purdue University’s School of Nursing in this segment!
- The podcast ends at 40:40 with getting Mallori and Shannon’s advice on how to improve our communication and dynamics with our nurses and medical teams, and their tips on how to advice for yourself, and what fellow nurses/and nursing students can learn to make their experience with their future patients that are young adults all the better and successful!
Make sure to take part in the #ShowMyStarChallenge, raising awareness and funds to support the young adult chronic illness/disability community of InvisiYouth.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Operation Happy Nurse @operationhappynurse and on Facebook/LinkedIn! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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16th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
We’re focusing in on the relationship and communication with the general public. So many times, we encounter those instances when random people will ask us questions or make comments, especially about chronic illness/disability, so knowing how to react with confidence creates success.
While it might seem odd to focus on communication mediator advice for the dynamic with the general public, it’s important to remember it’s the group of people that’s fleeting, evolves, and is everywhere you go. So it is important to sharpen your communication with this dynamic.
This podcast episode brings to the forefront why it is so vital to understand how to encounter communicating with the general public, and why those experiences can impact us deeply. And the reasoning behind our reactions to their commentary holds more value than what is actually said because it allows us to know where our confidence stems from about ourselves, and what to tap into when our insecurities are touched upon by random people.
We teach you all about the Inner Litmus Test Method and what you need to know about mental and reactive litmus tests in order to know why having an inner test to know how you feel about something or someone can lead to your success. We give all the steps about how to instantaneously react when the general public gives you that question or comment that stops you in your tracks, how to check your wellbeing and how full your cup or handling others with verbal education truly is, and when to dip in your metaphorical litmus test to see if it’s positive or negative and how to proceed with either result.
Plus, founder Dominique spills the tea on the two instances she was using her cane and had public questions so she had to pull out her own litmus tests with two different reactions, so you’ll see how to communicate with confidence in both instances.
Let's get talking and make your communicate style with the general public’s moments of questions and curiosity a time of ease, success, joy, and always add your type of chatting style to the forefront so productivity thrives along with your health’s wellbeing!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
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We’re joined by disabled content creator, inclusive activist, model and speaker, Paula Carozzo, and she brings the energy, positivity and motivation. At 5 years old, Paula was diagnosed with cerebral palsy after anoxic episode from surgery during her childhood living in Venezuela. Living in Miami for most of her life, Paula studied PR and went to pursue a career in fashion PR but the calling to work among and represent the disability community was so strong that she fueled a new direction, and it’s been a major success. She’s been a spokesperson for disability, adaptive fashion and inclusive right and uses her platform as a brand that connects with many. Plus, she’s been part of campaigns for brands like Google, Clinique and Tommy Hilfiger to name a few!
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways from this podcast episode:
- At 3:23 Paula and Dominique go through some of Paula’s popular Instagram highlights. She gives some behind-the-scenes from working with Tommy Adaptive as an influencer and model, her tips on dating with disability—and why the dating apps haven’t been part of that equation for her, and what’s some of the most impactful parts of sharing and advocating for her Latina disability community.
- At 20:31 we’re building a fun toolkit for life as Paula shares how her confidence of using her cane has grown as she’s gotten older (and you get a peek at some of her gorgeous canes), why having her golden-doodle Luna provides companionship, drive and independence that fuels her days, and so many tips on how to navigate New York City as someone with a chronic illness or disability.
- Intermission is STORY TIME at 42:46 when Paula goes full empowerment and shares her rationale about how to chase your dreams and go for the things that’ll bring you joy as part of the chronic illness/disability community.
- We wrap up at 47:15 getting questions answered about how to choose what you share on social media, why looking at yourself as a brand and what you truly want to say in the world matters no matter how public or private your platform is, and Paula’s advice on how to maximize your schedule to get all the work-life and fun-life goals met while being flexible to your health needs.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Paula @pauuzzo! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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15th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
We’re focusing in on the relationship and communication with the online friends and digital relationships in your life. Yes, we’re giving you a proactive and reactive-based tool that you can go back to when dealing with those finicky comments and DMs that sometimes get too personal or rude from people in your online circle.
With the GenZ population spending over nine hours daily in front of screen, and almost three hours of that is on social media platforms, we have to credit that communicating with others via social media has taken a large amount of our time. It’s even altered the way we communicate into a solely receiving end form of communication because we’re either giving content or receiving comments that can even be public to people beyond the conversation. So it’s important to know how to communicate and respond successfully to those online people, that outer layer of people that fill your digital sector of life. In this episode, we give our tips on how to decipher the ‘online’ and ‘friend’ portions of having ‘online friends,’ what it means to make your social media a safe space for you, and how to create boundaries.
We go over the Fence and Bushes Practice, teach you the steps on how to proactively create boundaries of what you won’t share about your chronic illness/disability online, and reactively set up your confident communication style of how to ‘beat around the bushes’ when those comments and DMs are thrown your way that make you anxious or uncomfortable so you know how to communication with online people in a way that’s mutually respectful and protecting your peace. Plus, Founder Dominique drops a story from one of the few instances she’s on social media, and it’s a great example of how to communication successfully with online people in our lives.
Let's get talking and make your relationship with the online people in our comments and DMs one of ease, success, joy, and always add your type of chatting style and compromise skills to the forefront so productivity thrives along with your health’s wellbeing!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
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Google Play: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions
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Get in the groove with your inner strength, finding your joy and being empowered to celebrate the diversity from this stellar chronic illness/disability community. Our special guest had created a life and career fusing their calling of dance and supporting others to reach their full potential. It’s motivational speaker, inclusivist stroke survivor and founder of the nonprofit and professional dance company, Infinite Flow Dance, Marisa Hamamoto. This company employs dancers with and without disabilities with a mission to use dance as a catalyst of promotion inclusion.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways from the podcast episode:
- 3:04 - Marisa and Dominique give the reasons to swipe right on some of the many dance styles from Marisa’s life. She chats about the indirect way she got into ballet, why roller skating brought a lot into her life besides movement, and why wheelchair partner dancing can teach you lots about yourself and creating bonds on and off the dance floor.
- 24:16 - The ladies dive deep into what it means to experience chronic illness/disability later in life and how to not just tackle those moments of frustration and the mental/emotional struggles of health changes, and the ways you can still incorporate the hobbies and activities of your past, but reframing their role and direction in your life moving forward so it still serves you.
- 42:46 - Intermission is STORY TIME and Marisa brings us back to her senior year of high school and how what happened with the final dance project led to Marisa making one bold move with a pencil that impacted the way she lives her life and work to this day.
- 52:22 - And final segment gets talking about inclusivity and diversity, the value of bringing more of that into your inner community, and what simple acts you can take that’ll not just be more inclusive, but also can truly empower more of the chronic illness/disability community to thrive.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Marisa @marisahamamoto and Infinite Flow Dance @infiniteflowdance! Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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14th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
We’re honing in on the relationship and communication with your coworkers and classmates. It’s all about utilizing compromise in different strategies in order to optimize your professional and academic relationships because they are settings and people that evolve with time and spend a lot of your time with in life.
When you think about spending a third of your life at work, and over 10% of your life in school, that’s a lot of time just being with coworkers and classmates, so you gotta strengthen your way of communicating with this group of people. We explain what makes this outer layer of relationship different to work on improving than others and why the work-from-home/online class structure can be tailored to optimize communication. The steps are given for you to make sure that both parties mutually give and receive information and support one another’s end goals by compromising on matters that’ll optimize your success in academic and professional settings. Plus, you’ll be able to utilize compromise on a personal level—in independently choosing what details about yourself you want/need to share—with the interactive level—in working with your coworkers and classmates on how they can mutually compromise on this two-way street so they can support you in an equal way to still productively get things done.
And founder Dominique gives the life story about how she got to utilize InvisiYouth’s Compromise Avenue Theory so she could create a better strength and growth in the dynamic with coworkers so going to the office went from strength to strength.
Let's get talking and make your relationship with your classmates and coworkers one of ease, success, joy, and always add your type of chatting style and compromise skills to the forefront so productivity thrives along with your health’s wellbeing!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
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Founder of The Diabetes Football Community, Type 1 Diabetes advocate and member of the Wales National Futsal Team, Chris Bright, decided that allowing the power of community and sport to create growth in young people living with Type One Diabetes was a perfect combo. After being diagnosed with T1D as a kid, Chris worked hard to continue playing football, even joining the Wales Futsal International team. But he knew this fusion could tackle stigmas associated with the diagnosis and create positive peer support, so in 2017 he founded The Diabetes Football Community, and this combination has grown ever since.
Here’s the Top Four Takeaways from the podcast:
- At 3:44 Chris and Dominique get real on what makes community-based support uniquely valuable for young people living with chronic illness, how creating community through interest over diagnosis could be the more valuable mindset, and how Chris works hard to advocate for young men with T1D diagnoses to break down stigmas.
- At 22:49 Chris reveals the superlatives in his life, like working with the T1D, what makes their activism unique, and major memorable moments with the football players that’ve come through The Diabetes Football Community.
- Intermission is STORY TIME at 39:55 and Chris brings us back to when he was playing for the Wales Futsal International team and the race against the clock to get his T1D numbers to get down to the right number to play.
- And we wrap up the episode at 48:08 with Chris and Dominique talking about what ways young people living with chronic illness/disability can recognize their unique stressors and find ways to be empowered to handle those stressors, and the best piece of advice for those with chronic illness/disability that want to give sports a try.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Chris @chrisbrighty1 on Instagram and TDFC @thediabetesfootballcommunity. Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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13th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
We’re honing in on the relationship and communication with our doctors and nurses. But even more so, we’re emphasizing the dual-usage technique that works for both groups in this dynamic so going to the doctors can be successful for you and for your medical team.
Dropping the primary point of what makes communicating with doctors and nurses vital, beyond the obvious medical reason, is primary to set the podcast. We dive into why both points of view need to be supported and understood in order for conversation to be more successful with medical teams, and how these doctors and nurses can also be supported by us to bring their best in our chats. We get real on the history of health literacy, what makes it unique to each person, and how part groups can sharpen that unique form of communication to make our medical visits all the better. The quick steps are developed in our technique for you to easily follow on why you need a pre-action of bookended kindness before talking, what’s the point in discovering your communication style that exudes confidence, and how to maintain the open-ended note at the end of your points to growth can happen.
And we switch points of view to explain for the doctors and nurses, and healthcare students, what they can sharpen and improve in their Messenger Mindset tools to be able to communicate successfully and more open-mindedly with their young adult patients given the realities of having the hard health talks. And founder Dominique gives a great life story about her time going to her now staple cardiologist for the first time and how there was so much Messenger Mindset actions happening from everyone in the visit that it is a prime example of how to infuse our teaching into your next doctor visits or conversations with your nurses so those miscommunications or frustrations can be eased for everyone.
Let's get talking and make your relationship with your doctors and nurses one of ease, success, joy, and always add your type of chatting cushion so both parties are getting their points across and the ultimate goal of your health’s wellbeing is constantly in the forefront!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
Google Play: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
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Get all the goodies (both food and life-related) with our special guest, award-winning home cook, TV personality and creator of Dish it Girl, Dina Deleasa Gonsar. With Dina’s approach of creating recipes that fuse her Italian family traditions with a modern twist, she’s made the prospect of having fun in the kitchen approachable to her over 129k Instagram followers! And she uses her platform to connect with other young people and parents being open and honest in advocating about the journey of postpartum depression, anxiety and how to empower yourself to keep growing.
Here’s the Top Four Takeaways from the podcast:
At 3:28 Dina and Dominique get talking about why Dina decided to completely shift careers away from being a school counselor to a professional home cook, the traits that carried over from education to culinary work, and why it’s valuable for all future entrepreneurs to know how to evolve their schedules based on their seasons in life and create their own ‘flex hours’ for each day.
At 19:57 the ladies open up with advice on how to find ways to be empowered when bouts of anxiety or depression come into your days, the reasons Dina opened up about her journey with postpartum depression and believes removing the absolutes of “always” and “never” are game-changers in your well-being.
Intermission is STORY TIME at 42:03 and we get the behind-the-scenes treatment when Dina shares about some fun stories about her time filming the reality TV show “Married to Jonas” and one particular camping episode that exemplifies why Dina won’t be camping anytime soon.
Final segment at 49:27 we get into the kitchen—sorta—and talk all things cooking, Dina’s first mastered dish, cooking disasters that actually shape her growth as a cook, fan favorite recipes, what type of cooking Dina still wants to try and her top tip for all new cooks.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Dina @dishitgirldina on Instagram and her website. Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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12th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that's honing in on the relationship and communication with romantic partners. That’s rights, this is a love-fest podcast episode where we’re gonna give you the lowdown on how to strengthen bonds with your boyfriends/girlfriends and partners.
Founder Dominique gets real on what makes vulnerability a key ingredient in successful romantic relationships, and what the actual teaching behind that theory instills in both parties in the relationship for there to be continuous success. We get real on what road blockers come up in romantic relationships, the why’s of what makes those blockers happen, and our technique on how to reduce those scenarios from happening.
Dropping our technique of Vulnerable-Positive Method establishes the ground rules of how maximize getting your needs meet, being seen and heard in a relationship, and how to empower your partner to be the best support and equally-vulnerable with you so that open-minded and open-hearted result comes through. We give the step-by-step way you can feel confident sharing vulnerabilities and how to infuse positive tones when delivery can actually improve your psyche on talking about heavy subjects while also making your partner feel equally positive to reflect goodness and vulnerability back.
And founder Dominique shares a dating story from her two friends that will be the perfect “fluffy love story” to cap off teaching you how to use this technique to manifest positive growth in your own personal love life.
Let's get talking and make your relationship with your romantic partners one of ease, success, joy, and always sprinkling in some vulnerability with that positive delivery in order for that love to keep serving you both so you have fun and continuous growth in strengthening the bond!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
Google Play: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
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Have a podcast with podcast hosts as your guests, you know you’re gonna have an episode packed with great content, all the pockets of wisdom and…some great audio quality! Creators and hosts of Two Disabled Dudes Podcast, Sean Baumstark and Kyle Bryant on the episode, both live with a rare disease called Friedreich’s Ataxia, and competed in several long distance bike rides like Race Across America, which was featured in the award-winning documentary “The Ataxian.” Since starting Two Disabled Dudes in 2016, Kyle and Sean have released over 200 episodes, framing their show around having insightful conversations with humor with special guests across the rare disease, public speaking, athlete space and beyond to show anyone can live a life defined by their own terms.
Here’s the Top Four Takeaways from the podcast:
- At 3:56, Sean, Kyle and Dominique get chatting about the origin of Two Disabled Dudes and what’s kept them excited for over 200 episodes, how being diagnosed in young adulthood framed the way they’ve grown in life, and lots of great pieces of advice on being a multi-hyphenated worker and needing to find success in that all important work-life balance.
- At 23:32 the trio dishes out the topic and guest they’d love to have on their show, how the best tools to get into podcasting are the most affordable (and free!) and each give their advice on how to best be prepared when starting a new passion project like a podcast show.
- Intermission is STORY TIME at 42:03 gets real as they share stories about their experiences with taxis and why those complicated yet humorous situations may even lead to a feature film about taxis and disability.
- And we end the episode at 49:03 Sean and Kyle get majorly empowering and talk about how prominent cycling has become in their lives and why every person, especially those with a chronic illness or disability, should find their activity that lets them feel freedom, and give their tangible advice for how to find fun and accomplishment in your work when you’re doing it for a long time.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Sean and Kyle @2ddpodcast on Instagram and “Two Disabled Dudes Podcast” on all podcast platforms. Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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11th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
We’re honing in on the relationship and communication with our friends. These are people that often become our chosen family, and they evolve throughout our life. But maintaining friendships, allowing the friend-dynamic to thrive in ways that serve both of you while still having fun in your friendships.
Founder Dominique lays out the facts of what makes friendships and acquaintances primarily different, and why it’s even valuable to have less friends because you use less energy. We drill down the thinking points on how you should harness strength in your friends, and how they can actually hold different positions in your life as you evolve with it. And the two main reasons why you can deal with stressors and miscommunication issues with friends when you’re a young adult. Plus, Dominique drops a major rationale on how this miscommunication blocker actually formulates when you’re a young person living with chronic illness and disability.
But how to make the most of your friendships and create the best ones? InvisiYouth teaches the technique of Easter Egg Theory (yes, we’re talking like BTS and Taylor Swift-level Easter eggs) and lays out the super simple steps to drop those easter eggs in chats with friends—new and old—to divvy out which friends serve you best in which arenas of your life and which might not serve at all. It all tops off with Dominique’s university life story of leaving out her own Easter Eggs and parameters with friends and how one particular friend’s failure on the investigative theory actually worked in the benefit of their friendship.
