And now the 490 with Gretchen de Bakker, Matt, Callum and Kevin Mullen.

Com.

Welcome into the 419 powered by GT and presented by We Trio Wealth Management.

I'm Kevin Mullen, alongside Gretchen.

Debacker.

Matt Dillon.

You guys have a good.

Well, hello.

Good day.

Good.

What was it?

Good, good.

Ambiguous time and.

True Truman Show.

It was always, Yes.

You know.

Good morning, good evening.

Good night, good afternoon, good night.

Yeah.

And in case I don't see you.

That's right.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

What?

I feel like whenever I'm not doing this show or, you know, some other work related thing, like, I just feel like I'm an Uber driver.

Yeah, right I'm just literally taking kids.

Are you having that same experience?

I am, behind you in this as I am in most things.

So I Monroe is six, so I am we are just shepherding her around to like a fledgling.

She does karate.

She's just started piano lesson this past weekend or, weekend.

So, I mean, I kind of get it.

I have a little bit of complexity to it.

My other Uber passengers, they they share that Uber Lyft with me, but one of my passengers is potty training, so I'm driving, essentially a mom around.

And we've had.

I drive only myself.

And I feel the same way.

So.

Yeah.

No, I drive getting around.

Well, and so, you know we obviously I've got, you know, girl, boy, boy is this kind of our family make up and with the boys the way we were told to potty train the boys is.

Oh, I thought you mean a polyamorous household.

Yeah.

No no, no.

Yeah.

Only that's what today's show is about.

Do it in the summer.

Yeah.

And then they just don't wear pants outside like, you know, figure it out.

Sure.

It's like just if you got to go, you go.

When do then you teach them that they can't go to the bathroom outside.

The police do that.

Yeah.

No.

See, is the environment that's not dissimilar to all of the thresholds of my children really have been heated by, like, they're like daycare.

So they move up to class.

Other kids don't have the pacifier.

They stop using the pacifier and the potty training.

It's really been helpful.

Yeah, most of the parenting is being done at the daycare for my children.

Our kids, we explain to them that, Santas reindeer babies need pacifiers.

Sure.

And so like, that's their passes for.

And so literally at Christmas they left all of their pacifiers to give to the reindeer.

Smart, to help them grow up.

And they'll get over that lie as well.

So.

Yeah.

Thought it was a spoiler alert.

Wasn't, wasn't lying until you said it was.

I actually drove, s I'm used to driving my own kids.

Sure.

Like, they want to contro the music, so we'll hand them, you know, the phone, and they'll.

Say, screw the same.

You know, go through the app and play whatever they want.

But I, drove my niece, like, and not like with my kids, like, I was shepherding her around.

And I like to think is an interview.

I do a pretty good job of, like, not asking yes or no questions.

Sure, but, like, when you're, like, scraping the bottom of the barrel, sometimes that's what you're left with and you're just hoping.

How old is she?

That the person she's in third grade.

Oh, okay.

So you're hoping that the person that you're interviewing is going to carry some of the freight just.

A little bit?

And man, I, I asked her, so d you have, friends at school now?

And she's like, I have a lot of friends.

Do they live near you?

Yes.

So then I'm like, close to her house, but I'm, like, trying.

To be eating up.

Good.

Right?

Yeah, but I'm like.

Do I turn here?

Do you respond at all?

Yeah.

I was like, And I'm looking back.

She's not asleep.

No.

You just ignoring.

Me.

Yeah.

She's just ignoring.

Me.

It was great.

That's, Hey, we got, exciting show today.

It is Wellness Wednesday, powered by work spring.

We're going to have Alyssa Clark from work.

Spring is going to join us as well as Maria Cornella from Nami Greater Toledo, who will be with us, on the show today.

So stay with us.

We'll be back.

We'll be joined by Alyssa Clark from work spring as we kick off our wellness Wednesday here on the 419.

We'll be right back.

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Welcome back to the 419 It's Wellness Wednesday, presented by Work Spring.

And we are joined by wellness consultant Alyssa Lark.

Alyssa, thanks for joining us today.

Thank you so much for having me this morning.

It's nice to meet you all and talk with you.

What does what does wellness consultant mean?

Yeah.

So, as a wellnes consultant, really, what I do is I help, different organizations that are members of ours.

I work spring, basically implement their wellnes programing for their employees.

So that might be things such as, doin educational sessions for them.

All the way to helping them with, talking through, what their benefits are, and everything that they can access through their wellness programing at their organization.

It was it started off on the right wellness path when we called you Clark, did that make you feel lik this was a safe place for you?

That's that's absolutely fine.

I usually people mess up my first name, actually.

So what do they say?

Alyssa lies.

So I you got Alyssa immediately.

That's a. Mistake.

One out of two.

Yeah.

That said, if I do that consistently, I' in the Hall of Fame in baseball.

That's that's no good.

Yeah, that's the theme of the show and kind of right.

So but.

Generally correct.

Workplace wellness.

Is that something to get sort of partially right.

So you talked a little bit about either a long standing compan or one that just started what, what is a good framework or what is responsible, owner operator do for their employees.

Yeah.

A lot of our companies do a lot of different things.

So it really depends on, what your workforce might be looking for.

Even so, a lot of times people like to customize it to their population, the types of things that people might be interested as far, as their programing goes.

So they might do, things like a walking challenge, or they might do things, based on nutrition and just depending on what kind of things people are looking for.

