Suicide Pages with Dr. Lulu. The Podcast

As a pediatrician and a mom, there are very few times that we are out of character.

This week's guest embodies the mom, physician, empath, life-saver all in one.

She is a neonatologist on a mission to save moms from the sometimes traumatic events that follow childbirth, that sometimes culminate in self-harm or suicide.

Did you know that many moms take their own lives around 9 to 10 months postpartum? I had no idea it was a thing even though after my last baby, I myself had a health scare at exactly 10 months postpartum!

Quotables:

"Invest in your health, ask for that in your registry"

"Expect it: the first month sucks"

"Find a support system, reach out"

"It's ok to include your partner in your child's care"

After he went to sleep next to his wife and woke up at the kitchen window, with his wife dying within minutes...anyone else would have been thrown into a fit of depression, and worthlessness, and despair. 

But not Bobby Petrocelli!

Defying the odds to become a motivational and inspirational speaker, Bobby reached deep down and found the strength to take life literally one moment at a time.

He has written and co-written so many books and has spoken to all places and worked with all people. 

His is an incredible story of strength, tenacity, and resiliency.

Quotables:

"They are allowing the hurt and the pain to define them"

"We not only rob ourselves, but we also rob other people of our greatness"

"I came to school today to say goodbye"

"You either run away from your past or you learn from it"

"You don't go to the gym to find a muscle, you go to build it"

"A little of something is better than all of nothing"

Books:

In this concluding part of her interview, Heather tells us about her second suicide attempt and how and when she decided she needed to get better and heal and leave all her troubles behind and start moving forward with her life.

She touches on the death of her father, her work in the media, and her second podcast. 

Find out the simple advice she gives to all or anyone who finds themselves in similar shoes as hers...

Quotables:

"I did what I had to do"

Fellow podcaster and childhood trauma survivor Heather joins us this week to tell us her story of pain and betrayal of trust as a child. As you know, I always talk about how the betrayal of children is at the top of the list of reasons why our children hurt themselves. 

Listen to her story and let me know your thoughts.

Quotable:

"I was simply tired of being OK"

Where to find:

This week, we talk with Ms. Sade Cutler. An African American woman who was treated so wrong by her former place of work to add to the list of traumatic events that piled up in her life, ranging from a pulmonary embolus to 8 miscarriages to being laid off from work and everything else in between!

Ms. Sade shares her heart-wrenching story in this episode...

Find out what she said that made me use some explicit choice words...

Thankfully, she is "sur-thriving" today and is even helping others cope with their anxiety and depression through her own work as a mental health counselor. 

Quotables: 

"God just let me meet him"

"Keep the faith and be encouraged"

"This is a moment in time"

Where to find and follow and support her:

When we hear of pivoting and changing and rebranding, many of us do not think about what this week's guest did. At 56yr young, she found herself enrolling in medical school! Today, many moons later, she is a successful family practitioner and goes about her day saving lives.

She describes suicidality as "a moment of hopelessness" which as we know can spiral into the worst-case scenario.

Listen to her thoughts about female physicians and suicide, and what word she uses to describe her life before medicine. :)

How did a motor vehicle accident and PTSD combine to create who she is today?

Quotables:

"I am a mother"

"You make a lot of sacrifices to become a physician"

"Life throws you good and bad curves"

Books: 

Healthy in the Campus. 

Healthy on the Set.

Where to find her:

This week's guest is an author and a speaker who came to visit us from the future!

Yes, she really did!

She shares about chronic suicidality from early childhood and what finally happened before she figured out that she comes first.

Books:

1. Keep it Super Simple

2. The Economy of Enough

3. Beyond Aha

4. Keep it Super Simple for Busy Professional Women

Questions to ask yourself:

1. What stresses you out>

2. Create values

3. What am I actually doing?

4. What are the things on your "to-do" list that are for you? 

5. Embrace your to-do list.

Where to find her:

What do Betrayal, Marital Infidelity, Depression, Grief, Anguish, Abandonment, and Trauma have in common? Our second guest for the week!

Ms. Beatrice shares the pain of marital infidelity and how she barely survived it. 

She discusses how a 12-Step program for spouses of sex addicts, great girlfriends, and therapy helped her "see the fruit and the blessing from all the traumas".

Find out the book she recommends to all of us that will help with the healing.

Quotables:

"Don't give up hope, keep seeking and looking for yourself"

"Stay on the path"

"Don't be afraid to go through difficulty"

"They are more than enough"

Where to find her:

In the first episode of this week, Coach Benson Fox, a young Jewish coach with wisdom far beyond his age! 

I am so proud of this young man and his insights.

He talks candidly about the who, the why, and the what of suicide victims. 

A former suicide text line volunteer, he talks about his personal experience doing this, and paints a picture of how: 

Hopelessness + Emotional pain = Suicide!

Find out the one thing he suggests actively suicidal victims can do to help get them out of the mindset right away...

Also, find out the  4 things he says suicide hotline volunteers focus on for each call they make.

And also find out why he agrees that hospitalization is NOT always the answer.

Quotables

"... if you could just get them to go to sleep..."

"...ensure there is a psychologist..."

"Safety planning must include someone who will give them hope"

Where to Find

In this very first episode of Suicide Pages for the Year 2021, we are continuing with what I am dubbing our "trauma series". We have been interviewing social workers, therapists, and the likes in the past several episodes, and so is this one.

Today, Stephanie, our guest talks about the effects of a parent AND a sibling suicide. What that is like. Who these people are. What their lives were like. She also sheds much-needed light on the "Life of a Suicide-Loss Survivor". 

Find out how she has somehow found a way to turn her pain and sorrow into a passion to help others. What did she do, and more importantly, how is she doing it? What were her own struggles if any with suicidal behavior? And how is her family currently dealing with all that hurt?

Quotables:

"I was always talked around"

"Find a safe space...whatever that looks like"

"I really love solitude"

Where to find:

This is an ultrashort episode where I am simply celebrating a fantastic end of the year of a very weird year!

2020 has been that kind of year, what with a new strain of Covid?? I didn't even mention it!

I am simply celebrating life. I smiled throughout the recording!

Hope you enjoy it.

I talk about my new found treatment for my body aches and how my fibromyalgia pains have completely disappeared!

Yes!

Find out how.

Also touched on my 3As and my 3Rs and of course, my new Anthology featuring immigrant women.

Know any that wants to share their story?

Send them my way!

Gelisa Lewis thought she had it all. After enduring sexual abuse as a child, she thought trauma was behind her.

She thought having a child would close the loop on what was otherwise an extraordinary life.

But she was wrong.

She was also wrong about thinking child-loss was the worst thing that could happen to her.

Listen to find out what other surprises life had for her, but more importantly, what she has done to plant her feet firmly on the ground and even give back through a non-profit.

And find out why "a heart of gold" is the phrase that I choose to describe her today.

Quotables:

"The therapists I had were terrible"

"I blame the therapist in me"

"...my life was in reset"

Words of advice: 

"You must make decisions that make you happy"

Where to find:

Our Second Episode for this week takes a peek at suicide grief in one Black family's life. 

Samantha has so bravely shared her family's story of trying to deal with multiple counts of grief in a very short time.

With a year like the one we have had, it is hard to imagine that one family could be dealt with so much grief and death in addition.

However, as a Licensed Practical Counselor, Samantha shares how she is dealing with it in an unmatched vulnerability I have seen in my days of podcasting. 

This episode also sheds a tiny light on "the immigrant's story".  

Many times we are unaware of the very hard road immigrants travel, and what it takes to face a day as a Black person in America.

Find out how she and her family are truly handling it all, and what she said that literally left me speechless!

Quotables:

"Pain is not shameful"

"I continue to work on it, and not judge myself for it"

Where to Find Her:

My first guest this week was such a hoot!

Coach Lolita Walker and I hit it off right off the bat!

She is as energetic and charismatic and witty as I am, and we probably said the word "yaaaaaassssss" fifty-eleven times!

She shares about how she felt unheard and unseen and as not adding value at various stages of her life, but she is happy to reflect on the constant affirmations she received from her parents as a child and credits that to her resilience today. 

She also shares how she was exposed to a suicidal friend in the not so distant past, and how she has essentially learned to hold space for people in need.

Find out what she does now that has truly aligned her with her purpose, and what she said that literally made me hush for the first time in my podcast life...

Quotables:

"Believe in your strengths..." 

Book: (Amazon)

Dr. Madhuri is an infectious disease physician who literally won my heart with her youth and her vision.

This episode deals with something I experienced myself. Burnout!