Let's get talking and make your relationship with your friends one of ease, success, joy, and always dropping your easter eggs to see where your friends fall best in your life in order for friendships to have fun and continuous growth in strengthening the bond!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
- Google Play: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions
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When your guest is a multi-hyphenated GenZer who’s just as talented at disability advocacy as they are at TikTok, you know it’s gonna be a good time. Today’s video podcast guest is Sarah Todd Hammer, a 21 year old TikToker, disability advocate, model, author and YouTuber. Diagnosed with Acute Flaccid Myelitis as a child and living with partial paralysis in her arms and hands, Sarah Todd has navigated the world with the mentality of staying positive and continue to enjoy life with her disability. She’s modeled for brands like Zappos Adaptive, has over 1.3 million views on her YouTube channel, and her TikToks reach over 100k views easily!
Here’s the Top Four Takeaways from the podcast:
- At 3:33, Sarah Todd and Dominique build out a guidebook filled with tips on making the university/schooling experience the most accessible and enjoyable to your unique health needs. They drop two ways to talk to professors, why broad requests with the help of your doctors get you the most for accommodations, and why the ladies get talking about shower needs and what Dominique calls “BYOB desk chairs” when it comes to getting the most from a dorm room.
- At 23:56 it’s about confidence-building, and Sarah Todd shares how her friend group evolution has allowed her to build up her social confidence, what she’s grown more confident sharing, and how self-belief in your self-conscious parts actually helps instill more confidence.
- Intermission is STORY TIME 36:48 is actually a quick lesson in access intimacy, so you’ll wanna learn this definition from Sarah Todd’s life experiences with friends.
- And we end the podcast at 41:03 talking all things TikTok! You’ll learn how Sarah Todd’s viral TikTok about door handles is a phenomena worthy of 9 million+ views, advice on handling negative comments and how to plan your content versus fit the mold, or post for enjoyment and not likes.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Sarah Todd @sarahtoddhammer on all social media platforms and YouTube. Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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10th InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files gives you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
We’re honing in on the relationship and communication with our parental figures. Probably the first relationship dynamic that many of us experience, it is vital to not only identify the key factors that make communicating with our parental figures so unique, but understanding that both points of view hold great value in constantly improving this relationship.
Founder Dominique drops the primary types of blockers or miscommunications that can occur when communicating with your parental figures, and the reason for understanding those easy pitfalls can actually start to strengthen your dynamic. We get real on how your history and emotional intimacy in this relationship can be the singular ingredient for success or frustration in talks with parental figures, and why it’s vital to understand both perspectives when chatting about your chronic illness/disability. The quick steps are developed for you to easily follow on why cushioning your tone and even leading with your second thought and not your knee jerk emotions can create some of the most open-minded, positive, and growth-worthy chats with your parental figures. And founder Dominique uses a great story from her own life with her stellar and loving parents to get your creative minds going on how you can infuse our teaching into your next chats with your parental figures so any of those misunderstandings or disagreements can melt away.
Let's get talking and make your relationship with your parental figures one of ease, success, joy, and always add your type of chatting cushion so both parties are feeling seen and heard for continuous growth in strengthening your bond!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
- Google Play: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
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Welcome back to a new season of InvisiYouth Chat Session, we’re in Season 5 and jumping right in with our chat shot-styled podcast with the first of our incredible lineup of special guests. This guy embodies the mindset of the power of sports, it’s two-time Paralympic Sled Hockey Gold Medalist, Jack Wallace. After a boating accident resulted in Jack having a partial right leg amputation, Jack leaned on his love of sports, specifically ice hockey, to reclaim the passions in his life. He now plays with the US Hockey National Sled Hockey team, national titles and Paralympic medals under his belt, along with training to compete in paracanoe.
Here’s the Top Four Takeaways from the podcast:
- At 3:30, Jack and Dominique talk about a subject they both relate to and thousands of young people with illness/disability experience: the divide in life with pre and post chronic-illness or disability. Jacks talks about adjusting to life after his accident and how to tackle those ‘what if’ thoughts when we’re adjusting to life with illness/disability. Plus, they give their best tips to tackle when frustration pops up.
- At 17:33, it’s all about chronic illness/disability and masculinity and how to break the stigmas surrounding the young guys in this community. Jack opens up about what are some of the masculinity troupes that interfere in guys feeling comfortable to open up and get real about their feelings/emotions. And they talk about the ways young guys can build their confidence, and what’s the top tips to sharpening your community like Jack did with his teammates so you can boost your confidence to confide.
- Intermission is STORY TIME at 36:43 and Jack gives double the stories about how perhaps it’s a good thing for Team USA Sled Hockey when something goes awry for Jack right before a gold medal game.
- And we end the podcast at 43:24 as Jack talks about how he got into adaptive sports, why a place called Camp No Limits thrust him into a world of diverse representation and community, what he’s gained physically and mentally from these two parasports being in his life, and the funny place Jack had his two gold medals during this interview!
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Jack @jwallace_usa and www.jackwallace.me . Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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The 2023 return of our monthly audio resource InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files, giving you a boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy. AND we’ll be doing it in 15 minutes or less.
Today’s Audio Flash File is all about improving our relationships and communicating with those different relationships is vital for some daily ease and success. We deal with all sorts of dynamics in our daily lives, add into the mix trying to get someone else to understand your thoughts and actions surrounding your chronic illness or disability and it's an entirely new layer to work on in the communication department. Enter InvisiYouth and entire an Audio Flash File laying the groundwork of what's the prime communication style to optimize all sorts of relationships in your life.
Founder Dominique drops the reason our nonprofit encourages believing you gotta learn skills of communication mediation and opening the chats up with aiming for the middle ground instead of winning your point. She drops the steps and facts on how it's quite successful to open minds of those you speak with to be more understanding of your life and opinions with your health struggles if you lean into their curiosity instead of laying down your facts up front.
And this podcast will showcase to you the 10 relationship dynamics you can have in your life that InvisiYouth will design specific communication-improving resources for that are specifically designed for your personal empowerment to nurture each of these relationships for success.
Let's get talking and let's make the relationships in our life of all types even better, more open-minded, and armed with the easy tools to get those around you to be at their best in their skills to support you as your full self!
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" on any podcast platform or YouTube!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
Google Play: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@invisiyouth
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Final episode of Season 4 and we’re gonna be chatting with one of our fav types of podcast guests: female founders that wanna empower other young people to be their own game-changers.
And we got that on today’s episode with CEO and founder of the adaptive apparel and intimates brand, Liberare, Emma Butler. A Brown University graduate living in Paris, Emma created Liberare as a way to fuse fashion, function, accessibility and disability representation together. So their line of lingerie and loungewear (like the best bras you’ll find!) have connected with thousands of buyers after just over two years!
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways from the podcast episode:
- At 4:04, Emma drops her life superlatives like the best customer review, her fashion dos and don’ts, and why she decompresses at the start of her days instead the end.
- Jump to 13:50, Dominique and Emma get talking about the young entrepreneur lifestyle, and give you unlimited access to advice that’ll get you prepared to start your own businesses. Plus, we’ve got the TOP TIPS you’ll wanna give to all your “healthy/non-disabled” coworkers/bosses so they can express themselves freely and create a flexible, adaptive and comfortable work environment that’s inclusive.
- STORY TIME at 36:14, brings us that one time Emma went on a first date and why she may have pulled out a Liberare bra for her date to see…true story, promise!
- End the podcast at 40:31 talking about how you can plan an important role making fashion more inclusive to fuel all your clothes-lover needs. Emma and Dominique get super real on how to combat the misconception of “health over fashion,” what actually makes clothes boost confidence especially on those flareup days, and how your consumer role can make the fashion industry more diverse in-front AND behind the scenes for optimal change.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Emma and Liberare @liberare.co **on Tiktok and Instagram.
Please take part in our DONATE MATCH CAMPAIGN by New Year’s Eve (when ANY donation at www.invisiyouthcharity.com/donate will be matched by charitable sponsor, I’m 4 Love).
Or you can check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with FREE GLOBAL SHIPPING and 100% of sale donated to our free programming.
Please support InvisiYouth Charity by following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!**
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life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy. AND we’ll be doing it in 20 minutes or less.
Today’s Audio Flash File is gonna give you the details on how to handle a situation we all find ourselves getting into at one point in life or another…getting advice. Whether it’s solicited or that infamous unsolicited advice, as young people we are often trying to discover the way of living that works best for us, and naturally we are given advice or resources to improve different elements of life. And InvisiYouth has been secretly teaching you one of our best techniques for you to personalize advice for your best. And that’s learning how to make decisions confidently requires a spectrum, of what we define as the InvisiYouth’s Decision-Making Spectrum.
Founder Dominique drops the reason our nonprofit encourages you to even disagree with advice and resources given to you, how confidence in the choices we make in life comes from sharpening our ability of sliding on a spectrum of agreement or disagreement. We also give the steps on how to do metaphorical shopping with elements of advice given to you, and why it’s important to give even that outlandish advice a moment of thought because you’re actually able to improve your life and adaptability with chronic illness or disability by recognizing the confidence you gain in your decisions.
Get ready to slide along the spectrum of making the best decisions for your way of living, your chronic illness or disability and your desires and goal and listen to this life-improving advice!
SUBSCRIBE AND WATCH INVISIYOUTH CHAT SESSIONS: VIDEO PODCAST CHAT SHOW ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzKaEltT9taGcK2TZ9KmhOw
SUBSCRIBE, LIKE, & LEAVE A POSITIVE COMMENT to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" audio podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, PlayerFM, Himalaya, Owltail, CastBox and Podtail.
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Let's bring manageable joyfulness into the way you use your social media platforms and your daily life so there's the almighty balance between work life and personal life.
Our special guest is creator of the popular TikTok platform Magnolia Hill House, Mariah Michelle. A model-turned chronic illness influencer, Mariah created a platform that educates and entertains over 470k followers to find joy in life with chronic illnesses while also making enjoyable and accessible content for all.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways:
- At 3:44 Mariah and Dominique get real on setting those boundaries when you fuse your personal life into your social media, especially when you’re sharing about your chronic illness/disability. And Mariah gives all the insight on how she’s kept her health a priority without losing steam, what ways you can keep in your lane and style of content without feeling like you’re competing in that “chronic illness Olympics” with other creators, and what’s her most and least favorite things about the influencer world.
- At 23:17 Mariah shares how she created her highly successful #FloralFridays and we give all the tips, tricks and mindset switches you can add into daily living so you are incorporating joyfulness into even the biggest of flareup days. Plus, there are two tips so you can intentionally separate how your mind feels away from how your body/health feels…and that’s a major thing you’ll wanna learn.
- STORY TIME at 43:13 gives us a huge laugh and insight into Mariah’s childhood and how her first taste of a potential ambulatory mobility aid user created a family catchphrase of “it’s a miracle” that’s now ironically prevalent in Mariah’s sarcastic humorous side of her life with chronic illness.
- And the final segment at 48:53 goes deep into the ways those of us living with chronic illness/disability can best interact with the “healthy/non-disabled” people and social media communities around us. Mariah and Dominique give some major pieces of advice—and a lot of laughs—on how you can create enjoyable and palatable content for both chronically ill and healthy audiences, the ways you can spark curiosity without making others defensive, and the top four tips on how to you can navigate the relationship between yourself and your circles of “healthy/non-disabled” family and friends.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Mariah @magnoliahillhouse on TikTok and Instagram.
Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally!
And please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our community @invisiyouth!
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Lucky number seven of our audio resource InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files, we’re giving you our monthly boost of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy. AND we’ll be doing it in 15 minutes or less.
Today’s Audio Flash File is all about our perspective-shifting technique to look at life as “mastering” instead of aiming to be a “master.” It’s so easy to want to be the master at your life, to check off all the boxes to reach a pinnacle of success and joy that you’re crushing it 24/7. But that can lead to frustrations and lack of success when you’re not able to reach that master level, especially when you have a chronic illness or disability and road blocks can happen. So InvisiYouth teaches how focusing on “mastering” life and that continuous momentum of growth and change in daily life is the supreme way of living. And how focusing on the journey rather than the goal life creates optimal joy and success levels.
Founder Dominique drops some steps to reframe your perspective on the things you’re already working on in life to reject that mindset of needing to be the best and masterful at life and different hobbies or skillsets.
Get ready to choose the life of mastering, and have some laughs with Dominique while you’re motivated for positive changes along the way!
SUBSCRIBE AND WATCH INVISIYOUTH CHAT SESSIONS: VIDEO PODCAST CHAT SHOW ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzKaEltT9taGcK2TZ9KmhOw
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" audio podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, PlayerFM, Himalaya, Owltail, CastBox and Podtail.
APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
GOOGLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions
LINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/invisiyouth
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Get this statistic: In America, 95% of people are in favor of organ donation but only 58% are actually registered, and every 10 minutes, someone is added to the organ waiting list. It’s so important to not only understand the organ donation process and registering to be a donor, but it’s also super valuable to learn the misconceptions and how to make your own decisions with all the facts.
Today’s podcast feature’s someone that knows this topic through many POVs, the transplant recipient, the donor’s relative, the family member and the advocate. It’s liver transplant recipient and Donate Life Ambassador, Meghan Smith. After receiving a liver transplant at 27, three years after her young brother also received a liver transplant, Meghan uses her platform to educate others on organ donation and registration with open-minded positivity and realism.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways from the podcast episode:
- At 3:25 Meghan and Dominique drop the facts about organ donation and donor registry, like the ins and outs of registering and how you can alter/select your specifics when registering, and what makes transplant surgeries different for everyone.
- At 19:08 Meghan gives her advice on how to have mental and emotional fitness when going into big heath changes, her inner details about how stress transfers differently between being the patient and the support network in the transplant process, and how the post-transplant life is really like. Plus, there’s major drops of feeling empowered in your body and way of life after major health experiences.
- STORY TIME at 43:16 brings some levity to the transplant experience as Meghan has a very distinct reaction to coming out of anesthesia, and as she’d say, “it’s freaking amazing.”
- And the final segment at 48:01 Meghan and Dominique get breaking the misconceptions around registering to donate, how media representation of the donation process could sharpen its realism to bring a better understanding, and how to have non-judgmental conversations around donation registration and support organ donation overall.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Meghan @meghanmakingmoves and learn more about organ donation/registration at www.donatlife.net . Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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- ...
It’s InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files #6, and this is another boost of life advice, teachings and perspectives that’ll empower another element of your life so you thrive with success and joy. Especially for our “medically adult-ish™” young people living with chronic illness and disability!
Today’s Audio Flash File is all about grief and death…of yourself. Now, we’re not getting morbid, we’re talking about self-grief when you’ve had a major life event change your life so there’s a break between the “old you” and the “new you.” Especially when you have a chronic illness or disability that develops later in life, you remember the “healthy version” of yourself and your life/dreams. But grieving your past self isn’t something we’re taught, and it's probably one of the most valuable tools to truly heal and grow while being young with health struggles. The tools of empowered self-grief are nothing like the stages of grief, but a reframing of how to move beyond longing and frustration.
Plus, InvisiYouth’s got the best definition about how to properly sit in your grief of what’s lost from your past, how to reframe to celebrate the present you’re living in, and how actually having mini self-eulogies throughout your life is the best way to live authentically and fully.
Get ready to grab hold of InvisiYouth’s advice on how to grieve your past-self, grieve your life without chronic illness/disability by listening to their unique formula on how to ebb and flow with your emotions without wishing you should “move past” your feelings in order to be successful, serene and joyful with your new life.
SUBSCRIBE AND WATCH INVISIYOUTH CHAT SESSIONS: VIDEO PODCAST CHAT SHOW ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzKaEltT9taGcK2TZ9KmhOw
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" audio podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, PlayerFM, Himalaya, Owltail, CastBox and Podtail.
APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
GOOGLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions
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When you have three special guests on one podcast episode, you know it’s gonna be a good time. And today’s topic benefits from lots of perspectives because we’re talking about PTSD, also known as post-traumatic stress and specifically medical trauma/triggers. While we’re not making a melancholy podcast episode, we know this is a topic super important because let’s face it…when you’re a young adult living with a chronic illness/disability, chances are that you’ve dealt with a sort of trauma or triggering experience related to your health.
Today’s episode has three staff and board members from the Center of Pediatric Medical Traumatic Stress (CPTS), which aims to improve support and knowledge around this topic to address the emotional, lifestyle and psychological needs of young people, families and the medical community. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, CPTS is highlighting many of its beneficial trauma-focused care in its resources. We’re thrilled to have CPTS program coordinator Gaby Vega, pediatric psychologist and research scientist Dr. Kimberly Canter, and Darlene Barkman who’s worked in patient-centered care from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways from the podcast episode:
0:00 - Podcast Intro Time
4:37 - The ladies give a crash course in PTSD, how the “three E’s” can be a sign in identifying that you’re dealing with triggering stressors and the number one stigma around PTSD that stops young people from seeking supports.
20:56 - Build you the guidebook on finding all the supports, advice and tools to navigate living your life with medical and health traumas/triggers, like how to get family involvement that’s not overwhelming, the best way to bring up worries to your doctors, and why adapting and routines are great tools to combat your triggers.