But it, you know, is really great for folks to have a robust program and include, sort of a holistic framework of what they're doing with their, wellness strategy and look at all different areas of wellness, including mental health, like, we'll talk about as well.

So, yeah, that's, really kind of what, what the responsible thing to do is, is to try and cover a little bit of all your bases.

And for those people who might be listening or watching that are sort of a hard driving on a profit and loss statement, why is it also profitable for a business to look into their employees wellness?

I mean, why would I would anyone why would anyone care?

Yeah, yeah.

Well if your employees aren't well, they're probably not going to be as productive.

They're probably not going to be, showing up to work as their best selves, doing, the best.

By just looking at the three of us.

Who do you thin the least well, person is that?

I mean.

I you all look so well to me.

That's great.

Right?

And you're right.

I hear she said she said clerk yeah, that's right.

We should get to tha because I do think, your point there is there' a responsibility, of course, but what a healthy employee makes for a productive one and also just a culture.

Raise.

Workplace.

So could you be a little bit on that?

Absolutely.

Having that culture of wellness is going to help, keep our employees engage with each other, with the things that you're doing in your work.

As well as, you know, just just overall in their lives, most of our lives are a lot of our lives are spent at work.

So wellness, comes with us everywhere.

And we want to be well at work as well.

I got to be one of the challenges as, as an employer is findin that balance between, you know, giving you opportunitie for wellness and more busy work.

Right?

Is like, you know, so to do the the walking challenges and all these things and to have the, the next thing that we're doing, I wonder a what point does that become now?

Has it become a burden on employees like is that is is that happening?

Is that, you know, when the employer says, hey, we're all going to go do this, and the employers are like, I don't, that's not what I want, right?

I didn't I didn't want to go walk five miles today.

What I wanted was, you know, more.

I wanted I wanted two minute of peace and quiet at my desk.

Right.

Yeah.

How do you find kind of that balance between what the employer wants to do an what the employees really need.

Right, absolutely.

And, I think that it comes in with th the point of your program is to, to offer them the opportunity to do those things if they're interested.

But of course, making sur that that is still their choice.

It's not something that's mandatory to participate in wellness.

Sometimes people, they're they may not be ready to, get into those things or, they might be at a place where, they're gung ho and they're going to be the person who's the team captain, all of that.

So yo you have that balance of people being able to kind of pick and choose what pieces they're really participating more in.

So I gues driving a little harder line to, how do you not put you in the spot an where do you draw the line or, boundary, meaning you can't drive your employees to their health care screenings and things of that variety.

But how do you make sure that there's the right, balance between offering things and not either overstepping or not changin the workplace into, the kumbaya session every day where, you know, work being done.

How do you help an aged someone through that?

Yeah.

I think, sometimes you it might be nice to have, sort of like designated time for that.

Sure.

And then also, offering, incentives is, potentially a good option to kind of motivate people more to be engage if you're struggling with that.

And then, really just, It's an easy thing, right?

I mean, to your point that it's a workplace.

You want to care for your employees, but how do you set up structure so everyone gets everything they want?

Other curiosity.

How do you check in on your own wellness?

I mean, you are a you're a work force person.

What makes you wired to be able to do this particularly well?

I think just, you know, doing doing all the things that I can on a regular basis and are, company offers us, a lot of, opportunity to engage with our work, within the workplace as well as, doing that outside of, that when I can.

So, I'm sorry.

What?

So you just.

I think it's always interesting because, you know, it.

How do you, as a workplace or wellness expert?

Other certainly my words.

Oh, yeah.

So your own how.

Yeah.

You're like okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I. Have a strict schedule.

You set by.

Are you up at the crack of dawn deadlifting.

Yeah, I ha I have sort of a, loose routine say.

Yeah.

So, I love to, try different recipes and, lear how to cook healthy for myself.

I always try to take a walk.

At least give me the recipe.

That was the biggest success of late.

Recently.

I made, a dish.

What was it?

It was like, rice and, chicken thighs and, some veggies in there.

And some, like, sauteed onions.

Okay.

Not necessarily a title for the dish, but, just a really good way to, get that protein in.

And have you always like to cook?

Yeah, for the most part, I wouldn't say I'm like, great at it, but I do enjoy it.

Sure.

I think, you know.

Yeah, I know, I'm a good cook.

Yeah, you are a good cook.

It drives my wife crazy that I eat.

So like that I eat.

That's right.

I just.

You live with her.

I don't, I don't like to cook.

And then like, this just happened literally yesterday.

Okay?

She was like, I made some comment about the meal.

But, like, not in a bad way.

It's more like just a path to wilderness.

Yeah.

Go ahead.

And and she was like, you know what?

You're you're cooking.

Yeah.

And I said, sure.

What do you want me to cook?

Yeah.

And I get it.

She was like, no, no, no, that's not how this works.

Like, yeah, I don't have like I don't need someone just to make the meal.

But like, you meal plan, you get the groceries like.

And I was just like I. I do is your house is your doesn't.

Exactly what I was going t wait.

Yeah.

Got to that point.

Yeah.

Is your hous a meal planned for seven days?

Sometimes.

Sometimes not.

Not all.

The time.

I mean, it's we're we're in that, like, crossover season wher basketball is still happening, A6 is still happening.

The musical is starting.

Yeah.

