Ruthless Compassion with Dr. Marcia Sirota

Writer, historian, and educator Rebecca Wellington teaches at the University of Puget Sound in the School of Education. She has taught high school social studies, as well as undergraduate courses and graduate level courses in education history and curriculum and instruction. Her higher-education teaching adventures have taken her to universities across Western Washington, including University of W...

Judith Orloff, MD is a psychiatrist, an empath, and author of the new book The Genius of Empathy (Foreword by the Dalai Lama), which offers powerful skills to tap into empathy as a daily healing practice in your life and relationships. She also wrote The Empath's Survival Guide and Thriving as an Empath. Dr. Orloff is a New York Times bestselling author and a UCLA clinical faculty member. She synt...

Jodie King is a professional artist, educator, and entrepreneur on a mission to unleash your inner power, freedom, and joy! With 20 years of art experience and a playful, spiritual approach, Jodie connects with audiences from around the world. She is known for her high-demand innovative online art and business courses as well as national and international workshops. After suddenly arriving at the...

Colin Campbell is an Academy Award nominated writer and director for theater and film. He teaches theater and film at Chapman University and Cal Poly Pomona University. When his two beautiful and brilliant teenage children, Ruby and Hart, were killed by a drunk driver in 2019, Colin fell into a terrifying chasm of aching and hopelessness. He drew strength and inspiration from the mourning rituals...

Nya Abernathy is an emotional health educator and the founder of The Dignity Effect . She also writes at her publication Of Earth & Of Stars where readers welcome wonder with their feet on the ground and their eyes to the sky. She also offers emotional health and depth classes for actors. Her new book Welcome, Wonder: A season of practices to curate an awe-filled life is available for preorder...

TRIGGER WARNING: This podcast discusses the topic of suicide. If you or a loved one are contemplating suicide please call or text 9-8-8. For the Kids Helpline call 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT. Indigenous Peoples call 1-855-242-3310. N'alag̱a / Ḵ'áw kuuna (Avis O'Brien), a Haida/Kwakwa̱ka̱'wakw artist and Land Based Cultural Empowerment Facilitator, was born in Alert Bay, British Columbia. She b...

Celia Landman, MA, is a mindfulness educator offering support to teens and adults. She draws from experiences working with those impacted by trauma, addiction, and anxiety, and creates customized meditation, visualizations, and trainings to reconnect them to their wholeness. She was ordained by Thich Nhat Hahn as a member of the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism. She is also a certified t...

Boo Trundle is a writer, artist, and performer whose work has appeared across various platforms and publications, including The Brooklyn Rail, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and NPR's The Moth. She has released three albums of original music with Big Deal Records. She lives in New Jersey. The Daughter Ship is her first novel. Website: www.bootrundle.com  Instagram: @bootrundle  https://www.instagr...

Melanie Brooks is the author of the memoir A Hard Silence: One daughter remaps family, grief, and faith when HIV/AIDS changes it all (Vine Leaves Press, 2023) and Writing Hard Stories: Celebrated Memoirists Who Shaped Art from Trauma (Beacon Press, 2017) She teaches creative nonfiction in the M.F.A. program at Bay Path University and professional writing at Northeastern University in Massachusetts...

Kevin Frankish has been a vocal mental health advocate since suffering his first panic attack while on air on City TV Toronto's Breakfast Television. He lives with Severe Depressive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. He now works with The Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences in Whitby, Ontario and hosts a podcast called The Mental Health Podcast. He works to remove the stigma o...

Mimi Nicklin is the internationally bestselling author of 'Softening The Edge,' the Founder of the world's first organizational empathy platform, www. EmpathyEverywhere.co, and the top 5-rated podcast host of 'The MiMi YouYou Show'. She is an experienced organization consultant and the CEO. As an inclusive millennial leader, she passionately talks about empathy as the road to higher performance, w...

Bailey Parnell is the Founder & CEO of SkillsCamp, a soft skills training company, and was named one of Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women. Bailey is a 2x TED speaker with over 4 million views, an award-winning and internationally-recognized entrepreneur, an active humanitarian, and one with a talent for helping people develop the skills they need for success. Her work and expertise have bee...

