Free Thinking with Montel

Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” As we enter the holiday season, it is a time to reflect on those less fortunate, and in the giving spirit, what each of us can do to make their holidays a little brighter. Some folks are secret Santas, others donate to Toys for Tots, while others may give their time to help feed the homeless. Montel tal...

An estimated 6.2 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimers dementia in 2021, which breaks down to 1 in 9 people age 65 and older, and those numbers will increase substantially over the next few years as the population ages. Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurologic disorder that causes the brain to shrink and brain cells to die. Alzheimer's disease is the most common caus...

On this epsiode of Free Thinking, Montel talks with actor, rapper and comedian, Damian Washington, who has appeared in over thiry national TV commercial campaigns. At age 34, he began experiencing difficulty walking, and as his symptoms progressed he was eventually diagnosed with MS. He is the man behind the NoStressMs Youtube channel, which aims to bring joy, camaraderie and information to the MS...

In 2000, Dr. Terry Wahls, a now world-renowned American doctor and scientist is diagnosed with an incurable disease. Seven years later, despite taking the pharmaceutical drugs normally prescribed to sufferers of her condition, Terry’s health continues to decline. The mother of two, decides conventional medicine is not stopping the decline into a demented and bedridden life and begins her search fo...

Dr Terry Wahls is back to share some exciting research results with Montel and his listerners on this epiosde of Free Thinking. Dr Wahls is a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Iowa: a IFM trained physician, educator, researcher, and MS patient. She was dependent on a tilt-recline wheelchair for four years due to Multiple Sclerosis until she reclaimed her health using a diet and l...

On this episode of Free Thinking, Montel talks with Julie Stamm. Julie was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2007 at the age of 27. Following her diagnosis, she made it her mission to educate, advocate, and support others battling the disease. She works tirelessly to help lessen the burden each patient has to bear. Her efforts have given her the opportunity to work with physicians, patients, an...

On this episode of Free Thinking, Montel talks with Dr Carrie Daly about the staggering information that most people are likely unaware of. According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in six veterinarians has considered or attempted suicide, and one in 10 suffers from severe psychological distress. In short, the veterinary industry is in the midst of a serious mental health crisis. Dr Daly i...

Montel speaks with Dr Candice Shelby, an internationally respected scholar and Professor of Philosophy on this episode of Let’s be Blunt, about the philosophy of addiction. Dr Shelby has served as both department chair and executive director for the Center for Ethics at the University of Colorado, Denver where she has been teaching for 25 years. Her specialties and interests range from the history...

Montel talks with Cyrus Massoumi about the Dr. B website he created to help people find vaccination appointments on this episode of Free Thinking. Cyrus is a tech entrepreneur and investor. He has been featured in Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list and is the co-founder and former CEO of Zocdoc, a New York City-based online medical appointment booking service that allows people to find and book medical ca...

On this epsiode of Free Thinking, Montel talks with Dr Leana Wen about his breakthrough Covid diagnosis, the importance of being vaccinated and information around the Delta variant. Dr Wen is an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University. She is a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a contributing columnist for The Washington Post, as well a...

Over the past quarter century, there has been a profound change in the involvement of women within the criminal justice system. This is the result of more expansive law enforcement efforts, stiffer drug sentencing laws, and post-conviction barriers to reentry that uniquely affect women. The female incarcerated population stands over seven times higher than in 1980. More than 60% of women in state...

Did you know there are now 2.8 million people worldwide who have multiple sclerosis according to the most extensive global study to date? That means every 5 minutes, someone, somewhere in the world is diagnosed with MS. Nearly 1 million of them are living in the United States. On this epsiode of Free Thinking, Montel talks with Dr george Jelink. Dr Jelinek has dedicated his life to the epidemiolog...

Christy Pennison is a board-certified professional counselor with over 10 years of experience, a mental health consultant, and owner of Be Inspired Counseling & Consulting in Alexandria, Louisiana. Be Inspired Counseling & Consulting was created out of a passion to help individuals, children, and families by inspiring hope for change; the team of counselors has over 30 years of combined ex...