39:30 - INTERMISSION STORY TIME and on this podcast founder Dominique sharing a story about her own PTSD physical trigger from her chronic illness journey that connects tennis, filming a Spanish university project and black outs into one place.
51:10 - Wrap up the podcast and our guests are sharing some of the best tools to add to your toolkit when dealing with these stressors and PTSD with health traumas so you can tackle advising parents how to “support not help,” when to advocate with your medical team when you feel that intimidation, and how tools on the Healthcare Toolbox from CPTS prove independent vetted research can support your journey to thrive with wellness long-term.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow CPTS @pedtraumastress and at healthcaretoolbox.org . Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
We’re five files into our audio resource, and newest addition to the InvisiYouth Chat Sessions family, Audio Flash Files, and this is another boost of life advice, teachings and perspectives that’ll empower another element of your life so you thrive with success and joy. Especially for our “medically adult-ish™” young people living with chronic illness and disability!
Today’s Audio Flash File is all about our how to be successfully get those people in our lives to be involved in all the aspects of our lives that we’ll need support in. And especially living with a chronic illness of disability, when we’re having this flare-ups or bad symptom days, we need people who can actively jump in…but how to do prepare your people without over-preparing? And how do you eliminate the “what if scenarios” of worry so many people feel because they don’t want their actions to be harmful in any way.
Well, InvisiYouth’s got the technique that you can keep in you back pocket to slowly integrate your people to go from observer involvement to leader involvement with confidence and ease!
Get ready to take the driver’s seat and have your inner circle be filled with people who can confidently jump in and get involved in each of your multifaceted parts of your life and health with InvisiYouth’s advice and this valuable philosophy.
SUBSCRIBE AND WATCH INVISIYOUTH CHAT SESSIONS: VIDEO PODCAST CHAT SHOW ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzKaEltT9taGcK2TZ9KmhOw
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" audio podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, PlayerFM, Himalaya, Owltail, CastBox and Podtail.
APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions/id1388370205
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
GOOGLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions
SUPPORT INVISIYOUTH CHARITY SHOP! 100% of sales donated to InvisiYouth's FREE programs and resources! ETSY SHOP PAGE:
http://www.esty.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity
PLEASE DONATE TO SUPPORT INVISIYOUTH'S PROGRAMS:
http://www.invisiyouthcharity.com/donate
FOLLOW US:
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Let’s motivate GenZ, and discover how to build your brand in life, make the impact you want, and even with a chronic illness or disability, thrive in the daily. That’s exactly what we’re talking about, with a lean on the valuable ways we can cultivate a digital footprint that doesn’t burn us out or feel disingenuous. And our special is all about empowering this demographic, and doing it with style. It’s a fellow chronic illness warrior, Sports Illustrated Swim Search 2022 finalist, digital creator, GenZ advocate, model and podcaster Gigi Robinson.
Here’s the Four Hot Takeaways from the podcast episode:
- At 3:57 we dish on some “Medical Pop Headlines” and talk with Gigi about her newsworthy moments in life. From the impact her SI Swim Search finalist status to other women with chronic illness like herself to the top four pieces of advice she’d give to GenZs so they can have them most fulfilling and self-empowered lives.
- At 21:16 we break through all the misconceptions and get real about the intersections between chronic illness and mental health, and these two health categories intersecting with social media. We dive into the reasons Gigi believes ‘social media literacy’ needs to be a thing, how to valuably use social media with tricks to aid your mental and physical health at any point, and Dominique gets real on why you need to map out even your private IGs and TikTok accounts like a business plan with a brand in order to have a healthy relationship with it.
- Intermission STORY TIME comes at 41:08 and Gigi tells us about tells us about how she shot her shot to create an event that combined sunset on top of the Empire State Building with yoga and wellness.
- And the episode ends at 43:50 with a real discuss on body image and body confidence. Gigi and Dominique talk about how chronic illness and disability play a deep role in body image, their different ways to combat that self-judgement, why no one should downplay talking about body image when you also live with health struggles or disability, how to respond to outsider criticism and why allowing yourself to feel your feels is better than wasting energy on outsider opinions.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Gigi @itsgigirobinson or on her website www.gigirobinson.com. Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
Get our fourth addition to this audio resource, InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files, and get ready for another boost of life advice and perspective that’ll provide a new empowering tool you can tangibly incorporate into life for more success and joy.
This Audio Flash File gets you understanding the value of piquing someone’s curiosity bone and not their defensive bone. So often in today’s society, we are communicating our needs and perspectives to others, but if it’s not an experience they’re familiar with, it creates this barrier between their understanding and willingness to compromise, and our general accessibility. And it really relies on our reaction to an individual for us to have optimal success. InvisiYouth is teaching why using certain Q’s and responses to this misconceptions or downright misinformed comments will actually pull on someone’s curiosity so their guard is down, and they are more likely to be open-minded to learning more, understanding more, and overall becoming a better ally and supporter. Plus, if we’re even telling you Harvard believes curiosity is a trait that creates the most successful individuals, you gotta believe we’re teaching a life-improving technique that’s a game-changer for you in your life.
In this podcast episode, you’ll discover what makes appealing to curiosity the most valuable tool in your reactive nature as a human, why InvisiYouth finds ignorance a starting point and not a downright negative, how you’re able to do that with just a few easy steps on reading a person’s response, and a great example of how it’s easily applied in life from a funny teen story with founder Dominique. Get curious, not defensive!
SUBSCRIBE AND WATCH INVISIYOUTH CHAT SESSIONS: VIDEO PODCAST CHAT SHOW ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzKaEltT9taGcK2TZ9KmhOw
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" audio podcast on:
APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions-a-video-podcast-series/id1388370205
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STITCHER: https://www.stitcher.com/show/invisiyouth-chat-sessions-a-video-podcast-series
SUPPORT INVISIYOUTH CHARITY SHOP! All our merchandise will be in subtle activism flare, so we can raise awareness without making loud statements! Plus, 100% of sales donated to InvisiYouth's FREE programs and resources! ETSY SHOP PAGE: https://www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity
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Talking is a skillset, and getting to share your points of view, have authentic conversations and talk about those hot-button topics takes some knowledge to do it successfully. Especially when you’ve got a chronic illness/disability and you’re standing up for your experiences and the discrimination you face, having tools to have the best chats with people is vital. So this episode has a special guest that’s created a massive GenZ brand all about talking, it’s the founder and CEO of the non-partisan educational platform, The Conversationalist, Sophie Beren.
The Top Four Takeaways from this episode are:
- At 3:06, Sophie and Dominique give out the step-by-step guide to sharing all the points of view like the rebel game-changer you are so you never fear those hot topics again. They chat on how to advocate for yourself versus a community, how to share POVs without being defensive and why you DON’T want to change someone’s point of view in a chat.
- At 17:30 it’s Chat Me Up and we’re running through all the different ways to have chats with every relationship in your life, and this gets gritty. Sophie shares what “conversational consent” is, Dominique explains why ignorance isn’t a bad thing, and you’ll learn how to talk differently with family, romantic partners, the DMs/comments and the general public.
- Intermission STORY TIME comes at 38:46 as Sophie gives twice the stories from her life that explain why taking risks have allowed her to become the strongest and most authentic version of herself. And the spectrum of stories range from a 7th grade “Annie” musical audition to the reason a phone charger lead her to a Michael Phelps selfie moment.
- And the episode ends with some major powerful advice at 46:48 when the ladies express how introverted people can still share their POVs and advocate…even if it’s silently (yes, you can be empowered silently) and what’s the tips on utilizing curiosity words and facts to get conversations to stay on track productively. Challenge the prejudice, share your voice and chat with open-minded curiosity, and let’s get talking today!
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Sophie @sophieberen and @theconversationalist. Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
It’s number three in our new audio resource, InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files, and get ready for another boost of life advice and perspective that’ll provide a new empowering tool you can tangibly incorporate into life for more success and joy.
This Audio Flash File gets us talking about how to make the most out of our relationships with people, specifically when you wanna vent about your life moments or get advice and you don’t know who to go to first. Let’s be real, it might seem great to have a group of people like the TV show “Friends” in your corner share all your details and intermingle your communication, but it’s not super realistic to have select group of people you can talk about everything in every way you want. And when you’re chronically ill or disabled as a young person, you need that balance of “healthy/non-disabled” people along with fellow chronic illness/disability people in different circles in order to thrive in your chats and succeed in your life. And InvisiYouth’s got the life technique to reframe your relationships, strengthen how you communicate, and let you look at your people as tree rings that don’t need to intersect to be great.
Get ready to be a pro in your friendships and relationship because you don’t need to rank your people to decipher their value. Stand in your power and have fun while you learn and grow as a young person on this quick podcast!
SUBSCRIBE AND WATCH INVISIYOUTH CHAT SESSIONS: VIDEO PODCAST CHAT SHOW ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzKaEltT9taGcK2TZ9KmhOw
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" audio podcast on:
APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions-a-video-podcast-series/id1388370205
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GOOGLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions
STITCHER: https://www.stitcher.com/show/invisiyouth-chat-sessions-a-video-podcast-series
SUPPORT INVISIYOUTH CHARITY SHOP! All our merchandise will be in subtle activism flare, so we can raise awareness without making loud statements! Plus, 100% of sales donated to InvisiYouth's FREE programs and resources! ETSY SHOP PAGE: https://www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity
PLEASE DONATE TO SUPPORT INVISIYOUTH'S PROGRAMS: https://www.invisiyouthcharity.com/donate
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WEBSITE
How do you not get overwhelmed when you have a chronic illness/disability and work in the chronic illness/disability space? Well, it’s easy to say “find some balance” and not know some tangible steps to do it, so we’ve got a podcast all about the tips and tricks to making sure work and play and personal life are not overwhelming. Our special guest has fused her professional life, health life and personal life within the chronic illness/disability community, its physical therapist, chronic illness mindset coach and content creator of Days with Dani Nicole, Dani Fusaro. Living with complex chronic illnesses and working to empower young people with chronic illnesses to live fulfilled, well-rounded lives, Dani has created a lane in work and life that can show people you can work and live in the same space.
The Top Five Takeaways from the podcast are:
At 2:55, join the podcast for “Path to Power” as Dani and Dominique talk about the ways you can separate mindsets between work and health life and the top six ways you can handle the moments of feeling like chronic illness/disability is a 24/7 part of your life in all aspects.
At 19:50 it's GIVEAWAY ANNOUNCEMENT TIME!
At 21:43, we’re building a toolkit for life that’s all about balance for the body and mind and you’ll want to take all the notes. Learn all the work and health apps, scheduling products, go-to medical bags, and TikTok accounts to unplug or stay on task, and how Dominique and Dani both love color-coding and fiction stories.
Intermission with STORY TIME is at 38:46 and Dani gets really about her physical therapy school years when an incident with a sticky mason jar may have been the catalyst to discovering her chronic illnesses.
Second half of the podcast starts at 46:05 and gives you the advice on tackling imposter syndrome, how to do your best working in the chronic illness/disability space when your chronic illness/disability is taking a front row seat, and how you can disconnect to set boundaries when there’s overload.
And finally at 1:00:24, Dani answers the rapid-fire questions to learn about the expert like her favorite wedding dance song, best family game night, and a piece of advice to work with chronic illness/disability while living with one that will get you empowered to start.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Dani @dani_fusaro. And get one of our three exclusive SIGNED copies of the new paperback edition of Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses* by Kristen O’Neal in our fundraiser book giveaway! Immediately entered when you donate ANY AMOUNT on our website by June 30th at www.invisiyouthcharity.com/donate*. Please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
Second addition to this new audio resource, InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files, and get ready for another boost of life advice and perspective that’ll provide a new empowering tool you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy.
This Audio Flash File is all about our mindset of how to share and tackle those life moments when you know you gotta share some details but also want to keep some privacy. Whether it’s social media, jobs, classes, friends, dates, family gatherings or a random person in a store…we’ll all get asked questions that make us feel we gotta share the details, especially if you’re chronically ill or disabled young adult and those questions are about your health. And it’s important to learn a quick tactic to decipher how much to share. We’re teaching the independence of having flexible control when sharing your personals, and founder Dominique’s gonna reveal our latest addition to #InvisiYouthGalaxyGlossary that’ll get your mind flowing with ideas you can immediately implement the next time someone asks too much.
Get ready to be a pro in those TMI moments with others and stand in your power, plus have fun while you learn and grow on this quick podcast!
SUBSCRIBE AND WATCH INVISIYOUTH CHAT SESSIONS: VIDEO PODCAST CHAT SHOW ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzKaEltT9taGcK2TZ9KmhOw
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" audio podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, PlayerFM, Himalaya, Owltail, CastBox and Podtail.
APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions-a-video-podcast-series/id1388370205
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
GOOGLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions
STITCHER: https://www.stitcher.com/show/invisiyouth-chat-sessions-a-video-podcast-series
iHEART RADIO: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-invisiyouth-chat-se-29596540/
PLAYERFM: https://player.fm/series/2384030
HIMALAYA: https://www.himalaya.com/album/invisiyouth-chat-sessions-a-video-podcast-series-338010
OWLTAIL: https://www.owltail.com/podcast/xWjor-InvisiYouth-Chat-Sessions-A-Video-Podcast-Series/episodes
CASTBOX: https://castbox.fm/channel/3935859?country=us
PODTAIL: https://podtail.com/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions-a-video-podcast-series/
SUPPORT INVISIYOUTH CHARITY SHOP! All our merchandise will be in subtle activism flare, so we can raise awareness without making loud statements! Plus, 100% of sales donated to InvisiYouth's FREE programs and resources! ETSY SHOP PAGE: https://www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity
PLEASE DONATE TO SUPPORT INVISIYOUTH'S PROGRAMS: http://www.invisiyouthcharity.com/donate/
FOLLOW US:
WEBSITE: http://www.invisiyouthcharity.com/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/invisiyouth
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Drop into the world of books, and let’s get storytelling as we chat with a book characters living with chronic illnesses while having their stories being authentically told by writers with chronic illnesses. The power of reading stories representing the diversity and humorous lives of young people is so valuable. Debut young adult fiction writer Kristen O’Neal and her novel Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses, tells the story of Priya, living with Lyme disease, and her virtual friends on Discord as she goes on her coming-of-age road trip to meet one of her virtual friends, Brigid, who might be more “teen wolf” than chronically ill. Kristen has a fresh and funny take on authentic well-rounded life with chronic illnesses and is passionate lives like hers living with two autoimmune disorders, should be told in all its facets.
The Top Five Takeaways from the podcast are:
- At 4:14 let’s dive deep into Kristen’s author tactics, how she came up with the concept that werewolves really resonate with a chronic illness experience, and why many story arcs like fitting in during your youth resonate with the chronic illness character experience.
- At 23:34 Dominique and Kristen play around with “Life Tinder Challenge” and swipe left and right on different books to read, which fall into the “chronic illness troupes” and which books could make their protagonists the best characters with chronic illness/disability in a rewrite.
- STORY TIME at 42:02 Kristen tells us a story that explains why wearing a sparkly jumpsuit and using a paper bag at an airport can definitely complicate your life.
- At 46:13, the ladies jump to breaking the stereotypes and stigmas that you’ll find when reading novels or absorbing media when it pertains to the perception of chronically ill/disabled young people. Kristen talks about the value of authentic storytellers being behind the books, and the benefits of having more diversity in books for young adult readers so they can get representation in the stories they read and full lives they live.
- End the podcast 1:00:24, we go through a rapid-fire of questions to learn all about Kristen like what’s her favorite way to spend the day, if she handwrites or types her books and her best advice for young people with chronic illness wanting to be writers.
WIN A SIGNED COPY of the new paperback edition of Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses* in our fundraiser book giveaway (we'll have three winners)! Immediately entered when you donate ANY AMOUNT on our website by June 30th at www.invisiyouthcharity.com/donate*.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Kristen @discountgoblin and Tumblr https://kristenoneal.tumblr.com/.
Please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
In the premiere episode from the newest audio resource from InvisiYouth Charity, InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: Audio Flash Files, we’re giving you a monthly boosts of life advice and perspectives that’ll provide empowering tools you can practically incorporate into your life for more success and joy. AND we’ll be doing it in 20 minutes or less, so you can get the boost and go on with your days for all of the “medically adult-ish™” young people.
Today’s Audio Flash File is all about our practice of choosing daily serenity of chasing happiness! We know, a life improvement and empowerment nonprofit stating they’re not advocates for optimal happiness, shocking! But our methodology of why a state of serenity is the most practical and beneficial mindset to have is revealed. Along with the steps of how you can find your personal style of serenity, host (and founder of InvisiYouth Charity) Dominique will give you the latest addition to our #InvisiYouthGalaxyGlossary, and how this theory can become a game-changer in your daily life.
Get ready to choose daily serenity over happiness like hundreds of other young people at InvisiYouth Charity, and have some laughs with Dominique while you’re empowered along the way!
SUBSCRIBE AND WATCH INVISIYOUTH CHAT SESSIONS: VIDEO PODCAST CHAT SHOW ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzKaEltT9taGcK2TZ9KmhOw
SUBSCRIBE to "InvisiYouth Chat Sessions" audio podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, PlayerFM, Himalaya, Owltail, CastBox and Podtail.
APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions-a-video-podcast-series/id1388370205
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XHN8GAcHfWMFM1V6o9vXc
GOOGLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.google.com/search/invisiyouth%20chat%20sessions
STITCHER: https://www.stitcher.com/show/invisiyouth-chat-sessions-a-video-podcast-series
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PLAYERFM: https://player.fm/series/2384030
HIMALAYA: https://www.himalaya.com/album/invisiyouth-chat-sessions-a-video-podcast-series-338010
OWLTAIL: https://www.owltail.com/podcast/xWjor-InvisiYouth-Chat-Sessions-A-Video-Podcast-Series/episodes
CASTBOX: https://castbox.fm/channel/3935859?country=us
PODTAIL: https://podtail.com/podcast/invisiyouth-chat-sessions-a-video-podcast-series/
SUPPORT INVISIYOUTH CHARITY SHOP! All our merchandise will be in subtle activism flare, so we can raise awareness without making loud statements! Plus, 100% of sales donated to InvisiYouth's FREE programs and resources! ETSY SHOP PAGE: https://www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity
PLEASE DONATE TO SUPPORT INVISIYOUTH'S PROGRAMS: http://www.invisiyouthcharity.com/donate/
FOLLOW US:
WEBSITE: http://www.invisiyouthcharity.com/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/invisiyouth
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/invisiyouth/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/InvisiYouth
Class is in session, but it’s a lesson you’ll never want to end because we have double trouble leading the show. It’s an episode dedication to education, and how young people with chronic illness/disability can get all the academic support, modifications, accommodations and empowerment they need to thrive in any level of academia they choose. Being in school and living with chronic illness/disability is a major portion of time in life, so getting all the inner secrets and tips to make your school years enjoyable and successful is crucial. And our special guest is not only an expert on academic accessibility and advocacy, but she’s also founder Dominique’s older sister, Erica-Lee Viel DeSimone. Being a special education teacher for over nine years, Erica’s passion has been giving students tools, individualized advocacy skills and support to excel in their education. She’s even been an education advocate for young people with disabilities and illnesses from elementary through university years, taking her advocacy to social media with her co-founded platform Special Space in Our Heart.
The Top Five Takeaways from the podcast are:
- At 3:56, get all your questions answered in “Top Search” when Erica explains the basic levels of accommodations and adaptions that you can get in school, the reason you need to research one particular topic, and why university academic support allows your independence to shine when you utilize it.
- At 22:22, the sisters get chatting about handling talks with teachers when you need support because your illness/disability is impacting the school days and work. And Erica explains her top four ways you can try communicating with your teachers when you need some modifications to achieve success, from extended deadlines, physical needs supports and more, PLUS, while emailing teachers early helps you in the long run.
- Intermission Story Time at 40:02, Erica brings up a story from her childhood, about how positive reinforcement got Dominique to go from a basketball wallflower to a major shooter…and made Erica’s childhood allowance go down quite a bit.
- Second half starts at 43:10, when Dominique and Erica talk about how social side of being in school can impact when young people will utilize their accommodations and supports. We tackle how to handle classmates making comments about her medical equipment or modifications, Erica gives the different ‘response personas’ you can take when people ask questions, and they discuss how asking for different tips on privacy with your teachers ahead of classes can actually curb the social strains.
- Final segment at 58:01 is a blast of fun as the Viel sisters answer questions about each other, and you’ll learn why they have very different dance styles, and a favorite sister memory. Let’s make going to school and university enjoyable and not another task we gotta accommodate.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Erica-Lee @specialspaceinourheart. Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
Season Four officially begins with a major refresh and incredible lineup of special guest experts on topics to empower your life the way you want. This episode is all about self-care…and not the façade of Insta-worthy self-care but real, authentic and attainable self-care that can adapt to your daily routine. And this is a major asset when you live with chronic illness/disability/mental health because self-care can bring pride and balance into life.
Our special guest, creator of the platform Bun Undone and Self-Care Society, Morgan Raphael, is a specialist on advising others on authentic self-care you can maintain that’s focused on instilling inner confidence for your wellness journey. This podcast episode feels like a fun chat with friends that’s full of the widest range of self-care practices and changing your mindset for the better. The Top Five Takeaways from the podcast are:
- At 4:51, Dominique and Morgan break down all the stigmas around the self-care we see (and can be intimidated by) on social media and give you their insider tips on how to authentically add self-care practices that you’ll individually enjoy in your routine. Plus, Morgan explains how her work gives five hot tips that’ll impact the way you view self-care!
- At 27:16, it’s toolkit-building time as you’ll learn creative self-care practices for the extroverts, the social butterflies, the inner reflection lovers, and the cozy homebodies, while also sharing how to take self-care from indulgence to a five minute hack (and perhaps why a shower meditation or soundtrack with your morning coffee will be added to your routine).
- With Intermission Story Time at 43:01, Morgan gets deep about the origin story behind Bun Undone and Self-Care Society, and how breakups actually fueled two major life perspective and career upgrades she’s thankful for.
- Second half at 50:51 is all about the life hacks as Dominique and Morgan dish out the benefits of what InvisiYouth defines as passive and active self-care (plus their mutual love of subtitles is revealed!) and how journaling isn’t just a niche tool of self-care, but a tool that has variety, flexibility and lets you feel proud of your documented life evolution.
- Final rapid roundup at 1:09:32 let’s up get to know our guest Morgan better with her life superlatives, like the unique reason she’s most likely to travel to Bali, how she’s most likely to spend her Friday nights, best Instagram style post and best piece of life advice.
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Morgan @bun_undone and @selfcaresociety_. And exclusive promo code INVISIYOUTH for 10% off all Morgan’s e-books and journals at www.bunundonescs.com.
Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
Let’s get back outdoors, go exploring, and improving our sustainability for the environment. These are bolder-sized topics to tackle, and especially for those of us in the chronic illness/disability community, the concepts of adventuring outdoors or being an environmentalist can be complicated by our health struggles. But the truest fact is that exploring outdoors and being part of supporting the environment are experiences everyone with a chronic illness or disability should be able to have in life. Our guest, Kelcie Miller-Anderson, is a Canadian environmental scientist and disability outdoor adventuring specialist. Her complex chronic illnesses like Mitochondrial Disease, EDS and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome affect every aspect of her life, but her passion for science has maintained as she’s adapted with innovation. She’s founded two companies, MycoRemedy and Bumblechain, both aiding different aspects of the environment, and runs the popular Instagram account, The Chronic Explorer, showcasing how her treks outdoors with awesome mobility aids.
Check out these five fun segments:
- At 4:00, we’ve got Five Second Challenge as Kelcie rapidly let’s off fun facts about herself, like her favorite science word to use, why Canada is truly a tourist’s dream, and why Kelcie might have a love-hate relationship with winter.
- At 10:05, get chatting about all things science, sustainability and innovation…but make it disability and chronic illness-friendly. Kelcie dives into her multi-year long career as an environmental scientist, explaining how her brother impacted her love of science, what are the intersections of sustainability and disability we can tap into so helping the environment can be accessible, and the innovative ways we can all get more knowledgeable on helping the planet.
- STORY TIME at 31:05 takes us on an epic story of humor and realness of a time Kelcie was a young leader in London dealing with hectic travel and a unique introduction with Sir Richard Branson and her wheelchair.
- Second half takes us on an adventure at 36:48 when Kelcie and Dominique give all the needed facts and advice to make nature and adventuring accessible and friendly no matter your experience level, and how to make outdoor activists affordable and fun with mobility aids.
- And hang in for our final segment at 52:15, building a playlist for adding spice of innovation, outdoor activities and sustainability into your life. With the best accessible travel apps, great outdoor adventuring hashtags, and documentaries/books to check out, Kelcie also digs into the multifaceted power of the IG Geo-Tag and you WILL BLOW YOUR MIND getting this tip!
Let’s get outdoors accessible and safely with some fun to lead into 2022! Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Kelcie @thechronic_explorer. Please check out the InvisiYouth Charity Shop to buy yourself or someone you care about our limited edition Subtle Activist Color Block bracelet on www.etsy.com/shop/invisiyouthcharity with free shipping globally, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
Taboo topics are hard to talk about because it brings up nerves, pain and discomfort, and one topic in particular that doesn’t get talked about much is grief, bereavement and death. Especially for young adults, talking about the concept of grief can feel intimidating and ominous, but when you have a chronic illness, it can become part of our personal and social conversations. It’s important to not just normalize talking about how to grieve, but also building that relationship with talking about death and health. Someone breaking down the stigmas around grief is the founder and host of the popular, The Grief Gang Podcast, Amber Jeffery. After losing her mom unexpectedly at 19, Amber was thrust into grief, but her journey stemmed beyond personal and wanting to connect with others, thus creating her successful podcast. Now Amber’s goal is to remind everyone how grief and happiness can coexist. Check out the episode five hot sections: At 5:02, get to know Amber outside the podcast host as she reveals what she loves most about travelling to Thailand, why she got nostalgic at an arcade, and how long ago it was when Amber went deviceless. At 15:22, bringing back a fan favorite segment of “Life Tinder Challenge” as Amber and Dominique gave their hot takes, and quick advice on grief topics like buying floral arrangement or condolence cards, and how they truly feel about the concepts of ‘grieving being a phase.’ They have some major opinions that’ll spark some thoughts and lots of laughs, trust us! And STORY TIME INTERMISSION starts at 39:22, Amber shares her story about a moment from her mom’s funeral that she says only 19-year old Amber would react like, and it’s filled with the range of sadness, anger and laughter that comes from these moments of grief. It’s a realness when you can look back and laugh at times of sadness. Second half starts at 48:10 when Amber and Dominique break all the glass ceilings about grief and death, sharing what makes young adult bereavement different, tips on talking about your grief and supporting friends, and the major ways young people with chronic illness can work through their fears and compartmentalize when death hits close to home. And we cannot wrap up this jam-packed episode without giving you the ultimate grief guide at 1:12:23 to feel supported and successful in handling grief. They chat what’s the best times of bereavement therapy (and no, it’s not one-on-one counseling), favorite books and charities to utilize, and the best phrases to avoid AND use when you don’t know what to say when someone passes away. Just like life, this episode is filled with chatting about grief and having fun times while doing it, learning how to live with both feelings at once, and you’ll learn so much while listening to this episode, promise. Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Amber @amber_jeffery, her podcast @thegriefgangpodcast. Thank you to our charitable sponsor Tee Spoonies for partnering for this episode (and visit @teespoonies to buy their products that donate directly to InvisiYouth), and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
It’s all about your deep, burning questions today as we have founder and podcast host Dominique lead her very first solo episode! And in Dominique’s signature sarcastically optimistic style, she brings the heat when answering all questions so you’ll have advice to interpret into your daily living growing and thriving with your chronic illness or disability. With a plethora of questions and topics anonymously submitted from the InvisiYouth community, Dominique had never seen any of the questions before reading them aloud (with some mega-shock reactions, you’ll laugh out loud) this is the podcast episode to dive deep into those burning questions you never wanna ask. In this episode, Dominique answers some rapid-fire questions about herself so we can finally learn some more about the woman behind the mic hosting the podcast. And you’ll learn all about her quirky nicknames, guilty pleasures, what else she wished she majored in university, dream podcast guests and favorite childhood costumes! When class comes into session, Dominique teaches practical life-improving advice sharing our staple InvisiYouth Theories! You’ll learn how to be the best communicator, improve your outlook on health flare ups, get better results from doctor visits, and have some fun in your days by each InvisiYouth theory Dominique teaches. This is a class session you don’t wanna miss. And with STORY TIME being focused on Dominique, we get some laughs when Dominique talks about her secret university life, and how one hospital bracelet led to an entire lecture hall learning about her secret chronic illness/public speaking life. Second half of the episode is all about YOU and your submitted questions that are some of the funniest, most intriguing, and most personal questions. And with Dominique having no preview, all her reactions are fresh and humorous. She’s chatting about aliens (yes, you read that correctly), the reason society feels inclined for the chronic illness/disability community to smile often, what kind of DETAILED ice cream flavor would be the best representation of Dominique, her appreciation of safe words (and no, it’s not the kind you’re thinking, trust us), our stance of ‘superficial’ struggles of living with health issues, her best tip for newbie entrepreneurs, and why she’d describe her chronic illness life like a circus. And she ends off with Dominique piece of advice on how you thrive when you are teammates and not competitors with our chronic illness/disability. This episode is super funny, impactful, teachable and quirky, so you’ll love every minute. And SPOILER: you get TWO sneak peek announcements about InvisiYouth 2.0 programming. Please like, comment and share this episode by making sure you DOWNLOAD and SUBSCRIBE. AND support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
Win the gold medal, it's the Olympic and Paralympic season and we’re celebrating our appreciation for sports, and the power of para-sports by having two special guests that have been athletes at the Paralympic Games. Talk about getting elite athletes that are competing for medals in Tokyo 2020! Say hello to Team Great Britain’s returning Track and Field athletes, Polly Maton and Livvy Breen. Both Polly and Livvy are para-sprinters and long jumpers (competing in different categories) and were introduced to sports at a young age. Their talents combined with determined hard work have made both of these ladies forces in the track and field community, both winning medals in international competitions and both being on Team GB’s Paralympic teams in Rio 2016 with Livvy also being on the London 2012 Paralympic team too! With these ladies being teammates and friends for many years, travelling the world competing in para-athletics and thriving, this episode feels like you’re hanging out with three friends laughing and giving advice. In this episode, Dominique, Polly and Livvy bring the humor as they answer our rapid fire questions, like why the Team GB Paralympic gear needed to have that bucket hat for Polly, and what other sport Livvy would love to compete in. We get our journalist hats on with our “Medical Pop Headlines” Paralympics News Edition segment as these Paralympians and Dominique give their hot takes on some of the biggest news stories, like the discussion of athletes’ mental health needs after Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka bring mental wellbeing to light in Tokyo 2020, their thoughts on combining the Olympics and Paralympics in Paris 2024, and how female athletes’ uniforms got way to much scrutiny this summer—including Livvy’s uniform briefs. We hit the middle of our episode with TWICE the Story Time with our guests about competing at the Paralympic Games. Polly remembers how she may not have been invited to an Olympic/Paralympic party at her school when she returned from Rio 2016. And Livvy talks about when she was the leader in the 4x100 relay at her first games in London 2012---and how it felt to have a full stadium and 300 classmates cheering in the stands. Second half of this episode will give everyone life advice, humor and example stories for those wanting to get active with a chronic illness/disability. Livvy and Polly talk about how sport has boosted their confidence as they’ve grown into young women with their respective chronic illness/disability, and what are the different options YOU can take if you’re wanting to try a new sport for the first time with your chronic illness/disability. They chat on why doing your Google homework on how other young people have played sports with disabilities/chronic illnesses will give you the advantage in getting to join school sport teams or clubs. And we give our thoughts on how to reply when you’re told you’re “inspirational and brave” for nothing but existing in your sport uniform. We end the episode with a burst of energy as these Paralympians drop some major nuggets of motivation. Learn how to combat stigmas of what doing “sports with a disability/illness” looks like, why these para-athletes make the BEST Instagram follows, how failure is the best thing to happen to you, give the details on why your relationship with your body strengthens through sports, and why you are just as capable as anyone to do sports. Polly and Livvy are reminding you in this podcast that you can do ANYTHING as long as positivity, humor, hard work and teamwork are attributes of your sporting experiences, from your backyard to the world stage. We’re cheering on these two elite para-athletes for gold medals in Tokyo 2020 and we hope you give this episode cheers too!
Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Polly @polly_maton and Livvy @livvy_breen, and support the Paralympics by watching the games/following @paralympics. AND support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
Sister, Sister! We have a majorly special episode because the super fun Heringer sisters (Rachel and Abigail) are in the house for their first ever joint interview! Many will remember Abigail from the popular TV show The Bachelor for Season 25/Matt James (and upcoming Season 7 of Bachelor in Paradise) and she was also the first deaf/cochlear implants contestant on the franchise’s almost two decades on TV! Talk about bringing some much needed representation! And her biggest cheerleader, older sister Rachel, who also has cochlear implants, is an equally talented young woman crushing it in her work with commercial insurance in the Pacific Northwest. This dynamic duo brings the fun and upbeat energy for the entire episode, and we chat not only about Abigail’s Bachelor experience, but also about sibling dynamics (since there are actually four Heringer siblings) and they drop advice and encouragement that we know all of you with siblings will immediately resonate with. In this episode, Dominique, Rachel and Abigail give out their “Illest Superlatives” to each other, like Rachel planning what group date activity Abigail would’ve won the group date rose on, and Abigail knowing which reality show Rachel would do well on, and the sisters sharing their most proud sister moments. Abigail shares some great advice she got from Rachel that she thought of during her time on The Bachelor and what compelled her to share about her hearing loss and Rachel’s powerful older sibling influence on night one. The Heringer sisters give great pieces of advice they’ve learned from not only their dynamic as sisters with the same invisible disability, but also how they nurture their relationships with their two younger brothers, and it’s some great tips for all of us with an illness/disability trying to connect with our siblings without the same conditions. Spoiler: the three ladies all agree that a group chat with siblings is a perfect way to strengthen your bond to share your needs while also having fun with your siblings when you send good memes and videos. And we get two doses of STORY-TIME with our intermission segment because Rachel shares her experience watching Abigail graduate from university and feeling all the big sister feels, and Abigail shares a funny story from her elementary school days that involves a lost cochlear implant and one hysterical misunderstanding with a panicked classmate! Part Two of the podcast picks up the pace as the Heringer sisters share some of their life hacks, like all their must-haves for others with CIs, what their de-stressors are like some certain Netflix genres, good snacks, and in Rachel’s case, quality time with her adorable corgi Louie! And Rachel and Abigail give their different perspectives on how to feel more confident when your health or disability can sometimes make you feel lost in group settings. Just like two siblings are not alike, we have Abigail and Rachel give their different pieces of advice about working in careers NOT connected with chronic illness/disability and how to adapt and speak up for what you need. Plus, the inside scoop on how Abigail’s appearance on The Bachelor was how Rachel’s colleagues learned about her own hearing loss! Abigail also talks about how to handle the pressures of outside opinions on living life and not conforming to the stereotype of a ‘disabled person’ and while we all might not have 500k followers, Abigail gives so great guidance you can use! And we end the episode with our ‘One More Piece of Advice” with both Rachel and Abigail telling us one piece of advice that really resonated with them as young women with invisible disabilities. We’re officially welcoming the Heringer sisters into the InvisiYouth family, and we know you’ll adopt them too after checking out this episode! Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Abigail @abigail_heringer and Rachel @heringer_rachel, and support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
Log in for the a deep dive into reaping all the benefits of insider tips of online community! A first introduction into support as a young adult with chronic illness/disability often means using social media or nonprofits as a way to connect with others that are living similar health struggle experiences. But let’s be real, as we are teens and young adults, making friendships and bonds virtually can feel as awkward as a blind date, and we’ve got no handbook on how to master people an individual wanting a support network that gets it…until now. That’s what InvisiYouth’s platform is all about, and we’ve got a special guest on this episode that also specializes in authentic support online, the founder of the media/events company and online community ChroniCon, Nitika Chopra! Living with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis along with her wide career in TV, her online magazine and podcasting, Nitika believes wellness and empowerment can be fused together when part of a community, and now her company provides workshops and content focused on support. In this episode, Dominique and Nitika get to chat about Nitika’s go-to karaoke song, the one thing she wish she invented and why Nitika’s first job only lasted a couple days. They dive into the reasons online community should be recommended to every older youth with a chronic illness/disability, what initial steps all you introverts can make into virtual friendships and comradery (any why the online dating mindset is the way to go) and their top three tips for family/friends that wanna have supportive conversations that aren’t all focused on your health. And our intermission “So That One Time” storytime is all about Nitika’s journey dreaming up for goal of a TV show becoming a reality. And she may give the best episode quote about how her and Dominique are chronic illness ninjas, and you can be one too! Part Two of InvisiYouth Chat Sessions gets deep with advice and fun motivation as Dominique and Nitika explain the how-to’s with combatting loneliness that sometimes follows you relying on virtual community, the best way to handle the cycle of pessimism or complaining that can fill online chronic illness communities, and their pieces of advice to break through that bogged down feeling on social media when you need some selfcare in a world all focused on virtual. And InvisiYouth’s ‘fly on a wall theory’ is discussed and we know you’ll want to add it to the backburner when following new people on Instagram. We got you in the ways you can DM slide, how to make a comment, and how to feel safe and comfortable on your socials when wanting to interact with new people in chronic illness/disability communities. And we end off the episode with these ladies making their life toolkit that you will be taking notes on 100% because it will improve your daily life. You’ll learn what you’ve gotta had to your bag, a favorite item to make your home office cozy, the fashionable clothes that will boost your confidence in flares, the must-have travel size item, and the books that they are reading lately. We’re ready to make you the best version of your passive or active social media-self. Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Nitika @nitikachopra and ChroniCon @chroniconofficial and support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
We love a good dog video on our Instagram feed, but when we see a service dog video, our love and intrigue is immediately peaked. And that’s because service dogs and their handlers are a group mainstream media doesn’t often share… especially for our young adult community. Over the years, we’ve gotten countless messages asking about service and therapy dogs as part of improving the quality of one’s chronic illness or disability life, and it’s one of the most requested podcast topics. So we’re FINALLY doing an episode all about this dog community, it’s with special guest invisible disabilities and service dog activist Bri Harris and her medic alert service dog Arrow! With her own dynamic chronic illnesses, Bri having dog Arrow improved her quality of life with Arrow’s individualized tasks for assistance. And with her fast-growing Instagram showing the daily life of service dogs, educating on the most common misconceptions, and sharing a behind the scenes of service dog life with Arrow, Bri proves that service dogs strengthen life immensely… and that Arrow is a model service dog AND model-status photogenic. On this episode, Bri and Dominique (with the help of Arrow too!) get to know more fun facts about Bri and Arrow’s like all about Arrow’s wonderful reintroduction to the movie theater since the pandemic started and how she’s not gonna fall for a jump-scare horror movie, and get the facts straight with our “Top Search” segment when Bri answers the most frequent questions about service dogs like why there’s no national registration program, how people should respond to seeing a service dog (and yes, that includes no petting!), what it means when a service dog is working and performing a task, and what the main difference is between emotional support animals, therapy dogs and service dogs. And those three differences are CRUCIAL to understanding the relationship between dog and handler! STORY TIME gets real funny as Bri tells an embarrassing moment she’s gained confidence sharing that involves waiting in a car line to enter Disneyland, Arrow’s epic speed running skills and public bathrooms. Second half of InvisiYouth Chat Sessions amps up the funny with so many life stories of founder Dominique experiences, and Bri after living with Arrow for four years. She tells her top two pieces of advice for those with service dogs or looking to get/train one so they can thrive in the professional setting, soar with success in their schooling life—know your accommodations, people!—and how having supportive friends and family means giving them KNOWLEDGE on service dogs so they can back you up in public. And we end the podcast with Bri and Arrow’s Life Playlist on the must-have items when you have a dog or service dog. It includes the papers you should definitely carry which differs per state/country, best harnesses, the best items to add to your bag like Bri’s “Arrow Pouch” and these gadgets are affordable, cute AND functional for your furry companion and service dog. Bri is a guest not just packed with knowledge, but super fun AND Arrow makes her podcast debut with InvisiYouth and certainly ends the podcast with a much-watch moment! Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Bri and Arrow @followyourarrow_gsp, and support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
Being multifaceted in your professional and personal life AND having balance for both, especially in today’s world where you want to be your authentic self but virtually connect. And our special guest is an absolute boss when it comes to creating your lane in every aspect that fuels your fire, it’s the incredible chronic illness activist, content creator, editor, writer, model and all-around boss woman, Devri Velázquez! In 2011, Devri was diagnosed with a rare disease called Takayasu’s arteritis and she used her talents of writing and advocacy work to create a professional resume that rivals many for its diversity and skill. With her unique platform empowering others to create positive changes across communities of gender, race and identity, Devri has written for brands like Allure and 21Ninety.com and been a panelist of health summits. Now with over 96k followers, Devri is the queen of sharing how writing and visuals can empower women to focus on their individual wellness, activism in daily life, and inner powers. In this episode, Devri and Dominique fire off some quick takes about Devri’s favorite things like her favorite TikTok trend, how she starts and ends her day with two of the COOLEST things in her routine, and a guilty pleasure she has not shame sharing. Then the duo dives deep and gets real breaking the glass ceiling on misconceptions the diverse chronic illness/disability community deals with—like how to navigate social media while touching on topics of racial and gender inequality, and ways to be a person that advocates for MANY communities because that makes you a passionate badass. Allyship becomes a major chatting point as Devri mentions not only the starting points you can add to be an ally for underrepresented communities, but also how to amplify voices of those in communities like the BIPOC and AAPI communities, because as Dominique points out, being proactive and reactive are two different ways of advocating for change but two very needed styles of allyship! STORY TIME for our Intermission Segment gets a bit spooky and sentimental as Devri tells us about how her love of horror stories resulted in her creating a childhood side hustle that led her down the path as a professional writer today. Get your notepad ready for the second half of the episode because Devri and Dominique create the guidebook of how to be an entrepreneur and be a successful one as your creator and manager, every tip to make your social media a focal point like writing that best caption or taking that perfect photo, and lots of advice of how to create wellness and boundaries to protect your mind and health. Probably the best advice comes from our super uplifting conversation at the end of the episode when Devri mentions how to respond to those social hot button questions about things like racial ignorance, gender inequality and ableism and how to boost your confidence to NEVER be silence when you feel fearful of ‘saying the wrong thing.’ They even talk about how ignorance isn’t a bad word because that means you can STILL grow and learn from what you don’t know. And Devri’s BEST piece of advice is so empowering, so powerful, you will want to stick to the end of the episode. Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Devri @devrivelazquez, and support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
Being just as elegant and passionate on the dance floor as she is in her philanthropy and activism, our video podcast guest is an unbelievable talent. Founder of the UK nonprofit Project Parent, wheelchair ballerina, model and disability activist, Kate Stanforth. Living with ME and other chronic illnesses, Kate had to adapt to make her life accessible, especially when she began needing a wheelchair. Her chronic illness journey helped her create Project Parent in 2014, delivering over 1,500 holiday gifts to parents with children in hospital. And this year, she launched Kate Stanforth Academy of Dance by fusing her past experience as a classical dancer and now teaching wheelchair dance with inclusive classes and its first set of classes SOLD OUT. In this episode, Dominique and Kate give their hot takes on hot button topics like TikTok and the social media like buttons in our “Life Tinder Challenge” segment, and you’ll be surprised at some of their answers. And the ladies dive deep into their conversation on philanthropy, getting into volunteering, and what makes running a nonprofit so different from a business. They have ideas of boosting your virtual volunteer opportunities and how your hobbies can be a key to fundraising for many nonprofits like Project Parent and InvisiYouth. We get to our intermission, halfway point of the podcast when Kate tells a life story that’s about two things: Kate’s loveable assistance dog Spencer and his fascination with walking up to a particular group of people when they got out. And in the second half of the episode, Kate talks about dance, wheelchair dance styles, how she was able to take a passion “pre-chronic illness life” of dancing and bring it full circle AND adapt it to fit into her new way of life. We get major details about why we all can use a bit of dance in our lives, and how using virtual connection can get up out of our comfort zones to try new things. Plus, our final segment of this episode is a masterclass on activism, fighting off haters, tackling disability hate and the ways you can get support for those negative situations and comments, and the top two things Kate and Dominique suggest you do to build more independence in your life when you need support. This is the BEST piece of advice for our older youth, so take note! Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Kate @katestanforth, her nonprofit @projectparent and her dance academy @katestanforthdance to get access to her amazing work, thank you to our charitable sponsor Tandem Podcasts for partnering for this episode, and please support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
As we start Season 3B, we’re kicking off our monthly video podcast series with one of the chronic illness/disability community’s favorite rising stars on social media, it’s the creator and graphic designer behind the popular brand @thisthingtheycallrecovery, Jenny McGibbon. Based in Scotland, Jenny used her diverse health experience being born with gastroschisis and short bowel syndrome along with M.E. to connect her love of art with her desire to make the medical space connect better with young people like her. Now, Jenny’s brand, This Thing They Call Recovery has graphics being translated into 50 language in 90 countries, talk about taking on the world one creative graphic design at a time! In this episode, Dominique and Jenny talk about how chronic illness makes you pick practical superhero powers and why Jenny’s latest binge-watch TV show was a completely unique answer, chat about the role that are and design played in her health journey and why @thisthingtheycallrecovery was a happy accident that created her self-employed graphic designer career. The ladies dive deep into how you can stay private and be part of the chronic illness community online, and why you gotta water that curiosity to divide your life and personal activism. And Jenny explains why art, graphics and captions let you communicate with others, gain support and advice all while not sharing every bit of her journey. We stan good tips on how to respond to those comments (in life and in DMs) when people don’t agree with your choices and chronic illness/disability POVs and these ladies give MAJOR tips! Intermission Story Time is epic because who knew that dogs were the most adaptive furry best friends—and we might want to adapt Jenny’s dog as an InvisiYouth mascot after her story! Dive right into the second half of the episode as Dominique and Jenny talk about all the behind the scenes goodies of some of Jenny’s viral graphic designs and how they were created. Plus, we end this podcast episode with the best toolkit to get all your work-from-home and graphic designer needs met! Jenny and Dominique talk about graphic designing software, how to make captions, what you can do to make your workstation anywhere in your home automatically improve your mood and productivity, and why they both love a power hour! Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Jenny @thisthingtheycallrecovery and her graphic design brand, and support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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Ending 2020 with motivation, self-love, and excitement for the year ahead? Yes, please! And there is no one better suited to empowering you to seek greatness and improve your fitness than our special guest, Ultra-Endurance athlete, cystic fibrosis activist and online fitness coach, Sophie Grace Holmes. Living with CF since she was four months old, Sophie has been told all about what might be limitations she’ll experience in life, but that only ignited Sophie to create a life for herself where she’s pushing beyond limits. Sophie’s competitive and athletic nature carved a lane for herself in the fitness community, now having climbed Kilimanjaro, competed in Iron Man competitions, created her own online fitness coaching business and fitness app. In this episode, Dominique and Sophie, get to know Sophie’s life highlights in our segment “Illest Superlatives” like her love of being part of the Under Armor team and her funniest quarantine fitness memory being when her marine neighbor surprised her during her IG Live fitness class. And you better get ready for Sophie’s motivational chat all about the ways she strengthens her fitness, both physically and mentally, every day. We chat all about “workout anxiety” and ways you can combat your nerves, how recognizing mental blocks is the first step in defeating them, and how your chronic illness/disability should never be viewed as a hinderance but rather part of the way you can achieve goals. Life Tip: if you seek adventure in even the little daily tasks like getting ready in the morning and answering an email, your lens for life is infinitely positive and more successful. Story time with Sophie is as epic as our guest because she talks about the life-changing experience raising money for cystic fibrosis by paddle boarding to the Bahamas—and there may be some friendly sharks and a missing passport along the way. Plus, you gotta stick around for the second half of the podcast because Sophie and Dominique drop some SERIOUS TIPS for your life and improved fitness. Sophie rapid fires must-have items to get you active and reaping all the benefits of fitness in our “What’s Your Life Playlist” segment like her must-have inexpensive fitness gear, starter workouts that are safe and adaptive, her healthier snack ideas for all of us now working from home, AND all the great things you can get from Sophie’s fitness app like downloadable workouts and grocery list ideas. We end this episode with expert Sophie answering our fitness questions that any person would want answers. She’s explaining how to element disappointment as a reaction from not reaching our goals both in workouts and daily life, how failure and achievement are two things she equally loves happening because you grow from both, the reason you can benefit from trialing different activities to see what you enjoy, how an added minute each day will boost your fitness AND mood, and Sophie’s top three things she recommends you do each day for a bit more motivation and joy leading into 2021…and they are so easy to add TODAY. Talk about seeking challenges in everyday life, and we know this podcast is packed with so much energy, you’ll enjoy every minute. Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Sophie @sophiegraceholmes and her app, and support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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Hiatus no longer! After eight long months of no new video podcast episodes, we are FINALLY back with a new InvisiYouth Chat Sessions, and host Dominique is so hyped up to be back! We don’t need yet another reminder of the chaos from this COVID19 pandemic, so we are not gonna bring any more stress into your lives and chat about that on our podcast. Instead, we are going to do what we do best at InvisiYouth: bring you laughs, motivation and lifestyle tips so you can kickass at life, even during challenging times like these. Our first guest is a familiar face to our InvisiYouth Charity family because she was also part of our miniseries from our video podcasting hiatus over on our IG Live, InvisiYouth’s Quarantine Coffee Break, it’s the founder of wellness brand and podcast, Plenty and Well, Nat Kelley. With a powerful social media following, Nat has been able to connect with other young women in the chronic illness space from her experience living with ulcerative colitis. Now, she’s created coaching programs for areas of life like wellness and business, so we know Nat’s savviness and bubbly personality make for the best jump back in our podcast series! In this episode, Dominique and Nat get to know each other in our speed round of ‘Remember the Last Tim’” as Nat explains her last TV series she’s streamed, last meal she’d give a five-star rating, and who she’d fill her table at a last supper (and it’s a pretty big guest list). Plus, these two powerhouse boss ladies get chatting all about breaking downs those glass ceilings the chronic illness/disability community faces when try to reach their potential and manage health struggles. The ladies give advice to combat Imposter Syndrome, talk stories of when they’ve needed to give themselves their own pep talks, and some useful tips on how to fight those voices or opinions that make you doubt yourself. And our Intermission is one of the most relatable and entertaining ever as Nat tells Dominique a story about an experience from dating when she was newly diagnosed. Trust us, this is a story time you don’t want to miss because they get super real about hair loss, dating during university, and getting an awkward text after a date. In the second half of our video podcast episode, Nat and Dominique dish out some MAJOR tools in our segment ‘Health Hack Moments’ when talking about their hacks for balancing health, life and trying to bring some joy and success into our crazy lives. The explain how it’s important to express your worries and thoughts—even if not to a friend, family member or therapist and it’s to a journal or an empty room—and Nat explains some of her health hacks that the reminds to her clients that give her balance like journaling, meditation and even having a good ‘cry moment’ before you try to regroup positivity thinking. And make sure you stay to the end of this episode because Nat and Dominique are dishing out SO MUCH GOOD LIFE ADVICE that’ll make you a boss that’s happy and successful AND chronically ill/disabled. They chat about ways to steer away from feeling like you need to ‘fix your illness’ before achieving goals, and how accepting your diagnosis isn’t stagnancy. Dominique and Nat give out TEN things to add into your toolkit to boost your mood in an instant DAILY. Plus, Nat—a queen of IG content—shares her tips on how to be authentic on social media about your highs and lows (because everyone learns and grows through life, even the coaches and founders like Nat and Dominique) while also maintaining privacy you want. There’s no better way to get into the end of 2020 than listening or watching this video podcast episode because it starts AND ends with reminders of how YOU can live life with chronic illness/disability can be just as joyful, fulfilling and successful as anyone around you. Please like, comment, subscribe and share this episode, follow Nat @plentyandwellwithnat, and support InvisiYouth Charity by donating, following and joining our programs and community @invisiyouth!
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Sometimes you make fast friends with people. That’s exactly what happened when founder Dominique was first introduced (via Twitter, obviously) to our very special guest on this episode, British chronic illness and lifestyle blogger, founder of Spoonie Survival Kits, author and freelance writer, Pippa Stacey. It’s no exaggeration when we say Pippa is a fan favorite among the chronic illness community, really giving practical yet humorous advice on life with health struggles. This is a young woman that has created a fundraising social enterprise company, developed a freelancing career and being awarded for her successful blog which is gaining a quarter MILLION impressions per month…and she’s not even 30 years old! Getting to unite Dominique and Pippa in one episode is like having an explosion of girl boss flare, sassy chronic illness humor, and activist creativity all while showing how they’ve redefined what success looks like. On this episode, Dominique and Pippa dive deep into their pop culture favorites from must read books like @mindfullyevie, why Pippa would immediately book a train to see Six Musical on the West End, and all the reasons Dominique raves about inclusive and accurate casting on TV series like This is Us with Blake Stadnik and Skam France’s glorious Season 5 with Winona Guyon and Lucas Wild, and lead Robin Migné for deaf culture and ableism discussion. Pippa also lays out all different ways she homed in on her craft of writing and improved so her hobby had the ability to become a career path, and listed how volunteering or school opportunities allowed her to figure out her interests that fit with her health needs. Plus, we give you the top tips and reasons to do the best professional DM slides that will absolutely give you the resume glow-up you’ll need to be mentored, get work experience and take the steps to be empowered to create an authentic career. There’s even some insider tips on how to find jobs that are flexible, virtual and remote so it will cater well to your chronic illness/disability needs. And our Intermission Story Time is EVERYTHING as Pippa tells the story about her quite literal crash entrance at the largest disability expo in the UK, Naidex. packs a punch as Dominique and Pippa delve into the topic of Pippa’s TEDxTalk, redefining success as someone with chronic illness/disability. We learn how to generate financial and personal success and chat about a few options young people can take in order to garner some employment success, and the advice on how to talk about your work and personal life with your inner circle when it may be hard for them to understand you can be “chronically ill AND happy.” And it wouldn’t be right to bring Pippa on the video podcast unless we had an entire segment dedicated to her masterful skills on social media. You want to TAKE NOTES on this as these ladies lay out gems of how to blend personal life posts with some activism flare in the captions, why Pippa likes to hold her projects secret until she can reveal major news that’s louder than bombs like her book release, the best examples of how to handle those negative and passive aggressive comment sections—like our 48-hour rule—and Dominique explains why we’re a champion of subtle activism on social media where we take the “Easter egg approach” to engage more people in advocacy while making your platform positively matter. There is not one minute of this video podcast episode that will not entertain you, build up your confidence, or instill some life tips that will put you on the best path for your future!
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Nothing feels better during the start of the January winter than daydreaming about those ideal vacation getaways we want to plan. All those warm, tropical destinations we’d love to escape to during these winter months. But let’s be real…planning a vacation or trip when you have a chronic illness or disability can be quite complicated. We want to make holidays fun and spontaneous again, so we enlisted the help of someone who’s an expert in travel with a chronic illness, Carrie-Ann Lightley. As a disability travel blogger, Carrie-Ann has sent over 15 years learning how to best survey and examine hotels, venues, transportation and vacation destinations to suit those with disabilities or chronic illness from her experience living with cerebral palsy. And now she’s the Marketing Manager for the UK’s leading virtual accessibility guide AccessAble which provides detailed information about all things travel through their trained surveyors. So, no better person than Carrie-Ann to bring on the Season Three opener and give us all the traveler advice and holiday tips so we can put the fun back in our vacation and travel life—no matter how long your trip may be. In this episode, Carrie-Ann and Dominique chat about their top three countries on their traveler’s list (which ALL three are identical!), and how Carrie-Ann answer to ‘what was your childhood dream job?’ was probably one of the best answers we’ve ever had on the podcast, examine what the top questions someone should think of when picking their holiday destinations or researching about whether hotels, venues or restaurants are accessible, and talk openly about why it’s pivotal those of us with chronic illness/disability chat with our travel companions (family, friends, partners, etc) BEFORE any trip about how they can be helpful in certain scenarios so no one’s making major decisions under pressure. And our intermission story time is filled with major laughs as Carrie-Ann tells us a story that involves a vacation to Spain, her husband, an ocean view and an unfortunate encounter with a light pole—trust us, it’s unlike any story we’ve heard before and Dominique lives for a good surprise ending! Plus, we bring back our new segment of Top Search and bring on the dialogue about what are the top searched questions people are asking when deciding on travelling, top questions they search when considering whether locations or venues are accessible to their medical needs, the top questions we should be asking hotels if we need assistance, and the top hashtags to search on social media when checking out holiday spots. And the end of our episode is JAM-PACKED with facts and tips our guests should take some major notes on because Carrie-Ann and Dominique give the best advice for when you travel on the small day outing, the weekend trip and the long vacation holiday, the best tips for packing—especially if you have medical needs to pack with you too—efficiently for a trip, and the guidebook to scheduling activities into your holidays so they’re medically tangible yet spontaneous too, so it’s fun and stress-free for everyone involved! Carrie-Ann even brings up some surprising statistics that prove why it’s not just ideal to make your venue accessible for guests, but it’s also a major avenue of revenue to bring in many more guests if they can use the facility and enjoy their holidays there. Venues, hotels and holiday destinations should become more inclusive, it’s a fact, and it just makes sense. You will be booking your next holiday with so much excitement after you check out this episode!
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Challenge the exclusion so many with chronic illness/disability face and reshape everyone’s perception (including your own person mindset). That’s what has driven the ultimate female founder warrior, Tiffany Yu. After a car accident as a child resulted in her personal experience living with brachial plexus palsy (nerve damage in her right arm), Tiffany had to grow up within the framework of others’ opinions on her disability. And as she found her voice, and realized the stereotypes society has thrust upon her solely because of her disability, Tiffany became motivated to challenge these barriers. Diversability is a social enterprise that works to rebrand disability through the power of community, storytelling, and working with the non-disabled community to show ways inclusivity is a successful choice to make. Along with Diversability, Tiffany has used her stellar social media platform to also become a public speaker, founder of Awesome Foundation Disability Chapter which awards micro-grants to disability projects, and this year winning California Miss Amazing Queen to use her platform for women/girls with disabilities. Talk about having disability royalty on InvisiYouth Chat Sessions podcast! This episode, Dominique and Tiffany list off lots of Tiffany’s lasts—like the last Instagram follow, public speaking event, and home cooked meal (but Tiffany jokes she’ll focus more about being home than her cooking skills), break all the pillars down that hold up our chronic illness/disability “glass ceiling,” give tips to silence the “inner monologue hater” that makes us self-conscious of our chronic illness/disability, remind everyone that success and joy are NOT exclusive to healthy/non-disabled people, and gets super real on why perpetuating the negative stigmas on chronic illness/disability need to be dissolved on two levels—our personal journey and how the media/brands see it. When we get to our intermission story time, it’s about to get super freaking because we discover not only the story behind Tiffany’s stunning split artwork that embodies how Tiffany “embraces the elephant in the room” that is her disability, but also how BOTH Dominique and Tiffany have carry images of a little girl hugging an elephant. How super kismet is that! And the second half this episode is even better than the first! Dominique and Tiffany discuss how leading life with vulnerability breathes strength on the daily, encourage the power of DMs to all those activist idols you follow, talk about the power of language, advise us ways to erase the plague of being a burden from our mindsets so we can embrace the power of YES, talk how-to’s when it comes to needing help when you’re an introvert that has a chronic illness/disability, ways our healthy/non-disabled counterparts can ask questions about our health struggles while being okay with us saying NO, establish the winning strategy of ally-ship which is a pillar for both Diversability and InvisiYouth as they demand the outside chronic illness/disability community be at the table when discussing accessibility and accurate representation, and create a guidebook on feeling comfortable discussing disability between friends and public or guide to feeling confident in our own skin. Tiffany is proof that we must liberate ourselves from the false perceptions of chronic illness/disability, and that diversity is always a strength. Want that self-growth and conversation-opener…listen to this podcast!
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Reunited and it is truly video podcast ear candy! We are bringing back one of our favorite guests from Season One, and a dear friend of Dominique’s to the Chat Sessions and they have upped their game to make this a highlight episode yet again! We are talking about philanthropist, award-winning children’s book author, executive producer and cystic fibrosis activist Travis Flores! 2019 has been a year of many major life moments for Travis. It’s the 15th anniversary of his children’s book, he’s featured in Season Four of The CW’s MY LAST DAYS (created by Jane the Virgin actor and Five Feet Apart director Justin Baldoni), opened up about his coming out story and amazing husband, and now, Travis has been so open about his fight for a life-saving third double lung transplant. Travis’ super empowered and super honest way of life impacts so many of his fans, the #YellowHeartSquad, and we’re honored to call him a friend and supporter of InvisiYouth. In this episode, Dominique and Travis catch up on all that they’ve had going on this year and how Travis’ episode on MY LAST DAYS led to a viral outpouring of love for his love and life story, examine the stereotypes around masculinity and chronic illness and discuss why it seems there’s such a struggle for the public to identify strength within those that have chronic illnesses, develop tactics to staying authentic when you’re sharing your story—whether on social media or when you’re talking with family and friends, throw down some amazing reasons why they believe vulnerability and strength are synonymous, and give ways we can all slowly become more confident in our lives that include our chronic illness/disability. Plus, Travis tells a story for the first time on camera that gets Dominique laughing so hard. Spoiler: it is a story from Travis’ teen years at a children’s hospital which includes nighttime strolls and morgues…but trust us when we say it’s definitely a part of the episode you don’t want to miss. In the second half of the episode, Travis and Dominique are developing a path to self-empowerment that includes the ways we can rewire that inner monologue of self-doubt when we think our health limits any goal, try to understand why people feel afraid to talk about chronic illness with any sort of joy, humor and power (and why there’s an assumption that chronic illness can only be shown in a melancholy light), suggest ways young people can build a life for themselves within their chronic illness/disability and build relationships with friends/colleagues that become your allies for success, talk candidly about the politically correct—or PC culture—of how media and even our inner circle are scared to discuss youth and chronic illness/disability together, and how that fear of saying the wrong thing actually makes our community more invisible than it needs to be, and talk about what Dominique and Travis feel are the best ways to feel fulfilled during our health setbacks and disassociate weakness from our self-description. These friends bring together a podcast episode jam-packed with major moments of power, moments of laughter, moments of reflection, moments of hones advice, and moments of joy. This is an episode anyone can relate to because it will feel like you’re sitting down with two that are super grateful to fight for all their tomorrows while appreciating the now.
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RelationshipGoals! We see that hashtag on social media and we get to see those love-fest posts about all that bonds two people together. But as someone in the chronic illness/disability community, these happy posts can bring about a lot of different questions. Even more so, when it’s a partnership between a chronically ill/disabled person and a ‘healthy/able-bodied’ person. Mainly…how does this kind of relationship have such success? In the second installment of Season Two’s relationship series, we have brought two guest experts that exemplify the relationship goals we all dream of…those romantic relationships. We have the Kowlessars on the show; Anna Kowlessar who is the founder and executive director of People Hope Org, and her husband Randy Kowlessar, the owner of the small business strategist and advocate company, Hello Randy! Anna and Randy bring just as much life, joy, faith, hard work and love into their work as they do their marriage! They embody so much of what People Hope stands for as a web-based organization providing people living with chronic illnesses and their support networks the tools, resources, spiritual connection and community to combat all the challenges of life with health struggles. We had to get the ultimate couple on the show that blends chronic illness from Anna’s health journey with the ‘healthy/able-bodied’ partner from Randy’s supportive ways. In this episode, Dominique, Anna and Randy, reveal the most common questions they’re asked as a couple and what are the main keys to some relationship success—as a ‘healthy’ partner or a ‘chronically ill’ partner— (and you’ll love their tips here), reveal why adventure challenge TV shows and Connect Four are key components in the Kowlessar home, and partake in our new segment TOP SEARCH where Anna and Randy tell us their auto-answers for “how can I support someone I’m dating if they have a chronic illness?” and “what answers can I give if someone ask about my health in a relationship?” And these two also give us the best story time segment when Randy and Anna tell us about their first date, which includes Randy giving the best ‘drop the mic’ response when Anna tells him about her chronic illness. In the second half of the episode, Anna tells us all about People Hope’s new program, Focus Fix—a monthly program that supports chronic illness warriors have tools to dive into self-growth (and you know at InvisiYouth we are all about cultivating a vibrant life for you medically adult-ish© people), and explains how finding love is a two-part project; you must find love for yourself before finding love with another person. Also, Dominique, Anna and Randy give advice on how to boost your inner confidence for all those introverts that might take time to thaw out their feelings/questions/needs, layout game-changing tips to communication with your partner, examine how having a supportive inner circle of friends and family can be your sounding board in the best way to vent frustrations and worries, divulge the secret Anna and Dominique prepare when needing to bring up serious topics with your partner, empower you with how they feel confident and valuable when those health setbacks days occur—and how early prep conversations are key, and end the show with advice they’d give the single versions of themselves. It’s a podcast that will have you feeling empowered, get lots of laughs, have faith in your journey, and feel the love for not only the people in your life, but a love for yourself!
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Long-term goals can become one of the most stressful parts of young adult life. People want to know about your plans for university or work, if you want to get married, whether you want to travel or settle down, and if a family and kids are in the cards. And these questions can be pretty intense without the added layer of figuring out your future with a chronic illness/disability. Health issues can make planning for the future a bit challenging, because it’s unknown what the next month will look like, let alone the next ten years. So how do those of us with health struggles plan our future? That’s what our guest, Rachel Mayo, helps us with on Episode 23. As a Type One Diabetic since her diagnosis at 18, Rachel has spent almost 15 years growing up and creating a life for herself with chronic illness. She has developed a positivity activism style all her own through blogging, public speaking, being a guest writer on numerous articles for nonprofits like Beyond Type One, Nick Jonas’ young adult diabetes activism nonprofit and podcasts, and fundraising for charities like the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. For Rachel, she wanted to advocate with humor and kindness on what has been her life journey of growing up while balancing T1D, and the role her chronic and invisible illness has played in her decisions. Rachel has documented her career from being a leadership and conference consultant with Paradigm Shift to currently working for JDRF as a volunteer engagement and outreach manager with Middle and East Tennessee, to her IVF and fertility and pregnancy journey through her hyper-active social media platform. It is her transparency on career-building, fertility struggles, pregnancy and first-time momma life with her son Noah, that makes Rachel the perfect guest on the show. In this episode, Rachel and Dominique examine the big topics older youth with chronic illness/disability should ask about their futures NOW, discover Rachel’s ideal celebrity mom playdates for her and Noah, give the best answers on how to handle those ‘adulting’ topics when you need to plan ahead (like fertility, having children, or traveling for work), lay out the best tips for how to bring these talks and questions to your doctors/support network—with the realization that asking questions is not only okay, but encouraged, motivate us to discover that being assertive for yourself can be in both verbal and written formats (hello email/texting services with doctors!), laugh lots when it’s discovered that Rachel and Dominique both have an Elmo-related nickname (and it’s DEFINITELY a couple stories you need to hear), create the life playlist for all your future adulating needs like the best sleep tools, scheduler apps, medication reminder apps, diet/snack tricks to be on-the-go, must-have parenting tools (like Rachel’s key baby apps for all first-time moms that work the best for spoonie moms), and Rachel’s key tips for hashtags that divide her posts between being a T1D/invisible illness mom AND a T1D activist, get super heartfelt as Rachel talks about her fertility journey, pregnancy and post-baby Noah life that had to blend with her T1D life she was accustomed to and all Rachel’s advice for fellow women with chronic illnesses/disabilities that want to have children as part of their future plans, and advise a seriously dynamic toolkit for handling any negative comments in the social media world about your life choices (from career, travel, or future family plans) that coexist with your chronic illness/disability. It’s so true that planning a future—whether that be jobs, marriage, children, or travel—can be quite multifaceted when you also have a chronic illness/disability, but Rachel’s epic special guest appearance shines a bright light into how full adulthood with health struggles can be pretty damn sweet!
