Today I'm chatting with Hayley Musgreave, who I first crossed paths with back in high school in Fort Saskatchewan and then reconnected with years later through a coaching program. She's a farmer in northern Alberta now, with cattle, mini donkeys, and a grain and hay operation, and she's been a steady light every time we connect. We share some similar threads in our mental health journeys, and that's a lot of what we get into here.

Hayley opens up about growing up feeling like the black sheep, the shame she carried as a kid, and the ADHD she only understood later. She shares about being diagnosed with bipolar in her 20s after a breakdown, the two episodes she went through, and what it was like to be handed a heavy load of medication and a sense that this was just how life was going to be, with no real light to look toward. We compare notes on what mania actually felt like from the inside, including the grandiose thinking and the racing mind, and we sit with how strangely real it all feels in the moment.

From there she talks about her Graves' disease diagnosis, how its symptoms mirrored mania, and the path she took to heal it through changing her diet, prayer, and a refusal to accept the outcome she'd been told to expect. We get into her faith and gratitude practice, the tools she leans on now like grounding, sleep, and music, and where she's landed today: not identifying as bipolar, but as someone who came through two breakdowns and kept going.

At the heart of this one is the reminder that you can walk through the fire and come out the other side. We share our stories so that the younger versions of ourselves, and anyone in the thick of it now, can see that there's hope to be had.

Connect with Hayley:

Instagram: @thehayleydawn

Connect with Darrel-Lynne:

Instagram: @dee_ogsoul

Website: ogsoul.ca

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Nerves

02:53 Journey into Farming and Mental Health

06:00 Childhood and Early Mental Health Struggles

12:00 Bipolar Diagnosis and Its Impact

18:00 Navigating Mania and Breakdown Experiences

24:05 Healing Journey and Personal Growth

29:56 Graves' Disease and Its Effects

30:30 Healing Through Diet and Faith

32:15 Managing Mental Health and Medication

33:45 Current Well-being and Self-Identification

34:51 The Role of Faith in Healing

35:10 Prayer and Gratitude Practices

39:41 The Power of Sleep and Mental Health

42:56 Marriage and Support Systems

45:43 Navigating Relationships and Personal Growth

50:48 Resilience and Grit in Life

52:06 Finding Peace in the Journey

55:30 Tools for Mental and Emotional Well-being

57:11 Mutual Admiration and Future Aspirations

Today I'm chatting with Shannon Skelton, a co-author alongside me in Reclaiming Mental Health. We'd never actually sat down and talked before this, so it was a first, and she turned out to be a light, joyful person to spend an hour with.

Shannon's chapter is called "A Walk Down Mania Lane," and it's about a manic episode brought on by a pharmaceutical. We get into the whole chain of events, what the mania was actually like, and the bigger questions it raised for both of us. I felt drawn to get curious with her here because of my own experiences with what's been called mania and psychosis, and there were some interesting parallels between our stories.

We talk about the manic episode that came from a medication, starting with a severe reaction to one drug and then a dose of prednisone that was too high, too fast. Shannon also shares about living with Crohn's disease since she was 16, being told more than once she would never have children, and going on to have two. We get into why she stopped taking a diagnosis at face value, including the seven years she spent being told it was Crohn's before her liver shut down, and we sit with the bigger questions around mental health labels, stigma, and the case for doctors asking what a patient's life actually looks like outside the office. She also talks about what she carried out the other side of all of it: more confidence, more willing to use her voice, and a habit of saying yes.

At the heart of this one is awareness. Shannon shares her story so that someone going through the same thing might recognize it sooner, and so that more of us start asking better questions about the medications we're put on.

Reclaiming Mental Health

Connect with Shannon:

@shannon_shining_through
@skeltoncrew

Connect with Darrel-Lynne:

Instagram: @dee_ogsoul

Website: ogsoul.ca

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background

04:19 Personal Journey with Mental Health

07:14 The Impact of Pilates on Life

10:14 Exploring the Chapter: A Walk Down Mania Lane

13:15 The Experience with Hydroxychloroquine

16:24 The Prednisone Dilemma

19:22 Navigating Medication Reactions

24:23 Navigating the Unknown: Initial Reactions to Prednisone

25:23 Personality Changes: The Impact of Medication

26:50 Obsessions and Relationships: The Effects of Mania

28:01 Time Distortion: Losing Track of Reality

30:04 Bizarre Behavior: Chasing Strangers and Consequences

32:06 Recognizing the Problem: The Turning Point

34:09 Challenging Medical Assumptions: The Journey with Crohn's Disease

36:15 Manifesting Dreams: Overcoming Medical Limitations

38:56 Current Health: Managing Joint Issues and Hormonal Changes

42:32 Growth Through Adversity: Finding Confidence in Recovery

46:24 Exploring Boundaries and Connections

47:37 The Complexity of Mania and Mental Health

50:01 Finding Humor in Dark Times

51:07 The Journey of Healing and Forgiveness

52:35 Communication and Understanding in Family Dynamics

54:32 The Writing Process and Personal Reflection

56:31 The Impact of Medication on Mental Health

59:07 Advocacy and the Importance of Patient Voices

01:06:53 Hope and Change in the Healthcare System

Today I'm chatting with Anthony Goodwin, one half of the duo who taught me Improv 100 through Grindstone Theatre and someone whose work sits at the intersection of therapy and improv. Anthony is an Australian-born clinical counsellor and improv instructor. He's the founder of Still Listening, his private therapy practice.

We talk about the full-circle way improv and therapy ended up holding hands in Anthony's life. Anthony shares how the same tools he uses in the therapy room, presence, co-regulation, meeting the world as it is, are the same ones that come alive on the improv stage, and how that overlap led him to develop experimental improv therapy workshops where players give voice to someone else's stuckness. We get into the concept of aiming to be average and we touch on the broader truth that adults need spaces to play together, and how rare and necessary that has become.

Reference

The Grindstone Comedy

Improvise Freely by Patti Stiles

Improvisation and the Theatre by Keith Johnstone

Connect with Anthony:

Relational Therapy with Anthony Goodwin

Connect with Darrel-Lynne:

Instagram: @dee_ogsoul

Website: ogsoul.ca

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Anthony Goodwin

02:55 Journey from Australia to Edmonton

06:09 The Intersection of Therapy and Improv

09:03 The Philosophy of Improv

11:56 The Role of Discomfort in Improv

15:02 Aiming for Average in Performance

18:05 Challenging Societal Norms

20:54 The Nature of Improv and Authenticity

24:07 Improv as Therapy

26:30 Creating Safe Spaces for Healing

28:08 Exploring Improv Therapy Frameworks

29:47 Navigating Vulnerability in Therapy

33:01 The Impact of Improv on Therapeutic Practices

35:57 Emerging Models of Therapy

39:54 The Need for Alternative Therapeutic Approaches

43:03 Integrating Body and Mind in Healing

50:02 The Joy of Play in Adult Life