Not As Crazy As You Think Podcast Jen Gaita Siciliano

In the episode, "The Vision and Voice of Janet Werner: The Documentary, the Movie, the Movement (S5, E14)," Janet joins the show to share her message on spiritual emergencies shedding light on the spiritual side of mental health, and specifically, the spiritually transformative experiences that often get misdiagnosed as mental illness.

Forty-four years ago while in her master’s degree program Janet had an astonishing mystical experience which turned into a spiritual emergency and resulted in being misdiagnosed as Bipolar, involuntarily hospitalized and required to take Lithium against her will. Twenty-five years later in 2005, Janet had another spiritual awakening, which was immediately pathologized given the prejudice from her former misdiagnosis. She was again involuntarily hospitalized, misdiagnosed as Bipolar and coerced into medication against her will. She is now speaking out to raise awareness of the spiritual side of mental health and specifically the DSM V code entitled "Religious or Spiritual Problem": V62.89.

Janet shares her personal journey with spiritual emergency, and how that has brought her to where she is today-- the leader of a global team of mental health experts, who are developing a docuseries (Breaking Open, Breaking Down, Breaking Through) and a mainstream feature movie (Calling God to the Witness Stand). 

Bio:
Janet Werner is an independent entrepreneur and the President of U Have My Word LLC (www.UHaveMyWord.com)  since 1988, which is a corporate consulting firm specializing in large scale system change. She is also the founder of a Meaningful Media that Matters in Mental Health project and Her mission is to ease the journey through change, transition and on to transformation, within and around the mental health system. 
Along with her team she is leading an initiative to include spiritual competency in the 988 first responder training. Janet is also partnering with her team to establish a coalition of religious & spiritual leaders in New Jersey for the purpose of including these resources in mental health crisis support and patient care when hospitalized. 

#bigpharma #spiritualemergency #mentalhealth #mentalillness #forcedhospitalization

To learn more about Janet and her projects, go to:
Calling God to the Witness Stand™ -
Video sample of Calling God to the Witness Stand (2) Calling God to the Witness Stand PR Media - YouTube
Rethinking Mental Health Facebook
Media that Matters Facebook
Janet’s story recorded at Rutgers University Assessing for Spiritual Emergency | Spiritual Emergency

YouTube live on 988:
https://youtu.be/zNt277TYcnQ?si=4DsBGGCpHTev3lDr
YouTube live on Psych Rights:
https://youtu.be/ADyn31uUPno?si=IoIzxLj4-32Rn29H

In the episode, "On the Polycrisis with Mark McCormack: Psychiatric Coercion, Hegel, A.I. and Saving Humanity (S5, E13),"  Mark begins with sharing his intimate experience with psychiatry and its oppressive structure. A peaceful protestor of 20 years, while on a hunger strike protesting the polycrisis, Mark describes how the institution overtook his life through forced hospitalization and a list of human rights violations. He speaks of his pressing class action lawsuit, which holds accountable the mental health care system in Canada with potential to go global.

Mark also reveals his passion behind the German philosopher, G.W.F Hegel, whose work may pave the way to creatively and strategically confront  head on the polycrisis, which includes climate change, artificial intelligence, and Crispr technology, among others. With the coming AI age and possible reality collapse in our future, Mark addresses the oncoming mental health crisis or possible mass psychosis that may emerge. He believes incorporating Hegel’s philosophy into A.I. research on alignment issues, may help create a benevolent AGI-- the only outcome with which humans can co-exist. Hegel arrived just before modern psychiatry took a more reductionist road, and returning to his holistic and spiritual philosophy may hold the answer for our future. Mark believes in this path so whole heartedly, that he has called out for experts in their fields to unite and claim as a team the upcoming 6 Nobel prizes to legitimize the seriousness of the situation we are currently facing today existentially.

