Overcomers Overcoming

Charles Smith experienced and overcame several life setbacks but is now dedicating his life to passing forward how to become resilient and advance beyond those setbacks. His father owned multiple Nursing Homes in the Worcester, MA, area, which would become his legacy. His family lost everything for reasons he never determined when he was three years old. His mother died when he was five years old,...

We continue our journey to learn the positive attributes of Nicholas through his parents, Chris and Loise Letchford. Each of us has a learning style, and our learning is best advanced by learning and adapting to our and others' learning styles. Nicholas had a negative first-grade experience when a teacher described him as having learning difficulties. Through perseverance and understanding, Chris...

Gina Urrichio continues her insights and life-learning experiences with Ally, her autistic and artistic daughter. Each person advances with a customized mix of flexibility, regime, interaction, and connected communication. Everyone seems to understand love and care when those attributes originate from the heart. Gina documented some of her experiences in the books, "The Art and Voice of Autism," a...

Janna Macik, through her persistence, relentless passion, and strong faith in God, learned to communicate with her non-verbal daughter (Sharalene) through sign language and other sensory receptors. The communication journey began with determining an effective communication method. After some study, sign language seemed to become the best communication method. Every family member learned sign langu...

Lin Hapner continues her life testimony in this episode by explaining other aspects of her past that led to her increased reliance on God to bring her to a healthy self-image and confidence. David, Lin's husband, was her human catalyst to increase her reliance on God to overcome her past feelings. For some, her life choices could have led some to give up on their marriage. Instead, she and David c...

Dominic "Slice" Teich chronicles his journey of overcoming doubt and other limiting beliefs to become one of today's F-16 pilots. Through his life experiences, he has determined his purpose and why. Having that mindset (personified as the single-seat mindset), we, too, can determine our purpose and why. Coaching, mentoring, and fellowship with others with the attitude of advancing others helped Sl...

Lin Hapner describes a portion of her past in the context of the church people's response to her previous life. She was and still is recovering from some of her past decisions,. Her hope was and is to be wholly accepted to feel worthy. Some in the church did not accept what she acknowledges were poor decisions of her past. Her desire to be accepted nd have others bear her burden for transformation...

Diana Indries and Scott Allen discuss how we can know a person before we start dating. Too often, we focus on the physical attributes of a person, and the physical will likely change with time. However, our values tend to remain constant throughout life, and we can adapt to physical changes more quickly than we can cope with disparate values. Scott devised an innovative game to help us learn each...

Lois Letchford is a model for transforming a negative into a positive. She became aware of her abilities which inspired her to learn her son's abilities to achieve what others thought was unachievable. Learning can be very laborious when teaching and learning are "forced" onto a person without adapting to their learning style. However, learning can be fun when we learn our and others' learning sty...

James Ortiz was born in Nicaragua in poverty without a dad in his life. As he reflects on his life, there are aspects he wishes weren't so. He knew there was something more to life than what he was living. There was a portion of his life when he felt very unworthy. However, he decided to commit his life to Jesus Christ, who has given him a new life purpose and fulfillment he had been seeking. Jame...

Brad Carlson describes how he is living a transformed life having overcome a divorce, home foreclosure, obesity, and a very unhealthy lifestyle. His book "MindStrong: A Step-by-Step Guide for How to Transform Your Life, Raise Your Success, Go Beyond Mental Toughness, and Power Your Way From Ordinary to Extraordinary." Brad acknowledges he is on a life journey. That journey is a marathon rather tha...

Through expressive writing, David Richman can transform a mind that has been traumatized through any means. David joins us for a third episode to pass forward his life experiences to advance people to get beyond trauma. David is an award-winning author, motivational speaker, trainer, and consultant. Numerous studies document the benefit of stress relief and consequent health benefits. David wrote...

