Guests
Dr. Anna Lembke Helps
Dr. Anna Lembke Professor of Psychiatry, Stanford University of Medicine and NYT Bestselling Author Anna Lembke, MD is a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. A clinician scholar, she is the author of more than a hundred peer-reviewed publications, has testified before the United States House of Representatives and Senate, has served as an expert witness in federal and state opioid litigation, and is an internationally recognized leader in addiction medicine treatment and education.
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In 2016, she published Drug Dealer, MD – How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016), highlighted in the New York Times as one of the top five books to read to understand the opioid epidemic (Zuger, 2018). Dr. Lembke appeared in the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, an unvarnished look at the impact of social media on our lives. Her latest book, Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence (Dutton/Penguin Random House, August 2021) was an instant New York Times and Los Angeles Times bestseller and has been translated into 25 languages. It combines the neuroscience of addiction with the wisdom of recovery to explore the problem of compulsive overconsumption in a dopamine-overloaded world.
Dr. Michael Rich Helps
Michael Rich, MD, MPH is recognized globally for his acclaimed work as a pediatrician, child health researcher, and children’s media specialist. He is the Founder and Director of the Digital Wellness Lab which is on a mission to understand and promote positive and healthy digital media experiences for young people, from birth through young adulthood.
Dr. Rich is also the Founder and Co-Director of the Clinic for Interactive Media and Internet Disorders (CIMAID), the first evidence-based clinical program designed to address Problematic Interactive Media Use (PIMU) in children, adolescents, and young adults. Using a multidisciplinary approach, Dr. Rich works with young people and their families to help them to adopt and sustain healthy approaches to engaging with interactive media and technology.
Gary Gulman and Chris Gethard Help
Gary Gulman
Over 25 years in comedy, Gary Gulman has established himself as an eminent performer and peerless writer.
A product of Boston, Gulman has been a scholarship college football player, an accountant, and a high school teacher. He has made countless television appearances as both a comedian and an actor.
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Gulman has made four masterful TV specials including his most recent universally acclaimed stand-up specials for Max, “Born On 3rd Base”, lending his meticulous comedic craft to the current Tale of Two Cities-esque wealth gap, and “The Great Depresh”, a tour de force look at mental illness, which is equal parts hilarious and inspiring
In 2019, he appeared in the international blockbuster “Joker”. He can most recently be seen co-starring with Amy Schumer in the hit Hulu comedy series, “Life & Beth”.
Gary's first book published by Flatiron Books is titled “Misfit: Growing Up Awkward in the '80s”, a memoir based on his life from Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade. It was released in September of 2023. Amy Schumer called the book “laugh out loud funny and heartfelt” and MacArthur Fellowship recipient Adrian Nicole LeBlanc found it “exquisite, love-affirming and generous”.
Today, Gulman is one of the most popular touring comics, selling out theaters around the country including the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City. Gary is currently touring with "Misfit: A Gary Gulman Stand Up & Book Tour", which features material based on his book, but not a repeat of the book. Gary lives in Harlem with his wife.
Chris Gethard
Chris Gethard is a comedian, podcaster, author, actor, and former television host. He’s been an active performer for over two decades. His work expanded to include mental health advocacy and activism after the release of his 2017 HBO special Career Suicide, in which he detailed his experiences navigating the mental health system in dealing with his own depression and anxiety issues.
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Career Suicide received critical praise that made Chris a sought-after speaker in the mental health advocacy space. In 2022, Chris delivered a keynote as part of Wellness Together’s annual Student Mental Wellness Conference. He found Wellness Together’s mission and methodology exciting and forward-thinking, and as his conversations with the organization continued and grew the Laughing Together partnership was born.
Chris joined the Wellness Together team to bring comedy and mental health together to support students and communities.
Therapy Jeff Helps
Jeff Guenther is a licensed professional counselor in Portland, Oregon, practicing since 2005. His focus includes working with both couples and individuals. Alongside therapy, Jeff dedicates his spare time to creating short videos for TikTok and Instagram, and hosting his weekly podcasts, 'Big Dating Energy’ and ‘Problem Solved.’ Excitingly, you can now pre-order his new book, also titled 'Big Dating Energy.' Follow him on all platforms for insightful relationship advice, tips, pep talks, and a range of resources to boost your mental health. Learn more at TherapyJeff.com.
