Find Your Spark

In this episode of the Find Your SPARK Podcast, in honor of suicide awareness month, Nicole Wilson and Kathryn Bonney share their stories and experiences on suicide and why bringing awareness around it is important. Kathryn shares her history with suicide and how learning this simple understanding about the human mind has helped her overcome those strong and overwhelming feelings that used to wash...

In this episode of the Find Your SPARK Podcast, Stephanie shares another incident that almost led to a nervous breakdown. In a complete betrayal of her trust, her son charged $1200 in video games to her credit card. While efforts to get the money refunded have failed, something inside her is telling her that it’s ok. Stephanie explores how this could possibly be true when all evidence points to th...

A few weeks ago, Brooke and Ashley shared about their experience working with a group of inspiring women from the Falkenburg County Jail in “The Healing Power of Presence” podcast. In this weeks’ episode, they reflect on their time teaching  SPARK’s Insight to Well-Being Program with this group and how the space created allowed the women to teach themselves and SPARK their own insights.  Brooke an...

In this episode of the Find Your SPARK podcast, Stephanie Fox asked her mom, Shirley, to join her to discuss a recent harrowing experience driving to the top of the Continental Divide in Colorado. While they are happy to have done it and lived to tell the tale, both of their minds convinced them that death was a real possibility. On the other hand, the other passengers in the car were either havin...

In this episode of the Find Your SPARK podcast, Brooke and Ashley share about their experience of presence inside jail.  They share what they have seen about listening while truly being present with someone, and the connection others feel from this. They talk about the different ways many of us are taught to listen and the truths they have seen about listening.

In this episode of the Find your SPARK podcast, Nicole Wilson reintroduces some familiar faces. SPARKING Change Interns, Sadie and Zaria discuss their upcoming group project IGNITE  and what inspired it. They have focused on the impact they wanted their project to have, what each group member wanted to bring to the table, and the population they wanted IGNITE to reach. This group of interns all ha...

In this episode of the Find Your SPARK podcast, Nicole Wilson introduces SPARKING Change Intern, Zaria Jean-Baptiste. Zaria shares her experience with the internship program and what she has seen for herself on a personal level. She explains how prior, she had everything in life planned out on a timeline – from graduating school to getting married and having kids. She learns that the way the mind...

In this episode, Brooke Wheeldon-Reece and Ashley Hunt reflect on their personal experiences with conflict. While Brooke used to run towards conflict, Ashley used to run away from it, and they discuss how they’ve learned to handle confrontation in healthier ways. They also express how important it is for one to be in a clear state of mind when bringing up issues and the significance of responding...

In this episode, Brooke Wheeldon-Reece and Ashley Hunt reflect on their personal experiences with conflict. While Brooke used to run towards conflict, Ashley used to run away from it, and they discuss how they’ve learned to handle confrontation in healthier ways. They also express how important it is for one to be in a clear state of mind when bringing up issues and the significance of responding...

In this episode, Stephanie recounts a recent backpacking experience in which she put her physical limits to the test! In an intensive training prep for a backpacking excursion, Stephanie found herself on the verge of giving up after hours of strenuous hiking and climbing. However, when given just a little hope that she could have a chance to stay at a relaxing lodge if she continued, she was able...

In this episode, Brooke and Ashley talk about a recent webinar they both attended with Kirk Souder, Co-Founder of Enso. On this webinar, Brooke expressed some concern about limiting thoughts to Kirk, and then both she and Ashley had insights into what each of them were doing that may be getting in the way of SPARK growing as large as it can. Listen as they share their insights, and just how sneaky...

In this week’s episode, Stephanie welcomes a special guest from SPARK Australia, Nicole Montgomerie. Nicole has been a teacher for the last 16 years working with kids from ages 4-14 years old. Nicole and Stephanie talk about her experience implementing the SPARK Mentoring program with kids ages 5-7. In particular, Nicole reflects on how much the kids have resonated with the activities, especially...

In honor of Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness month, Brooke speaks with a very special guest, Brianne Grebil. Brianne was not only a caregiver for her mother the past 5 years, she also recently released a book about her experience,  Love Doesn’t Care if You Forget . In this episode, Brianne shares what her experience has taught her about life, relationships, and being human with other humans (on and...