And so all the kids activities and trying to balance those schedules.

Yeah.

So Kevin does have any children.

He just likes to go to children's.

That's right, that's right, that's right.

Yeah that's what I do I'm sorry.

Back to that.

To wellness.

How did you get into this line of work and what made you wan to want to do this as a career?

Yeah.

So I did, my undergrad in, exercise science over, the University of Toledo, actually, and Sweden native.

I am not.

I'm actually from, London, Ohio, but I have extended family, up here in Toledo.

So I grew up coming here.

But, dear friend is from London, Ohio as well.

And yeah, prior to that I didn't know that it existed.

Oh, see?

Yeah, this is Clark.

That's that's right, that's right.

I just assumed you were related.

Yeah, the famous Clark's of London.

That's right.

So, moving up to the big city if you were to study.

Yeah, yeah, to study exercise science.

And I, ended up in my last year of my undergrad, sort of doing an internship, where I, was out at a manufacturing facility helping them, helping their wellness coordinator, do wellness programing on site for their employees.

And, I had the opportunity to go to a conference.

They were members of, work spring previously at the time was called the employers association, and I went to their, wellness conference at the time, that they did, and I was just so inspired by all of the, activities that they did and the great information that they were giving to, organizations.

And.

Well, that's neat.

Have you among the many things that that you guys offer, I know, mental health first aid, first aid is a is a piece of that.

Talk to us a little bit about.

Yeah.

I'm embarrassed.

When it was talked about for some, it was the first I ever heard of it.

But it is catchy.

I by no means mean to reference in dismissive way, but I'm thrilled or intereste to hear what this is all about.

Yeah, yeah.

So mental Health First aid is a program that, is really meant to teach folks the skills and tools necessary, to recognize, understand and respond to someone who is experiencing a mental health challenge or a substance use challenge.

And, it's a really great program.

It's my favorite thing to to do in my job.

I get to teach it.

So, yeah I love, love talking about it.

So what does teaching it look like?

It's, it's a 90 minute course.

It's several weeks.

How do you become proficient or do you get a certificate?

Talk to me about.

As.

A first.

Responder.

Yeah, yeah.

The the mental health first aid course.

It's a little bit longer.

Course.

So, so in total the amount of hours that someone would put towards it, is about seven hours.

And that can be split up some different ways.

So, there's opportunities to do a little bit of pre-work online and do, some portion of it in, in class, in person or virtually as well.

And we oftentimes spli it up, between a couple of days.

Just so folks, you know, you still have to work throughout the day.

You can have, a section every day for the training, not necessarily spend a full day on it.

If that's, you know, a lot for folks.

So how old is this?

It was, again, like I said, that it was new to me.

Is this been around for a long time or are we starting to get more sophisticated?

Do you have any idea the chronology of, the the first day look.

Yeah, yeah.

So the program itself wa actually founded in Australia.

Back in 2000 is really when they, started the, the program and start calling it mental Health First aid.

And it started out, by, a couple actually in Australia who both worked in the mental health field and they thought, gosh, first aid is such a, successful program for people, physical first aid.

What if we had something like that for mental health so that people who come acros these situations can can help?

Somebody did this hope.

Oh, I'm sorry, did this coincide with the crocodile hunter's death?

I don't believe so.

Is it intended for supervisors and managers and owners?

For employees?

Or is it for, like, coworkers?

Like, so that someone that that you just happened to work with, you could identify a need.

You're allowed to care for.

Everyone?

Yeah, yeah, that's.

That's a great question.

Really.

Mental health first aid.

The beautiful thing about it i that it's really for everyone, anyone and everyone.

So, you don't have to be a leader necessarily.

You you, you know want to be able to help people, whether it's your coworkers or your family, people that you interact with day to day.

Really, the drea through mental health first aid.

They like to say they want, their goal is one inch 15 people to be trained in it.

All right.

So, yeah.

You have any upcoming trainings?

How often do you offer mental health first aid?

Yeah, we don't have any, scheduled right now for 2026.

So that's, pending here for us to schedule those.

But usually, we have courses, once a quarter, for in person and in person optio and then also a virtual option.

So if folks are maybe a little bit out of town of Toledo, they can still tune in with us.

And then we also are able to offer it sort of, as needed so we can go out on site to a group or they can, they can come to us as well and just do it specifically for their organization.

Where if somebody wants more information on work spring or on, courses like mental health First aid, where would they go to find that?

Yeah, they can go to work.

Springborg is our website.

And then they can also learn more about mental health, first aid in general at Mental Health First aid.org as well.

Awesome.

That's an Australian marketing for you right?

That's right.

I expected to be like okay.

That's right.

Outback steakhouse is.

That's on the menu.

That's right.

Alyssa, thank you so much for your time today.

We appreciate the work tha you're doing in the community.

And of course, the support from Work Spring, for our Wellness Wednesday segments, is we're going to be doing this every Wednesday.

We focus on, your menta wellness, both in the workplace and in the community.

When we come back, we will have Maria Cornelia, executive director of Nami of Greater Toledo, is going to join us.

Stay tuned.

It's Wellness Wednesday, powered by work spring here on the 419.

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I don't I get to come up with the words for this one.

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Spring supports us.

And we appreciate their support of the program and highlighting wellness in our community.

No better way to do it than a conversation with our good friend Maria Cornella from Nami.

Maria, welcome.