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When loungewear clothing brand Aerie dropped their #AerieReal campaign, the world got a severe case of inclusive diversity. There were models with insulin pumps, canes and ostomy bags but one model in particular got top news coverage: 21-year-old Georgia native, Abby Sams, who rocked her wheelchair in her shots. Seeing a young woman in a well-recognized campaign that was being celebrated in their clothes AND her wheelchair/walking crutches brought the conversation of diversity and disability representation to mainstream media. We got messages, tweets and DMs all freaking out over how excited they were to see girls like themselves on TV, in magazines and in commercials. But Abby’s not just a model representing chronic illness (like her own experiences with RSD, EDS and POTS), she’s also now using her massively growing Instagram following to document her latest passion project in her life: wheelchair racing. Abby is using her fresh advocacy style to make the public comfortably open-minded on topics like travel accessibility, inclusivity and the power of adaptive sports. In this stylish episode, Abby and Dominique talk about Abby’s journey to becoming one of Aerie’s models and what makes her favorite things like top Aerie clothes in her closet that are most accessible to wear, her top activism slogan shirts—which you can see all over her Instagram—and dream name for her racing wheelchair, develops the main issues brands run into when they ignore bringing products that are diverse AND functional, list off all the ways every young person can take the first few steps into becoming their own advocate, name the how-to’s when it comes to breaking stigmas on being young with health struggles, give insider tips on how you can talk accessibility without ‘scaring off’ the healthy-able-bodied community, get super real about Abby’s journey to bringing wheelchair racing into her life—and how anyone with any level of sporting experience can get into adaptive sports, regardless of chronic illness/disability, advise how people get find adaptive sporting opportunities in your area of the world. And during this episode, Abby and Dominique empower your face off as they talk about how they brought athleticism into their chronic illness lives while understanding the stigma of ‘Paralympian-level only’ for adaptive sports does not apply when you want to just have some fun, get to hear some truly funny and unfortunate stories of Abby’s experience around cities like Brooklyn when the public see ambulatory wheelchair users like Abby for the first time, lay out the best tools, apps and advice for everyone looking to see if places like restaurants, stores, concert venues and universities are accessible (and you MUST take notes), and we create the medically adult-ish© guidebook to finding some stigma-breaking clothing brands, hashtags to boost your disability awareness following, and the must-have mobility aids for life and sports. With Abby Sams, you get to have a jam-packed episode that you’ll have on repeat when you want to be motivated, inspired and have some major laughs to boost any week of the year!
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To be an influencer, or not to be an influencer? That is the question! In today’s world, the idea of making a career with your social media savvy and your Instagram account is super appealing. Add in the fact that it is a predominately virtual-led career path and it seems overtly-tantalizing for the chronic illness and disability community. Hell, even our programming is virtually-focused and relies on social media to reach our network! So we're a charity based in social media activism for work! But how does someone not fall into the pitfalls or stereotypes of a “social media influencer?” How can you still be an activist for chronic illness/disability rights while making your social media platform matter? What do you need to do to take your social media and turn it into a financial income? Well, we’ve got the golden ticket episode for you with our special guest giving all the top-secret info that’ll take you from subtle activist to bonafide influencer game-changer. Tourette Syndrome activist, Disability and Anti-Bullying advocate, Publicist and Social Media Influencer Hayley Gripp is the hybrid of chronic illness activist with brand supporter which fuels her growing Instagram of 115k followers! She bounces between LA and NYC for work projects and charity events (now living in NYC), and has even played an integral part in revising some hefty disability legislation like the I.D.E.A. Act on Capital Hill. Hayley wants to show the world that social media should be about #PostingWithIntegrity (the name of her soon-to-be released advocacy campaign). And living with a motto that those living with chronic illness/disability have some of the most empowering and platform-worthy stories that can positively impact society. In this episode, Hayley and Dominique talk about what makes social media influencing a bit controversial and how Hayley has defined her space as “social activist” media influencer which fuels success, examine the best places to use your platform for good and sharing your story with integrity to make positive change in your community and beyond, get super deep as they explore how to find self-love and self-worth when you’re feel self-conscious, hysterically laugh about Hayley's dog needing his own "Instagram-boyfriend" while also being an emotional support for her, lay out the best steps to boosting your mood when health setbacks collide with some work/personal life goals, and deliver the biggest list of insider secrets and tools for everyone that wants the influencer life. We’re serious…this is a full peak behind the curtain of brand supporter and social media influencer lives! This podcast episode lets Hayley and Dominique give some major tips and tricks that’ll not only let you boost your following, but how to approach the companies that have the best philanthropic heart and support inclusivity and diversity.
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Mental Health Awareness Month may have ended, but we’re keeping this conversation going since mental health is an all-year thing! There are still so many misconceptions, stigmas and social norms that make the “mental health chatter” seem challenging. To say that first sentence, to yourself or a loved one, sometimes we really don’t know how to begin, or how to help ourselves. So what better way to develop a stellar mental wellness episode than to bring a special guest that’s fused two of our biggest platforms: social media with activism for young adults! Creator of the mental health and wellness blog, Adventures and Anxiety, Lisa Gallo, is passionate marketer and public relations specialist while also being a zealous mental health blogger. Using her experiences with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder, Lisa has developed her own light, humorous and heartfelt style of activism that’s become a fast-growing resource for so many young adults. In this episode, Lisa and Dominique open the conversation about the biggest fears young adults have when it comes to mental health talk, discuss the reasons people forget that mental wellness is a spectrum where every level deserves its own support and recognition, talk about the benefits of therapy—not just professional talk therapy but sports, writing, art, music, and meditation—and how it can evolve for everyone, and create the perfect (and affordable!) toolkit that’ll strengthen your mind with everything from the perks of free university counseling, apps for meditation, self-care, and therapists, to the pros to a blend of western and holistic measures like essential oils, acupuncture, medication, therapy or diet/exercise styles. Also, you’ll want to stick around for Lisa’s life story of the first time she had a panic attack as a teen—and while that doesn’t sound like an uplifting story, Lisa and her friends/family have used that experience to grow, support and strengthen their health and relationships (plus, it’s a story that involves a tailgate—Go Gators!—a drive across a bridge, and some skydiving talk…so you’ll need to tune in to learn how that all comes together). And it wouldn’t be an InvisiYouth Chat Sessions episode unless we got to drop some major motivation and life tips! With a guidebook for social media while maintaining your mental strength, Lisa and Dominique talk about ways to avoid those social media pitfalls, suggestions of social media activism and blogs that are epic mental health activism tools, tips to use social media healthily, how to unfollow/mute those accounts that only breed envy or self-consciousness, and the best advice to keep your mind and body on a positive note that’ll make you ready to win at life. This episode is going to be the one you put on repeat to bring some self-love, some empowerment, some sassy humor and lots of knowledge that’ll make your mental wellness strengthen more and more!
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When we see ourselves in films, in the characters on the silver screen, you not only feel represented, but you can widen our dreamscape. And it’s no wonder that when we talk self-confidence, when we talk dating, when we talk relationships, we never so rarely have a movie or TV show to relate to. Today’s guest is bringing the knowledge on the worlds of dating and films with chronic illness/disability, it’s LA filmmaker and disability activist Ashley Eakin. Making her viral fame debut in 2017 with her SoulPancake video where she discusses the role her rare bone condition, Ollier's disease and Maffucci syndrome in her life, Ashley had 44 MILLION views and a new path for disability activism in the arts. She’s made her first short film BLUE and recently finalized funding for her new short SINGLE which will be filmed in late 2019, all focusing on the complexities of modern dating as a young person with a disability. And no big deal…but Ashley has also been behind the camera on projects like America’s Top Model and working for director Jon Chu of CRAZY RICH ASIANS! Ashley uses the power of vulnerability to prove not only how to empower yourself, but how to share an authentic story and relationship with others! In this episode, Ashley explains the last time she went on an epic trip to Singapore and Malaysia for Crazy Rich Asians filming and her last piece of good advice she wants to share, lay out the best start-up phrases to use when you feel self-conscious about someone who asks questions about your illness/disability or how to ask for help when you’re at work or the boss while making everyone think it’s their idea to support, develop the medically adult-ish guidebook to dating with chronic illness/disability through the lens of Ashley’s upcoming short SINGLE and promo testimonials which includes the following—our tips on bouncing back from bad dates and rude judgment, meeting people outside of apps, advice on having that awkward first conversation about your health struggles while dating, all the pros and cons of relationships where both people have health struggles, examines how creating films has been a vessel for positive change in Ashley’s life and her massive social media network, have some laughs as Ashley recounts her first at a SheLift retreat where her wilderness skills were tested, and dive into our top tips for using your vulnerability as a tool for confidence, building relationships, sharpening your work ethic, and becoming a game-changer in not just advocating for your needs but your dreams and goals too. Join us for this episode of humor, lots of life stories, some much-needed dating tips, and listen to chat about films and disability/illness representation!
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One of the biggest questions we get in “how do I handle my relationships while living with a chronic illness or disability?” And there are all types of relationships—romantic, familial, parents, siblings, caregivers, friends, doctors—that we experience every day. There’s so many complexities in how our relationships can thrive, so throughout Season Two, our podcast will bring you guest experts that exemplify the best of these relationship…starting with the first relationship we experience: parental dynamic. We’ve enlisted a mother-daughter duo from Canada, and one of our Global Brand Leader-All Stars, 17-year-old Madi Vanstone and her mom Beth. Not only does Madi use her large social media platform as a teen with cystic fibrosis to empower others to live beautiful well-rounded lives, but her and Beth also fights to improve medical necessities for other CF fighters, like going to Canadian Parliament to gain expensive medications like Kalydeco to have government coverage. Now they are powerhouses in the CF activism realm, having raised funds for CF Canada and InvisiYouth, along with being featured activists in CF books and movie reviews like the recent FIVE FEET APART. In this episode, Dominique, Beth and Madi discuss the best ways parents and their young adult kin can interact both within the medical questions and in our non-medical lives, the top ways to talk to your parents when you’re feeling every sort of emotion about your health, give advice on how to boost your self-esteem in advocating with your doctors, family or public activism, tells us stories about why the entire Vanstone family has matching tattoos and their love of ice hockey, chats up pop culture headlines on our love fest for Justin Baldoni and his directorial debut of FIVE FEET APART and while chronic illness representation in cinema is not only vital to make our stories more visible, but they need to be told with as much passion as Baldoni brought to the film in tribute of the wonderful Claire Wineland’s legacy, talk about the ways we can grow from a shy activist to a public speaker like Madi as she’s grown up with CF, divulge the best tips when you and your parents may disagree, laugh endlessly on how being an advocate IS COOL even as a teen—especially when you’ve got your family supporting you, and the best advice on how to maintain the ‘normal non-medical’ side of your family dynamic like setting aside specific time to NOT talk about your chronic illness/disability journey. And...introduce a new segment about a teeniatrics® way of life! This is the first of many episodes reflecting on the relationships that take up our lives, and the dynamic duo of Beth and Madi showcase the full-range of how to thrive in a relationship with our parents in our full lives, both medically and personally. Take notes people, this episode is filled with lots of nuggets of knowledge!
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We’ve all seen these Instagram-worthy photos of mouthwatering meals, and oftentimes wonder if we could ever cook something that looks that delicious. And when you have a chronic illness or disability, entering the kitchen can feel more like a survivor challenge with lots of rules instead of a fun and freeing time to cook. But one woman has not only brought the fun, humor and tastiness to cooking, but also some much-needed diversity…and she’d our special guest on this episode, Canadian chef and YouTube creator of Stump Kitchen, Alexis Hillyard. Born without her left hand, Alexis, fell in love with cooking vegan/vegetarian meals and share her creative ways of cooking through her fast-growing YouTube show. Alexis’ activism for limb difference and culinary love is infused within an amazing sense of humor that makes Episode 17 must-watch content. In this episode, Alexis and Dominique talk about the best reactions—especially from kids—to Stump Kitchen and her limb difference, dive into the discussion of how cooking is not just food for the soul but also a great form of mental therapy, lay out the importance of diversity in the cooking world to show that physical difference or chronic illness DOES NOT mean you can’t do something, give mega-motivation tips on how to gain confidence or humor when faced with those ignorant comments, laugh out loud when Alexis shares a childhood story that consists of a ball pin and a missing prosthetic battery, swipe left and right in our Life Tinder on things like clapping back at social media trolls or using the term disability when people want to define others, and create the best toolkit for video editing, tools to have in your kitchen, best vegan recipes like chicken and waffles, and the best cooking show to watch. Just like a 5-Star restaurant, this episode is filled with delicious life tips, funny stories, bites of motivation and the best empowerment that’ll make you feel like you can tackle life with any chronic illness/disability!
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Not every day you get to start off a video podcast asking your guest where they keep their four Paralympic medals, and how they named their memoir! But that got to be some of the many topics we chatted about with our special guest on this episode! Even better, this guest has been our Celebrity Ambassador for three years, and we are so thrilled to finally bring you this collaboration with the incredibly empowering Paralympic medalist swimmer, ESPN correspondent, author and motivational speaker, Victoria Arlen! This young woman is the embodiment of what InvisiYouth stands for: she’s fought through two rare medical conditions that left her in a vegetative state for four years “locked” inside her body and aware of her surroundings unable to communicate, she’s won four Paralympic medals, she’s discovered ways to soar with her health challenges and she’s built a platform and nonprofit that brings joy, support, love and laughter to hundreds of thousands of people. In this episode, Dominique and Victoria have so much fun chatting about how adaptive sports and fitness on any level can bring physical and mental wellness, get passionate discussing how the overused buzz-word “inspiration” can get annoying for older youth with chronic illness/disability, sift through some of Victoria’s best Instagram posts to learn the value of humor for both making others more comfortable with your health struggles but also to provide yourself with inner emotional support in the face of setbacks, dig deep into discussion on how important it is to discuss the pain and adversity of your illness/disability and not just project an upbeat façade for your community, give tips for a path of self-confidence when able-bodied people question your capability, and give so many health hacks to excelling at work, school, and hobbies when you have bad health days. Victoria totally slays this podcast as InvisiYouth’s Celebrity Ambassador, giving life advice for anyone living with chronic illness/disability on how to thrive and achieve anything you desire! This is a match made in philanthropy-heaven as two boss ladies unite in a chatty episode with so many laughs and motivation!
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What better way to start off Season Two of InvisiYouth Chat Sessions: A Video Podcast series than getting to chat away with a stellar and successful YouTuber who’s made a name for herself before she even turned 16! With new segments, a new visual set, and new episode format, the video podcast series is stepping it up a notch to make each episode jam-packed with lifestyle tricks, empowerment skills, and lots of laughs, so your life with any health struggle, chronic illness or disability is thrilling and fulfilling. And our first episode of the season is with a guest we’ve been fangirling over for a while, British YouTuber, National Champion trampoliner and Quadruple Amputee Isabelle Weall. At the age of 7, Izzy developed meningitis and as a result, needed to have both her arms and legs amputated. Now at 15, Izzy is a competitive trampolinist, won the 2017 Pride of Sport Young Achiever award, and runs a successful YouTube channel of over 120k subscribers! On this episode, Dominique and Izzy chat about her favorite YouTube videos, get life tips on how to boost your inner confidence and confidence to try new things--like adaptive sports, label a life playlist filled with scheduling tools, music soundtracks and disability sport opportunities, learn the history behind Izzy’s rise in YouTube, discuss how we have to continue using our platforms of all scales to remove the negative mentality behind chronic illness/disability stigmas in order to show the joys and fun of life with any health struggles, talk about the impact behind Izzy’s first TEDxTalk in America, and give tips on how to keep your power when others might stare with ‘curious eyes’ and how it’s okay for others to ask questions AND refuse to answer them. Izzy is fun, passionate, and a subtle activist, who’s hundreds of thousands of followers are learning about equality, disability capability and representation through her channel. And this episode has so much lighthearted energy and passion, you’ll be excited to see where each segment takes us from start to finish.
