Podcast Episodes

Podcast launched on March 1, 2018 with new releases every other Thursday.

Episode 74 – Healing Story 01 – Empowered to Heal

When I hit bottom in my descent through the hell of addiction and mental illness, I did what many modern spiritual seekers do — I turned to the god of Google, typing in the search bar “Inpatient Dual Diagnosis Treatment Centers.” In less desperate times, I carefully peruse several entries, note sources, and examine websites. But desperate times call for desperate measures, so I called the number at the top of the screen. A gentle voice poured forth —

“Hello, this is Chris. How can I help?

I shared some of my pain and suffering, summarizing over 40 years of struggle that had led me to a life or death cliff.

“Tony, you are not alone. I’m here to help.”

Chris guided me to an Inpatient facility in Western Massachusetts. Within 24 hours, a car was in my driveway to take me the three hours through the wooded wilderness of Upstate New York to a place designed to help people like me struggling with an addiction and a mental health diagnosis to take the first step toward sobriety, sanity, and serenity.

My second day at that facility I had visitors. It was Chris and he brought along a friend — Mattie. If the Roman Catholic Church accepted nominations for patron saints of recovery, I would submit Mattie’s name. Mattie listened intently. Barely spoke. I did find out he was the owner of Empower Health Group, a dual diagnosis rehab in Northampton, Massachusetts. Chris gave me a phone number and said if I ever needed more help, they would take care of me.

Within 17 days, I desperately needed more help. My trust had been violated. My condition had deteriorated. I hadn’t slept for days. I asked the case manager to call Empower. In no time, I spoke to Nate who reassured me they would accept me into the program and I could start immediately. Nate’s warm and welcoming baritone voice reassured me that I would be okay, that things would get better. A few hours later I arrived. Nate did my intake and ordered me groceries. Bryan, an alumni director, gave me a firm handshake. Jonathan, who would become my therapist, brought me pizza. Nate then gave me a tour of the two-story office space. When we got to the top of the stairs, he gestured to the treatment rooms and said, “This is where the magic happens.”

Over the next 100 days or so, one day at a time, I would meet the wounded healers who served Empower as staff magicians. The people who poured out their hearts to bring hope to those with troubled minds — a chance to choose abundant life over miserable death dealing ways.

Shelby and her canine companion Vinny. Shelby makes things happen night and day with compassionate consideration. Jody, who attends to group process and family dynamics with a bloodhound’s nose for codependency. Later came Kibbie, a master chef who serves up comfort foods from scratch. Emily, a model of serenity who maintains the ability to exercise tough love. Will, willing to tackle things behind the scenes. And recently two of my best friends in recovery — Tim, a brilliant spiritual mentor who has been like a brother to me, and Kyle, like a son, who masterfully chauffeurs people in the Empower van and sets a quiet example of devotion to sobriety.

A final word about Mattie. Mattie is 33 years old, a heroin addict in recovery for over a dozen years who humbly points out he relapsed over 50 times before he was willing to surrender to God, his Higher Power, and do the work necessary to maintain sobriety, sanity, and serenity. Mattie’s methods seem mad to many — he is ruthless in his pursuit of recovery and desperately wants that for everyone. He is at his best when assembling a top-notch team of wounded healers and empowering them to do their jobs. The sky’s the limit for Empower, but they could also self-implode tomorrow if they are not daily vigilant to their recovering identity and mission.

I am now an Empower alum, class of Feb 2025. I now offer service and pray daily that everyone impacted by their spiritual mission would be liberated to live in love. Empower Health Group, where the powerless would receive the power to heal.

Theme music —
A Variation on “The Lords Prayer”(2003) Original music and vocal by Omnös. The song is on the album “Anakainosis”. Free d/l @ omnos.bandcamp.com

Episode 73 – Celebrating 7 Years!

On this episode, Tony returns from Sabbatical to discuss his journey from the chaotic waters of addiction, insanity, and spiritual disease to a life of daily recovery — sober, sane, and serene.
 
