All The Wiser

What does negotiating with a terrorist and negotiating with a six-year-old have in common? Same listening skills, different intentions. What are some concrete steps we can take to make sure we are doing it well? We promise if you listen to this episode you might just become a better listener.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/b...

Richard Mullender was at the center of some very famous hostage negotiations, and he has a thing or two to teach us about the art of listening. As the lead trainer for Scotland Yard's Hostage and Crisis Negotiation Unit, he helped negotiate the release of three UN workers held hostage by the Taliban, among many other high profile cases. As demand for his listening skills grew, he established T...

We fell in love with Zack Robidas, host of the Podspotter, when Kimi was a guest on their show. But what we didn't know at the time was that Zack had a story for us, and we couldn't resist sharing it with all of you.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Today we are bringing you a special episode featuring a podcast we love. The Podspotter is the podcast you need in order to help you find the shows that are truly worth your listening time. Host and universal charmer Zack Robidas and his team sort through the 1.9 million podcasts out there to bring you the best of the best, and trust us you will love their recommendations. In fact, All The Wiser w...

Calling someone by their name. Making eye-contact with strangers. What does science tell us about how acts of kindness benefit our well-being? PLUS! Our KINDNESS CHALLENGE! Tell us about how you make acts of a kindness a priority in your life. What sort of things do you do? How frequently do you do them? How does it make you feel? Email us at hello@allthewiserpodcast.com or DM us on Instagram @all...

Marius was only 8 years old when a house fire in his native country of Romania took the lives of his parents and burned over 75% of his body, leaving him without fingers or a nose. After many months in the hospital without visitors, two American girls got word of his story and started visiting him almost every day, forming a close friendship and eventually raising money to bring him to America for...

Are mental health labels a good thing? Kimi talks about her experience having a peer-to-peer conversation with our latest guest, Joshua Walters, with whom she shares a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. She and Erica discuss the benefits and potential drawbacks of a given mental health label, why it's important to separate the person from the diagnosis, and how using the right language alongside a...

Joshua Walters uses his writing and creativity to talk about his experiences living with bipolar disorder, and it is a diagnosis that our host Kimi Culp happens to share. In this unique conversation, Joshua and Kimi speak openly as peers about how mental illness impacts their life, work and creative process. They share their commonalities, healthy and unhealthy coping mechanisms, the value of come...

Sex trafficking is happening in your community - you just don't know about it. As our latest guest, trafficking survivor and advocate Rebecca Bender shared, sex for sale is rampant and it is hiding in plain sight. In this episode, Kimi and Erica share the typical profile of a trafficker, the types of victims that traffickers target, warning signs to look for in teenage girls, and what you shou...

Rebecca Bender grew up as an all-American, small town kid skipping rocks on the river in Southern Oregon. At 18, her boyfriend convinced her to move with him to Las Vegas and the emotional abuse and physical violence began. For six years she was traded and sold between different traffickers, living in a constant state of fear for her life and the life of her young daughter. Her eventual escape and...

Kimi and Erica discuss our latest episode with Schuyler Bailar and share thoughts about the evolving language of trans-ness, what you should do when you say the wrong thing, who should bear the responsibility around trans-education, and why it is so not appropriate to discuss what inside someone's pants (especially a strangers!) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Advert...

As a teenager, Schuyler Bailar remembers being miserable all the time. As one of the nation's top swimmers, he was getting good grades, winning medals and accepted into an Ivy League school - yet he still felt empty. After an injury kept him from swimming, Bailar's mental health plummeted. He checked into a residential treatment center where he discovered that he was transgender. But what...

Kimi and Erica discuss our latest episode with Emily Stark and her formerly conjoined twin girls Lexi and Sydney. Topics include living with uncertainty, loss and adaptation, and how Emily managed the media circus around her kids. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this follow-up to episode 43, Kimi speaks with Emily’s two daughters, former conjoined twins Lexi and Sydney. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In 2001, Emily Stark was newly married to the man of her dreams and pregnant shortly thereafter - with twins! And then a follow-up ultrasound appointment brought a shocking revelation. The twin girls were conjoined at the base of the spine. Emily and her husband were left with a difficult decision. Best case? They would be separated with no lingering effects. Worst case - the girls would be parali...

Kimi shares some of her favorite stand-out moments from this wild and unexpected year, and reflects on the beautiful lessons from our guests that provided comfort and guidance through it all. Happy holidays from all of us at All The Wiser! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

When it comes to treating addiction, what actually works? Kimi and Erica discuss our recent episode with Gary Mendell who tragically lost his son to substance use disorder, and share some of the latest research about the things that make a real difference in improving treatment outcomes, including the ways we can re-orient our healthcare system to address addiction early, often and effectively. Se...

As a father, Gary did what any parent would do to help his best friend and wonderful son Brian heal from a substance abuse disorder. He got referrals to treatment programs staffed with good people with good intentions. But what he came to understand after Brian tragically took his own life is that these programs were using unproven, outdated methodologies. Real solutions based on actual science we...

What do the most powerful drug cartels look like today? Kimi and Erica discuss our most recent episode with Sebastián Marroquín, and how the cartels have changed over the decades since his father, Pablo Escobar, was in power. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Love doesn't make Sebastián Marroquín blind to the damage done by his father, Pablo Escobar. But he does credit the infamous cartel kingpin for giving him the tools to reinvent himself, far away from his long, dark shadow. As a child, Juan Pablo Escobar (his given name) was treated to everything a kid could want: swimming pools, go-karts, exotic zoo animals, until his father's crimes force...

Various studies estimate that 5% of all prisoners are innocent. DNA evidence has exonerated several hundred people since it was introduced in 1989. These exonerations have helped identify disturbing trends and causes in wrongful conviction, the leading being the unreliability of eye-witness testimony. So why, despite all the news about misidentifications, do we continue to put such profound faith...

On July 28th, 1984, Jennifer Thompson was asleep when a man broke into her apartment at 3:00am and brutally raped her. Jennifer knew in that moment that if she survived, memorizing his features would be critical in helping to catch and convict her attacker. The straight-A student studied him carefully and was later praised by police after picking him out of a line-up. The only problem? She picked...

Why do we shame people suffering from addiction? While A Little Wiser co-host, Erica Gerard, is busy on a road trip to get married at sunrise in Arches National Park, Kimi calls on former ATW guest and recovering drug addict, Christopher Brune-Horan, to co-host. Christopher opens up about his addiction and recovery story, and, together, they tackle shame, secrecy, and why addiction is a public hea...

Erin Khar has relapsed so many times she can't even count. Her pill habit started at eight years old. Then at 13, a boyfriend introduced her to heroin. She hid her drug use from everyone while maintaining a full middle-class prep school lifestyle that included cheerleading, volleyball and horseback riding. By 21, she was using several hundred dollars a day worth of heroin and crack. Erin never...

What are the ways we can protect ourselves? Kimi and Erica share everything you need to know about stalking PLUS how-to tips for keeping yourself safe in this modern world.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy