It was an absolute honor to be on Vince’s show as the first guest! This show launched in January and I wanted to say it is truly an honor to know Vince and also to see all that he is doing in honor of mental health!
Would it benefit you to hear from Mental Health Professionals and Influencers? Would it add value to your life to also hear authentic stories from people talking about their mental health, the issues they face, and how they actively combat them? Congratulations, this is the perfect podcast for you!
Ever since my accident, and into recovery, I learned that I needed to prioritize my mental health. And my goal for this podcast is to help you do so, too!
For the series premier, Vincent A. Lanci brings on Dr. Denise McDermott, or as you may know of as, “Dr. Denise.” Dr. Denise McDermott, M.D. has been in private practice since 2001. As a medical doctor with board certifications in both Adult and Child Psychiatry, she treats children, adolescents and adults. Her goal is to empower you, your child, and your family to live the best life possible. Her approach is to encourage people to believe in wellness, not illness, and to lead a balanced healthy lifestyle.
Take a Deep Breath! It’s time to make your day a better one.
The evolution of the launch of this series is mind-blowing to me!
There are no coincidences. Only CO-Incidences.
Dr. Best and I reunited after 20 years of practicing as integrative psychiatrists to record our first show a few weeks ago. When we hung up the phone we caught up and realized that our own personal journeys of being able to ALCHEMIZE our own sufferings throughout our lives and empower our patients to do the same has brought us together at this Divine and unprecedented time in history.
Cathleen O’Toole and Dr. Denise discuss right here:
I am on the frontlines of mental health crisis’ every day. I have patients that have > suicidal thoughts & I have made home visits (outside/with masks) to help with addiction crisis’! As a society WE need to UNITE in honor of > awareness about the importance of mental health!
Suicide hotline: 1 800 273-8255
SAMSHA (Substance Use) 18006624357
“COVID-19 has directly claimed tens of thousands of U.S. lives, but conditions stemming from the novel coronavirus — rampant unemployment, isolation and an uncertain future — could lead to 75,000 deaths from drug or alcohol abuse and suicide, new research suggests.” ~CBS News.
I am beyond excited to interview Integrative Adult and Child psychiatrist Dr. Andrea Best, my colleague from UCLA Child Psychiatry fellowship!
We are both passionate about bridging science, spirituality and psychiatry.
We are reuniting after almost 20 years and have found that through our experience as mothers, doctors and healers we have been on a parallel path of spiritual growth and wisdom.
We both INSPIRE and EMPOWER and EDUCATE our patients to remember their inner power to BE their own healers.
We discussed the importance of AWARENESS, SELF LOVE and ALTRUISM in managing our Human Experience and times of going through our own personal crisis to our thrive moment to moment…..
I am Dr. Andrea Best and I have been a practicing physician, treating children, adolescents, and adults for 24 years. I practiced general medicine and psychiatry in various medical groups in the past, then began my own private practice in 2005, that integrates Western and Eastern medicine/psychiatry approaches. I provide consultations in Integrative Medicine and Holistic Psychiatry for individuals, groups, and company executives around the country.
I am an advocate for the use of mindfulness, meditation, and nutrition to prevent and treat disease. I advocate for all health insurance plans to include to include comprehensive integrative medicine and wellness approaches. I advocate for all elementary schools to teach mindfulness, so students have the benefits early and prior to attending middle and high school when so much occurs. I advocate for and teach a model of integrative health, recognizing there is no separation of body systems, including the brain and no separation of the born worthy individual from a Benevolent Source.
I enjoy teaching and speaking about the various models to view HEALTH. I teach medical students, residents, parents, and international groups how to assess symptoms, how to determine a broad differential diagnosis list, and how to offer a broad array of Western and Eastern treatments.
In my evaluations I discuss alternatives to medication and ways to use the least amount of medication, for the shortest duration, when possible. There is no shame in taking medicine however the removal of shame and negativity is key. I teach how to feel complete and whole, which relates to FREEDOM in all areas, including one’s health.