Like me, she was also suicidal and one day, she found herself on a road, in a car, and...

Find out what she did that is sooooo cool for other residents.

Qoutables:

"I was scared to get help because I wanted to be the best doctor"

"I was kind of in a daze all day"

"I started doing things that are pleasurable to me"

Where to find her:

After her own suicide attempt, this week's guest found her calling.

She decided to make the necessary changes to begin her healing and helping journey.

A 15-yr veteran Licenced Practical Counselor, Chantel shares about her own trials and survival of "overwhelmness".

Find out what she did and why. 

Quotables:

"It's not you if your environment is not enriching you, change jobs"

"We all have light in us, we all have greatness"

"Trust the process"

"Be comfortable reaching out and asking for help"

Where to find her:

Melissa White was one of those guests. Yup, the ones you never forget!

She is beautiful, she is smart, but she has also been severely traumatized in her past. 

She shares about parental neglect, sexual assault (incest), absent father syndrome, childhood trauma, domestic abuse, runnings with the police, acting out in school, and of course a SERIOUS suicide attempt!

Her story is so deep and so traumatic, that, I can only ask you to please listen and share it.

Hmmm

Find out what she said that made me finally lose it!

Quotables

 "They confused aggression for strength"

"Self-healing"

"Your children are not broken"

Where to Find

What are psychic pain and cognitive constriction?

This week's guest is one of those smart Black women you would love to keep listening to...

As a former police department counselor, she brings a whole different type of insight to our pages this week.

Recorded in September (suicide awareness month), she shares her experience working on the front lines of the suicide war. 

She tells tales of being the first on the scene for other people's suicides, AS WELL AS her own struggles.

Find out what she did that literally took my breath away!

Quotables

"...acknowledge that vulnerability is considered a weakness and suicide a taboo"

"...even having those thoughts is considered a weakness"

"Depression is for White people"

Takeaways

1/ CONNECTION: Fight the fear to not connect with others

2/ Check in with people

3/ Suicidal thoughts are not taboo!

Where to Find 

Today, she is a licensed clinical social worker, addiction specialist and a certification supervisor. But, she wasn't always that. Once upon a time, she was a woman with a broken heart. A mother who was unable to get up from her bed for over one week. A warrior who finally decided enough is enough and she would get help!

Like me, and many of us who have struggled with suicidal ideatios, she was driving on the road one day and found herself wanting to drive off and end it all... with her children in the car!

She admits to compartmentalizing her feelings and emotions, something many of us do...

She also admits to using "retail therapy" to cope with her circumstances, much like many of us do...

And lastly, just like me, she also has a podcast called: The Daily Calm Project, a podcast that explores literally work.

Find out what she said that brought out the waterworks and how she navigated herself out of it.

Quotables

"You can't make sense out of nonsense"

"I was compartmentalizing my thoughts and feelings"

"I was on autopilot"

"Because you have breathe, you have purpose"

Where to find her:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Delora Evans is a Black gurl who SERIOUSLY rocks!

She dropped ALL kinds of serious nuggets right from the jump!

You will absolutely love her!

She talks about REAL life growing up as a Black child, teen, young adult, and much more.

Complete with disappointments and broken promises, drugs, alcohol, teen pregnancy, betrayals, abuse, you name it!

But she is such a warrior!

Today, she works with our most vulnerable; fighting addiction, and hopelessness in both the young and the old.

Find out why I was so happy to finally find someone who agrees with me, literally verbatim as to the underlying cause of suicide!

Quotables

"We set ourselves on fire to warm others"

"Fits of despair lead to utter hopelessness"

"When a student is ready, the teacher appears"

"The best predictor of future performance is past behavior until there is change"

"Each one teach one, each one reach one"

Julia Bugsby is a woman on a mission!

She is a fellow podcaster and fellow "sur-thrivor"!

I loooove her story of survival and thriving through domestic violence, suicide attempt, and PTSD!

She is also living proof that there is life after trauma, there is life after pain, and life after a serious suicide attempt.

Do me a favor and try to count how many times you hear the word trauma or PTSD in this episode.

I have told y'all time and time again, that trauma is at the crux of most suicides, I think this episode helps me with that a lot.

Dr. Karen was such a delight to interview.

She is a retired OBGYN who has found her calling in energy and mindfulness work.

She talked about her own private struggles with burnout and shares how she found her way home.

