Braving the Waves

Mikaela Brewer
  • 5.0 (2)
  • MENTAL HEALTH
  • UPDATED SEMIWEEKLY

Author, speaker, researcher, and storyteller, Mikaela Brewer, brings us Braving the Waves & Bridging the Gap: Stories of Unsinkable Resilience & Resolvving Stigma. This podcast features a series of storytelling-focused conversations with youth in our communities. Inspired and guided by the powerful advocacy, care, and storytelling legacy at Resolvve and Unsinkable, Brewer speaks to some of today’s most empowering young storytellers, writers, musicians, comedians, activists and more about their mental health journey in a deeper, refreshing way. Season 2 adds a new layer to storytelling. To complement the programs at Unsinkable & Resolvve's work supporting students, Mikaela offers another way to Brave the Waves: crafting words for moments that feel like they don't have any, especially for those who don't feel comfortable writing, speaking, or publicly sharing. Each week, Mikaela gathers anonymous voice notes, memories, journal entries, photos, drawings, and anything that captures a specific, meaningful moment, through a memory box form. She then creates a poem and episode to offer a comforting way to pause in a moment, preserve a memory, and feel seen/heard in it as it's given words and read aloud. Head to tinyurl.com/bravingthewaves to read more about the process and submit! Season 1 of Braving the Waves featured a series of storytelling-focused conversations with youth in our communities. Inspired and guided by the powerful advocacy, care, and storytelling legacy at Resolvve and Unsinkable, Mikaela spoke with some of today’s most empowering young storytellers, writers, musicians, comedians, activists and more about their mental health journey in a deeper, refreshing way. Resolvve, driven by a lack of comprehensive mental health literacy being taught in high schools and universities, aims to fill the gap by providing mental health education and rapid access to integrated therapeutic services. Unsinkable, a charitable organization founded by Olympic hero and mental health advocate Silken Laumann, aims to use storytelling to help people #BridgeTheGap between struggling with their mental health and taking steps towards mental well-being.

  1. 2024-10-07

    Grounding

    Episode Notes This poem and episode are the last for season 2—we’ll be taking a bit of a break to revamp & rebuild for season 3! Some exciting changes & shifts are in store. Please stay tuned! Our final episode for season 2 takes a deep dive into the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 method, which is a grounding technique meant to support you through stress, anxiety, and panic, hopefully guiding you back to the present moment. You begin by identifying 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste. In addition, the poem incorporates some box breathing. As if tracing a box, this practice involves breathing in for 4 seconds, holding for 4 seconds, breathing out for 4 seconds, and holding for 4 seconds (repeat as many times as needed). In the poem, we put a bit of a spin on the word ‘grounding’ by using these mindfulness techniques to follow the journey of a seed being planted and growing into a flower. Here's an excerpt of the poem (the full written & visually formatted versions can now be found & read at mikbrew.substack.com!): I see a pair of eyes—one gold & one white— among a blue field of birds & unharvestable cotton. I stretch & slip between two bolls until my stem is parallel; until I can bend it like a back & let them stitch to it, helping me fly as if my leaves were feathers. Listen to this week's episode to hear the full poem! If you’d like to share your moment or memory on the podcast, please head to tinyurl.com/bravingthewaves.

    14 min

  2. 2024-09-30

    There’s Always Something Left

    Episode Notes This week's poem and episode explore a story—one of a young person navigating the grief of losing both their mother and their dog. But there is much more to this story, as there are always many layers of grief. This story brings us alongside someone re-writing what love’s residue is and how forgiveness isn’t linear. Here's an excerpt of the poem (the full written & visually formatted versions can now be found & read at mikbrew.substack.com!): Love can’t burn—burn away, that is— there’s always something left at the end to remind you that death isn’t your fault. Listen to this week's episode to hear the full poem! If you’d like to share your moment or memory on the podcast, please head to tinyurl.com/bravingthewaves.

    16 min

  3. 2024-09-23

    I’d Never Been Outside At Night

    Episode Notes This week's poem and episode use a Villanelle, which is a French form of poetry alternating two repeating lines. This episode is inspired by the famous poem, “Do not go gentle into that good night”, by Dylan Thomas. It allows us to think about moments when we’ve been afraid to venture outside, especially at night (literally and of ourselves). More specifically, the poem explores how we hide inside—our home and internally—from what we’re afraid of, thinking that we’re protecting ourselves. Sometimes this is necessary! Fear can be useful fireproofing, but not always. Though it feels safer and warmer indoors, there is much we can only see and experience outside (of ourselves and the literal places we hide in), even after the sun goes down. Here's an excerpt of the poem (the full written & visually formatted versions can now be found & read at mikbrew.substack.com!): So hungry, I leave just a sliver of white and feed every memory of when  I’d never been outside at night. Listen to this week's episode to hear the full poem! If you’d like to share your moment or memory on the podcast, please head to tinyurl.com/bravingthewaves.

    12 min

  4. 2024-09-16

    Kindness

    Episode Notes This week's poem and episode walk alongside someone who has recently experienced sexual assault or violence. When they encounter a kind person in a coffee shop the morning after—who treats them very differently—they wrestle with the many emotions, feelings, and memories that arise. Here's an excerpt of the poem (the full written & visually formatted versions can now be found & read at mikbrew.substack.com!): But the boy brought my coffee and held it out with both hands until I took it with both hands And he spoke, “You’re b…” He looked down,  breathed out,  and said, “I love your style”  with the kindest furrowed brow smile I’d felt loved by in a long while. Listen to this week's episode to hear the full poem! If you’d like to share your moment or memory on the podcast, please head to tinyurl.com/bravingthewaves.