Founding Executive Director Carlita Ector is a Raleigh, North Carolina native, she attended The University of NC at Greensboro (BFA Dance Performance & Choreography, K-12 Dance Education). A committed mental health advocate, Carlita founded Darkness RISING Nonprofit for Black mental health to create a safe space and mental health resources for the Black community, due to her personal mental he...

As a model and professional lacrosse player, Jonathan’s life was perfect on the surface. But the mental health and addiction issues that held him in their grip made it difficult to move forward fully in life. Behind the lens and beneath the spotlight, Johnathan faced a private hell of depression, anxiety, and a crippling eating disorder. He confronted the aftermath of a traumatic sexual assault, t...

Mark is the bestselling author of "So-Called Normal: A Memoir of Family, Depression and Resilience," (HarperCollins, 2021). He previously served as National Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Canadian Mental Health Association, and as a board member for the Mental Health Commission of Canada. Mark is a Master of Journalism Student at Toronto Metropolitan University. He has previously studie...

An award-winning social entrepreneur, Jenn Harper is the Founder and CEO of Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics INC. Cheekbone Beauty is a digital direct to consumer brand helping Indigenous youth see themselves in a beauty brand while using the concept of Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) in the brands ethos and in developing products. Cheekbone Beauty's mission is to help every Indigenous youth see and feel thei...

At the end of our lives there are many decisions we have to make. Sometimes, we need to make those decision well in advance and sometimes, we need other people to make those decisions for us. In this episode, lawyer Mark Handelman discussed his work dealing with issues of consent, capacity, and end-of-life wishes. Mark Handelman was called to the Ontario Bar in 1978 and holds an MHSc in Bioethics...

Landon Y. (Lanny) Jones is an editor and author. He is the former managing editor of People and Money magazines and the author of William Clark and the Shaping of the West (2004), a biography of the co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Jones also edited a selection of the expedition journals, The Essential Lewis and Clark (2000). In 1980, he published Great Expectations: America and the Ba...

Sober mom advocate Celeste Yvonne is a writer and certified recovery coach (IAPRC) with over 20 years of experience as a communications professional in corporate America. Her essays on parenting, the mental load of motherhood, mommy wine culture, and sobriety resonates with mothers everywhere and has been featured in the Washington Post, Good Morning America, Today Show, and Refinery 29, among oth...

Laura Carney is a repeat guest on the show. We interviewed her when she was in the middle of finishing her mission to complete her late father's bucket list—54 items in five years. She has since published a book about her experience, a memoir from Post Hill Press, distributed by Simon & Schuster, out in bookstores July 11, 2023. A writer and magazine copy editor in New York, Laura Carney has b...

Kai Cheng Thom is a writer, performance artist, and community healer. She is the author of the novel Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars, which was chosen by Emma Watson for her online feminist book club and shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award. Her poetry collection a place called No Homeland was an American Library Association Stonewall Honor Book, and her essay collection, I Hope We Choose L...

Kai Cheng Thom is a writer, performance artist, and community healer. She is the author of the novel Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars, which was chosen by Emma Watson for her online feminist book club and shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award. Her poetry collection a place called No Homeland was an American Library Association Stonewall Honor Book, and her essay collection, I Hope We Choose L...

Laura Pratt is a journalist, writer, and editor. Her second book, Heartbroken: Field Notes on a Constant Condition , was published in early 2023 by Penguin Random House Canada. She has written for numerous Canadian magazines and her articles have appeared in Canadian Living , Toronto Life , Maclean’s, and Chatelaine . Her first memoir, The Fleeting Years , was published in 2004. She is a 2020 grad...

International speaker, personal development trainer and certified coach, Carol is on a mission to empower people to live BIG lives (how many folks can say they’ve lived in an Ashram, shaved their head, or bungee jumped in their birthday suit?) no matter what life throws at them. She holds a BFA in Theatre Performance and an MA in Communication, and believes your voice and story have the power to i...

International speaker, personal development trainer and certified coach, Carol is on a mission to empower people to live BIG lives (how many folks can say they’ve lived in an Ashram, shaved their head, or bungee jumped in their birthday suit?) no matter what life throws at them. She holds a BFA in Theatre Performance and an MA in Communication, and believes your voice and story have the power to i...