Thank you so much.

Congratulations on the show.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Super happy to be here.

Tell me, if folks are familiar with Nami, who is.

What is, Nami?

Sure.

Nami is the National Alliance for Mental Illness.

We have almost 700 affiliates across the country, 39 here in Ohio.

And we are the voice of the voiceless often.

So we are focused on support, education, and advocacy for the greater Toledo area.

39 is a lot for the states.

Who are we beating in terms of Nami?

Actually.

It's Toledo's number one, right?

Oh, always right.

I mean, absolutely.

Period.

No, actually, Ohio is a force to be reckoned with here.

Across the country, our Cleveland affiliate, our, Nami southwest, which is Cincinnati, they are powerhouses creating change, working at a national, advocacy level.

So there's a lot happening here out of Ohio.

And you're still new ish in your role at Nami.

How long have you been there?

I just hit two years in December.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

And what were you doing before that?

I was in managed care.

I've been doing community outreach, and, health care, mental health.

Just kind of.

Whoever will pay me.

Sure.

But you also, I mean, s certainly for a for a paycheck, you've been in managed care, but you also were very active and remained very activ with, suicide prevention.

Yes.

Coalition.

Yes, yes.

Yeah.

So, I really felt like I had a calling for.

It's kind of a dirty word.

And, Gretchen knows this one is lobbying.

But in the nonprofit world, we call it advocacy, and it feels better.

So, I always thought that my avenue was through suicide prevention.

And it really, when I wasn't really looking for a job, and the opportunity came available, I looked at Nami National's platform, and I, I love it.

I want to stand up for the voiceless.

I want I, use my efforts to create change.

And I think that the time is really now post-Covid.

It's always been about recognizing, how commonplace mental health is.

It's it's physical health.

It's mental health.

It's one body.

Everybody has it.

Right.

So just how do we normalize this opportunity for everyone?

And when you say advocacy or lobbying, are you talking about everything?

So change of laws, supportive, money, yo know, to benefit organizations.

I mean, is i across the board policy changes?

What other kinds of things?

Sure.

Usually that's driven at a national and then at a state level, letting the local affiliate know how they can create impact.

And so we will go dow to the state House and testify, I think a lot of what the local opportunity is, is giving voice.

I this is the sad part and we'll say funny things after this.

But, in the two years that I've been there, what's really resonated is people feel invisible.

Their voice doesn't matter and nobody cares.

That's not true.

Yeah, but how do we counter that?

And I have had the privilege and the, opportunity to use my voice throughout my career.

My opportunit now is to make room for others.

And so how do we help them feel?

Seen, heard and valued from an advocacy perspective?

That's really cool.

Nami has a new program.

We'll be launching it in 26.

Is Nami smarts?

It's turning everyday stories into advocacy.

Also, as you'll notice Maria needs to get to the point.

And so how do you tell your story?

In three minutes?

That's all you get with legislators.

They've tuned out to keep talking.

So I've actually stopped listening to you now, right?

I know I knew it, I knew it so I was trying to bring it back to the point of righ support, education and advocacy.

Yeah.

How do we empower others to to step into this space?

You mentioned you mentioned Covid and, you know, that was certainly a moment when I think it normalized the conversation a little bit more around, you know, mental health.

And the challenges that we're all facing isolationism, depression, all of it.

But there's still a strong stigma attached to mental health.

Very much so.

Yeah.

I think the generatio that's coming behind us really is embracing and recognizing and demanding different.

Our generation and above are still it's fine.

Everything's fine.

Yeah.

It's not me.

And so how do we normalize and bring to the front that these are everyday considerations for me?

I remember a conversation with Pat Bowe from the Andersons.

Where I think it was like actually his introduction to the Nami walk at the Andersons a few years ago.

I had heard him say that, you know, if an employee of yours at talk of the manager, his employee calls and, you know, they slipped on the ice and, you know, hurt themselves, you know, hurt their wrist, they got to go to urgent care to get checked out, and they're going to come in.

You're fine with them coming in late?

Like it makes sense.

But if that same person said, hey, when I woke up today, I just wasn't feeling it.

And I'm trying to get myself going.

So give me a minute and then I'll be in.

We don't give that same grace on the mental health side, the answer to that employee nine times out of ten is suck it up and get to work.

But that's not the, you know, how, how do you how are the things that Nami is doing helping create space and create learning for, you know, workplace understanding as well as wellness?

Yeah.

So we have a program called Nami Stigma Free, and it's really honestly, it's not new news.

It's bringing intentionality and creating a safe space for this to become a part of everyday workplace.

And so I think what' really important there is that, we also train leaders i how to have these conversations.

I have a retail friend, an they had asked, you know, what.

Do you purchase?

Gretchen can reach over there.

They're available.

Low cost.

So I think what happens is, they people will say we have an ERP for that, and that's great.

But if we aren't modeling as leaders, utilizing it, or even sharing in our journe to say it's okay to not be okay.

And here's what I did today.

I think people are still thinking it's all of those other people that are broken, or all of those other people that have it all figured out.

I'm the only one that's broken.

So how do we again, just normalize that it's okay to have you.

There's also a bit of that, at least for me in my own world of like, I don't want to use this resource because there's somebody else that needs it more than I do.

And so it's, it's a bit of this complex of, I don't want to use my ERP because, you know, if somebody else needs it.