In this episode of the Find Your SPARK Podcast, Nicole Wilson and SPARKING Change Intern, Jayda Reece, speak about how they navigate through anxiety. Jayda shares her experience as being a young teen with anxiety and now understanding how the mind works has helped her overcome many obstacles that used to limit her. Nicole shares about how we get so used to saying “I AM Anxious” or “I AM Depressed,...

In this episode of the Find Your SPARK Podcast, Ashley and Stephanie share why they are still flying high after the Boost conference last week. The Boost Collaborative provides high quality professional development opportunities for after-school providers and we are honored to be their partner. In addition to presenting at the conference, they had the pleasure of experiencing many of the wonderful...

In this episode of the Find Your SPARK Podcast, in honor of PTSD Awareness month, Brooke Wheeldon-Reece and Nicole Wilson talk about how “PTS,”  Post Traumatic Stress , is our body’s natural way to react to a past traumatic experience. They share how when understanding how the mind works, PTSD doesn’t look as scary and helpless when aware of what is happening in the moment. As they share their own...

In this episode of the Find Your SPARK Podcast, Nicole Wilson and SPARKING Change Intern, Carys Mullins join together and talk about the importance of understanding how the mind works in honor of May Mental Health Month! Carys shares what she has seen for herself to be true when learning about the mind and how it has impacted her. She shares how being you is all you need, and there’s no need to re...

In this episode of the Find Your SPARK Podcast, Nicole Wilson and Stephanie Fox talk about May - Mental Health Awareness Month! Nicole and Stephanie discuss the importance of how SPARK approaches mental health in a way that pulls the health (SPARK) out of everyone, instead of putting bandages on peoples mental illnesses. We find it extremely helpful for those suffering with mental illnesses such a...

In this episode of the Find Your SPARK Podcast, Nicole Wilson and one of our SPARKING Change Interns, Emily Johnson, talk about Emily's experience since being in the internship program. She shares her passion to be a judge and what she noticed shadowing in the juvenile detention center to push herself even more towards creating the change she wants to see in the justice system. Emily also brings u...

In this episode of the Find Your SPARK Podcast, Nicole Wilson and Jena Travise talk with 3 of our SPARKING Change Interns about their experience shadowing at the Juvenile Detention Center. Brandon, Macy and Sadie share what they enjoyed the most and why they think it's important for the group of teen boys to understand how their mind works.

In this episode of the Find Your SPARK Podcast, Stephanie and Ashley talk about the “quarantine 15”. You know, the 15 lbs. give or take that many people added on their body during quarantine?! Stephanie shares that she added some “plump” to herself and then shares how she recently caught herself believing the thought “I can’t do XYZ with this weight.” Ashley and Stephanie then share the insights t...

In this special edition episode of the Find Your SPARK Podcast, we share with you an episode from another podcast called The Entrepreneur Playground that Brooke and Ashley were a guest on. Martin Dara, who is the host of this fun and unique podcast, recently asked Brooke and Ashley to be a guest and they couldn't wait to have a conversation together. In this episode, you will get to hear the conve...

In this episode of the Find Your SPARK Podcast, we ask... Have you ever had one of those days when even the smallest task seemed too hard? When showering was just too much to ask? Tune in to hear Stephanie’s experience of her “funk” yesterday and how she dealt with it. Using the metaphor of making soup, she describes how noticing her internal “ingredients” is super helpful in managing this funk. S...

In this episode of the Find Your SPARK Podcast, Nicole Wilson talks with one of our SPARKING Change Youth Interns, Brandon Evans. Brandon shares why he wanted to take part in this internship with The SPARK Initiative and what he has taken away from it so far. He explains how his passion and SPARK’s mission align and why it’s a perfect fit for the change he wants to create in our community. Brandon...

In this episode of the Find Your SPARK Podcast, Nicole Wilson talks with Sadie Moore, one of our SPARKING Change Youth Leadership Interns, about her perspective on what she took away from the SPARK Facilitator training. This was our interns first opportunity to dive into our SPARK mentoring programs and gain insights for themselves. Sadie shares about her favorite activities, what she found helpfu...