Bio:
Mark McCormack is a philosophy enthusiast at the University Of Alberta. He is passionate about social justice and led a group named Make Poverty History for many years. His studies have ranged across all religions and systems including the German philosopher G.W.F Hegel. After a few thousand hours studying the Science Of Logic, Mark believes there is a way to create a peaceful revolution and New World Spirit for society which would require transformation of the mental healthcare system. Having gone on a hungerstrike as part of a union initiative of Uber drivers, Mark discovered deep fissures in the system which allowed his human rights to be violated in several ways. His goal now is to make this peaceful revolution a reality to address the escalating mental health crisis arising from reality collapse as the polycrisis continues.

#polycrisis #artificialintelligence #realitycollapse #mentalhealth #mentalillness #Hegelianswhowanttochangetheworld #livingphilosophy #Nobelsurprize

References:

Nobel Surprize (10 hour No Cree Council)
https://youtu.be/cKEtPIryrNY


Follow Mark at:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/peacefulrevolution23
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmccormack23/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@spiritpeacefulrevolution3523


Please visit my website at: http://www.notascrazyasyouthink.com/​
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @ jengaita 
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano

In the episode, "On Location in NYC: Believing in Yourself with Ballet Dancer and Podcaster Michelle Williams (S5, E12)," Michelle and I reconnect to do another podcast on location in NYC. Born and bred in California, Michelle hits the streets of NYC to reclaim her original dream of living as a professional dancer. She shares what kept her believing in herself and how she stayed the course toward manifesting her dream.

Michelle and I also share our stories of lived experience with the mental health industry--from being forced on debilitating meds to having our closest friends and family lose faith in our abilities.

After suffering from an eating disorder and seeing how the psychiatric institution dismissed her concerns around the psych meds’ side effects, she turned to alternative modalities of natural healing in everything from energy medicine to healing through food. Michelle is also the podcast host and creator of "MacroMagic With Michelle," where she helps her listeners achieve greater personal freedom, health, happiness and peace through her MACRObiotic perspective.

To listen to our podcast recorded last year titled, "Natural Medicine: Holistic Healer Michelle Williams Shares a Journey of Alternative Healing (S4 E9),"   go to:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/1462411/11131458

Follow Michelle on IG @the_freedom_fairy
website: https://thefreedomfairy.com/
YouTube: @The Freedom Fairy

Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
And please visit my website at: www.jengaitasiciliano.com
Connect: Instagram: @ jengaita
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano

In the episode, "Exploring the Healing Power of Laughter with Barry Taylor, Founder of Laugh Therapy (S5, E11)," Gelotologist and accredited Laughter Therapist, Barry Taylor joins the show and shares the beneficial healing benefits laughter can produce. Using techniques in the area of laughter therapy, Barry pulls from his background as a former English and drama teacher to bring play into programs and workshops that facilitate an uplifting  change in our state of mind, which can ultimately aid us in our mental health. When we laugh, activation of positive chemicals that make us feel safe, lift our mood, and make us relax, creates within us an altered perspective allowing us to manage our difficulties a little better. Barry reminds us that we can use these techniques as a complementary therapy and that we have this infinite access within us, which can be part of our toolchest of healing coping skills. Barry's mirthfulness and sense of humor is contagious, and his extensive research in this area shows how important such a simple tool like laughter can be.

Founder of a UK based organization called ‘Laugh Therapy’, Barry designs bespoke programs (both live and virtually) for business teams, health and social care, charities and support groups, education, and individuals who want to achieve greater wellbeing and success by exploring the therapeutic effects of humor, play and laughter. 
If you would like to learn more about the therapeutic benefits of laughter or are interested in a virtual workshop for your workplace, group or just personally, visit www.LaughTherapy.LOL - or you can email direct at info@LaughTherapy.LOL where Barry will respond personally and provide a discount for anyone using the phrase ‘Not As Crazy As You Think’ in their enquiry.