Quotables: 

"I said YES to myself"

"Women tend to be "other-focused"

Dr. Karen's freebie:

One of the ways to REALLY know what you want and need is to connect DEEPLY to yourself! But for many of us, we don't know HOW to do that on a consistent basis.

Here is an 8 minute guided audio to HELP you to connect to YOURSELF. She invites you to try it and see what happens!

Tasha Hunter, MSW, LCSW says that the first language ever she learned was pain.

Growing up in a mentally, physically, and sexually abusive home, all Tasha ever heard was that she was worthless, unloved, and unwanted.

In this episode, Tasha talks about how her traumatic childhood led to her first serious attempt at suicide, how that attempt impacted her life, and her journey to become a clinician that helps others heal from trauma like hers.

Dr. Araba Chintoh is a Canadian Psychiatrist after my heart!

She specializes in research into Schizophrenia, she is smart, poised, and determined to educate the world about mental illness and its consequences.

She speaks passionately about all the combinations of issues that lead us down the path of destruction and death by suicide. 

Working at a large tertiary center in a Canadian urban area, she sees the "most complex" cases and works hard with her team at CAMH to get her patients better and reunited with their families. 

Her institution is a "patient-centered", family-centered, and evidence-based, center for addiction and mental health.

Dr. Felecia Sumner is a superstar as far as I am concerned!

She freakin' had a baby girl smack dab in the middle of the Covid-19 Lockdown, had some complications after her baby, and lived to tell it!

She and her family have been through it all, and still standing strong!

Find out what she told me about her encounter with a police officer that literally knocked the air out of me and left me dumbfounded! YIKES!

Of all my guests ever, Dr. Ronda takes the cake with her uniqueness! A Psychiatrist and Integrative Behavioral Health Specialist!

She is so smart, she is so smooth, she is so stress-free in her direct approach to preventing suicide.

For her, suicide prevention is about giving life and hope to her patients.

She uses the scriptures and Bible-based teachings to connect with her patients no matter their religious inclinations.

She is the doctor for doctors, the psychiatrist you wish you and your mama could see :)

Find out what she thinks about why she said "I don't have to worry about suicides", and "it's not weak to seek help"

Other Quotables: "Burn Your Superman and Superwoman Capes"

My second guest this week has the most incredible story.

She has been depressed and suicidal since the age of 6 or 7!

Losing her beloved father as a child was a very difficult life blow for her, and she struggled for years "looking for love in all the wrong places, with a broken heart".

Thankfully, she found healing with "inner guidance", and rid herself of all the chronic ailments including thyroid disease, fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome!

Today, she is a transformational coach and energy healer.

She is helping others cross over to the other side, with minimal pain.

She is a shining star and a bright light.

Find out how she did it, and what it took.

Quotables:

"I felt very unloved"

"It is possible to thrive"

"When you are needy, you try to control things"

Where to find her:

What do you do?

What can you do?

When your ex-boyfriend kills himself right in front of you!

One of this week's guests had to endure seeing that type of horror movie play out before her eyes when she was only 18.

Her name is Dr. Wanda, and today, she is a therapist, but once upon a time, she was a victim of domestic abuse and all other kinds of trauma.

Listen as she tells the chilling tale of how, and why, and what happened that day.

What did she do? How did she overcome the days and nights that followed that event?

Find out what she says was her #fuel.

Quotable:

"You die a thousand deaths"

"Stay connected and find a source of strength"

Where to find her:

She is licensed in Louisiana and Mississippi

Dr. Berens and I go back a bit in our DPC journeys. She is also a fellow Woman-in-Medicine so, I have a very soft spot for her.

Find out how she went from employee to starting her own practice at the New Year, only to be thrown with the curveball called Covid-19!

She talks candidly about life in these United States as a Direct Primary Care Physician, offering affordable care in a time of great uncertainty.

This week's first guest, in the person of Dr. Ball is another Black girl who rocks!

In honor of the international day of the girl child that was on 10/11/2020, I am featuring two Black girls who rock, and she is one of them!

She talks candidly as one of the 19 physicians I interviewed for my Covid-19 Doctor Chronicles about a serious family health crisis in her own mother during the lockdown and the stress of dealing with that. 

Describing herself as an extroverted-introvert, she shares about the need for "adapting", "pivoting", and "camelionizing", as ways to beat this new normal of a pandemic.