Eric shares his inspiration for a new book — 575 Gardens. The book will contain haiku and life reflections written over the past decade.
 
Tony and Eric then provide a sneak peek of the upcoming season 8 of Revealing Voices (March 1 marks our 7 year anniversary). In addition to Eric’s occasional Haikasts, Tony will record “Healing Stories” about the people, places, and things that have contributed to his abundant life in dual diagnosis recovery.

Episode 72 – Exploring Art Therapy with Bailee Taylor

Bailee Taylor has a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Southern Indiana and Master’s Degree in Art Therapy and Mental Health Counseling from Indiana University. She is a Board Certified Art Therapist (ATR-BC) through the Art Therapy Credentials Board, Inc., a Licensed Professional Art Therapist (LPAT) with the state of Kentucky and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) with the state of Indiana.

Bailee advocates for art and other expressive therapies to be utilized as a tool to help people of all ages express, process and communicate their social and emotional needs when words aren’t enough. She supports children ages 3+ and specializes in helping others regulate emotions, decrease and cope with stress, anxiety and depression; increase self-esteem, social skills and mood; and process traumatic events. She applies a person centered, trauma informed and family structured approach in her work.

Since 2018, Bailee has worked with children, adolescents and families as an art therapist and mental health counselor. She lives in southern Indiana and has clients in multiple cities, including Columbus, Bloomington, Indianapolis, and beyond.

Episode 71 – Radical Acceptance with Kimberly Hoffman

Kimberly Hoffman was diagnosed with ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome over 30 years ago and then with fibromyalgia 12 years ago. She works full time at Cummins Inc. in the New and Recon Parts Department as an Inside Sales Administrator and with the Disability Inclusion employee resource group. She is a writer and editor for the Disability Inclusion newsletter, advocating, educating and allying with others on the subject of disability inclusion. 

Kimberly is also a children’s author of nine books with topics such as overcoming obstacles, dealing with big emotions, self-worth and diversity. She is a spinner of amazing tales that influence young minds to think deeply, reframing their impossibilities to reach their possibilities. She creates unique and innovative programming to engage any size of audience, from preschool to seniors, motivating, encouraging, and challenging them to think outside the box on a variety of topics.

Kimberly resides in her hometown of Columbus, Indiana where she is also the vice president of the Friends of the Library board. She loves being creative through writing, dancing, acting, and making jewelry. She is married to Paul Hoffman, an author and publisher. Together, they have six children, one grandchild and many grand-fur and -feather babies.

Be sure to find Kimberly on Facebook – Kimberly S. Hoffman – Author, Instagram @kimberlyhoffman_author or at her website – kimberlyhoffmanblog.wordpress.com. She can also be reached at khoffmanauthor@gmail.com.

Episode 70 – Craig Willers

Craig Willers is a DJ going by the moniker DJ du Nord and a musical artist going by the stage name Omnös. He has always loved music from a young age. He was born in Corvallis, Oregon and raised in Hawaii. He has been interested in different types of music and currently enjoys Metal, Gothic, Industrial and Chillout. Craig is 61 this year and plans to fully retire at 62 and focus on djing and music full time in retirement. Craig was diagnosed with Schizophrenia at 18 and has endured 43 years of this horrible and deadly disease. He is retired from Safeway after 34 years and just made 32 years with his beloved wife Mindy. Craig has no children because the illness can be passed genetically.

 
 

Episode 69 – The Fish Catcher

On this episode of Revealing Voices, we welcome Sherry Lanning to the show. Sherry wrote a letter to her son Robin called “The Fish Catcher” in Hope for Troubled Minds. She reads it and shares what it meant to write and publish it.
 
Sherry is a retired nurse, living in Oregon with David, her husband of 53 years. Together, they’ve been blessed with 7 children and 10 grandchildren.
 
She has volunteered during national disasters and with international medical missions, serving with relief teams to Guatemala, Haiti and Uganda.   
 
