Episodes

We've all said it. **"Call me if you need anything."** And we mean it. But what if the person who's struggling doesn't have the energy to call? What if they don't know what they need? Or they're afraid of being a burden? In this solo episode of *Glow For Hope: Sparking Conversation on Mental Health*, founder Kelly Poelker explores why meaningful support sometimes requires us to stop waiting for someone to ask. And there's another important question: **What happens when someone actually tel...

⚠️ CONTENT ADVISORY This episode includes candid discussion of grief, depression, hopelessness and suicidal thoughts. For 16 years, Dave Raymond's job was to make people happy as the original Phillie Phanatic. But behind the costume, Dave would eventually face grief, the collapse of his marriage and a period of hopelessness when he began experiencing suicidal thoughts. Then something unexpected happened. He put the Phanatic costume on for an appearance—and the character he had spent years u...

# Mariah Sheridan Runions: When Loving Someone Isn’t Enough to Save Them Growing up surrounded by mental illness taught Mariah Sheridan Runions how to survive, adapt and take care of other people. It took much longer to learn that loving someone does not make you responsible for saving them — and that choosing yourself is not something you need to feel guilty for. **Guest:** Mariah Sheridan Runions **Host:** Kelly Poelker **Podcast:** Glow For Hope: Sparking Conversation on Mental Health **...

What happens when being needed becomes the way you prove you are worthy of love? Dr. Calvin Spinks spent much of his life believing that if he could make himself valuable enough, helpful enough, and useful enough, people would keep him in their lives. In this deeply personal conversation with host Kelly Poelker, Dr. Cal shares how childhood rejection, racism, instability, and questions of identity and belonging contributed to people pleasing, anxious attachment, over-responsibility, and a need...

A person can appear successful, dependable, and completely in control while privately carrying more than anyone around them realizes. They can continue working, solving problems, caring for other people, and meeting every expectation while their mental health quietly deteriorates beneath the surface. Rebecca Lazzelle understands that divide from lived experience. A lifelong overachiever and former corporate process improvement director, Rebecca built much of her identity around achievement, r...

What if one simple change in perspective could transform the way you carry grief? After losing her 18-year-old son, Wes, to suicide, Camille Ellis believed she would never experience happiness the same way again. Like so many people navigating profound loss, the weight of grief seemed impossible to escape. Then she realized something that would forever change the way she viewed her son's life—and her own. "A lot of people get so stuck on what they lost, they forget what they had." In this de...

When we think about mental health, older adults are often left out of the conversation. Yet they may be carrying a lifetime of grief, caregiving, health challenges, trauma, and life transitions—while growing up in a generation that was taught to keep those struggles to themselves. In this episode of Glow For Hope: Sparking Conversation on Mental Health, Kelly Poelker welcomes Jodi Gardner, Executive Director of the St. Clair County Mental Health Board, for a conversation about why purpose does...

Richard Lynch: When the Helper Becomes the One Who Needs Help Addiction recovery, grief after suicide, PTSD, men’s mental health, faith, and the reminder that you are not the worst thing you’ve ever done Host: Kelly Poelker Guest: Richard Lynch, MA, LCADC Category: Men’s Mental Health · Addiction Recovery · Grief · Trauma · Suicide Prevention What happens when the person trained to help others finds himself in need of help? In this episode of the Glow For Hope: Sparking Conversation on Men...

Glow For Hope: Sparking Conversation on Mental Health Real Men Don't Cry — Until They Have No Choice Men's mental health, trauma survival, PTSD, resilience, and what it really means to ask for help when the world tells you not to Host: Kelly Poelker Guest: Aaron Burros, The Running Servant Category: Men's Mental Health · Trauma · PTSD · Resilience · Suicide Prevention What happens to a man when everything is taken from him at once — and nobody comes to help? In this episode of the Glow For ...

Glow For Hope: Sparking Conversation on Mental Health JD Tremblay: It Doesn’t Get Better — You Get Stronger Men's mental health, military service, identity, silent struggle, nervous system regulation, and what it really means to rebuild from the inside out Host: Kelly Poelker Guest: JD Tremblay Category: Men's Mental Health · Military Veterans · Identity · Resilience · Suicide Prevention What does strength actually look like when the weight never stops coming? In this episode of the Glow Fo...

What happens when the man holding everything together is quietly falling apart inside? In this deeply honest episode of Glow For Hope: Sparking Conversation on Mental Health, Sean Carey shares the real story behind his message of discipline, ownership, and personal growth. Sean opens up about surviving years of alcoholism in the home, protecting his children during chaos, becoming a single father, emotional exhaustion, grief, survival mode, and the moment he realized he had to rebuild himself ...

Glow For Hope: Sparking Conversation on Mental Health Maliha Khan: Identity, Belonging, and Finding Your Voice The good girl blueprint, code-switching, cultural stigma, and the freedom of finally showing up fully Host: Kelly Poelker Guest: Maliha Khan Category: Identity & Mental Health · Belonging · Women’s Wellbeing · Cultural Stigma · Finding Your Voice What happens when you spend years being too much for some spaces and never enough in others? In this episode of the Glow For Hope Podcast...

