Raw Minds

What happens when a child asks for help, but nobody listens? What happens when that same child spends 28 years in psychiatric treatment and has to fight to get his life back? Welcome to Raw Minds Podcast, Season 2, Episode 112. In this powerful episode, host Erick sits down with Gregorio Lewis, also known as Craig Lewis, to talk about childhood trauma, mental health, psychiatric treatment, homeles...

At just 18 years old, Jordin's life changed forever. Chronic pain, disability, depression, losing friends, and devastating grief forced her to rebuild a future she never imagined. How do you let go of the life you thought you were going to have? VOTE FOR RAW MINDS IN TOP HOST 2026 https://tophost.org/2026/erick-mcmanus Your free votes help us continue reaching people who need conversations abo...

THE DARK SIDE OF BOXING NOBODY TALKS ABOUT | RYAN GREGORY What happens when a boxing coach achieves his 20-year dream but loses almost everything along the way? In this powerful episode of Raw Minds Podcast, host Erick McManus sits down with Ryan Gregory, former boxer, professional boxing coach and author of Blood on Canvas: Between Bells, to expose the hidden reality of boxing, mental health stru...

SURVIVAL MODE, TRAUMA RECOVERY & MEN'S MENTAL HEALTH Why do you still feel unsafe when the danger is already gone? In Raw Minds Season 2 Episode 109, host Erick McManus sits down with Joseph Okoroji, author of A Mark in the Sand, to explore survival mode, trauma recovery, emotional resilience, and the psychology of change. What if the habits that once protected you are now holding you back...

PLEASE HELP ME WIN TOP HOST 2026! Raw Minds is competing for Top Host 2026, and I need your support. If you believe in real conversations, men's mental health, and giving people a voice, please take a moment to vote. VOTE FOR ERICK: https://tophost.org/2026/erick-mcmanus Every vote matters. Thank you for helping Raw Minds reach more people. 59 DAYS ALONE AT SEA. THEN HE STARTED HEARING VOICES....

Are you living your own life, or following beliefs you never chose? In Raw Minds Season 2 Episode 107, Erick sits down with Madhav Nakar, cybersecurity researcher and creator of The Fire of Knowing, for a raw conversation about men's mental health, identity, fear, family conditioning, and breaking the patterns that keep us stuck. Madhav explores how childhood expectations, culture, and self do...

More than 30 arrests. Fraud. A foreign prison. Federal prison. Gambling. Loss. And eventually, a decision to stop running. David Watson joins Raw Minds to tell the true story behind his memoir FORWARD ONLY. Raised by his grandparents in North Texas, David says his life changed after losing his grandfather at only 12 years old. What followed was decades of running from consequences, grief and himse...

How close can a man get to losing his life while everyone around him thinks he is okay? In Raw Minds Season 2 Episode 105, Erick sits down with Daron Seals for a raw conversation about depression, loneliness, childhood trauma, toxic relationships, suicide, therapy, identity, vulnerability, and what happens when a man finally stops pretending everything is fine. In 2020, at 25 years old, Daron reac...

Why do smart people keep making choices they already know are going to hurt them? Raw Minds Season 2 Episode 104 welcomes Matt White, author of The Snack Monkey: How to Stop Eating the Whole Packet. Matt has lived with CRPS and chronic pain for more than 30 years. He spent roughly 25 years taking prescribed codeine, competed with the Great Britain para-climbing team, and has spent much of his life...

men's mental health, depression, grief, athlete mental health, youth mental health, suicide loss, identity after sport, soccer, resilience, mental health awareness, Dehara Thompson What happens when the thing that defined you for most of your life is suddenly gone? Dehara Thompson was playing provincial soccer at 15. By 17, she had reached the South African Women's National Team. She earne...

Johnny Mitchell says parental alienation cost him years with his daughter, pushed his mental health to the edge, and left him fighting a family court system he felt powerless against. In this episode of Raw Minds, Johnny opens up about divorce, custody battles, being blocked from contacting his daughter, alcohol addiction, two DUIs five days apart, a heart attack at 35, crushing legal debt, losing...

At 12 years old, Lawrence Harris was trying to survive childhood abuse, protect his siblings, navigate autism, and live with a nervous system that never felt safe. By 15, he had another realization: what happened to him was not his fault, but he could not keep using his pain as an excuse to hurt the people who loved him. In this episode of Raw Minds, Lawrence opens up about childhood abuse, autism...

Stage 4 colon cancer had already spread to Tim McDonald’s liver when his life changed completely. What started as pain in his side around Thanksgiving 2020 led to the words nobody wants to hear: “You have cancer.”In this episode of Raw Minds, Tim shares his stage 4 colorectal cancer story, chemotherapy, colon cancer treatment, the search for a living liver donor, liver transplant surgery, survivor...