And most of it's me justifying that, like, I'm more okay than I am right now.

I think that, you know, I heard somebody years ago say that, you know, the disability community is the only minority you can be like just suddenly become a part of.

But I think the mental health community is a piece of that as well, that, you know, situations will happen that will cause, or maybe, you know, exaggerate, example, whatever, depression, you know, all of those symptoms.

I know I had a situation years ago with my own health that kind of put me in a space where, you know, I started seeing a therapist, and I've been very open with my friends about that.

It was extremely helpful to me.

And I think I was, you know, a month, maybe two months in and I'm going, man, I needed therapy a long time ago.

Yeah, right.

It it's just it's incredibly, incredibly helpful to have somebody there helping you process and think about this.

And, and for someone to tell me that this, this unique thing that I'm feeling, that I'm the only one in the world that's possibly feeling this, then we go, yeah, that's not that's not unique to.

You, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Thank you for sharing that for one.

And I'd also like to make an admission here.

I have a primary care doctor.

Oh, good for you.

It's no.

Big deal.

Right.

You have a primary care doctor.

Nobody's impressed by that.

But where it's not at.

Shocking.

So the same thing with a therapist is how do we just normalize that?

Sometimes we need an outside source to help us process things.

And I think there ar a lot of brain hacks out there.

As we learn more about the brain and how to shift our focus.

We are really the products of good marketing and and certainly.

Right.

And so we've been programed to believ certain things that aren't true.

And so how do we challenge that?

I am an only child.

I'm the mom of an only child and I don't need anybody tell.

Yeah, and I was wrong.

And what I have found hope and healing in community.

And so coming together with other people to hear you're not broken.

I actually had the same thing happen to me.

Yeah.

And I think that really doe just set a whole new stage for, self.

Just grace.

Right.

How do we realize that it's okay to have a bad day?

And I think, a a really wise man once told me so, statistically, we say 1 i 5 are impacted by mental health, but 5 in 5 are impacted.

Right.

Thank you.

Kevin moment as was was statement ther and and I've carried it with me because I think we always look at those people though everybody else is broken o again, just struggling out there and it's all of us.

We have created such a connection to poverty.

And, and a lot of our systems are set up to offer payment only if you are in poverty.

But mental health is one of those things that, while it is very strongly correlated to poverty, it impacts everybody.

I just got asked if you might not know these statistics off the top of your head.

But is it gender specific?

Race specific?

Certainly socioeconomic.

That doesn't surprise me for the slice, but is there some is there a gender that is more attuned to getting help?

Is it Y-chromosome and extremism based?

And talking about the.

Only thing I can comment, off the top of my hea and just in conversation is that women have traditionally been more open to receiving help or seeking it so that our numbers are goin to be a little bit more skewed.

Sure.

Whether or not, gender, race, economic class, all of that is immune, to it.

Everybody's going to be can be impacted somewhere.

Yeah.

It's not me.

The location where someone would go to get information about where to go to get help or treatment, or for a famil member to say, look, I got this, you know, this kid of mine and this is the issue.

And to make referrals out to agencies or other people.

Thank you.

That's an important clarification.

We don't actually do direct treatment.

All of our programs are at no cost.

And we really are that middle, partner that helps make connections.

So we offer referrals.

If you don't know if you've never been in the mental health system, you don't know where to go from here.

Call us and we help make those connections.

I find that all the time, especially in my practice of law.

Now, where people of all stripes, people of all socio economic levels, but they're involve in the criminal justice system because of that because this thing has happened.

And then there's this underlying mental health issue an and it's incredibly difficult, you know, housing and treatment and who pays for what and how I can pa and how is it go to the court.

And all of that is a it's very complicated.

It's overwhelming and confusing.

Yeah.

And so I never knew that until today that Nami would be a place, a starting point.

How is how are you related to the mental health board and those agencies?

So those are the service providers?

Yes.

So let me come back to it, because I want to also call out something really, unique to Nami is that often while folks with mental illness may call u and we are there for them 100%, we often serve the families impacted by mental health.

More s because where else do they go?

And there isn't really a lot of options that doesn't come with cost, that doesn't, or even ho do we make it a welcoming place to ask the question to to step in the door to begin with is a big thing.

So the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, funds us, at least half of our, our budget.

And so they're a vital partner in this space.

The other funded partners, that they fund, are generall going to be service providers.

So they have traditional mean to with insurance and Medicaid and reimbursement dollars.

So that's why, it's really important for us to continue to call out that if you support Nami, the way to do that is, oh, wait, I got my little shirt, you know, for the listeners, for Nami walks event our signature event every year, really does fund the other half of our budget.

But also when people vote for the mental health and recovery service Board levies as they come about, you're directly supporting Nami and our funded partners.

And this is a year round struggle, of course.

Right.

To your point, but is there a little bit of a seasonality to it?

I mean, after coming out o Covid, we are in the heart of, a normal sunless couple months here in northwest Ohio.

Any tips?

Obviousl is not a great way to ask, but are there any suggestions or things that you do, maybe even personally, to say it's like a mental health check in.

So I'm going to just offe this because, I, as I mentioned, don't need any help.

Right, I was wrong.

I now attend peer support group, whenever I can and we have a family support group.

We have a peer support group.

We have a young adult support group.

We have a middle eastern Northern African support group for women and children.

And then we're just launching a Latinx family support group as well as an African American support group.