Janna Macik continues her life learning experience in this second episode by sharing her experience of raising eight children, two of whom have different learning styles. Her daughter, Charalene, was born non-verbal and largely continues that way today. Janna's and her husband learned to communicate with Charalene through sign language. Learning how to adapt to Charalene while learning sign langua...

Kevin Palmeri has a backstory that could have kept some people from achieving their best. Rather than focus on what could have been, he has chosen to adopt a life journey that focuses on his unique strengths. His failings have become his railings to a new future. Despite his past and life's setbacks, Kevin has learned to overcome limiting beliefs and look at everything as an opportunity. After hit...

Kristy Marie Houle has learned to accept her abusive past without having those hurts define her future. She acknowledges she is on a long-term journey. \Various events or statements can trigger memories of the past. However, she has learned how to process those negative thoughts so they do not dominate her current thinking. She has valuable life experiences to pass on to help others who may be liv...

Lois Letchford is a model for transforming a negative into a positive. She became aware of her abilities which inspired her to learn her son's abilities to achieve what others thought was unachievable—words matter. Some people believe how others characterize us, but some consider such characterizations unwarranted labels. With the right mindset, we can turn negative portrayals into positive action...

Gina and Johnny Uricchio (mother and son) advance our focused series on autism by sharing their life experience with Ally (daughter and sister), who is, as of this writing, 25 years old and on the autistic spectrum. Ally is a very talented artist with a photographic memory for some of life's details. This episode chronicles a brother's and mother's perspectives of life's lessons of learning autism...

Robin Stoloff chronicles several setbacks in her life that caused her to pivot to new ventures. She encourages others who are experiencing setbacks to discover their passion and strengths. With that, determine to overcome any setbacks. Get with those who share your values and enthusiasm and vow to take action to move beyond whatever you encounter. Overcoming setbacks is rewarding; however, nothing...

Candace Mae Gruber further develops a portion of her life story by describing mental health. The COVID period caused and/or revealed several aspects of relationships and our self-awareness. God created us to function best with connected relationships. Many relationships have been severed or altered because of isolation and other COVID-related factors. Too many people have resorted to other forms o...

Cat Sharp describes the impact of depression on her life and her actions to improve her mental health. For some of us, others will recognize depression symptoms before we will. Poor mental health is sometimes insidious such that others close to us recognize the effects before we do. We need to be confident to ask for help from a certified therapist or other trusted person. It is becoming easier fo...

Bernie "Bernardine" Dowell describes her perspective as her husband's caretaker when they suddenly discovered he was experiencing major kidney failure. The discovery occurred following a meal which they both assume might be indigestion. After a few days of diagnosis, beginning with admission to the emergency room, the medical staff determined John (her husband) had kidney failure. Bernie worked wi...

Dr. Lance Knaub treats people with sports medicine, orthopedic, and musculoskeletal problems and specializes in transitioning clients from injury to health, fitness, and return to sport. He is a certified physical therapist specializing in total mental and physical fitness. Lance is passionate about Breakthru's model of bringing physical therapy together with fitness, which allows his trainers to...

Veronica Williams co-founded the veteran-owned Alliance Seminars Coaching faith-based organization. She leverages her life experiences to provide coaching services, motivational speaking, and certified workshops. Alliance Seminars Coaching shares strategies and skills to strengthen personal and professional relationships through collaboration. She is dedicated to equipping today's women for tomorr...

Mary (mother) was crushed as she endured Gabi's (daughter) job rejections for a host of reasons. Mary realized no one would hire Gabi despite her love of service, hard work, and effervescent personality.  This discrimination is all to common for adults with special abilities.  Only 18% of adults with a special ability are employed.  This presented the opportunity for Mary and Gabi to focus on empl...

Lisa Pachence describes her journey beyond being an over-achiever focused on success to achieve a sense of safety and security. She learned through her life experience she was under fulfilled. With the help of a life transformation coach, she learned the value of trust in partnerships. She also learned through coaching that some of her inner beliefs were controlling her conscious thoughts. Her jou...