    17 min

  5. 2024-09-09

    Filling Your Arms

    Episode Notes This week's poem and episode use a Tanka, a Japanese form of poetry usually a single unbroken sentence with 31 syllables. The number of lines (when these poems are translated into English) is typically 3-5 to spotlight the twist or turn in the last third or so of the poem. With the beginning of a new school year and the approach of fall, I wanted to create an episode that can serve as a sort of reminder/mantra to love and fill ourselves abundantly from the inside out, which, of course, allows us to offer rich and colourful love to others. Here's an excerpt of the poem (the full written & visually formatted versions can now be found & read at mikbrew.substack.com!): I offer you as many arms as a tree and I pray you believe in enough  to fill them with your leaves instead of paper… Listen to this week's episode to hear the full poem! If you’d like to share your moment or memory on the podcast, please head to tinyurl.com/bravingthewaves.

    11 min

  6. 2024-08-26

    The Carnival

    Episode Notes This week’s poem and episode explore a student’s experience of feeling overwhelmed nearing back-to-school season. August is a complicated month—still summer, yet unofficially labelled the ‘get ready’ month, not unlike the end of December approaching New Year’s Resolutions. As a distraction, our narrator visits their town’s annual end-of-summer festival, where they learn that they can’t “overwhelm their overwhelm” with stimulation. Sometimes, though the best preparation is soaking up every last ounce of summer, we forget that this includes rest (the same way an extra few hours of sleep before an exam will often be more beneficial than a few more hours of late-night studying). Here's an excerpt of the poem (the full written & visually formatted versions can now be found & read at mikbrew.substack.com!): We’ll wander around our house thinking about preparing while really, unable to think. We’ll stand in our shower trying to scrub & rinse away overwhelm by scribbling those three words across the flexible fibreglass in the milky soap-ink of shampoo,  conditioner, hot water & cold: back to school. Listen to this week's episode to hear the full poem! If you’d like to share your moment or memory on the podcast, please head to tinyurl.com/bravingthewaves.

    22 min

  7. 2024-08-12

    Birth Days

    Episode Notes This week’s poem and episode explore the myriad of emotions, memories, thoughts, and feelings that surface and coexist on our birthdays. Though birthdays are often thought of and marketed as celebratory, this dismisses the many painful ways people encounter their birthday or the fact that not everyone’s experience includes cake, balloons, singing, friends, family, parties, and presents. As with any milestone, birthdays can be marked and haunted by emptiness and feelings that we haven’t accomplished or fulfilled our purpose enough (among other things). This poem attempts to reframe birthdays in a supportive way. Here's an excerpt of the poem (the full written & visually formatted versions can now be found & read at mikbrew.substack.com!): And I wondered, what if birthdays were every day rather than once a year? If every day were one of birth? Because more days for birth means more soil space for seasonal joy and the way it changes & charges us. Listen to this week's episode to hear the full poem! If you’d like to share your moment or memory on the podcast, please head to tinyurl.com/bravingthewaves.

    18 min

  8. 2024-08-05

    When the Headlights Come On

    Episode Notes This week’s poem and episode bring us alongside someone who didn’t know how to help a struggling parent/guardian who offered abundant love, imagination, and play while they were alive. Eventually, the narrator realizes that these gifts—creativity, play, imagination, and love—from their parent/guardian are the very tools they can use to create and offer support, and even though they can’t ‘save’ their parent/guardian, they may be able to help others like them. Here's an excerpt of the poem (the full written & visually formatted versions can now be found & read at mikbrew.substack.com!): I knew what I needed to do the moment the headlights came on, after which, it gets to be  later & later— bluer & bluer— reminding me that all windows close & this one especially fast. Listen to this week's episode to hear the full poem! If you’d like to share your moment or memory on the podcast, please head to tinyurl.com/bravingthewaves.

    14 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Author, speaker, researcher, and storyteller, Mikaela Brewer, brings us Braving the Waves & Bridging the Gap: Stories of Unsinkable Resilience & Resolvving Stigma. This podcast features a series of storytelling-focused conversations with youth in our communities. Inspired and guided by the powerful advocacy, care, and storytelling legacy at Resolvve and Unsinkable, Brewer speaks to some of today’s most empowering young storytellers, writers, musicians, comedians, activists and more about their mental health journey in a deeper, refreshing way. Season 2 adds a new layer to storytelling. To complement the programs at Unsinkable & Resolvve's work supporting students, Mikaela offers another way to Brave the Waves: crafting words for moments that feel like they don't have any, especially for those who don't feel comfortable writing, speaking, or publicly sharing. Each week, Mikaela gathers anonymous voice notes, memories, journal entries, photos, drawings, and anything that captures a specific, meaningful moment, through a memory box form. She then creates a poem and episode to offer a comforting way to pause in a moment, preserve a memory, and feel seen/heard in it as it's given words and read aloud. Head to tinyurl.com/bravingthewaves to read more about the process and submit! Season 1 of Braving the Waves featured a series of storytelling-focused conversations with youth in our communities. Inspired and guided by the powerful advocacy, care, and storytelling legacy at Resolvve and Unsinkable, Mikaela spoke with some of today’s most empowering young storytellers, writers, musicians, comedians, activists and more about their mental health journey in a deeper, refreshing way. Resolvve, driven by a lack of comprehensive mental health literacy being taught in high schools and universities, aims to fill the gap by providing mental health education and rapid access to integrated therapeutic services. Unsinkable, a charitable organization founded by Olympic hero and mental health advocate Silken Laumann, aims to use storytelling to help people #BridgeTheGap between struggling with their mental health and taking steps towards mental well-being.

Information

  • Creator
    Mikaela Brewer
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2024
  • Episodes
    55
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026
  • Show Website
    Braving the Waves