Dr. Patrick Porter joins Glow For Hope: Sparking Conversation on Mental Health for a powerful conversation on what chronic stress is really doing to your brain—and how to take control of your mental health again. As the founder of BrainTap and a leading expert in brainwave entrainment, Dr. Porter breaks down the science behind brain fog, exhaustion, negative thought patterns, and why so many people feel mentally depleted today. More importantly, he shares practical, everyday strategies to reset...

What if the problem is not just what someone is carrying internally, but also what they are walking into every day at work? In this episode of the Glow For Hope Podcast, host Kelly Poelker sits down with Dr. Colleen Saringer, a workplace mental health speaker and researcher on a mission to stop work from hurting people. With more than 25 years of experience as a Global Organizational Health Leader and a lifetime of lived experience inside family-owned construction businesses, Dr. Colleen brings ...

Glow For Hope: Sparking Conversation on Mental Health Megan Hurley: Hope, Identity, and Finding Purpose After Traumatic Brain Injury A brain injury survivor shares how speaking up, community, and resilience helped her rediscover purpose after life changed overnight Host: Kelly Poelker Guest: Megan Hurley Category: Mental Health · Brain Injury Awareness · Resilience · Suicide Prevention Life can change in an instant. For Megan Hurley, that moment came when she suffered a seizure in a library ...

Glow For Hope: Sparking Conversation on Mental Health David Granirer: Turning Mental Health Struggles Into Confidence Through Comedy How humor and storytelling can challenge stigma and help people see themselves differently. Host: Kelly Poelker Guest: David Granirer Category: Mental Health Awareness · Bipolar Disorder · Stigma · Confidence Building What happens when people take the parts of their story they once felt ashamed of — and turn them into something powerful? In this episode of Glo...

Glow For Hope: Sparking Conversation on Mental Health Dr Olivia Johnson: Why Silence Gets Trained — And How We Prevent Crisis Before It Starts Why people often stay quiet about their struggles — and how earlier conversations can help prevent crisis before it escalates Host: Kelly Poelker Guest: Dr. Olivia Carlson Johnson Category: Suicide Prevention · Mental Health Conversations · Early Intervention · Community Support Why do so many people stay silent when they are struggling? In this epis...

Glow For Hope: Sparking Conversation on Mental Health Frank King: What to Say When Someone Might Be Suicidal Practical words, direct questions, and why “bringing it into the sunlight” can save a life Host: Kelly Poelker Guest: Frank King Category: Suicide Prevention · Depression · Communication · Men’s Mental Health A lot of people want to help — they just don’t know what to say. In this episode of Glow For Hope, host Kelly Poelker sits down with Frank King, known as the “mental health comed...

Matt Benson: Mental Health, Self-Worth, and Pressure for Student-Athletes When performance becomes identity, pressure builds — and silence can take a toll Host: Kelly Poelker Guest: Matt Benson Category: Mental Health · Student-Athletes · Coaching & Parenting Sports are often praised for building discipline, toughness, and resilience. And while that can be true, what often goes unspoken is what happens when pressure, expectations, injury, and silence begin to outweigh the game itself. In thi...

Glow For Hope: Sparking Conversation on Mental Health Lawrence C. Harris on Self-Belief, Small Steps, and Taking Ownership as a Teen Confidence, consistency, responsibility, and finding your people — without perfection Host: Kelly Poelker Guest: Lawrence C. Harris Category: Mental Health · Teens & Young Adults · Confidence We’ve covered a wide range of mental health topics on Glow For Hope — from first responder wellness, addiction and recovery, to trauma, grief, literacy, and the role commu...

Glow For Hope: Sparking Conversation on Mental Health Linda Mitchell on the Mental Health Impact of Not Being Able to Read Literacy, shame, access, and emotional well-being across generations Hosts: Kelly Poelker & Delisa Richardson Guest: Linda Mitchell Category: Mental Health · Literacy · Community Wellness Literacy is rarely part of mental health conversations — yet it shapes confidence, stress levels, independence, and a person’s sense of hope. In this episode, Glow For Hope hosts Kelly ...

Glow For Hope: Sparking Conversation on Mental Health Vinnie Potestivo on Identity, Belonging & Personal Development Hosts: Kelly Poelker & Delisa Richardson Guest: Vinnie Potestivo Category: Personal Development · Identity · Media & Culture In this episode, Emmy Award–winning media advisor and former MTV talent developer Vinnie Potestivo takes us inside the personal development journey that shaped the person — and leader — he is today. Long before he was helping launch the careers of Mandy ...

Glow For Hope: Sparking Conversation on Mental Health Lux (Ashley Elzinga) on Mental Health, Reinvention, and the Power of Cannabis Education Hosts: Kelly Poelker & Delisa Richardson Guest: Lux (Ashley Elzinga) Category: Lived Experience, Mental Health, Cannabis Education What happens when you walk away from a 15-year dream career, hit a wall with your mental health, and choose to talk about it publicly anyway? In this episode, radio host and community-builder Lux (Ashley Elzinga) shares he...

Military Mental Health • Therapy Dogs • Resilience Military Mental Health & Therapy Dog Gator with Linda Schuh Hosts: Kelly Poelker & Delisa Richardson Guest: Linda Schuh, Director of Psychological Health, 126th Air Refueling Wing, Scott Air Force Base Category: Military Mental Health, Suicide Prevention, Resilience, Community Support What does it look like to support mental health on a military base — not just in a crisis, but day to day? Director of Psychological Health Linda Schuh joins ...