If you have not seen the movie it is essentially about the same day over and over again with slight variation.
Let’s face it ~ summer is going to be unique and challenging for all of US.
Unemployment rates are unprecedented.
Those that are fortunate to be employed are faced with adaptive working from home vs. outside of the home routine challenges.
Child care in a world of social distancing is not easy to come by depending on your quarantine crew comfort level and your family support system.
Most summer camps are closed for social distance challenges and we are all struggling to keep on track with our own unique wellness plans especially during this unimaginable time in history.
Deciding how to move forward from varying stay at home pandemic plans are unique to you and your loved ones health.
Remember it is not one size fits all.
Following a routine that includes daily exercise, good nutrition, regular sleep, recreation, laughter, creativity and mindful social distancing is key for a healthy and fun summer.
Tune in here:
My co-host, Cathleen O’Toole was kind enough to provide a tentative “Summer Schedule” that she will attempt at her home. I stress tentative as we all know how important it is to be ADAPTIVE and healthy!
It was an honor being interviewed by Dr.Elizabeth Yuko, a freelance writer and bioethicist.
She and I could not believe that two doctors (she has a Ph.D. in bioethics!) would meet via an article she was writing for the New York Times Style Section.
After a dynamic interview about pandemic robes and casual wear she and I found out about our shared interests in ethics, mental health, gender and so much more!
I plan to interview her on the Dr. Denise Show in June.
Prior to her interviewing me I tuned in and my inner voice said “You are supposed to know Elizabeth for > reasons than this amazing & fun interview.”
It is so important to be mindful and also to have fun whenever we can!
This pandemic and being solo with my son for 10 weeks in quarantine with him doing zoom school and seeing patients via telehealth appointments has birthed the statement, “We are the robe family.”
He says this every time we finish our respective work days and change into our comfortable gear while in quarantine/stay at home mode.
Thank you for having me on your podcast to talk about COVID recovery, life during COVID while working and having the family all together, and our ventures (pre-pandemic) to the far reaches of the planet! First, I want to apologize that a little “frog” was in my throat during the entire conversation! But that is life in full-res with all of its imperfections, right?
I wanted to put a spotlight on a couple points for the listeners…. now more than ever before, we are becoming acutely aware of compassionate and adaptive leadership – what it is… and what it is not. From this time going forward, we will each, individually and as a collective, need to strengthen our agility muscle. This across multiple dimensions – physical, mental, spiritual and metaphysical. Historically, we were able to operate under a linear mentality, with structure, and great predictive ability based on high probabilities. That is no longer the case. In order to be innovative for the future, agility is a secret sauce ingredient.
We also spoke about online learning and how it is working for some students and not working for others. There are variables in this equation that need to come together for a successful knowledge exchange. It is an immediate imperative that teachers become gifted at the art of teaching online. It is not enough to just move a lecture from a classroom to an online platform. There are nuances to making it engaging, and using the tools of the platform strategically for success. The other aspect is the student, themselves. Some are going to thrive online and others will flounder. It will be incumbent again upon the teachers to pay attention to those struggles and help. All of this to say that, we have been appreciating that teachers have a tough job since #stayathome began. Imagine their job now going forward to manage content in person and online. Distance learning is here to stay. How it morphs into F2F learning is TBD. We will need to construct a better reward system for our educators (and for that matter our health care workers). This brings me to the next point that we covered….