Focusing on family and togetherness and the need to be each other's keepers, she endorses the role of technology in all of it, and is happy to state that physicians more than any other time, need to be each others' keepers and have multiple streams of income.

Quotables

"We complain so much about being indoors, but, there are homeless people out there who are simply too happy to just be alive"

Our second girl-child (all grown up) that rocks for this week is Dr. Delicia Haynes, another Direct Primary Care Physician based in Florida. She discusses the changes and transitional processes her practice put in place to help her patients and the people of Florida.

No stranger to mental health challenges, Dr. Haynes shares about her own struggles with depression, and how she overcame it with a combination of self-care and making a drastic decision to quit traditional medicine for direct primary care because while she had always loved what she did, she stopped loving the way she did it.

Hmmm, you can never miss a Naija fella... "dem no de eva carray last"! (Look that up.)

My second interview this week is non-other than a fellow Naija guy, a psychiatrist, a smart, well "edumacated" (6 university degrees later...CHAI!) kinda guy!

Dr. Ifeanyi was so awesome to interview!

A cool-headed-self-described introvert, but who gets that his young kids will need him to extrovert-up as needed in order to help them survive the much-needed adaptations, and might I add mutations it is going to take to get through COVID.

Y'all he was spitting knowledge!

I learned a lot and I want you to do the same too!

Ever heard of the 8 Pillars of Mental Wellness?

Welp, I hadn't until this interview!

Listen and learn.

Also, interesting are his views on teachers and police brutality. Find out what he says about himself as a Black man in America where said police brutality is concerned.

Quotables:

About physician suicides: "What is missing in their support system?"

We, as physicians, must tell each other "I got your back"

"Hospitals must put processes in place to allow doctors decompress"

Where to find:

Whoa!!

Our second episode this week, the last couple of days in September, the National Suicide Awareness AND Prevention month, is the BOMB!

I found me a fairy God-Mother in my thought process and in medicine!

A pediatric/child and Adolescent AND Adult psychiatrist for, get this... 40 YEARS!

I thought I was BADT, but this here Chica is BADDDTT!!

Such a brilliant soul!

She is calm, collected, and challenges the norm: my type of girl, minus the "calm" :), cos y'all know I can't keep calm, I am RESTLESSLY RESTLESS!

But now I know that I CAN change my personality, thanks to her wisdom.

All I gats to do is THINK about what I am about to do...does it serve the greater good of MY BEING?

Bestselling author, Award-winning co-author, and Blogger on Psychology Today, Dr. Adams is a rare gem in today's ever-searching-for-medications-world.

The second doctor this week is a pediatrician like me. 

A Nigerian like me, and an Igbo woman! She is an ER physician and shares her insights and her thoughts and of course, how she and her family are dealing with the Crisis.

She shares a special eagle's eye view of the pediatric emergency room.

The 3 questions I ask the doctors are: How are you doing? How is your family doing? How is your practice doing?

This was such a fun episode to record!

Dear Listeners,

This is a special episode of Suicide Pages.

One of two this week. Both dedicated to physician wellness during this pandemic.

Just last week another physician lost his life to suicide, bringing the number to about 13 so far that I have become aware during this time!

It is the year 2020 and physicians still have the highest rates of suicides in the United States, to the tune of about 1.1 per day or 400 per year!

This and the next several episodes are dedicated to doctors.

The idea to do it was borne out of sheer desperation on my part and a perceived need to highlight physicians' lives and struggles during the pandemic.

It's officially National Suicide Awareness month!

What are you doing to ensure it is going to be a productive one?

This week, I present to you:

A writer. A video designer.  An author. 

A man who admits to childhood trauma, sexual trauma, alcohol, and pills.

A man who admits to having had relationships centered around drugs and alcohol.

A man who admits to having tried to "run away" from his trauma, but could not.

This week's guest, Nick is a Black man that has been through it all but is now standing tall and strong and thriving.

He is now an author and to me, he is an inspiration.

Quotables:

"I got my G.E.D to prove my dad wrong"

" At any point, we are called to RISE UP from our situations"

"I didn't expect that the thoughts of suicide would be my greatest hope"

Parting words:

Who you are is very important... your success is already inside of you!