On this episode of Free Thinking, Montel talks with Carmelo Rodriguez, author of Dead Soldier: Story of the Living, which chronicles his story of being misclassified as “dead” by the VA, which then shares that information with social security and the IRS to make matters worse. An astonishing 4,200 vets, who are very much alive, have been mistakenly classified as deceased and had their VA benefits...

On this episode of Free Thinking, Montel chats with Jerome Foster II, an 18-year-old climate justice activist, voting rights advocate, and emerging technology developer. His work as a leader in the youth climate movement has been recognized on the international stage. He serves as the youngest member of the Biden White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. He’s the Executive Director &...

According to the latest statistics available from the CDC, Traumatic Brain Injury, also known as TBI, is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States. We most often associate TBI with our military veterans, but many others are afflicted with TBI due to sports and accidents. In 2014 falls accounted for almost half of all TBI related emergency room visits. On this episode of Free Thi...

On this episode of Free Thinking, Montel talks with renown neurologist, Dr David Perlmutter. Dr Perlmutter is a board-certified neurologist and fellow of the American College of Nutrition. He serves as the medical advisor for the Dr. Oz Show and Men’s Health and is an associate professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Lin...

On this episode of Free Thinking, Montel talks with Shirley Raines, founder of Beauty 2 The Streetz, a non-profit organization that has supported the homeless community in Los Angeles for the last four years. Every Saturday, rain or shine, she and her team come out to share a hot home-cooked meal, conversation, and most importantly connection. Skid Row is the epicenter of Los Angeles’ homeless com...

On this episode of Free Thinking, Montel talks with Porsche Williams, a Navy veteran who’s an active member of the Veterans Mental Health Advisory Council at Washington, D.C., Veterans Affairs Medical Center. She is a Suicide Intervention Instructor and founder of Restore Life which she started in 2018 after experiencing her own mental health challenges stemming from her time serving in the Navy d...

On this episode of Free Thinking, Montel speaks with 33-year-old Financial Activist Dasha Kenned. A St. Louis native with over a decade of experience working as an accountant and default counselor, she created The Broke Black girl which connects, educates, and empowers minority women to achieve financial and mental wellness. The Broke Black Girl provides a safe and supportive space for women to op...

On this episode of Free Thinking, Montel talks with his friend Travis Flores. Born with cystic fibrosis and facing the reality that he might not live to his 20’s, Travis became a best-selling children’s book author as a teenager, was a key ambassador for the Make-a-Wish Foundation and today is an author, activist, actor and producer. It’s truly a miracle he’s alive today having now had 3 separate...

On this episode of Free Thinking, Montel talks with filmmaker, freelance journalist and creative professional from Omaha, Nebraska, Nick Beaulieu. Nick recently contributed to PBS’s “American Portrait” series, representing Nebraska. He’s the director, writer, and producer of the documentary film How Much Sleep Have You Lost, which is a multi-year odyssey that examines racism, privilege, and faith...

Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a disease in which your body's immune system eats away at the protective sheath that covers your nerves. The disorder disrupts communication between your brain and the rest of your body, meaning your nerve signals slow down or stop. We don't know exactly why this happens. The most common thought is that a virus or gene defect, or both, are to blame. Environmental fact...

On this episode of Free Thinking, Montel talks with Jimmy Choi, a 46-year-old endurance athlete and Parkinson’s Advocate. He received a diagnosis of Young Onset Parkinson’s at only 27 years old and doctors told him that he would need to use a wheelchair in just 15 to 20 years. After extensive research, he found that exercise was the only treatment proven to slow or even halt the progression of Par...

When we think of PTSD, [effective PTSD treatment], we most often associate it with veterans as a result of war. However, statistics state that 1 in 13 people will experience PTSD in their lifetime. On this episode of Free Thinking, Montel talks with Dr Frank Bourke, a doctor who was on the front lines of treating 9-11 first responders. Dr Bourke is the founder of the non-profit, The Research and R...