Follow Barry on social media at: 
https://www.facebook.com/LaughTherapyUK
https://twitter.com/LaughTherapyUK
https://www.linkedin.com/in/barry-taylor-laugh-therapy/

Please visit my website at: http://www.notascrazyasyouthink.com/​
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @ jengaita 
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano

In the episode, "Global Sustainability Through Healing Our Collective Trauma with Benjamin Casteillo, founder of New World Together (S5, E10)," Benjamin begins with sharing his spiritual emergency beginning in 2004, which involved the forcible, inhumane treatment of the psychiatric institution. After going deep into inner realms, Benjamin realized he needed to change his direction.  In 2017, Benjamin Casteillo made the bold decision to leave behind a successful corporate career as a senior manager and expert consultant. His goal was to concentrate on finding solutions to the pressing global issue of sustainability, with a special emphasis on discovering and addressing the hidden root causes of the problem with human centered solutions. This decision marked the beginning of an intense and enlightening journey of consciousness awakening and expansion, leading to numerous realizations. 

In 2019, he founded New World Together, an independent project that focuses on transdisciplinary research and education. Today, Benjamin is dedicated to sharing groundbreaking knowledge that expands human consciousness and catalyzes deep system change toward desirable and sustainable futures for all. Through conferences, workshops and training programs, his goal is to empower individuals and communities to be part of the solution in a meaningful and fulfilling way.

Benjamin opens up about what these root causes are to unsustainability, and describes how it encompasses more than just ecology and the environment.  He suggests that humanity is simply unconscious of these drivers and that we must make the collective unconscious conscious. He speaks about how our cycles of primal survival are now outdated with the oncoming technological exponentials heading our way in our modern age of artificial intelligence. With increasing technologies, more psychological stress has been added to our lives, and many deal with this through denialism. Benjamin describes factors that are affecting sustainability starting from the Great Acceleration, to scientific reductionism, and our obsession with hoarding resources through capitalism. Humans have become rivals of each other, instead of uniting as a community to deal with the unresolved collective trauma of our species, but Benjamin's message of hope reminds us we still have time to make a difference. 

To learn more about Benjamin Casteillo, go to his website at: https://newworldtogether.com/
Follow him on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benjamin.casteillo/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-casteillo/

#sustainability #greatacceleration #colonization #denialism #capitalism #mentalhealth #mentalillness #psychiatricharm #forceddrugging #unresolvedtrauma #AIrevolution

Please visit my website at: http://www.notascrazyasyouthink.com/​
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @ jengaita 
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano

In the episode, "On Nutrition, Exercise, and Emotional Fitness with Author and Fitness Expert  David Greenwalt (S5, E9)," David shares his wisdom on overall health after being in the business for over 30 years . David discusses how along with nutrition and activity, emotional fitness is a crucial component to maintaining your fitness goals long term. Involving self-awareness, self-regulation, social connections, and feeling authentically good, strengthening our emotional fitness can change our lives.  David also points to the latest studies regarding ultra-processed foods and their link to depression and anxiety. A health coach to the core, David shares advice on how to squeeze in the most basic essential exercise even into the busiest schedule.

Bio
David Greenwalt is a Certified Health Coach, fitness expert, and author of the book, “The Leanness Lifestyle.” Formerly a police officer, gym owner, competitive state-level body builder, and powerlifter, in 1997, at age 32 and a body weight of 235 pounds, David discovered an evidence-based approach for getting off his own 50 excess pounds and keeping it off for 25 years and counting. Since 1999, through his company Leanness Lifestyle University, David has been helping student members, from every walk of life, lose excess fat, keep the muscle and manage this crazy life.

Buy his book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Leanness-Lifestyle-David-Greenwalt/dp/0971819807
Learn more about David and Leanness Lifestyle University at: https://linktr.ee/llu180

#EmotionalFitness #ultraprocessedfoods #BigFood #mental health #anxiety #depression #nutrition #holistichealth #LeannessLifestyle

Please visit my website at: http://www.notascrazyasyouthink.com/​
Don't forget to subscribe to the Not As Crazy As You Think YouTube channel @SicilianoJen
Connect:
Instagram: @ jengaita 
LinkedIn: @ jensiciliano
Twitter: @ jsiciliano