Dear listeners, please do support him, and go get his books! http://www.insidethedreamrealm.com/

And do check out his podcast as well! https://open.spotify.com/show/53zjaE6hSPYshDkfcG5TAh?si=wxwmYn27QoyWJi7-ZULl_Q

Until next time...don't forget to hit subscribe, share and please review my podcast, and, grab a copy of my brand new book on Amazon!

Dear listener,

Who do you get when you mix a realist with an ardent reader and a comedian who also happens to struggle with depression and suicidal ideation?

Leo Flowers, that's who!

This week's guest was such a treat, a Las Vegas comedian from Chicago by way of San Diego!

I hope you enjoy every moment of the over one hour of none stop talk, laughter, epiphanies, and fun that we had!

He singularly brought me out of hibernation for real!

I was on a semi break (which I still am), but when his peeps called, I was like...YES'M!

This episode was chuck full of nuggets!

We talked about everything from anchoring your pain to serve a purpose, to Abe Lincoln, to the opposite of hopelessness, to books, to finding moments in your life that are "depression-free", to the positive lessons the quarantine will teach us and SO MUCH MORE!

Quotables

"People gravitate towards you when you show them your pain"

"No recovery, no gain"

"There comes great responsibility with freedom"

Find out about the two times he has had to call the suicide hotline, and what he advises us to do to ensure we won't have to call them.

And the one single thing he wants us to do before we literally kill ourselves...

This was definitely one of the highlights of my quarantine...

Like most well-meaning adults in today's world, the events of the past several weeks and months have been extremely challenging for me. This past weekend, however, was the worst of them all. 

It all started with Mr. Blake's shooting. I knew better than to watch the news. While I did not watch the actual video (I can't), I couldn't help catching a glimpse of the CNN reporter talking about his ordeal and the inhumane way he was treated at the hospital! 

Right away, I started hurting inside for him. 

What if he had been my son?

Would this be his fate?

Shoot, arrest, detain, and shackle?

What is going on here??

Either way, one thing led to another, and before I knew it, the waterworks filled everywhere!

Then came the final straw for the weekend...my eldest son was profiled and had the police called on him by an elderly White male in Boston, MA for simply being Black!

Let's just say, I am doing a lot better now. The outpouring of love from everyone has been mindblowing.  

So, thank you all again.

In this episode which I publish on my birthday week (yay! welcome to 51!), I am essentially appealing to you my audience.

I start by talking briefly about the 9yr old Australian boy who was bullied (to the horror of moms and dads on the internet). The little fella who was so anguished, he was asking his mother for a knife to kill himself. It is bad enough that he was bullied to the point of feeling suicidal, but for the internet to spread rumors about it being a lie is worse. It shows how insensitive we still are to the entire bullying phenomenon. But heaven forbid that he does kill himself, we shall all be quick to send "thoughts and prayers".

I talk about leaning in and tuning in to the right radio frequency of our kids in order to talk, which will lead to understanding them better and to communicate easier. This, to me honestly is the key to connecting to our teens and hopefully setting the stage for a decrease in teen suicides. 

Most kids are so anxious now about everything from bullying, to Covid, to yelling parents at home, to schoolwork and everything else in between, so eliminating stress at home is paramount to helping nurture them and thus opening the doors to communication. After all, wouldn't any parent's ultimate wish be that their kids come to them before hurting themselves?? If so, what are we doing when the going is good to encourage that?

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did recording it.

Ladies and Gentlemen, what happens when your "Flu-like" symptoms in the middle of May turn out to be, umm, COVID 19?!

Those of you who know Eric Rishi, know you are in for a treat any time he stops by!

Believe it or not, I was looking for him to come and sprinkle some cosmic dust on us from the land of Yogi's, but alas, nothing could have prepared me for his own COVID story!

Thankfully, he has been to the mend after struggling with the virus for 2months.

And luckily, he is still full of wisdom and compassion from above, AND, he actually still came bearing gifts...!

Check out his Quotables from this episode alone:

"I walked out of the hospital better than I walked in" 

"Breathwork is the gatekeeper to the divine", and "we need stillness to connect"

"Our humanity has been hit by a Tsunami"

"We need the will and the desire to rise above these things"

"Get up, wake up with a great day mentality"

"Do not act from fear and hatred"

Advice for Teens:

"Anchor yourself into something that is positive in your life. Something that makes you feel good and makes you feel whole"

Find out what his advice for those of us that are struggling with "frequent trips to the pantry and to the refrigerator" is... 

It's a good one!