I think it's it's a great place where people keep showing up for each other.

And yeah, I'm always baffled by that.

Like, aren't you hurting right now?

And yet you still showed up for me and each other.

And so it really is a beautiful space.

I want to talk some more about kind of your journey to get to this.

We'll dive in a little bit deeper on some of the program and services that Nami offers.

And of course, we'll talk a little bi more about Nami walks as well.

We'll probably touch base, you know, let's talk about mental health first aid too, because I know you've got some experience with that as well.

It's Wellness Wednesday, presented by Work Spring.

When we come back we'll continue the conversation with Mari Cornella from Nami.

Stay tuned.

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Welcome back to a Wellness Wednesday edition of the 419 presented by Work Spring.

We're joined by Maria Cordova from Nami of Greater Toledo.

We talked with Alyssa Lark from Work Spring, and she had brought up, this this idea of mental health, first aid of, you know, the same way that we would approach a first aid kit, for a physical, you know, trauma.

Sort of building those tools within your own toolbo as it relates to mental health.

Yeah.

What what, you know, what would you put in your, mental health first aid?

Great question.

Sure.

Thank you.

I think it's all about empowering everybody to be a part of the solution somewhere.

And so we offer, Nami stigma free workplace.

We also work on QPR, whic is similar to the idea of CPR, but it's a life saving measure until a professional can take over for suicide prevention.

So it's just making sure that everybody is empowered to intervene and kno how to approach that situation.

My my daughte just asked me the other day if, we're a theater family.

She wants to watch Dear Evan Hansen, and we've been holding off until kind of the right age for her to be able to handle because the the show starts, if you're not familiar with it.

I mean, the show hinges upon a character that commits suicide.

And so it's like.

But but I know that, from fro talking with you, Mariah, like, you can talk about suicide.

Yeah, right.

And I think that's that's the fear is like, I don't want to talk about it.

Right?

I want to bring it up.

I'm afraid it's going to make it worse.

That's right.

I'm proud to introduce the idea to somebody.

But that's not the.

That's not.

Let me give you another, tip, because this is our, cheat sheet is, you have we all have the answer now with a, access to 908.

So similar to 911 life saving measure, right?

You can immediately dial 988 and get connected to a crisis counselor.

So you don't have to worry about carrying the weight of this conversation.

Hey, I know you're struggling.

Let's go ahead and text together.

Right.

You have an immediate resource, all of us that can access and really be a part of getting people connected to help.

What's the threshold for havin somebody make mention of this?

And then getting them connected with help.

Putting in the threshold?

So, I mean, if someone is talking about this or you're concerned about them, being vulnerable, to self-harm, when should you pass them on to a professional or immediately.

Every time.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think that's an important message.

Yeah.

I think, also, don't shy away from it.

It doesn't matter if it's clumsy, if it's if it doesn't come out the way you want it to.

It's more about breaking the stigma by actually asking the question, right?

I think when people open the door to someone listening and caring, that can change entire lives.

So really, it's about don't hesitate.

And the truth is when people are suicidal, it's not that they necessarily want to die.

They want to escape the pain that they're in.

So why wouldn't we reach in even if they're not suicidal?

If somebody is hurting?

It really helps to kno somebody out there cares, right?

And it's exceptionally complicate and tough subject matter.

How?

And I know that we saw the chronology of how this found you.

But on the molecular level, how is this found?

You.

Why is this?

This is a bit of a calling.

Yeah, I. As a kid, I mean, did you.

Were you.

Grow up with.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

You made the right choice.

Right.

I, I like difficult conversations, and I like, pushing the boundarie of the norms and being the one that's.

I don't I don't have a good, healthy fear.

So I, I really found mental health and addiction services, along the way in my career.

It was post-secondary.

It was, mental health and then managed care bac and forth doing outreach work.

And my job was to figure out who does what in community and how do we bridge and build partnerships.

So for me I'm exactly where I should be.

I've been a part of Nami for about 15 years.

And when this again, this opportunity came about.

It just felt like I was coming home.

And so I know I'm in the right place, and I feel like this is what it is.

What I found in two years is that we can't do this work alone.

We really need to find ways to bring everybody into the mission, whether it's through fundraising, whether it's through, facilitating programs, whether it's through sharing a Facebook post.

Everybody has a role to pla in destigmatizing mental health and promoting access.

And I think that really starts with how we lead in our everyday lives and at work.

What's the biggest challenge for somebody that that suffers with the mental illness?

Assumin they're taking their medication, they're not involve in the criminal justice system.

What is it?

Employment.

Is it housing?

Is it access to services?

Do you do you find that there's one problem that's consistent across the board?

Oh, you probably already know what I'm going to say.

Well, one I'm going to go back to stigma from from my, our end is just getting people acces and taking that first step up.

But the thing that we get calls most about is still housing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Where do I go from here?

How do I find affordable housing and, yeah, housing is still a problem.

I just think there's there's.

Yeah.

No, no, I mean, I just think there' there's so many layers to this.

Right?

And thinking, you know, how do we kind of peel back the layers of this onion to get to the problem?

You know, you talk about what's that is it, you know, is it employment, is it, you know, access?

Is it housing?

Is it hunger?

Is it all of it?

It's so it's, you know, where to where do we start?

You know, for somebod that is is kind of watching this or listening to this and saying, I need to do something right.