Dr. Renee Schneider Helps
Dr. Renee Schneider is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and a Lead in the Mental Health Center of Excellence at Google. Dr. Schneider is passionate about the dissemination of evidence-based interventions for mental health problems and has a special interest in supporting children, teens, and parents. At Google, she works with teams whose products directly or indirectly impact the mental health of users, including Search, YouTube, and generative AI features. Dr. Schneider earned an undergraduate degree from UCLA and a doctoral degree from the University of Georgia. She completed fellowships at the Palo Alto VA and Stanford University School of Medicine. Before joining the team at Google, Dr. Schneider was the VP of Clinical Quality at Lyra Health, a mental health start-up, where she oversaw care and conducted clinical research on the efficacy of evidence-based approaches outside of academia.
Jahmal Miller Helps
Jahmal Miller, as Chief Administrative Officer, strategically leads Dignity Health Mercy Medical Group’s organizational development, health system relationships, talent management and business operations. Miller, who most recently served Dignity Health’s parent company, CommonSpirit Health, as System Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, was previously Director of Corporate Reputation and Thought Leadership for Blue Shield of California. In addition to leadership roles at Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health systems, Miller served as the Deputy Director of the California Department of Public Health’s Office of Heath Equity, serving as the state’s lead advisor on issues related to reducing health and mental health disparities and to achieving health equity for all Californians.
Dr. Lisa Wong Helps
Dr. Lisa Wong is a musician, pediatrician, arts education advocate, and champion of arts in health. A graduate of Harvard College and NYU School of Medicine, she is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Director of the Arts and Humanities Initiative at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Wong served as president of the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra of Boston’s medical community, for over 20 years. During her tenure, she helped create LSO’s signature “Healing Art of Music” program that raises funds and awareness for nonprofit health organizations through its music.
Dr. Wong serves as chair of the Boston Public Schools Arts Advisory Council and as chair of the education committee at Conservatory Lab Charter School in Dorchester, advocating for the incorporation of the arts education into curriculum to promote social emotional wellbeing in Boston’s children. Dr. Wong teaches and lectures extensively on creativity and interdisciplinarity and is the author of Scales to Scalpels: Doctors who practice the healing arts of Music and Medicine. S At Harvard College, she teaches a course on the role of music in education and health and is currently working with the Massachusetts Cultural Council to establish Culture Rx, a social prescription program.
Dr. Domnique Thompson Helps
Dominique is a multi-award winning GP, young people's mental health expert, TEDx speaker, author and educator, with over two decades of NHS clinical experience. Dom now works as an independent mental health consultant and speaker, whilst holding roles including; President-elect of the Student Health Association, membership of the UK government’s Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce, and Clinical Advisor to NICE and Student Minds.
She is author of The Student Wellbeing Series (Trigger Press) for young people, and co-author of How to Grow a Grown Up (PenguinRandomHouse) for parents. Dom has done two TEDx talks; ‘What I learnt from 78000 GP consultations with university students’ and ‘Understanding Why’.
She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).
Mara Madrigal-Weiss Helps
Mara Madrigal-Weiss is the Executive Director of Student Wellness and School Culture, Student Services and Programs Division, San Diego County Office of Education. Her experience includes working with school communities as a Family Case Manager, Protective Services Worker and Family Resource Center Director.
Madrigal-Weiss received her M.A. in Human Behavior from National University, a M.Ed in School Counseling, and a M.Ed in Educational Leadership from Point Loma Nazarene University. Madrigal-Weiss has been dedicated to promoting student mental health and wellness for over 19 years.She is a past president of the International Bullying Prevention Association (IBPA) the only international association dedicated to eradicating bullying worldwide.
Madrigal-Weiss is a member of the California Department of Education’s Student Mental Health Policy Workgroup. Commissioner Madrigal-Weiss serves as the designee of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction as a Commissioner on the Commission. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).
