Leading Through Loss

Jason MacKenzie

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Mental Health
Updated Weekly

Helping Men Live After Loss www.mandown.tools

Jul 9

How Men Heal and Grow

Thank you Harriet Corvine, That Woman Who Writes Things, and many others for tuning into my conversation with Damon Mitchell! Damon Mitchell is a coach for men. He’s one of the few people on Substack whose comments consistently make me stop and think, so I asked him to sit down with me and talk. This is that conversation. Damon got sober in Costa Rica after seven months of drinking and drugs took him somewhere he didn’t want to be. He doesn’t call himself an addict. He calls it an abusive relationship with alcohol, and we spent some time on why that language matters. From there we got into how change really works. I shared the difference between technical problems and the deeper ones, the kind where the real obstacle is a belief you’ve been treating as fact your whole life. I walked through a real example of a woman who couldn’t make time to eat well, and how the thing stopping her had nothing to do with willpower or knowing what to do. Damon came at the same territory from a different angle. He works with parts, the idea that we’re not one single mind but a system of protectors doing their best to keep us from feeling old pain. Different maps, same terrain. Most of what stops us from changing is a protection system we’re not fully aware of. I told Damon about the scariest thing I’ve ever done, which was looking at my daughter’s body at her funeral. And the second scariest, which was learning to drop out of my head and be present with what was happening in my body. I resisted that for years. I thought the body stuff was nonsense. It turned out to be the thing that changed everything. We closed on why men need other men. Not advice. Not fixing. Being witnessed by another man when you finally the vulnerable things out loud. Most men have never had that anywhere in their lives, and most don’t know they need it until they feel it. The thing holding you back isn’t weakness. It’s protection, and most men have no idea what theirs looks like. If you’ve lost someone and you’re still going to work, still paying the bills, still telling everyone you’re fine, I built a free tool that shows you what’s actually going on. It takes about ten minutes and it’ll name the pattern you’ve been living inside without knowing it. It’s called The Gut Check And if you love a man who’s lost someone and you can’t reach him anymore, there’s a version built for you too. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mandown.tools
Jun 30

Losing Your Identity After Loss

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Jun 20

Three and half years after my daughter’s death and I finally feel happy

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Apr 23

🎙️Let’s Get Unstuck x Jason Mackenzie🎙️

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Mar 30

Honoring Grief with Jason MacKenzie

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mandown.tools
Feb 26

Live with Bridget Belden and Jason McKenzie

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Jan 31

They Did Everything They Could And Lost Their Son

This episode is about what happens when a family loses a son and a brother to suicide after a long, exhausting fight with mental illness. In this episode of the Man Down podcast, Jason sits down with Eric Fulmer, a husband, father of six, and technology leader who lost his 23 year old son, Nathaniel, in April of 2024. For nearly a year before Nathaniel died, Eric and his family were living inside the chaos of severe mental illness. Hospitalizations. Diagnoses. Psychosis. Constant fear. Constant hope. Constant exhaustion. They were still fighting for him when he died. This conversation covers: * Watching your child unravel while doing everything you can to help * Living inside the mental health system and realizing how broken it is * The shock of losing a child to suicide while trying to protect younger siblings * What it does to a marriage, a family, and a father’s sense of identity * The moment life resets and the old version of you disappears * Why grief forces a man to re-evaluate what actually matters This is a brutally honest conversation about parenting, helplessness, guilt, love, and how a man keeps going after the unthinkable happens. This episode is for: * Parents navigating mental illness with a child * Fathers carrying grief they do not know how to name * Leaders trying to show up while their personal life is wrecked * Anyone learning that you do not go back to who you were before If you have ever felt like your life split into a before and after, this conversation will feel familiar. If this episode hit close to home, the 10 Realities Men Run Into After Loss (and No One Warns Them About) guide goes deeper. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mandown.tools
Jan 21

He Lost His Kids. Then He Got Cancer.

Grab your Kleenex. Or if you’re feeling especially macho, get ready to pretend there’s something in your eye. This episode is not about staying positive or pushing through. It is about what happens when a man spends years fighting to see his kids and then gets diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer while that fight is still ongoing. In this episode of Man Down, Jason sits down with Adam Cousins, a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, husband, father, stepdad, and cancer survivor. For more than a decade, Adam was locked in a family court battle trying to have a relationship with his children. Years of limited access. Years of missed time. Years of showing up and being told it still was not enough. Then, in the middle of that fight, he was diagnosed with a fast moving lymphoma and thrown into months of intense chemotherapy. This conversation covers: * What it is like to fight for your kids for years without resolution * Hearing the words “you have cancer” and realizing you have to fight for your life while you’re fighting for your kids. * Going through aggressive chemo while waiting on a court decision * Grieving children who are still alive * The toll this kind of loss takes on a man’s identity * Why shutting down feels safer but costs you so much more in the long run. There is no redemption arc here. No clean ending. No motivational spin. Just a real conversation about endurance, grief, anger, and what it takes to keep showing up when life keeps taking things away. It’s also a beautiful love story that shows what most men know, but don’t say enough: We’re immeasurably better when we have someone who loves us walking arm in arm with us. This episode is for: * Men dealing with serious illness * Fathers who have lost access to their kids * Guys who are holding it together on the outside * Leaders who are realizing strength is not the same as silence If you have ever felt worn down by a fight that never seems to end, this episode will hit close to home. If this episode hit close to home, the 10 Realities Men Run Into After Loss (and No One Warns Them About) guide goes deeper. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mandown.tools

Helping Men Live After Loss www.mandown.tools

Creator

Jason MacKenzie
Years Active

2025 - 2026
Episodes

26
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

© Jason Mackenzie
Show Website

Leading Through Loss