What what I'm doing isn't working, or there's somebody that I care about that's struggling that I don't know what to do.

What's the what's the first step?

Very first step.

Konami.

2434192431119.

Any time.

Now we are community based, so we may not answer, but we will give you a call back.

We are not crisis counseling.

We are.

What is my next step from here?

And we're not going to do those steps for you, but we're going to be there every step of the way as you need us.

And our motto this year is know us before you need us.

How do we make that real for people?

We need everybod to be a part of you somewhere.

We talked a little bit about some of the, the support groups, peer support groups, family support groups, some of the different, affinity support groups or cultural support groups.

What what else are the programs that are offered by now?

Thank you for asking.

So going back to our three pillars support, education and advocacy.

We have support groups.

We have education classes to help either someone with a mental illness or a family member dig deeper into their, diagnosis.

We also have the advocacy services at a 1 to 1 level.

We have a family navigator that really walks that journey with them.

So that's really the most valuable piece.

Language is so important when you talk about advocacy and people throw words.

That person's crazy.

Or she's say, or or whatever.

What I'm assuming tha that's part of your advocacy is that is our choice of words and and everyda things and referring to people.

In that way.

Can you talk a little bit about that?

Sure.

I used to throw the word crazy around all the time, and now I have to challenge that.

Is it crazy or is it just different?

Is it wild?

Is it kind of messed up?

I think it's it's giving power to those words.

And I challenge that because I also think we talk about, the over pathologize things.

And so it's okay to be sad.

It's okay to have a bad day.

Yeah.

And I think that we throw around anxiety and depression, and if it is lasting that there are options and treatment works, I think we just think we are a victim of our circumstance all the time.

But there are things that we can do to challenge, how we receive those things.

At the risk of asking you to become a clinician.

I mean, what is that difference between a bad day and depression?

It's lasting, right?

It's impacting your your day to day routine.

If you can't, show up to work because you are really that impacted.

We need to seek help.

It's okay to have a bad day.

It's okay to have a couple bad days, but if it's lasted for more than two weeks, we really need to to to try to intervene in that moment.

So you're wearing your Nami what's your Way t shirt?

Yes, yes.

Like, talk to me.

About what?

You know, we talked a little bit about it in the last segment, but what is Nami walks and and how can people and why should people get it and share it?

So this will be our 21st yea and, last year, two years ago, we moved to Middle Ground's Metro Metropark.

And this year we are at, Glass City.

I'm so excited for this year.

We have it's an annual day of hope.

It's across the country on the same day they do it in the spring and in the fall.

We only have one day here.

It is our big signature fundraiser.

I love the walk.

I don't know that I should live and breathe.

Love the walk.

I love the walk.

It's very stressful.

I love the walk.

But but really, it's a day of of visibility.

People show.

Up.

Yeah, it is beautiful.

So, we are really looking forward to the new venue this year, and it is our signature fundraiser because everything that we do is at no cost to the communities we serve.

And sadly, in my career, everything has been about how do we come together to solve these problems?

And used to love that portion of it.

Now I have this little demon on my shoulder says, who's going to pay for that?

And and it's and it's it's hard to figure out how to fund nonprofit because this gets put aside.

Right.

We'll come back to that or just use your insurance.

But what does the family do?

We also are a part of the crisis intervention training for law enforcement.

So really just figuring out where mental health belongs.

We have a call to action to everybody.

Invite us in.

Help us lead this work.

Everybody has a role to play, and we take one day a year and ask people to show up for it.

So I was involved with wit the walk for a number of years.

And one of the things that stood out to me is the, the diversity.

Yeah, absolutely.

The reasons why someone comes out to the walk is that you'd have, you know, family member of someone who died by suicide.

You have coworkers that believe in creating a a wellness culture within thei workplace, in their community.

You've got, you know, family members that you know, are coming together or friend groups from neighborhoods that are coming together just because.

Yes.

Right.

And it's really it's it's not like, you know, the other kind of other walks and this is not a criticism of the walks, but, you know, the reality is when you're, you know, for most people that are walking in, common, you know, it's it' there's a direct connection to, you know, this this issue.

And I think there's just so many different as we, you know, the idea of, like everybody's impacted by mental.

Is growing, right You've outgrown middle ground.

Yes.

Do you have a date for this year's walk?

It is May 16th.

Okay, great.

Yeah.

We look forward to it.

I already knew that.

Yes.

You did.

You should know that.

Yes.

If you did know more capable.

People than that, what time does it start?

It starts at 10 a.m.. Wow.

Yeah, we're.

We're going to be in and out.

That's great.

That was just a I know for I. Know that was a. Totally random.

Time.

Amazing.

People are interested in learning more about the walk or more about Nami.

Give out the phone number one more time.

And website.

Sure.

It is.

(419)243-1119.

Or you can find us at Nami Nami toledo.org.

If if somebody watching thi segment takes nothing from it.

Which they usually do, what's the.

Motion?

But but one thing.

What's the one thing you want them to, to walk away knowing about about Nami.

You're not alone.

Yeah.

It comes back to that every time.

As you say, you don't have to feel alone.

That's great.

Yeah.

Thank you.

All right so you talked about the words.

Words matter.

Okay.

I mean, even in our you know, own one week evolution of this show, we started off by referring to our 419 quiz, as, I called it Gretchen's crazy quiz.

Right?

And then I got close to home.