Dr. Marleen Wong Helps
Marleen Wong, Ph.D. is CEO for the Center for Safe and Resilient Schools and Workplaces and former Senior Vice Dean, David Lawrence Stein and Violet Goldberg Sacks Endowed Professor of Mental Health, Emerita, at the USC Suzanne Dworek Peck School of Social Work at the University of Southern California. A School Social Worker at the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), she gained expertise in the development of PreK-12 mental health, crisis intervention, earthquake/disaster recovery and threat assessment policies, procedures, and interventions over a span of 30 years. After the LA Riots and Fires in 1992, she was appointed the Director of Mental Health, Crisis Intervention and Threat Assessment Teams and Suicide Prevention Programs Dr. Wong has been engaged in a community based research partnership with RAND Health and the UCLA Partnered Health Research Center from 1997 to the present and served as the Principal Investigator for the Trauma Treatment Adaptation Center for Resilience, Hope and Wellness in Schools from 2002 to 2021. A member of the Institute of Medicine Board on Neuroscience and Behavioral Health which published the report The Psychological Consequences of Terrorism, she has also served as PI, Co-PI or program developer for over $20M in grants funded in the US by the US Army, the Department of Defense/DoDEA, UNICEF, KOGNITO, SAMHSA and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.
Brigid Schulte Helps
Brigid Schulte is a journalist, think tank program director, keynote speaker, and author of the New York Times bestselling book on time pressure, gender, and modern life, Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time. Her latest book, Over Work: Transforming the Daily Grind in the Quest for a Better Life will be published in September 2024. She was an award-winning journalist for The Washington Post and The Washington Post Magazine and was part of the team that won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize. She serves as the director of the Better Life Lab, the work-family justice, care, and gender equity narrative change program at New America. She hosts the Better Life Lab podcast on Slate. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Slate, the Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, the Financial Times, the Guardian, New York Magazine, Fast Company, and others.
Gabby Rivera Helps
Gabby Rivera is a Bronx-born queer Puerto Rican babe on a mission to create the wildest, most fun stories ever. Gabby is the first Latina ever to write for Marvel comics, penning the solo series AMERICA about America Chavez, a portal-punching queer Latina powerhouse.
Gabby’s critically acclaimed debut novel Juliet Takes a Breath was called “f*cking outstanding” by Roxane Gay and was re-published by Penguin Random House in 2019. Mic named it one of the 25 essential books to read for Women’s History Month, and Latina magazine called it the “dopest LGBTQA YA book ever.”
Gabby presented before the United Nations in 2020 as an invited speaker to their Unstereotyping Alliance Conference, and she has collaborated with groups such as the Ford Motor Company, the Makers Women’s Conference and Somos Familia, to uplift joyful storytelling and the magic of queer diasporicans everywhere.
In 2022, Gabby became a Sundance Screenwriters Fellow and received an Advancing Justice Award from Catalyst California, alongside activist Dolores Huerta and politician Sheila Kuehl. She currently resides on the West Coast and hosts Joy Uprising, a podcast that brings together her favorite revolutionary humans to honor joy in a chaotic world.
Steve Adelsheim Helps
Steven Adelsheim, MD, is a Clinical Professor & Associate Chair for Community Engagement at Stanford’s Department of Psychiatry, directing the Center for Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing. Steve’s work is focused on early detection/intervention programs for young people. He leads the effort to bring allcove to the US, an integrated youth mental health model, which opened in June 2021 in Santa Clara County, CA, LA County in November of 2022, San Mateo County in January of 2024 with plans to open 8 additional centers in California over the few years. Dr. Adelsheim also co-leads PEPPNET, the national clinical network for early psychosis programs. Steve also co-directs the Media and Mental Health Initiative in Stanford’s Psychiatry Department. Dr. Adelsheim has partnered for many years with Native American and tribal partners on expanding early intervention mental health supports for tribal youth. He is actively involved in youth suicide prevention efforts, as well as 2 ECHO Programs, one supporting Native Youth Mental Health Providers and the other focused on school mental health, which will start in the Fall of 2025. Along with co-editors Vicki Harrison and Anne Collier, Steve is a co-editor of a soon to be released book through American Psychiatric Association Press on Youth Mental Health and Social Media. Steve previously spent many years leading school mental health efforts for the State of New Mexico and served as New Mexico’s state Psychiatric Medical Director.
John MacPhee Helps
John serves as the CEO of The Jed Foundation (JED), a leading nonprofit organization that protects emotional health and prevents suicide for teens and young adults. JED works across the country helping youth, families, schools, and community organizations to take actions to support youth mental health and reduce risks for suicide. Passionate about supporting young adults in their transition to adulthood, John advises several organizations including the S. Jay Levy Fellowship for Future Leaders at City College, Trek Medics, Opera Ebony, the Health Policy and Management Department at the Mailman School of Public Health, and HIV Hero.
Earlier in his career, he served in executive positions and board roles for several pharmaceutical companies, where he oversaw functions such as business development, alliance management, clinical development, regulatory affairs, sales and marketing.
John is a recipient of The Allan Rosenfield Alumni Award for Excellence in the field of public health from the Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. He earned a BA from Columbia College, an MBA from New York University and an MPH from Columbia University.
Dena Trujillo and Natalia Dayan Help
Dena Trujillo
Dena Trujillo, CEO of Crisis Text Line, has spent over 20 years operating at the intersection of nonprofit and for-profit, discovering and amplifying models that scale innovative solutions and maximize social impact. Prior to Crisis Text Line, Dena was a Venture Partner at Omidyar Network, where she spent 17 years driving philanthropic initiatives around the world and managing a grant/investment portfolio of over $150 million.
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Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7, high quality text-based mental health support and crisis intervention in English and Spanish. Guided by empathy and innovation, Crisis Text Line endeavors to build an empathetic world where nobody feels alone.
Natalia Dayan
Natalia Dayan, LMSW, is the Global Expansion Director at Crisis Text Line, spearheading the nonprofit organization’s Spanish service in the US. She is a Latina immigrant to the US who has worked in the mental health space for over 12 years. In the past, she has led Crisis Text Line’s Clinical Supervision team exploring new technologies and policies to improve services for those in crisis.
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Prior to Crisis Text Line, Natalia provided services to adults with psychiatric diagnosis who were experiencing homelessness. She also developed curricula for Psychoeducational groups, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Wellness Self-Management. Over the years, she has gained extensive experience supporting individuals and groups navigating issues including substance use disorders, domestic violence, suicidality, homelessness and eating disorders. Natalia has been a licensed master social worker (LMSW) for more than eight years. She has been interviewed by top-tier and regional media networks such as Telemundo, Univision DC, ABC Austin, Popsugar, La Voz Arizona, and La Opinión, to name a few.Chris joined the Wellness Together team to bring comedy and mental health together to support students and communities.
Ryan Stranger Helps
Simran Jeet Singh Helps
Simran Jeet Singh, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of history at Union Theological Seminary and senior adviser for the Aspen Institute’s Religion & Society Program. He is a Soros Equality Fellow with the Open Society Foundations, and in 2020 TIME magazine recognized him among sixteen people fighting for a more equal America. He is a columnist for the Religion News Service, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and on CNN. Singh is the author of the award-winning children’s book Fauja Singh Keeps Going. He lives in New York City with his family.
Vikram Patel Helps
Vikram Patel is the Paul Farmer Professor and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he also leads the Mental Health for All Lab. His work has focused on the burden of mental health problems, their association with social disadvantage, and the use of community resources for their prevention and treatment. He is a co-founder of Sangath, an Indian NGO which won the MacArthur Foundation’s International Prize and the WHO Public Health Champion of India prize. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in the UK and a member of the US National Academy of Medicine.
Patrick J. Kennedy Helps
Former U.S. Representative (D-RI) and Founder of The Kennedy Forum
During his time in Congress, Patrick J. Kennedy was the lead author of the landmark Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (Federal Parity Law), which requires insurers to cover treatment for mental health and substance use disorders no more restrictively than treatment for illnesses of the body, such as diabetes and cancer. In 2013, he founded The Kennedy Forum, a nonprofit that unites advocates, business leaders, and government agencies to advance evidence-based practices, policies, and programming in mental health and addiction.
Fareedah Shaheed Helps
Internet Safety Expert and Founder of Sekuva & The Protect Kids Online (PKO) Membership
Fareedah Shaheed is an Award-Winning Internet Safety Expert and a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree. She founded Sekuva & the Protect Kids Online (PKO) Membership with the mission of helping parents protect their children online.
Through her background in cybersecurity awareness, threat intelligence, and online gaming she has developed a unique approach called the SAFE Method to teaching internet safety to parents by centering the need for safe spaces and connection as the foundation to protecting kids online.
Her work has been featured in NBC, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, NASDAQ, FOX, AfroTech, Ebony Magazine, Yahoo!, Worth Magazine, and many more. She has worked with companies such as Meta, H&M, FedEx, NASA, Mozilla, LinkedIn, Common Sense Networks, and Love146 to help educate parents on internet safety and security. She is currently serving on the Forbes board for the Under 30 community and has been named LinkedIn Top Voices in Cybersecurity.
Who Helps YOU?
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