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"One September 2nd 2018, the world experienced the great loss of one of its most brilliant, generous and loving voices, Cystic Fibrosis activist, YouTuber, motivational speaker and founder of Claire’s Place Foundation, Claire Wineland. Over the years I launched InvisiYouth Charity, Claire and I got to know one another and begin building a friendship while working together. Claire even became one of InvisiYouth’s first Global Brand Leaders! We talked so much about what our charities could do together, what we could forge together that would empower young adults with all chronic illnesses and, as Claire would say, “thrive in life.” One of our first plans we worked on was to have Claire be a special guest on the first season of InvisiYouth Chat Sessions. But we didn’t get that chance. Losing Claire brought so many emotions to those around the world that adored her on all scales. It was an absolute fact that all of InvisiYouth and myself especially wanted to still have Claire be part of our series. I made a promise to Claire earlier this year that no matter where life took us, our friendship would continue and we’d still work together. So this episode is how we get creative to keep working with Claire. We’re going to go through some of what Claire and I were planning to discuss, and some of the topics that Claire brought the most passion to in her mission. This is a showcase of Claire’s wondrous legacy. AND I have the blessing and fortune to interview a woman who’s not only one of the people closest to Claire, but also now forever part of the InvisiYouth family and my own, the Executive Director of Claire’s Place Foundation and her greatest role of being a mom of two, Claire’s mom, Melissa Yeager. I am forever changed by having Claire in my life these past three years, and while I will forever miss her laughter, humor, warmth and empowerment. Claire’s impact will remain for hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Thank you, Claire, for truly motivating a generation to live a life they’re proud, to thrive with chronic illness/disability, and to always lead a life of love, humor and giving. This is the first of many creative collaborations in our future, Claire, and this episode is for you." ~Dominique Viel, founder of InvisiYouth Charity
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All over the media, we see actors and musicians talking about body confidence and clothing campaigns pushing body positivity…but what does that really mean if you don’t know how to become more body confident? Add onto that all the complications of being a young person with chronic illness and disability and life can get complicated. We are completely fangirling over our British guest on this InvisiYouth Chat Sessions episode because she has carved a place for herself as a stellar Body Positivity expert, it is burn survivor and motivational speaker, Catrin Pugh. Surviving an Alps coach crash five years ago which resulted in 96% burns on her body, Catrin has led a mission of celebrating scars and health challenges and bringing confidence to those who living with any physical difference. In this episode, Catrin and Dominique swipe right or left on some mainstream body positivity trends to see what’s a heck yes on Life’s Tinder, chat about the step-by-step ways anyone can challenge stigmas on health and beauty not only in their personal life but on a public activism scale, learn the story behind Catrin’s very first Instagram post with a medically-friendly selfie stick while in recovery in hospital, talk openly why an ideal world of no one reacting to physical difference should not be a focus—but rather how to respond to those that make negative comments or how to build your support safety net of family/friends when going out and trying new things, explain the rationale of why it’s okay to have unconfident days and let that feeling sit with an Adele record in the background for a short while, and create a playlist to a life of body positivity with Catrin’s must-have tools to balance health with work, musicians that lift you up or let you sit in sadness temporarily, and organize your schedule when it’s filled with schoolwork, social activities and medical necessities. This is an episode that you’ll want to take notes on from the very first minute! Catrin and Dominique bring the humor, the uplifting motivation, and the best lifestyle tips that will be able to start the steps of your body confidence journey TODAY!
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Let’s face it, people tend to get into those awkward moments the second they notice you have a chronic illness or disability. Truly, it’s the metaphorical elephant in the room, and it feels taboo for most people without connections to illness/disability to talk about. This third themed-group of episodes is called “So We’re Gonna Get Talking About Taboo Topics” so we can tackle head-on all the major topics surrounding illness/disability that are often too uncomfortable for others. Our special guests from around the world have found a knack for tackling the taboo and making it mainstream. We’re so lucky our first guest is also a Global Brand Leader AND a multi-award winning blogger from Leeds, England, Chloe Tear. While being a university student, and always being an activist for others living with cerebral palsy like herself, Chloe has built a master activism style that’s all about normalizing chronic illness/disability as more than the sole identify for a person. In this episode, Chloe and Dominique break through the stigmas of interacting in the public as a young person with disability while also laying out top ways to regain control of your interactions by letting people know it’s okay to live with illness/disability, build a master toolkit to life as a young adult with health struggles that are filled with apps, tools and portable medical equipment that’ll make your daily life massively easier, examine how laughter isn’t just a motivator but also a key ingredient in advocating for yourself in public—by using Chloe’s sassy informative tweets as a guidebook—and get in deep on the ways you can keep the power living with health struggles whether you want to answer those ‘ignorantly uncomfortable’ questions about your health or you want to keep your silence to prove your confidence with your version of normality. This episode is PACKED with life tips and tricks to erasing the taboo of being a young adult with illness/disability, and making sure you are in control when those random strangers or friends stare too much or ask the occasional ‘dumb’ questions.
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The truth of the matter is that finding a job when you have a chronic illness or disability can feel like it’s going to be a bit more challenging than for others. And let’s face it, we all have to pay the bills, so getting a job with a steady paycheck is a goal…but how do we find jobs that can adapt to our health struggles, work with colleagues that are healthy/able-bodied, and still rock our activism lives? That is all we talk about in this video podcast episode, and we are so lucky our guest is not only a Global Brand Leader for InvisiYouth, but she’s also an NYC native with mega fashion skills, Molly Kestenbaum. As an assistant jewelry designer for accessories company BaubleBar, while also looking to build her own sunglasses line, Molly uses her experience living with hearing impairments that’s resulted in her having a cochlear implant and hearing aids in order to make fashion accessible and inclusive. And Molly has gone through it all, internships, the job hunt, interviews and landing a position, so she’s ripe with information to pass along! In this episode, Molly and Dominique talk about the best talking tips when you’re asked about your illness/disability on an interview or with coworkers, the reason knowing LOTS of people get rejected on interviews can help you grow, how to find your voice in the workforce as someone with health struggles, discuss the stigmas young people with illness/disability face when looking for jobs and lay out ways to challenge those stigmas by showing your capability, fangirl over University of Oregon and Nike with our pop culture moment, advise you on the pros and cons of working with healthy/able-bodied people when your illness/disability is visible vs invisible, and highlight the guidebook essentials for getting that work-health balance, hustling for a cool resume, and finding job postings that are accessible, virtual and inclusive wherever you live. This episode is a MASTER CLASS in the motivation, true facts, tips and advice on how to find and land a job you want AND fits your needs!
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When our nonprofit gets asked about what kinds of career paths they’d like to take, a major goal we hear is about turning those Instagram accounts and blogs into a financial income. Yes, we’re talking about professional Instgramers, YouTubers and Bloggers, the new dream career for many 21st century young adults. For those with illness/disability, blogging is a refuge and creative release to connect and learn from others, so we wanted to give out the best advice, tips and insider secrets on being a professional blogger. Our special guest is British lifestyle, fitness and beauty blogger, Ali Hemsley, has also brought awareness to invisible illness to her massive blogging community with her “What You See vs What You Don’t See” and showed beauty from the inside and out. In this episode, Ali and Dominique reveal the reasons media’s fascination with inspiration porn or Instagram-promoted health kicks are not always the best but mental health awareness jewelry should be sold everywhere, discuss the stigmas bloggers with illness/disability face and ways to break the pressures of “perfection” blogging that women tackle, establish the best life playlist for wannabe pro-bloggers with the top fashion and adaptive workout trends and tools/apps for photo editing, scheduling and blog posting, and give away some of the top secret blogger tips like talking to brand sponsors and collaborations to make that transition from a hobby to a career.
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After a bit of a hiatus while the InvisiYouth team wraps up building another NEW VIRTUAL PROGRAM, we got Dominique back in the studio for another episode in our career-finding guidebook theme. We know the drama arts is an interest for the illness/disability community, and many of the InvisiYouth family live with physical difference, so we wanted a guest expert that knows a thing or two about body positivity and fighting stigmas on disability. So…we got our Celebrity Ambassador, the stellar British actress and disability activist, Melissa Johns. She’s had TV roles like Imogen Pascoe on ITV’s British Soap, Coronation Street, to her current stage role of Emilia in OthelloMacbeth at London’s Lyric Hammersmith. Born without her right hand and forearm, Melissa has lots of perspectives on getting into the acting industry, being a drama teacher, and cofounding a drama workshops nonprofit, TripleC, which enhances lives of people with disabilities. In this episode, Melissa and Dominique chat all about the misconceptions of being an actor with illness/disability and how to “read a room” instead of judging first impressions, build a list of tools anyone can add like to-go snacks, workouts, and organizer diaries if you want to be a balanced working actor, examine the vital reasons accurate casting and frequent representation of illness and disability on TV/film will improve society’s openness, and give away the best advice on maintaining confidence as an actor when between jobs and working with a diverse group of people.
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With our second episode in the career-finding guidebook of this themed-group, the focus goes right to entrepreneurship, and all of you young adults that want to build your own businesses. Because really…who could make a better understanding supervisor about balancing work and health struggles than you as the boss? And this episode gets to be fun for two reasons: our special guest is in-studio, AND like our founder, she’s a fellow #bosslady friend named Emily Levy. As the CEO of Mighty Well, a line of fashionably functional medical accessories, Emily as learned the ropes of building a company while also balancing her Neurological Lyme Disease, and she’s only 24 years old. In this episode, Dominique and Emily talk about the best health hacks of organizing that work and medical schedule—with lots of timer-reminders and color-coordination, the differences between going solo vs having co-founders when you are an owner with illness, how to chat up AND rock your spoonie boss status with those questioning how you can “do it all” with illness/disability, the powers behind inclusive representation in hiring anyone from employees to interns and volunteers that have all sorts of illnesses, and giving out tips on how to take your passions to motivate your work when you’re having back health days—whether that’s having a back-up plan of working from bed, or building days of rest into the company schedule. It’s a girl power episode with #InvisiYouth today, and it’s one that’s jam-packed with fun and facts till the very last second.
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We get asked all the time what are the best careers, the how to’s on choosing a university, picking a major, or choosing a job, because living with an illness/disability makes that selection unique to others. This second themed-group of episodes is called “So You Got that Diagnosis…Now What” and for the next six episodes, we’ll feature special guests that have built exceptional careers all while living with illness and disability. We’re so lucky our first guest is award-winning children’s book author, actor, philanthropist, and motivational speaker, Travis Flores. He uses his life experience as a cystic fibrosis warrior who’s also received two double lung transplants in his 27 years of life to advocate for inclusivity in the workforce, and diverse casting in Hollywood. In this episode, Travis and Dominique go through the hot headlines like Aerie clothing brand’s decision to hire disabled models in its new campaign, discuss the power of being selective and saying “No” with different job offers, knowing that to break the stigmas in acting, you’ve got to know that people with illnesses/disabilities have the strongest will and work ethic and should represent themselves on screen, and that a medically adult-ish guidebook to building up that resume has got to include volunteering and internships that are both virtual and creative, so it can adapt to your health. Plus…stay to the end of the episode where Travis exclusively announces new project that will make you feel the feels for a new ‘binge TV’ goal.
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We close out our invisible illness and mental health-themed shows with a real showstopper, and that takes us back to our friends across the pond in the United Kingdom with The Mix, a leading nonprofit that provides support to young adults with all the factors that can challenge life. Plus, not one, but two of their staff join Dominique on the episode, Director of Brand and Innovation, Zoë Bailie and Communication and Events Officer Françoise Facella to focus on all those outside factors that affect young adult mental wellness, from illness/disability, schooling and social lives, to finances, social media and relationships. In this episode, Dominique, Zoë and Françoise crack on about the ways young adults can challenge stigmas by harnessing their voice, come up with the best tips to strengthen mental wellness in all sorts of life environments, examine how laughter is the remedy to struggles—with the proper humor style, of course, build up the all-star toolkit with the best apps and activities to bring de-stressors and mental strength, talk about their advocacy campaign #SummerUnfiltered, and champion the ways young adults can hone in on their personal power by working with causes and passion projects on all scales. It’s an episode unlike anything we’ve done to date, and their power trio ends our first theme with a power bang!
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Five episodes into our six-episode arc of invisible illness and mental health-themed shows, and we’re putting the focus on levels of activism and advocacy in daily life with invisible illnesses. And the guest expert had to be rare disease healthcare activist, and founder of the international nonprofit, Sick Chicks, Shira Strongin. Her work has not only assisted in legislation advocacy, and empowering young adults to get involved in Capital Hill discussions, but with Sick Chicks, Shira has spearheaded a movement of uniting young women with all chronic illnesses to empower themselves and each other. In this episode, Shira and Dominique talk about why we might want ‘swipe left and right’ on online support groups, gives talking points about how to start advocating when you’ve got an invisible illness with friends and doctors to legislation and philanthropic activism, lays out a playlist of the best de-stressor Instagram accounts and TV binge-watch shows when you’re having a ‘sick-sick’ day, and discusses how that be a game-changer with invisible illnesses is knowing that everyone can advocate in their own style, tone, personally and publicly as long as they realize you control your voice and you’re the expert in your illness/disability story.
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We continue our invisible illness and mental health-themed shows with a central focus on invisible illness for young adult daily life, and no one is better to have on the show than British blogger and creator of Blogging in Bed, Amy Saunders (who is also an InvisiYouth Global Brand Leader)! Amy’s a recent university graduate from York, England who’s Blogging in Bed developed into an international community of hundreds of young adults living with chronic illnesses that often leave them homebound or bed-bound at points in their life, creating a community of friendship, sharing posts and life tips, and connection to a community that is often invisible with invisible illnesses. In this episode, Amy and Dominique talk about why having celebrities like Selena Gomez and Martine McCutcheon talk about their invisible illnesses affecting their full lives can impact any young adult listening, gives up some major health hacks for school life, talks tips on how to regain control of your health and asking for help when you're out with friends, and how maybe if we were all just be a bit kinder to everyone, we’d instinctually support those to come forward with invisible illness instead of feel stifled with stigmas.
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We continue our invisible illness and mental health-themed shows with the third installment, and shift our focus onto young adult mental health with the incredible Canadian mental health charity, Jack.Org as our special guest expert. Their Jack Talks Coordinator, Jessie Brar, joins founder Dominique on the show as our expert on young adult mental health and all multifaceted aspects of not only mental health struggles for older youth, but the stigmas that play into their daily lives. One of the largest topics InvisiYouth works with for those living with and without physical illnesses or disabilities is how it correlates to mental health, and the mental stressors of being a teen or young adults. And Jack.Org are one of the leading forces that make finding ways to talk about mental wellness, how to improve your mental health, and how to advocate for mental health all fit the young adult mindset. In this episode, Jessie and Dominique go through some major headlines like NBA mental health campaign with stars Cleveland Cavaliers Kevin Love and Toronto Raptors DeMar DeRozan, build out a toolkit of what young people need to have to improve daily mental health, and all the conversation starters for young people and their family/friends to have when wanting to talk about mental health, and break down those stigmas.
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We continue our invisible illness and mental health-themed shows with the second installment, and founder, Dominique, brought in special guest, social media influencer and co-founder of The Breasties, Paige More, better known as Paige Previvor. A breast cancer “pre-vivor” or “pre-cancer survivor”, Paige learned she had the BRACA 1 mutated gene and at 24 had a preventative double mastectomy. With Instagram to document her journey, Paige now has over 25,000 followers in less than four years. This activist knows exactly what it can be like to live with an illness that is visible to the entire world, and then invisible while at other parts of the recovery journey. With Dominique, Paige gets to the nitty-gritty on how to become a social media activist, what are the best gifts and ways to offer support to your friends with health struggles, and even plays some Life Tinder on how she feels about illness-promoting t-shirts, illness-themed parties, and those get well soon cards. It’s lots of life hacks, lots of laughs and lots of advocacy tips with two powerhouse young women in the philanthropy world.
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One of the largest groups of chronic illness and disability is a community you would never notice. That’s right, invisible illnesses. All over the media this past year, it seems invisible illnesses, both for physical health and mental health, are finally getting the visible recognition they deserve. We’re so lucky our first guest is Canadian motivational speaker, 20-year-old Ashley Rose Murphy. As her Twitter bio explains, “I’m 20, HIV+, public speaker, singer, and family ambassador.” Talk about owning your truth! Living with one of the most universally-known invisible illnesses, Ashley speaks to thousands of youth at WE Day and the United Nations, breaking misconceptions about living with HIV and improving the way people associate HIV/AIDS with the youth population. In this episode, Ashley joins the chat show to talk about how she’s become a rebel game-changer, ways to help others talk about illness and disability, sharing her life playlist of tips and tricks to living with invisible illness, and play a few games that’ll definitely bring some laughs while opening minds.
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