I've got a. Little on the nose.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But then I've got.

I've got Mariah's voice in the back of my head going, no, no, no, no, it's not crazy.

He did literally say it's wacky.

We can't talk to him.

Right If we call it that.

Yeah, right.

It's it's it's a Gretchen's wacky quiz.

All right, so I'm going to fire four rapid fire questions.

That you okay?

Gretchen is going to ask you.

The number one favorite thing or best thing about the state over the region.

And then, Matt, what are you doing?

I would need nine words to describe.

Yes.

Yeah, I had him for one.

Right?

Yeah.

Okay.

I think it's great.

I think it's wacky and great.

I think wacky is good.

Like, in a great way.

What word would you add to the dictionary if you could?

Oh.

And you can say right now.

No, I think that was it That was it.

No, I think that.

Yeah.

Word.

Oh, shoot.

Okay.

I like it.

Okay.

I like it.

What would your what would your secret DJ name be?

Oh, my gosh.

Like a record?

Let's see.

Deejay bright lights.

Love it.

Love it.

What's the longest trip you've ever been on?

Oh, gosh.

We just, we drove from Miami.

My partner is from Miami, an we drove everything back here.

Just left a couple of years ago.

That was a lot.

That is a lot.

Yeah.

If you had a pet parrot, what would you teach it to say?

Right now.

Okay.

Touchdown!

Now.

I kno we're teetering on FCC, right?

What's your number one favorite thing?

Or what you would consider to be the best thing about Toledo or the region.

My mom.

Oh.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean it.

Well, now we need your mom on the show.

I don't well, you have her.

This is Jenna.

Yeah.

What's your.

Name?

Share.

Yes.

Thank you.

All right.

All right We're doing this together.

Okay.

Yes.

You've already scribbled some things out here.

Home.

One potential small, big city.

Okay.

Let's see, I ha all these written down already.

Excuse me.

There's five right there.

So, Museum of Art.

Love it.

Right.

Waterfront?

Yeah.

To get in there.

I want to say welcoming and.

Yes, welcoming home ish.

Right?

Yes.

Welcoming in your new word.

Affordable.

Yeah.

All right.

Yep.

Two more.

Your home.

Two more.

Did I say my mom?

Yes.

Yeah, you could say that.

You could say my mom, too.

And, Nami.

Yeah.

All right.

So when when she said Waterfront and Matt, you responded with your getting there.

Yeah.

I felt like it was my kid playing, like, walk over there.

Yeah.

Is that.

You were like, all right.

Waterfront.

Waterfront?

Yeah.

Once.

Right off.

The water.

That's right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I don't want to say it.

Yeah.

Your walk is canceled, right?

May 16th.

15, May 16th, 10:00 Am Nami walks.

You can learn more at Nami toledo.org.

Mariah.

Thank you so much for the conversation.

When we come back, we will wrap up this Wellness Wednesday edition of the 419.

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To welcome back into the 419 powered by presented by Retro Wealth Management, it's wellness Wednesday.

I feel like I bring one thing to this show.

Like I'm here for one reason.

Let us tell you what you.

Yeah, you know, that's fair.

Yeah.

Let's.

This seems like a great thin to do on a wellness Wednesday.

Yeah.

Is fo you guys to ridicule you.

Yeah.

Get ready.

Apologize.

I really didn't land the plan at the end of that last segment.

Well, things land in a variet of ways, and some things crash.

And it really that's right.

This doesn't.

My college roommate was a pilot and used to say that there's, there's two type of like the difference between a good landing and a great landing.

Oh, right.

A good landing you walk away, a great landing.

You can use the plane again.

What a fun guy.

I hope he does not work as a pilot.

Yeah.

Yeah he does.

Yeah he does.

I've flown with him several times, and I'm still here t tell the story.

All right.

Good.

He had a lot of great landings.

Good.

A lot of great landings.

A lot of important and heavy subject matter.

It was nice to have, Alyssa on met her for the first time, butchered her name, whic she immediately forgave us for.

So a good lesson in grace there.

But it was a good conversation about, I think the value of a good wellness culture.

And also, I think a fair conversation about the boundaries.

Who's responsible for what, and what's the happy medium between the two?

But certainly a good guest.

And I'm not I'm not surprised.

But I do like the idea of what do you do at home?

I cook and I cook and and these are my words, obviously, kind of a mindless way.

It's not really a goal.

I just happen to like it.

It's like, okay, this is, not a this is a normal person that there's able to provide the sort of agency to.

What I do, which talked about the what she likes to cook or the kind of recent recipes she done to.

There isn't a name for it.

That's right.

And it's not.

And that's okay.

That's right.

It doesn't need name release.

Yeah.

It doesn't need to be something Florentine.

Whatever.

It's like.

I don't know what that means.

But it's like you just you just cook, right?

You get in the kitchen, you do what you do.

I appreciate you Maria.

Cornelia, talking about, you know, the idea of, you know, just you're not alone, right?

That I think that that reminder to us, consistently is is something that's important.

Also, I can feel she's still in the studio, and I can filler judging eyes on me right now.

So I want to just sa just glowing things about her.

Okay?

That's fair.

Yeah, yeah, but.

Once she leaves.

Then we can.

Then we'll have it out and really get the results right no playing that.

Perfect.

Perfect.

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This is Wellness Wednesday powered by presented by whatever I want to say work spring.

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