Big business’ role in society. Business Roundtable announced last summer a change to the definition of a business. Previously held – Friedman economics that business role is profit for profit’s sake. Moving away from that, businesses role is also to have purpose and be socially responsible. That means, they have a role to play in the well being of our society and the sustainability of our planet. Luckily, over 60% of CEOs – in a recent survey by Fortune – said that the change to include purpose and a broader “stakeholder” responsibility is not new for them. They are on that road. Only 4% of the surveyed CEOs said that they don’t agree with this new framework. So, we do have the majority of our corporations thinking about broader impact, in addition to their profits. Having done my dissertation on Corporate Social Responsibility, I want to caution everyone in thinking that this is easy to accomplish and merely a task of turning on a switch. This is complex work, it is continuously evolving, and it is never ending. Nobody gets to “arrive” in their CSR. It is a continuous journey for these organizations and their leaders. It is a regenerative engaged learning process. There will be mistakes made along the way, errors in judgment, and poor decisions; for me, it is all in HOW these companies handle their stumbles when they happen and how they grow their CSR as a result. After all, nobody is perfect. Companies are make of people. Therefore, companies are imperfect. I always like to say that “culture is to an organization and character is to an individual.” I believe in the strength of having core values that lead decision making and a vision that looks to the future in a contributory way. (In other words, run away from – don’t walk – any company who says their vision is “to be the best in the world.” That is a self-centered vision and is not aspirational to all of its stakeholders, except maybe the investors.) A vision needs to be bold, and… well, visionary! haha. Doing the right thing means also doing it the right way. You can learn more on my website: itcsr.com.
You asked me who my favorite CEO is right now, and I said that it is Ed Bastian of Delta Airlines. I never thought that I would answer that question with someone who runs airlines because I think that often they take advantage of their customers – charging us for different seats in economy, for example. Down right ridiculous. The pandemic has been a little wake up call to them. They have had to get more customer-centric, health focused, and socially responsible. One thing that I have been paying attention to in the media is which CEOs have opted to not collect a salary for the rest of this year… in order to preserve jobs of their employees. First and foremost, Simon Sinek says it best that the C-level leaders are the alpha lions. They reap the benefits of that position in good times. But in battle? the expectation is that they go first to defend the herd. All options should be exhausted first before laying employees off. Even furloughs are better because employees keep their health care benefits. Under no circumstances should a CEO, who collects millionS every year, think it is ok to keep their salary for these next few months while some of their employees will undoubtedly be struggling to stay in their homes, feed their families, keep things going.
It is truly an honor to bring this interview with Kaliyani to all of you.
When we allow ourselves to be open to our Highest Level of Awareness, it is unimaginable what can unfold…
Kaliyani’s journey reveals her path of continued awakening, service, creativity, inspiration, and birthing of the Divine Feminine that is within US ALL.
Listen HERE:
Kaliyani is a spiritually inspired visionary, modern mystic, community builder and a passionate midwife to the rebirth of the Sacred Feminine in our collective consciousness. Her Soul purpose is reflected in her work as artist, writer, producer, soul coach, and facilitator of women’s sacred circles.
Kaliyani’s Conscious Media Company, Stargate Alliance has among other projects, since 2009 collaborated in the co-execution of a peace platform Peacelink and it’s world music concert Peacelink Live; the documentary Secrets of Love and a feature film, A Winter Rose.
Between 2014 and 2018 she has released two singles, Nammu’s Invocation and Tears For Inanna, which music videos together have garnered over 3.5 million views, with the first one reaching #2 on the billboard hot singles chart in 2017. Her work as a soul coach and facilitator of Women’s Sacred Circles, once only through word of mouth, will soon be accessible to all through KaliyaniSundari.com
Kaliyani’s latest dream project is a non-profit organization called GAEA Foundation, which acronym means Global Alliance for Equality Awareness. GAEA has a dual commitment to assist in the protection, healing and education of women and their children victims of domestic violence and to the funding of conscious media that brings awareness to women’s issues and gender equality.
For more on Kaliyani’s Media and Music you can now visit stargatealliance.net and kaliyanimusic.com , as for her soul coaching and Foundation, you can make a note to check KaliyaniSundari.com and GaeaInternational.org soon in 2020.
Thank you Kaliyani for Being here at this time in history to inspire US all to truly remember who WE are.
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