The challenges of her son’s schizophrenia required a safer environment. Robin was welcomed home with open arms. She balances her life by performing as a freestyle flutist and loving her 24 family members. In her spare time, she spoils her Weiner dog ladies, Annabelle and Dorothy. Sherry can be reached at goldenflute@comcast.net

Episode 68 – Healing Journeys with Skye and Beth

In this episode, Skye Nicholson and Beth Hughes from the new Breaking Patterns podcast join Eric in Studio E in Columbus. Skye and Beth are 13 episodes into a podcast that explores how to recognize, change, and develop patterns in our lives to make us healthier and happier. 
 
Recent topics on the Breaking Patterns podcast include: 
– Self-love through chronic illness
– Help! Why can’t I just ask for help?
– Breaking Patterns with alcohol
– Are you a Fixer?
 
This is Revealing Voices first “mashcast” collaboration episode and we’re grateful for how much fun we had with this interview. Let’s do It again!
 
To hear more from Skye and Beth, tune into the podcast feed at: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/breaking-patterns/id1740750976
 

Episode 67 – Hope for Troubled Minds Contributors

On this episode of Revealing Voices, we feature contributors to Hope for Troubled Minds.

Born in Kentucky, Janet Coburn now lives in Ohio with her husband of over 40 years, Dan Reily. She also lives with bipolar 2 disorder. Janet loves reading and country music. Dan loves gardening and archaeology. Together they love travel, science fiction, and cats (they have two at the moment, Toby and Dushenka). A graduate of Cornell University and the University of Dayton, Janet writes two blogs, bipolarme.blog and butidigress.blog, which she posts in every Sunday. She often contributes articles on mental health to The Mighty website. Janet has also written two books on bipolar disorder, Bipolar Me and Bipolar Us, which are based on her decades of experience with the disorder, and frequently answers questions about mental health on Quora.

Jay Tapscott is a poet, author, and also a Peer Specialist dealing with schizoaffective disorder and working in an inpatient psychiatric unit where he was once a patient in Philadelphia. There, he models wellness as he visibly coexists with his psychiatric condition in that setting seeking to offer hope and encouragement by doing so.

Kevin “Earleybird” Earley is a mental health advocate and hip hop producer. His father Pete Earley is a Pulitzer Prize nominated investigative journalist. Kevin is also co-producer and sound editor of Revealing Voices.

 

Episode 66 – Vachel Hudson, Mental Health Matters

In this episode, Tony is back in Columbus and takes the opportunity to team up with Eric in Studio E to interview Vachel Hudson, a mental health leader in the community.
 
Vachel Hudson is the Project Manager for the Mental Health Matters initiative in Bartholomew County, Indiana. He works for Columbus Regional Health, leading the community-wide initiative to improve the mental health system for the wellbeing of all individuals of Bartholomew County. He works with various stakeholders from different sectors to design, plan, and implement projects that enhance outreach, engagement, and mobilization. He ensures the quality, compliance, and data analysis of the Mental Health Matters ambassador program.
 
Vachel holds an MBA in Operations and Management from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and a BA in Mass Communications and Marketing from Kentucky State University. Vachel was born in Columbus and has lived in Louisville and Minneapolis for significant portions of his life before moving back to Columbus in 2023 to help launch Mental Health Matters.

Episode 65 – Vulnerability, Tattoos and Films

Co-Director and editor Erik Ewers has worked with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns for more than 30 years, including nearly all of his single and multi-episodic films. He currently serves as co-director and editor of Ewers Brothers Productions, a preferred collaborative company in the co-creation of Ken’s films.  He and his brother Chris co-directed Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness, exploring the mental health crisis in our nation’s youth and young adults, which aired on PBS June 27th and 28th to millions.  In this podcast, Erik opens up about his mental health struggles and the role tattoos played in his recovery, with interviewer Kevin, who was a subject of Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness, and fellow interviewer Tony Roberts, author of Hope For Troubled Minds.