Walk in my Shoes Podcast

Nicky Ruszkowski
  • 5.0 (58)
  • Mental Health

We talk to people who face adversity in their lives everyday and explore what it is to be dependent on a drug like heroin, or to live with HIV, or to be transgender for example. We explore their day to day lives and delve into the circumstances that surround their life. *Explicit language in some episodes*

  1. Season 2 Trailer

    Season 2 Update

    Season 2 is in the works. If you'd like to be on a future episode email me at ruszkown@upstate.edu.

    2 min

  2. 01/31/2020

    Brandon - Living with HIV, substance use disorder and growing up in foster care

    Brandon is a 31 year old white man who talks to us about living with HIV, recovery from substance use disorder and his incredibly difficult childhood in foster care where he experienced abuse.

    26 min

  3. 01/24/2020

    Eddie Revisited - Suicide attempts, bipolar disorder and mental health challenges

    We sit down and chat with Eddie again, today we chat to him about his mental health and suicide attempts. He discusses how his struggles with his sexual orientation caused his first suicide attempt when he was 11 years old. *Explicit language*

    31 min

  4. 01/17/2020

    Shelly - Living with HIV, abusive relationships and recovery

    Shelly is a 54 year old black woman from Newark, New Jersey. She is a wonderful role model to many. She lives with HIV, has 15 years in recovery from drug use and now works helping people who are newly diagnosed with HIV come to terms with that diagnosis. She talks about her spent time in prison for killing an abusive boyfriend, her HIV and how her husband dealt with her HIV diagnosis with great kindness.

    28 min

  5. 01/03/2020

    Mateo: law school, growing up in a conservative family and being transgender

    Mateo is a 24 year old transgender man from California. He's in his first year of law school but its taken an incredible journey to get there. Born into a highly conservative family with a pastor for a father, he grew up in a homophobic and trans phobic home.

    48 min

  6. 12/27/2019

    Emily: escaping an abusive marriage, sex work and trauma

    Emily chats to us about the sexual abuse she experienced as a teen, her abusive marriage and her goals for the future.

    24 min

  7. 12/20/2019

    Amber: Dating as a trans-woman, sex trafficking and church

    Amber is a 20 year old trans woman. She was "pimped out" when she was only 11 years old and tells us about her experiences. She explain the loneliness associated with being transgender and the challenges dating.

    17 min

  8. 12/13/2019

    Clifford: Preventing violence, gangs and the death of his 17 year old son

    Cliff explains to us the work he does now to prevent violence after he lost his 17 year old son in a shooting several years ago. Cliff literally walks the streets with the goal of intercepting violence. We discuss the loss of his son and how he shows others different ways to resolve conflict.

    27 min
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Trailer

5
out of 5
58 Ratings

About

We talk to people who face adversity in their lives everyday and explore what it is to be dependent on a drug like heroin, or to live with HIV, or to be transgender for example. We explore their day to day lives and delve into the circumstances that surround their life. *Explicit language in some episodes*

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