What happens when a man becomes strong enough to survive almost anything, but still has a battle inside that nobody can see? JD Tremblay knows what that feels like. JD grew up in northern Quebec, dealt with bullying, watched his parents separate, and joined the Canadian Armed Forces at just 17 years old. He spent more than a decade in uniform before moving into firefighting, engineering, natural h...

Robert Beeson went from a successful Sony Nashville music executive to a single father raising three young daughters after his marriage collapsed. In this Raw Minds episode, Robert opens up about single parenting, divorce, custody, fatherhood, shame, addiction, faith, mental health and rebuilding your life after losing everything. Before becoming a single father, Robert founded Essential Records a...

Denny LaVé survived childhood abandonment, sexual trauma, poverty, shame and suicidal thoughts. He then rebuilt his life from the ground up. In this episode of Raw Minds, Denny shares the personal story behind the construction company, the United States Senate campaign and the legendary beard. At four years old, Denny was taken across state lines and separated from his mother for six months. He gr...

Blair tried to turn a discussion about a child’s safety into a personal attack, calling me a woman-hater instead of addressing the facts. That tactic might work on people who confuse outrage with evidence. It does not work here. I advocate for men’s mental health, responsible journalism, due process, and the protection of children. None of that equals hatred toward women. It means I refuse to stay...

Toxic Relationships | Trauma Bonds | Emotional Addiction | Narcissistic Abuse | Relationship Patterns | Men’s Mental Health | Healing After Abuse Why do intelligent, successful people stay in relationships they know are destroying them? Dr. Stephen Paul Edwards returns to Raw Minds to discuss The Venus Fly Trap 2: Enough Is Never Enough, the next chapter of his true story about desire, obsession,...

MEN’S MENTAL HEALTH, YOUNG MEN IN CRISIS, PORNOGRAPHY ADDICTION, GRIEF, MASCULINITY, BROTHERHOOD, FATHER WOUNDS, FAITH, DISCIPLINE, MENTORSHIP, PURPOSE, DEPRESSION, TRAUMA RECOVERY Why are so many young men angry, addicted, isolated, and searching for purpose? In this episode of Raw Minds, Erick sits down with Colonel Jesse Boulden, Commanding Officer of the International ALERT Academy, for a raw...

Mental toughness, Yukon Arctic Ultra, leadership, discipline, resilience, extreme endurance, achieving big goals, men’s mental health, executive coaching, overcoming adversity, purpose, personal responsibility, anxiety, pressure, mindset What does it take to keep moving when you are alone in the frozen Yukon, temperatures fall to minus 55°C, most competitors have dropped out, and you still have hu...

USS Cole survivor, military PTSD, veteran mental health, childhood trauma, fatherhood, resilience, therapy, Navy leadership, suicide prevention, and healing after trauma. Amaury Ponciano survived the terrorist attack on the USS Cole, but surviving the explosion was only the beginning of his battle. In this powerful Raw Minds conversation, Amaury takes us inside the October 12, 2000 attack that kil...

Vietnam Veteran PTSD Marine Corps Combat Veteran Burnout Recovery Military Trauma Faith After Trauma Veteran Mental Health Men’s Mental Health Raw Minds Podcast How does a man survive war and still carry the battle inside him for more than fifty years? In this Raw Minds Podcast episode, Erick sits down with Keith A. Cole, a United States Marine Corps combat veteran, former CPA, author, husband, an...

Toxic relationships Toxic love Shame Relationship trauma Emotional healing Men’s mental health Trauma recovery Self awareness Dr. Stephen Paul Edwards The Venus Fly Trap Raw Minds Podcast Why do people stay in toxic relationships even when they know they are losing themselves? In this powerful episode of Raw Minds Podcast, Erick sits down with Dr. Stephen Paul Edwards, author, international speake...

How does a man rebuild after war, homelessness, PTSD, and losing his sense of identity? In this powerful episode of Raw Minds, Erick sits down with Sean Martin, an Iraq veteran and the force behind The Quarantined, for a raw conversation about PTSD, survival, emotional healing, veteran mental health, music healing, and rebuilding life after rock bottom. Sean opens up about serving in Iraq, coming...

How many men wait until something is seriously wrong before they finally get checked? In this Raw Minds Podcast episode, Erick sits down with Dr. Eliot Siegel, one of the pioneers of digital radiology, AI in medical imaging, and precision cancer care. Dr. Siegel is a founding physician at United Theranostics and has spent his career helping medicine move into the future. From helping build the fir...