Ep. 34 Michael Wood | Shining Light on Shadows: Parenting After Surviving A Traumatic Childhood

Michael Wood, Chief Operating Officer of the National Alliance on Mental Illness is the guest on Ep. 34 of Shining Light on Shadows: A Candid Conversation About Mental Health. We will focus on the challenges of parenting after childhood trauma AND what we do to control the narrative (what we share about our families) even at a young age. Dawn Helmrich Neuburg is my co-host.

We will be live Thursday, August 14 at 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT / 4 p.m. PT. If you can’t watch the live show feel free to watch the recording on the same links.

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Watch the live show or recording on this page or watch and comment on social media: Facebook | Twitter* | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram*

*We won't know the exact urls for Twitter and Instagram until we go live. For now, these links go to Neil's Twitter and Dawn's Instagram.

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Programming Notes

On August 28, Karissa Gretebeck will be our guest. She will share the emotional challenges of raising a special needs child and the work she has done to take care of her own mental health.

Ep. 33 featured Victoria Frafjord. Our focus was Body Dysmorphia. Click here to watch the replay and for links to the blog posts.

Episode Details

I first met Michael when he worked at United Way Worldwide and I was at United Way of Snohomish County in Everett, Washington. He had joined the then-US President of United Way, Stacy Stewart on a trip out west.

Michael has written about the challenges he had growing up, his mother’s struggles with bipolar and his home environment. In fact, he wrote a detailed piece on Medium sharing some very personal details. It wasn’t until after that piece was published that he heard about and applied for the COO job at National Alliance on Mental Illness, a job that is a perfect fit.

Here is a piece he wrote for NAMI that shows how his childhood experience still inspires him today.

In this episode, he will also talk about how those experiences framed his approach to being a father of a special needs child.

Dawn Helmrich Neuburg has also talked about some of the challenges she dealt with as a child. There are several parallels between their experiences and how it impacted their parenting.

My own experience as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse has also impacted the choices I make as a father and the discussions my wife and I have regarding our daughter.

Background

Dawn and I launched this twice a month show (the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month) in order to help reduce the stigma associated with mental health. Thank you for being part of our community.

We are proud to be in Year 2 of the show. If you are interested in being a guest on the show or know someone who might be interested, please let us know. We’re looking for people who would be willing to share their story, advocates and people who work in the field of mental health.

We hope you can watch the show and share your own thoughts in the comments.

“Shining Light on Shadows: A Candid Conversation About Mental Health” is produced by Digimentors on a pro bono basis. Click here for previous episodes and blog posts.

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Resources / Relevant Links

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Helpline 800-950-6264 Or text "HelpLine" to 6264; nami.org

Mental Health America Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org; mhanational.org Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) National Sexual Assault Hotline 800-656-HOPE (4673); rainn.org